Avoiding the Trap: A Guide for Parents of Children with Learning Difficulties to Spot and Avoid Scams
When your child struggles with learning, it's natural to want answers — and fast. As parents, you can be pushed into the unfamiliar world of educational support, assessments, and interventions. It's...
why strong, positive relationships matter
A wonderful blog today from Alisha Bliss, educational psychologist. As educators, we (I used to be a teacher) are taught appropriate strategies, curriculum design and implementation, and behaviour...
Parenting teens part 2: Some ideas about what works when you are parenting teens.
Teens and preteens are challenging, changing, fascinating and tremendously fun to parent. Their views on the world are often very different from their parents and they often see situations differently...
Teenagers, what’s with them? Part 1
You are all the proud parents of either pre-teens or teenagers and as you will all be aware this is a time of tremendous developmental change. As a psychologist I’m fascinated by this period of change...
What to do if your child says they don’t want to go to school. Part 3
Last post I talked about defining the problem, setting family/whanau expectations about school attendance and began to think about solutions. This month we can look more closely at how to put a plan...
What to do if your child says they don’t want to go to school. Part 2
First step is to clarify what’s going on. Sometimes children are simply over tired or beginning to feel unwell. Think back to the past few days or weeks, has it been very busy or are there any signs...
What to do if your child says they don’t want to go to school. Part 1
This is a multi-part series, in this first article I’ll talk about putting the problem into context and getting some more perspective on it. Next post I’ll talk about how to put together a clear plan...
Helping young people to deal effectively with difficult social situations
At times we will all be confronted with difficult social situations where someone is saying something we find challenging. This may be saying unkind or inappropriate things about a friend or acquaintance...
Encouraging kids to stick with sports
Wayne Goldsmith is a well known coach and in this Radio NZ podcast he talks about how to encourage kids to continue playing sports and to keep them from dropping out of playing sports after age 13. Wayne...
Device use and wellbeing
The evidence is slim that time spent by teens on a device is linked to lower wellbeing. My advice to parents is to ensure that your children have a mix of activities which may include time spent on devices....
Bullying: part 2
One aspect of bullying in schools is the impact of bystanders. Given how busy and well populated most schools are it is often the case that bullying incidents take place in front of witnesses or bystanders....
Bullying: part 1, how to define this behaviour
Bullying is a topic that has recently been in the news headlines. The Education Review Office published a study in May this year based on evidence gathered from 136 primary, secondary and composite schools...
what to do if eye contact is difficult
Eye contact can be a feature of social communication. Some people can find this very difficult. The following article suggests that just generally looking at the face of the person you are talking to...
How to create a good sleeper
Sleep is important to us in terms of our ability to function well while we are awake. More recent studies have confirmed that sleep is a time when our bodies repair and our minds consolidate what we...
Resources for managing anxiety
A website that I often recommend which has a treasure trove of resources to manage and understand anxiety is Hey Sigmund which is run by Karen Young, who is very active in providing support in this area....
Helping children to understand their emotions.
A reminder that everyone has moments of sadness and anxiety. The link is to a fantastic youtube video that talks about emotions and helps children/young people to understand that mental health is similar...
Managing emotions: resource
When children find they are overwhelmed by emotions this poster gives some great ideas for managing them well. This is a great visual for supporting children with self-regulation. https://3ppsychologies.com/2018/11/08/resource-diary-entry-35-regulation-coping-strategies/...
Mindsets
Growth and fixed mindsets seem to be buzz words of the moment. From business to education conversations about mindsets seem to be popular. Carol Dweck is the researcher credited with bringing this new...
Helpful resources to support managing anxiety
To finish up my series of blogs on anxiety I’ve created a list of tried and true resources for you and your child/young person. As an educational psychologist, I've used a number of resources to support...
Anxiety part 2: 10 strategies that can help
What can parents do to help their young people to become better able to manage anxiety? Strategies to support your young person follow: - Allow children to experience the change in their mood/feelings...
Anxiety, part 1
Let’s talk about anxiety. Today’s article will discuss the typical experience of anxiety, fear or worry that everyone encounters. If you are concerned that anxiety is more than every day, I have some...
Friendship: How can I help my child to develop and maintain good friendships?
Friendship can be defined as pleasure in the company of others, it is a reciprocal relationship in that support is expected to flow both ways. Friendships give children a context to learn social skills,...
Vocabulary development for writing and reading
Children’s ability to write well is heavily dependent on prior knowledge of vocabulary. If you don’t know the right or correct word you can’t use it in your writing. A good place to start supporting...
Resilience
Resilience is a concept which has been studied extensively recently both internationally and in New Zealand. It offers a way to view an adverse situation with hope and positivity. Resilience is the concept...
When you are studying are you really learning?
Self-explanation or the process of explaining a concept to yourself is one of the most powerful ways of learning. When you prompt a student to explain a concept to themselves, they are both creating...
Can I see you for just a chat?
Just a short post today answering a frequently asked question. Can I see you for just a chat?Yes, absolutely. I am happy to talk about situations occurring at home or school and take a problem-solving...
What happens during an educational psychology assessment?
One or both parents usually accompany children/young people to the appointment. We spend the first 15 minutes chatting and getting to know each other. Sometimes I have follow up questions from the written...
You’ve made an appointment to meet with a psychologist, what happens now?
Over the past year since I began seeing clients privately, I have been asked a range of questions by parents about what to expect on the day that they bring their child to see me. Today I thought I’d...
Back to school
Welcome back to the 2019 school year. Hopefully everyone has had a chance to have a break and some down time from the busy school schedule during term time. Many schools will be starting back in the...
online gaming
Online gaming and the challenges this can bring is something that seems to be hitting the headlines a lot recently. In my own work I’ve had parents contacting me with concerns about their child’s online...
Parenting in the digital world Part 2, How do we keep our children safe online?
This is something that keeps parents awake at nights and often comes up in conversation when parents get together. There is not an option to avoid technology and the connectedness that the internet provides....
Parenting in the digital world, part 1, What is this digital world and how does it fit with education?
Most of the people actively parenting now have had a very different experience of computer technology in education and in the rest of our lives than our children are having. For many parents computer...
Transition: focusing on the move to high school from primary school/intermediate
Transition is something that is on the minds of many parents and children currently. The end of the school year is racing towards us at a great rate. At times children and parents may both be feeling...
Working memory
Working memory is a term I have heard teachers and parents mention recently. The first question really is what is working memory? Of note is that working memory is not a physical part of the brain. It...
Automaticity and how to get it. Part 2
Last week I talked about taking the pressure off your child if they are taking a little longer to acquire automaticity with reading, writing and arithmetic. This week I’d like to share some strategies...
Automaticity and how to get it
As adults most of us have had the experience of doing something without really thinking about it. We drive a car, read, talk and complete simple daily tasks like brushing our teeth without having to...
How to create a reader.
A common concern that pushes parents to seek the help of an educational psychologist is that their child is not learning to read as quickly as other children. The work I can do one to one with a child,...
My child is struggling to learn and to make progress at school. How can I be positive about this?
Being told that your child is learning differently from his or her peers or that they may meet criteria for diagnosis such as Autistic Spectrum Disorder or Attention Deficit Disorder can be challenging...
How to prepare for exams (tips from the research literature)
Many students will be facing end of year exams soon. Parents are often left wondering how to provide useful advice to their children in this situation. It’s often a while since we have faced exams ourselves...
What to do if your child is reversing letters?
I’ve had parents and teachers ask me whether a child reversing letters is a sign that they may have a learning disability. The truth it is not unusual for children to reverse letters and numbers at some...
Flying with children: Part 2
On both international and domestic flights one of my top tips is to have a range of activities, like books, puzzles or games for your child to engage in. When my children were very small I mixed in...
Flying with children: Part 1
At the start of the last school holidays I blogged about how to have a successful school holiday break. I mentioned that flying with children deserved its own blog post and here it is now. If you are...
How do we get them to behave?
Psychology has a lovely, neat answer to that question. A powerful tool we can use to get our children to behave is to point out what they are doing right and to keep on pointing this out to them. Reinforcement...
Why do children do what they do?
Our current understandings about why people behave the way they do come from a rich history of behavioural science. The thinking traces back to scientists such as Pavlov with his famous salivating dogs...
Creating good eaters
Recently, my father gave me an old textbook he had used in the ‘70s when he was studying as an extramural student at Massey University. The textbook was on developmental psychology. I’ve been browsing...
Let’s talk about behaviour: What is socially acceptable?
Psychologists can provide insights about how to teach children to manage their behaviour in ways that are socially acceptable. It’s a bit of a minefield to blog about this topic as there are so many...
How to manage the universal human experience of grief and loss
Resilient Grieving: Finding Strength and Embracing Life After a Loss That Changes Everything LucyHone, foreword Karen Reivich Author Lucy Hone and forward writer Karen Reivich provide an academic credibility...
autistic spectrum disorder
I was asked recently to speak to a group of community social workers about working with children and young people who have been diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum. This agency has noticed that...
What can you expect from a written psychology report?
A written report brings together all the elements of the completed assessments - discussed in earlier blogs. The report will contain recommendations for what could be done to make things go better for...
So what does an educational psychologist do (all day)? Part 2
Last week I left off my day with setting up the paperwork for report writing. The photo above is of my home office which is where I typically write my reports. You may be able to see that I’m fueled...
So what does an educational psychologist do (all day)? Part 1
My office, located on the grounds of Auckland Normal Intermediate. The following is an idealised day which has omitted the boring and mundane stuff. My day might start with a meeting with my intern...
Successful school holidays
School holidays have started. It’s likely to be cold and wet outside. You may be heading away for a cold weather holiday or to a tropical destination for some sunshine. Maybe you are staying at home...
So what is an educational psychologist?
Having been an educational psychologist for more than 10 years, I’m aware that people have a range of thoughts about this question. I’ve been told that being a psychologist must be like working for the...
Mindfulness for children
Mindfulness seems to be a trending topic at the moment. It seems every second person I speak to is starting a practice or is reading about mindfulness. There are so many apps and information targeted...
Let’s talk about being a good enough parent.
Thoughts from a psychologist about parenting