

Gum for Improved Attention & Calming
Does the sound and look of chewing gum irritate you? I have to admit, it's not the prettiest of actions - but for those struggling against fatigue, inattention and anxiety, it can be very helpful and worth overlooking the irritation it can cause the "non-chewer"....
A Common Scent Solution For Better Learning Outcomes
If you have a child or adolescent who struggles with: reading and re-reading text - they're really having a hard with absorbing and comprehending it struggling with mental mathematics following complex directions you're getting reports of them being highly...
Indoor Voices Please!
In this month's video blog, I'm sharing a simple strategy that we find very helpful to help children find their indoor voices - even when they're excited or upset. When children are getting noisy for one reason or another, it's very easy for adults to respond with an...

Practice Leads To Mastery
Research is clear that the best way to develop writing skills is with frequent practice. While many children naturally seek out writing and practise for the sheer fun of mastery, some don't. What can you do to motivate children to practise writing correctly? In this...

Scientific Thinking Starts In The Toddler Years
Who ever said that learning science had to be solemn and serious never talked to Albert Einstein - he is quoted as saying “Play is the highest form of research.” That being the case then, the playground is the child’s laboratory where they routinely ask the...
How Brains Can Change For The Better
All types of therapy and education for that matter rely on a characteristic of the human brain that has only recently emerged as a lifelong ability or process – neural plasticity. Although there is still some resistance in some quarters to the idea that the brain can...
Managing The After School Crankies
In this month's video blog I share some of my favourite hints, tips and strategies for helping children handle transitioning from home to school . Do you have any children in your household that struggle with making the transition from home to school? It’s...
Speech Sounds For Starting School
One of the questions I get all the time at the beginning of the year as children are about to start school, is "My child can't say "s" properly, should they be able to?" Today I decided to unravel the mystery, along with exploring other "tricky sounds". When children...
Episode 32: Breaking Well
When you've worked hard to achieve gains for your child's development and/or learning with your therapist or teachers, it can be difficult to think about stopping. Over the years, Lisa and I have both had clients reluctant to take a break over the summer for fear of...
Episode 31: Stressed For Success
Wouldn't it be lovely if we could guarantee that our children would never be stressed? No, not really! Without sufficient stress, boredom sets in and potentially depression! And when does boredom kick in the most? That's right, the looming long Christmas holidays here...