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(1-minute read) Staying under the radar Being on the radar Question: What about the kids who are classroom troublemakers? How do we get them to start off the year right without getting into trouble? Answer: Very often, classroom troublemakers have a lot of spunk and personality. We don’t want to squelch that completely. However, neither […]

(1-minute read) Here is a social story for an incoming 9th grader who had to work hard on her school and home behavior, as well as her social skills, over the last few months in order to get accepted into a high school. I asked her to tell me which behaviors were a problem for

(2-minute read) Question: Hi Devora, I like the idea you presented in the last blog for the 9-year-old who was losing her camp stuff. I believe it truly works for kids that age and younger, and it feels very rewarding. My question is – how do we go about implementing this with an older student

(2-minute read) A couple summers ago, Malky, a 9-year-old student of mine kept losing her stuff. One day it was the towel and bathing suit, the next day it was the crocs, and the next day, nothing came home. How did we teach her to be responsible? There were several things we implemented simultaneously. Enjoy

(1-minute read) One of the cool things about teaching social skills is the idea that any problematic “Red” behavior you encounter can be modified by teaching a “Green” better alternative. You don’t have to feel stuck that a child who CURRENTLY has social difficulties will FOREVER have social problems. It doesn’t have to be that

(4-minute read) Question: Hi Devora, Hope all’s well. I have a question regarding a 12-year-old child I’m working with and I was hoping you can point me in the right direction please. She is the 3rd of seven children, and has a sister one year older than her. Per mom, the older sister is a

(1-minute read) One of my colleagues shared that she has been teaching the “I CAN” attitude as a green behavior to help children in a variety of different areas that they otherwise felt hopeless. So instead of nagging them and saying “C’mon, try, don’t be lazy,” she teaches them the following chant which she tweaked:

(1-minute read) Why do kids get anxious about change, such as a change to a new day camp or sleep away camp? Well, for the same reason that many of us adults would get anxious about any kind of major change in our lives. Think – new job, new business, new neighborhood, new home, new

(1-minute read) I was working with Esther, a sweet fourth grader, who stayed indoors on weekends and would not go out to play with her neighbors. She gave me lots and lots of reasons why there was no point in even trying. Over the past few months, we had worked on play skills, conversation skills,

(2-minute read) Question: My 9th grade daughter refuses to go to sleep-away camp because she says that she doesn’t have any friends. She doesn’t want to go to a local day camp either for the same reason. She’s a very bright student and I’ve told her numerous times to just have conversations with her peers,