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Showing posts from September, 2014

Naturally Rewiring the #Brain w/ #ExecutiveFunction Dvlpt. - #ADD #autism CoachBill.US

Image: Neural Synaptic Connection Kids and adults with strong right hemispheric strengths but weaker effective application of left hemispheric traits and characteristics are commonly known as having attentional deficits.   This mental balance impacts critical thinking and normal decision making. By bringing in natural activities tailored to the individual we can create the conditions for 'synaptic neural connections' or bridges between the right and the left hemisphere. By doing so consistently... you develop these hemispheric and executive function skills bridges. This can mean faster processing speed for you or your child, if you are a parent. Caveat: Rewiring your brain takes time. Be patient and focus on enjoying the experience, not some end result. The development of executive function skills needs for an adult individual or a child in a family needs to fun and practical to be effective over the long haul.  This is why I promote the natural development of our executive fu...

#Confessions of a Private #SpecialEducator / CoachBill.US #ADD #executivefunction #autism

When you think of Special Education, do you think of a classroom? Do you think of kids with impairments? What do you think of? If you are a parent with a child in Special Education, do you think of those wonderful team meetings? Do you think about the passage of time and the lack of progress with your child? How about if you use to receive some kind of special education? Do you feel like you have untapped potential? Do you feel like your child can do much more? Are you frustrated? Are you angry? Are you near your 'wits end,' and don't see a good light at the end of the tunnel? What if I told you that there is at least one private Special Educator out there with a drive for performance? The performance of your child to go above and beyond. There is a private special educator in America that wears his heart on his sleeve for his students to see, and challenges them to new heights completely outside the zone of what parents think feasible or attainable. No other Special Educat...

#CoachBill - Reversing Introversion by Having Music Rock you from the Inside-Out / #executivefunction #ADD #ADHD #autism

How about some quick tips to naturally boost executive function skills development in child who is somewhat introverted? This is great for a teenager, but it works with a young child or an adult too. Likewise, it works swimmingly well for an individual with attention deficits or even autism. By making it a point to let loose and dance, be it by yourself or with someone else you grab at the potential of 'rocking the house.' In other words, dancing softens peoples obstinances, and  introduces increasing degrees of mental flexibility when it is engaging. People 'turn on' and smiles appear, little annoyances do a 'fade-away,' and all that matters is moving to the beat and having a grand time. Getting people to learn to dance early in life is like learning a whole new language. In fact, in a world where 93% of communication is said to be non-verbal, dancing can communicate a great deal about how we feel, and it can take how we feel and completely change it. Dancing c...

Against All Odds w/ #MountainClimbing as an #ExecutiveFunction Tool

How can I as a Special Educator take my understanding and application of best instructional practices and methods (pedagogy) to uncharted territory?  How can I ensure I am still innovating for the benefit of my students? What are the metrics to stay effective as an Executive Function Skills Coach to infants, kids and adults with executive function skill deficits, ADD/ADHD or autism? Can athleticism become an analogy for the abstract and concrete challenges and obstacles individuals face on a daily basis? Recently, a student I mentor and coach climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with his father. The teenager has a form of high-functioning autism referred to as Asperger's. Don't tell him though. He likes to act like that is no big sweat. He wants to climb the seven summits of the world and has just completed 1/7th of his journey by reaching his first summit with Kilimanjaro. His trip involved brutal cold, 12-14 hour days of hiking in thin air conditions and moving only at night to avoid sl...

#Failure is a Pit Stop, Not a Defining Moment: UseYour #ExecutiveFunction Skills

updated 2/7/16 Are you a young professional, a parent, or a student accustomed to uphill progress? How about uphill failure? It is not uncommon to have children and adults diagnosed with severe cognitive deficits to encounter a sense of repeated failure in their academic performance. Just like a mathematical formula, a repeated sense of failure can have what seems like a compunding effect over time on a growing, developing human being, if not corrected.  One helpful aid parents can integrate is to give their children strong study skills. Good study skill tool and strategy application can make an incredible difference in grade performance. E mphasizing the use of different study skill tools for your child as part of a home executive function skill program puts more focus on an effective process, or modus operandis, rather than an all-encompassing focus on end results. This shifts the focus into a 'growth-oriented mindset,' or perspective which greatly disallows a s...

Streamlining the Morning Routine Naturally w/ #ExecutiveFunction Skill Development

Is it morning time in your household and you are trying to get the children ready? Some of your kids may be independent enough, but what about a child on the autism spectrum, or some other special need?  Let's work on those executive function and hemispheric skills by making the morning routine on a planned category map. It takes 2-4 minutes to get a piece of paper, pencil or pen, and make 3-4 categories with accompanying morning routine activities. One category can be 'Getting Dressed' while another one can be 'Breakfast & Clean Up,' and a third can be 'Thinking About Your Thinking,' (metacognition). Activities can be organized according to categories, then number them TOGETHER with your child. Convey collaboration and inclusion by having them help fill up the planning map with you. You can make a game out of it where they have to guess activities and categories. After numbering, or prioritizing the map... you start the first numbered activity and cross...

The Welcomed Grief That Comes with the Job

In my line of work, a part of my heart takes on a part of the grief of parents who have children with more severe special needs, like autism. I empathically feel some of the pain expressed by the mothers. Their tears can become my tears eventually, and some of their energy gets replicated and carried by me. I in turn channel it (as best I can) into my work, and my advocacy for the disadvantaged individuals.  Apparently, I should channel more effectively because there is a fire in my bones. I can regulate and modulate and have multiple outlets for my energy, but the grief of some of these parents is monumental. I recognize injustice. Children with autism are not usually born autistic. It is after we plug them over and over again with the nasty preservatives, like barium, strontium, formaldehyde, mercury, aluminimum ( a metal last time I checked), and cancer-causing viruses. Read up on the work of Dr. Russell Blaylock (who has not been completely sidelined by the Big Pharma-vaccine l...