Category Archives: Need to Know

Summer reading is often part of a high school English curriculum. Many times, incoming freshmen to seniorswill find they are required to read certain novels over their summer break. The purpose of this requirement istwofold: (1) it helps students strengthen their literacy skills; and (2) it allows English teachers to assess thoseskills at the beginning… Continue reading →

A token economy system is a systematic method of providing positive reinforcement and can be used by parents, teachers, tutors, supervisors, coaches, and essentially any other adult providing instruction. A “token” is essentially a form of positive reinforcement that is given to alert the learner that he/she has done something well. There are endless possibilities… Continue reading →

Fortunately, autism awareness is increasing in today’s society, but there are still many misconceptions about what autism is and is not. This blog post will not be able to explain fully the depth of this statement, but will aim to clarify and elucidate various common characteristics of autism to promote further understanding. Autism is often… Continue reading →

Bully, disruptive, unmotivated, and the list grows exponentially.  Many speculate and wonder about children described this way but those well-intended speculations are misguided.  Behavior is a form of communication and solution makers will focus on the function of behavior.   What needs aren’t being met? Building relationships is vital in establishing trust and working with… Continue reading →

Positive reinforcement has been shown to be the most effective strategy to use when trying to evoke behavior change. Essentially, positive reinforcement means adding something to a situation to increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring again in the future. Here’s an example: Mrs. Smith gives Katie a gold star for turning in her math… Continue reading →

There are many myths out there about both people with autism. While below is an attempt to clear up some of those myths, it is important to remember that each person with autism is unique and there is no such thing as a “one size fits all” approach. Myth 1: • People with autism think… Continue reading →

“You got a C?…are you kidding me!  I didn’t know you were struggling in this class!”   Parents, too often, you find yourselves in this position—my child is struggling and I didn’t even know it. You may have studied your child’s progress on the school website, cancelled plans for extensive homework assignments, even called in… Continue reading →

Live long enough and you will understand that the entire life is full of making decisions.  Those decisions are often followed by actions which directly impact the outcomes we seek.  Therefore, achieving desired outcomes depends on making good decisions which require critical thinking skills.   Critical thinking is a valuable skill that anyone can improve… Continue reading →

When people think of the words “learning disabilities,” they think of words like a child who learns differently or slow learner.  These words occurred possibly earlier within the history of learning disabilities.  The reason is because the general public and educators did not understand the special and different ways in which students learn.  In the… Continue reading →

It’s no surprise that the strand of language anxiety research is currently growing at an exponential rate. Everyone struggles in some form or another with committing errors when speaking a foreign language. In fact, despite being a linguistics major with five languages under my belt, I still get nervous conversing in any of them on… Continue reading →