Parents bring their children in to see me for many different reasons. Some kids are struggling with emotion regulation or sensory sensitivities, other children are clumsy and awkward in social situations, and many are falling behind academically. Today, I want to focus on the children who are struggling with academics and some of the most common things that I see that contribute to academic underachievement. Before I talk about some common underlying causes, I want try to get

Unlike many of you, I am not a parent. I do not have a child with developmental problems, but I do understand what many of them experience. I was one of those children. My Story My story is not your typical story about a struggling child. I always did very well academically, but by the time I was in 3rd grade I had already been to three different schools and I hated all of them. Neither my parents nor I realized it at the time, but I was extremely anxious and stressed, partic

You baby is born with a set of reflexes that help them to survive during the first few months after their birth. These infant reflexes (called primitive reflexes) should systematically disappear and your baby should develop new, adult (postural) reflexes. For some children, this process is interrupted; their primitive reflexes do not disappear and they fail to develop postural reflexes. This can lead to all sorts of developmental delays and can even be the root cause of many

“Chronological age and intelligence are not the only criteria for learning success. Developmental readiness for formal education is equally important. Developmental testing of motor skills is carried out regularly in the first year of life, but when responsibility moves from the domain of medicine (midwife, pediatrician, and health visitor) to education at the time of school entry, a child’s developmental readiness in terms of physical development is not assessed as a matter