Coach Bill / Dad, Entrepreneur Special Educator, American Political Scientist, Writer, Musician.

A child’s first 5-6 years are a time of cognitive growth and eventually neural pruning, thus what is done with that time is of utmost importance. Recognizing dancing as a versatile, formidable modality for autism intervention is worth parents consideration. For starters, dance therapy is not dance class. With my three students  (on the spectrum) whom I have coached for over five years, I have rolled out the use of dancing as a form of communication, emotional processing, and tool to re-channel stemming behavior. I do not use this modality with every student I coach.  These early years need to be a time of setting precedent for a child with special needs. The development of the below skills can be strengthened in short time with the right teacher setting up the right conditions.  communication skills social skills sensory skills soft skills (grit, resilience, humility, compassion) executive function skills (like sustaining attention, functional balanc...

For a few years I have been working on integrating the showmanship and basketball skills of the Harlem Globetrotters into my 1:1 coaching work with kids and adults on autism spectrum, those with ADHD/ADD and/ or those with executive function skill deficits. I see the ball-handling skills exhibited by professional basketball players and such show acts as the Globetrotters in-line with the holistic executive function skill use I teach and model. I also see the body positions that are required to surf and skate well pop up as we move to rhythm and beat, beat to rhythm. I love it. As I dance before dawn early in the morning or late at night I get ideas on how to stay crisp, fresh, keep the fun present, sustain and quickly implement ‘real-time’ coach-student feedback, harness my energy, manage my students energy, and the observable positive results I am able to help trigger.  I’d be remiss to say that my basketball moves don’t flesh into my dancing. They mesh with the...

The use of a back-door approach to 'jimmy' your child's mindset can be used to circumvent a lack of motivation and engagement. Children and young adults with attentional deficits or executive function skill deficits find it troublesome to focus on that which they find cumbersome, and with the manifestation of the learning environment in U.S. Public schools, the top-down instructional format is exactly like trying to fit everyone into a square hole.  Hence, many students hit grade performance obstacles, and experience feelings of frustration, anxiety, and even anger. Their parents look to help and remedy the situation: they sit down to do home work with their children, they help them stay on the study path, and hopefully, look to advocate for their child in the school. If you are looking for another pathway, then here is one. I argue that pre-teens and adolescents are grossly under-challenged by their public schools, aside from being treated mostly like cattle. The public sc...