Giving kids the social skills they need to succeed
Ok, by a show of hands, how many of you saw Donald Trump’s Access Hollywood video? You know, the one in which he expounds upon the joys of sexual assault and adultery, and celebrates freedom, uniquely held by celebrities, from any burdens of self-restraint? Most of you, right? Ok, how many of you caught the late night apology video he released in response? […]
» Read moreIn the realm of mental health, every year seems to bring a new “fashionable” diagnosis du jour. Sometimes, these “hot” diagnoses pass out of favor fairly quickly (i.e. – the sharp uptick in pediatric bipolar diagnoses we saw about 5 years ago) while other trends seem to herald something real. This year, at our practice we have seen a lot […]
» Read moreIn a 75 minute group here at Academy MetroWest, we spend about 60 – 65 minutes in our gym playing cooperative games with our kids. Cooperative physical activity is the primary focus of our program but during most sessions, we spend the last 10 minutes or so in our offices having snack and doing some quieter activities with our group […]
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Every March, the staff and kids here at Academy MetroWest take part in one of our favorite annual rituals – March Madness. No, we do not have our kids fill out brackets and bet on the NCAA basketball tournament. Although I’m sure we’d have some interesting picks if we did that, in our program, March Madness takes on a different […]
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“Bruce has been a positive factor in our program, as he is committed to doing a good job, is enthusiastic, and will push himself even if he is not really into a particular group. He does not have any glaring weaknesses although he could be a bit more organized.” Dr. John Cloninger, Ed.D – 12/23/88 Yes…A BIT more organized. The […]
» Read moreFor 21 years, Academy MetroWest has run therapeutic groups for children and adolescents that center on the use of cooperative, collaborative physical activity. Aside from the therapeutic benefits obtained through working this way, it’s an enjoyable way to structure physical activities for kids. Over the last few years, I’ve been happy to find more and more video games and board […]
» Read moreEarly this month, Academy MetroWest hosted a free workshop for parents. Dr. Joe Moldover, a top-notch neuropsychologist in our area, talked about Non-Verbal Learning Disability, Asperger’s Syndrome, and High Functioning Autism. At one point during his presentation, Dr. Moldover described the way kids with these profiles learn social skills by comparing the process to teaching baseball to little leaguers. With some players, if you […]
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I spent a lot of time this summer listening to audio books. It was not entirely of my own volition. I brought my 9 year old daughter with me to our camp for 3 weeks. Between our commute – about 30 minutes each way – and then our family trips to upstate New York and Downeast Maine at the end […]
» Read moreDuring the summer, Academy MetroWest runs a small day camp. Some weeks at camp adhere to a specific theme and this week is one of them. It’s our second annual LARP week and it’s the brainchild of a long time member of our staff, Adam Hurley. For the uninitiated, LARP stands for Live Action Role Play. According to Wikipedia, a LARP is: […]
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“The real scholars were left in almost total freedom to ply their studies and their Games, and no one objected that a good many of their works seemed to bring no immediate benefits to the people or the community and, inevitably, seemed to nonscholars merely luxurious frivolities.” – Herman Hesse, Magister Ludi: The Glass Bead Game Two summers ago, my […]
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