Academy MetroWest Talks Social Skills on iCommunicate

On 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 […]

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The How and Why of Socializing

I used to work with a teenager who had a long-term plan for dealing with his social skills challenges. When things were going well, he was able to make some good connections with the other members of his group. When things weren’t going well, he took it hard. One day, he and I were talking after he had gotten into […]

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The Poet and the Learn’d Astronomer

When I heard the learn’d astronomer,  When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,  When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,  When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,  How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,  Till rising and gliding out I […]

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Book Review: Bright Kids Who Can’t Keep Up, by Ellen Braaten and Brian Willoughby

A few years ago, I was going through some kids’ files and noticed a pattern in the results on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children or WISC. The WISC is a commonly used test of cognitive functioning consisting of 10 subtests, which yields a full scale IQ, as well as 5 indexes that provide scores in more specific aspects of […]

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Book Review: Late, Lost, and Unprepared by Joyce Cooper-Kahn and Laurie Dietzel

“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 […]

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Book Review: Parents Have the Power to Make Special Education Work

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 […]

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Sweet Oblivion Feels All Right – For a Time

“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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The Blind Leading the Blind

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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I Love Public Schools but….

Bashing 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 […]

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Your Cheatin’ Heart

“Sneakin’ out the backdoor to hang out with those hoodlum friends of mine                Greeted at the backdoor with ‘Boy I thought I told you not to go outside’                     Tryin’ hard to bring the water to your eyes             […]

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