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

Children, as they grow up in their formative years form a great amount of their understandings of the world based on their experiences as they are processed emotionally and physically. In this essay, I question how the emotional and physical processing influences behavior and movement. Do our experiences influence how we hold our body? Likewise, do our experiences, especially those in our childhood and adolescence influence how we hold our facial muscles? I posit that the ‘processed’ experiences place a signature mark on our whole selves and we live out our lives with this coded information. I also posit that we are able to change, or re-code this information while toning our cognitive-physical health. The way we walk,  The way we hold our face muscles,  the way we talk the way we dance. Their is a physical, emotional code that is created and affirmed and the ability to change that signature mark can be done practically through purposeful,...

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another without loss of enthusiasm- Winston Churchill This statement is a mindset which can be used as a framework for the practice of excelling in rapid time towards short/ long-term goals attainment. Here is another mindset that parents, teachers, coaches, and even professors can use. Praise the process, not the end result. This is the crux of the 'growth-oriented mindset.' It is buttressed by two other flanking mindset that I am identifying; how you say what you say, which is the definition of 'paraverbal skills,' and the second minor-mindset, more aptly called a 'parameter mindset' is ...'kids expect what we  inspect.' This means that kids pick up on what you value and is important to you by what you say and by how you act. Churchill's comment is an attitude with a goal. It voices strong conviction, and a goal-directed persistence that well not be stopped. Think about it.... ...

It has been said that America's business is 'busy-ness.' I think that is true, generally speaking. Work is essential for life to be sustained. Bills need to be paid as our president has pointed out, and food needs to be put on the table. Likewise, financial security that can take care of us in the hard times, or in our 'old age,' is an important goal in America. Sometimes though, it seems that we get too caught up in our work and monetary goals and we forget what we are doing it all for.  The stress and pressure of 'getting ahead,' can be daunting, and cynically take away opportunities to rest and unwind. Moreover, our own kids learn our ways by default. Work is good for the mind, but rest is the other side of this equation that is supposed to render a 'balanced life.' Remember that saying, "all work and no play makes Joe a dull boy?" For example, do you do your best work when you are annoyed and irritated, or  when you are calm, and ...

"During every minute of the nine months of pregnancy, the brain gains a quarter of a million cells. The brain is hardwired to produce a staggering total of around 100 billion neurons and a trillion glial cells, which provide all the necessary support and protection. This will lead to a multi trillion network of connections capable of performing 20 million billion calculations per second." - Adam Cox No Mind Left Behind:Understanding and Fostering Executive Function Control Truly, truly, it is a marveous thing to behold. The built-in complexity of the brain and mind follows an intelligently-designed blueprint that will always exceed that of even the smartest, most versatile computer. This would not be  due to intellectual smarts, or experiental knowledge, but for the human beings ability to shift into genuine, heart felt expression, love, such as a Mother or Father has for their child. Self-less, altruistic love that seeks no payback, with no hidden motive.   Some m...

One's executive function skills are located in the prefrontal lobe (your forehead area), and are responsible for the manipulation, orchestration, and self-management of one self, in a goal directed manner. Commonly referred to as the brains CEO, it is responsible for a host of skills that range from the ability to focus and sustain attention, to exercising self-control, or using your foresight to anticipate and predict outcomes. As a Special Educator and an Executive Function Skills Coach, it behooves me to introduce strategies, activities, and tools that are accepted by my students, and readily integrated into their daily life with the support of their parent(s).  Regardless of what their diagnosis is, I divorce my thought processes from any label that may have been placed on a child or adolescent.  I do not work with ADHD kids, or EF skill deficit kids, likewise, I do not work with autistic kids. I hope I never do. I do work with kids who have been diagnosed with ...

The brain' synaptic growth and pruning, or  the generation, and self-trimming of synaptic connections in a humans brain is in rampant activity between in-utero, and young adulthood (late 20's). A dual integration of effective instructional delivery, couples with an focused activity curriculum that is novel, emotionally engaging, and sustains the learner's attention is the best way to strengthen these synaptic linkages. In other words, this kind of development has to be on-going, fun, challenging, and practical, all at the same time. This can be made to look easy by a seasoned professional also. But it is not easy. In my own 'Coach Bill' executive functioning skills coaching program novelty and challenge can be found in my integration of EF skill refinement activities like metabolic interval training, isometric muscle training, long board surfing, small boat sailing, skiing, ice skating, paddleboarding, swimming, playing tennis, playing chess, role-playing, ...

One thing that Coach Bill is well-known for amongst the families and individuals he works with is 'pushing the envelope.' In order to be sought out for my skill as a coach for kids and adults with Learning Disabilities, Executive Function Skill deficits, or Autism, rendering results on an on-going basis is essential.  That means that I have to be keen on identifying that fine and shifting line of just how far past a learner's comfort zone I should push them.  If we are doing muscular exercise, the ideal goal would be to do high-quality resistance training repetitions until muscle failure. The coach guides the learner to the right resistance and acceptable movement arcs so as to limit doing a large quantity of reps before the muscle begins to tremble and fail. When muscle failure is reached, it is in that moment we have left the comfort zone, and are breaking new ground. As a life-long longboarder, while living on the North Shore of O'ahu, Hawaii, I sometimes su...

Many by now have thought long and hard about what it will take to drastically diminish, or cold-stop these 'wild, shoot everyone in sight' sprees. It seems like a monumental task. We are over 300,000,000 strong in America. How can we bring coherent impact to solving this dilemma? I believe that much of what I have to say below has already been said. So in essence, I am joining the ranks of civic-minded citizens, educators, and mental health professionals, when I say that we must change: Family: Put a strong focus on strengthening the family unit in America. Teaching executive function skill developmen t early on. Make it a national priority! Personalize educational instruction to students, in order to maximize repetitive successful outcomes over time. Quiet the mind: Make it a law that all schools must teach and make time for quiet time meditation 2x's per day at school. Get Olympic-style serious about physical education programs in public schools. Pass a law a...