Giving kids the social skills they need to succeed
As a species, we humans are decidedly a mixed bag. Interactions with other people elicit emotions ranging from rage to indifference to joy. For most of us, the frustration inherent in everyday communication can be looked upon as a minor irritant – the cost of doing business. For other people, those annoyances are deal breakers. They see other humans as means to an end at best and […]
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Recently, my family and I spent a week camping on the coast of Maine. We spent part of the week at a beautiful new campground in the town of Brooklin, right near Blue Hill and Deer Isle. As luck would have it, we wound up adjacent to another family with children close to my daughter’s age. As luck would also have it, one of the children […]
» Read moreA confluence of two seemingly unrelated events made this week a momentous one for us here at Academy MetroWest. This past Tuesday, we finished up our school year program. It marked the end of our 20th year running weekly social skills groups. We start our summer program on June 23rd so, technically, we have to get through the next 7 weeks […]
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There are few things I like less than making small talk at parties. Since we became parents, my wife and I haven’t gone to as many as we used to but before my daughter was born, it was a fairly regular occurrence. When Sarah would mention a party we were supposed to attend, my response was often “Is this going to be […]
» Read moreFor many years, I’ve maintained (only half facetiously) that the best part of my job is that I’m able to wear jeans and a t-shirt to work. While I have no problem with wearing nicer outfits, comfort is a big deal for me when considering my wardrobe. In my work with kids, I spend lots of time chasing kids around, […]
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“I said Lord please give me what I need. He said there’s pain and misery. Oh sweet oblivion feels all right.” – Shadow of the Season – by Screaming Trees “Self knowledge is a dangerous thing. The freedom of who you are.” –There is No Time – by Lou Reed Helping children develop insight into their strengths and weaknesses is a […]
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For many human service professionals, state licensing boards require the completion of a certain number of continuing education units in order to maintain licensure. Personally, I’m required to attend 30 hours of continuing education programs every 2 years in order to renew my license as a mental health counselor. Some of these presentations are excellent and the best of them […]
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In the 2 minutes each year in which I’m not working or with my family, my favorite thing to do is to play music with my band. Since 1998, I’ve been writing music, singing, and playing guitar with 3 of my closest friends. If the rest of the world felt the same way about our music as we do, we’d […]
» Read moreBashing the US Public Education system has become so popular that it seems to be giving baseball a run for national pastime. You’ll get no argument from me if you say the system has its faults. But taken as a whole, there’s a good deal more that’s right with our public schools than there is that’s wrong with them. In […]
» Read more“ADHD?…they used to think I had that. Now they know I have Mad Cow Disease!” -11 y.o. Academy MetroWest participant When new kids enroll in our program, the first step in the process is undergoing an initial interview. We run through some activities in our gym with them to help us get a […]
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