

Helping Your Child Succeed
As a parent, you want your children to succeed – both in school and in life. You may already be doing some of the things on this list. Others may be new to you or, more likely, something you know you want to do, but need a reminder and encouragement to pursue. All of the suggestions are valuable, but there is not one approach that is the “silver bullet”. We hope these ideas will be helpful to you in providing your child with everything needed for success. Express Love: Ev


Will Grade Retention Help Your Child?
Mark and Janice have had many intense conversations this year about Jarrod’s struggles in Second Grade. Despite all they have tried to do to help him, Jarrod has continued to fall further behind in reading and math. Now, with only three months left in the school year, Jarrod’s teacher is recommending that he repeat Second Grade next year. Mark and Janice are both confused and conflicted about the choice they must make. Left to herself to decide, Janice would oppose retent


The Importance of Early Intervention
Liz is worried about her son, Connor. He is nearing the end of first grade and still struggles to read three letter words. His teacher, Mrs. Jenkins, is recommending that he repeat first grade to have time to catch up to grade level. She suggested that Connor is probably a “late bloomer” and would benefit from a little more time to develop his reading skills. Liz had actually been hoping that Connor might do better next year with a different teacher. Liz and her husband


The Importance of Learning Cursive
Diego is in fourth grade. As I watched him print his answers to a spelling test, I noticed several important things: he was gripping his pencil in a partial fist; he often reversed his b’s and d’s; his letters were of varying sizes, often above or below the line; and his printing overall was illegible. Diego is a fairly typical example of the children I see who have symptoms of dyslexia, and who hate writing. After a few weeks of practicing a form of cursive that was origi