Giving kids the social skills they need to succeed
For the past few weeks, we’ve been exploring a few simple, practical things you can do in order to help your organizationally challenged middle schoolers come to grips with the increased executive function demands they encounter in their schoolwork. In the first installment of this series, we discussed time and time management, focusing on strategies aimed at maximizing the effectiveness […]
» Read moreLast week, we journeyed along the “space/time/memory continuum back to the days of middle school. In that blog entry, we focused on time management issues, particularly as they relate to long-term assignments and projects your child may be undertaking. This week, we shift our attention to the matter of space. Specifically, is there a straightforward way in which parents can help […]
» Read moreI’ve met very few adults who look back on their middle school experience with anything resembling fondness. Newly raging hormones, along with healthy doses of social awkwardness, complication, and occasional nastiness can make those years a slog. You’re caught in a weird space between childhood and adolescence and it’s hard to figure out exactly where you fit in. When my […]
» Read moreFew things frustrate me more than wasted potential. Seeing smart, capable, hardworking people who, through no fault of their own, are denied opportunities to live their lives to the fullest, motivate me to come to work as a counselor each day. When I met Sam Farmer about 2 months ago, it occurred to me that he could easily have become […]
» Read moreOf the many reasons that people cite for getting into the field of counseling, it is rare, if not unheard of, to hear people say “I want to go into the field of counseling because I’ve always wanted to be a strong authority figure.” But at Academy MetroWest, that’s one of the primary goals we have when we begin training […]
» Read moreby Hope Notaro, M.A., LMHC & Tim Couto, M.A. A common difficulty among the kids we work with is starting and maintaining conversations. Most of our clients are boys and we know that male social interactions tend more toward doing things together rather than chatting. When you consider that on top of this, the kids who come to us tend […]
» Read moreA couple of weeks ago, I received a newsletter from The Asperger Autism Network (AANE). AANE’s newsletter is excellent and I make a point of reading it as often as I can. In this installment, one article in particular caught my eye. AANE is embarking on a fundraising drive to update and expand their training center and they’re going to […]
» Read moreSimply put, there are two types of books about specific social/cognitive issues that publishers market to parents and professionals. Entries from both categories attempt to answer a couple of very broad questions. The first category is one that I’ll call the “What’s the deal with ______?” genre. These books try to provide the reader with information about the characteristics, underlying causes, […]
» Read moreThere are some big changes coming at Academy MetroWest. The biggest is the impending retirement of our co-director and co-founder, Gary Steinberg. Gary’s career with the Academy started in the late 60’s. His uncle founded the Academy back in the 1950s as a self-defense program for children. It shifted its focus over the years to concentrate on cooperative physical activity […]
» Read moreOn Friday, May 18th, Academy MetroWest Director, Bruce Sabian, had the opportunity to sit down for a radio interview with Mark Altman, President of MindSetGo. MindSetGo is a business that helps children, adolescents, and adults learn to enhance their communication skills and differentiate themselves. The talk focused on social skills, child development, and Academy MetroWest. The interview aired on WCRN […]
» Read more