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How Many Words Do You You Share With Your Child Every Day? Did you know that talking to your child is one of the most important things you can do for your child’s intellectual development? Don’t take my word for it — Drs. Betty Hart and Todd Risley analyzed more than 46,000 hours of speech […]

A Letter for Karen Is your child impulsive and rambunctious? If so, I wanted to share a question a mom from Florida asked me, because she brings up a problem that so many parents struggle with. Her son is very smart and does super well in school. His teachers for the last 2 years have […]

Great News! If your child loves music, I’ve got some great news: Basic Music Competency (BMC) is the ability to sing in tune and move with accurate rhythm. Unfortunately, no one can learn to play an instrument without it, and a BMC-lacking person won’t be able to recognize if the melody is right or notice […]

This email from a parent tells all about gifted and talented testing. Take a look inside the process from a parent’s perspective. Parent Tells All I wanted to let you know my son took the test this past Saturday. We went to the school and my son was actually very calm. I took your advice about […]

What is Dialogic Reading? Dialogic reading (a technique developed by Dr. Grover J. Whitehurst) is a method where you not only read aloud to your child, but you also carry on a conversation about the book as you’re reading. So, gently guide your child through questions and expansions on what he or she says while […]

Ruling Against the Parents Well, it looks like some NYC gifted and talented students are more equal than others at least according to Judge Alice Schlesinger, who ruled against the parents who recently appeared in the court. The judge agreed with the NYC dept of ed on their sibling policy (that they changed back to […]

How’s Your Follow Through? How many times have you threatened disciplinary actions if your child doesn’t listen and obey, only to fail when it’s time to follow through?  Whenever it happened to me I’d think, “Wow, I’m a follow-through failure!” Years ago, our two-year-old daughter Schuyler asked for grape soda as we were walking into […]

Competitive Nursery Schools If you are thinking about applying your child to nursery school in a city like New York or Los Angeles, where getting into nursery school can be as competitive as getting into an Ivy League, here are some of the most frequently asked questions parents ask on about the admissions process. Why is […]

What are the signs of a gifted child? There are many signs of a gifted child and some possible signs include: excellent memory, great sense of humor, morally sensitive, perfectionist, questions authority and good at jigsaw puzzles. Take the 5 question quiz! Well, the folks at Testing Mom (home of the 100 free practice questions) […]

Children love competition. Board games give them the chance to learn to win or lose (with grace, we hope!).  When children play board games, they are strengthening their mathematical, vocabulary, thinking, memory skills – and that’s just the beginning. Games Bring Growth in ALL Areas. By rolling the dice and moving their player on the […]