Spark for Learning

Transitions can be hard. Kids are often tired the first week of school from readjusting to the schedule, environmental stimuli, and behavioral expectations. As a parent, I try to make transitions, whether that means moving from playtime to bath time, moving to a new ne...

Showing negative emotions in front of our children makes us deeply uncomfortable. The people in this picture are strangers, but just looking them probably makes you uncomfortable: a father, with his back turned in anger toward his daughter? 

We do not know what is...

At its core, mindfulness is the idea of focusing on the present moment. If you're picturing this:

you're not alone. Meditation and yoga are two commonly-practiced techniques, or methods, for engaging in mindfulness. But let's think outside of the box a bit. 

There are an...

Starting kindergarten or returning to school is challenging for every family. There are new routines to master and schedules to adjust. Materials must be organized and tracked. At my house, we're working on all of this. So far, we've missed the bus several times and lo...

The Center for Disease Control has introduced new guidelines for treating Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in preschool-aged children. For children five and younger, the new guidelines suggest that the first-line treatment for ADHD should be behavioral t...

I picture my four year-old's mind as a natural wonderland—filled with sunshine and myriad fluffy cloud figures—but with an ever-present

storm lurking in the distance. Like most highly capable children, my daughter develops in a highly asynchronous way. On the...

With the redesign of the SAT and PSAT, College Board recently introduced several new options for test takers with disabilities. Two of these are new formats to make the test more accessible for students with physical disabilities: an assistive technology–compatible te...