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

‘Teaching is personal,’ sais my colleague from England, Alastair Arnott. Yes, and it is an art form also. What do we do with the limited time and space given us? Batman is actually a make-believe character and is NoT coming to rescue the public educational system…  Why not increase the amount of professional license We give ourselves to create, be entrepreneurially-minded,’ and focus on rapid growth?  In order to do that, many of us Educators have already taken an incredibly powerful step in reaching out to each other by the use of social media tools, like Twitter. We are learning from each other and the potential for our pedagogy is getting better and better as more of us find that the world is not flat, nor round, but an elevator, and we are all in it. Heck, I tweet the President all the time.. any day now he will give me a favorite to one of my tweets mentioning him or my abstract blog post on the executive function skill rigors found in being the President...

What is it about failure that sends chills down the spine of almost anyone?  In thinking about my thinking, which is the working definition for metacognition, a creme de la creme executive function skill, I have experienced that it is healthy to go through the process of understanding just how scary failure is.. and how I can get better and better at recovering from it swiftly. It can be pretty scary actually depending on what it means in that moment for you. Failure for big wave rider Laird Hamilton on a fifty foot wave could spell his death. He has had mishaps, but the guy is a master at what he does. Once he dropped out of a helicopter into a storm raising sixty foot monsters of dark shark-infested waters off Kaena Point on Oahu. The guy surfed it. Foolish man? Probably, yes. Before that and since then he has surfed moving buildings of water that would boggle the mind of anyone.  The message is that failure is simply a trial on the way to...

What is won by fanning flames? Nothing. What is gained by winning arguments? Nothing. What is progressive about shooting people who have signed up to protect and serve others? Nothing. Should people be taught lessons with the knuckles of a fist? Is that what I teach? Or do I teach and model the ability to use your thinking side, rather than your reacting side? Impulse control, foresight, and emotional control are executive function skills after all.  Should we show others how we feel by cutting them down with sharp words? Should we cut our own Mothers down with insults and yelling? Should we throw tantrums on scandalous mainstream news broadcasts and stomp on cars, burn and vandalize them because we are upset with a court ruling?  No, the rule of law in a home, in a town or in our heart needs to be our gatekeeper. Just like it is very good to have police being a presence in the day and night across all American communities, it is important that children ...

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...

Is it wishful thinking that growth hacking executive function skills through ‘alternative’ methods work faster than pure ABA therapy when working with individuals on the autism spectrum? Its not.  Why do U.S. Special Education dollars in public schools get outsourced when talented Special Educators get paid next to nothing for their heart and soul sacrifice? Does a hybrid instructional approach work better? What professional SHOULD be playing ‘point guard’ as the main expert in instructing students with disabilities like autism or ADHD?  Over the last twenty years in U.S. public education their has been a seismic shift in Special Education. Special Educators have lost critical footing due to top-down educational decision-making that is disconnected from the actual teacher-student connection. for example, having BCBA’s or ‘Board Certified Behavior Analyst’ as alternative Special Educators coming in to give additional expertise via the route of a...

Nine years ago I was given a key position as the primary 1:1 teacher of a nine year old on the autism spectrum. It was intense ABA therapy with an oversight team focused on success and a DOE that was auditing to track performance.  I worked with her from 7 am in her home, through the school day in Wahiawa, Hawaii, then back to her home for homework and daily living activities until 5 or 6 pm. When i first met Kristin, she was living on a rug with her six year old sister in the living room of the family home. Her mother lived in a bedroom with her boyfriend next to the room where her two daughters slept and ‘took as their room,’ their space. The other room on the top floor belonged to her ex-convict uncle who kept the door locked with a padlock at all times. The grandparents lived downstairs in their own room.  In the mornings it was quite routine for the Mom’s boyfriend to be playing ‘craps,’ with 2-3 friends in the living room as Mom looked on or lounged in b...