Hard to believe that in some places (like Arizona), summer vacation is coming to an end! Whether that brings up excitement, relief, and/or a little sadness, we always say that all feelings are allowed :) 

If your family is anything like ours, the summer has much less structure than the school year. That is totally ok! But it means that the first few weeks of school can be a tough transition. Waking up earlier, packing lunches, getting everyone dressed and out the door... it's a lot to keep track of! Today, we are sharing three tips to help you with this transition. 

1) Start working toward a functional sleep schedule.

Summers are all about late nights! Again, no judgement over here. If your child has been going to bed later than their "school bedtime," you will want to start slowly working their sleep time up. 

There are different ways to do this, depending on how much time you have. If you have a few weeks, you can slowly move their sleep time by small increments, like 10-15 minut...

Does your child struggle with writing? If so, you are not alone! When kids come to my (Katie's) office for testing, they are usually happy to play with toys and look at pictures... until I get out a pencil and tell them we are going to write! Writing can be challenging for so many reasons.

I constantly talk with parents who are stressed and overwhelmed every time their child brings home a writing assignment. Don’t worry, we are here to help you understand why this is happening and how you can support your child! 

Writing and language are connected

There is a strong link between writing and language. In many ways, writing is the academic form of speaking, so children who have a language disorder are much more likely to struggle with writing. One longitudinal research study revealed that “among children with speech and language impairment, the cumulative incidence of a writing disorder was 61.4% for boys and 55.1% for girls at age 19 years” (Katusic et al., 2009).

If you are worrie...

A few years ago, I was at a friend’s house hanging out for a much-needed girl’s night (ahhhh…remember those carefree, pre-COVID days). One of the women there started talking about her son’s test anxiety at school. Her son would panic during tests and could not complete the work. When the mother had a meeting with the school to discuss her son’s test anxiety, she was met with an unexpected response.

One of the school staff stated that children don’t have anxiety!

Wow, I felt for this mom. She had painfully endured hearing her son complain of tummy aches at school, freezing and not being able to write during tests, and trying to hide tears running down his cheeks, so his friends couldn’t see. And now, it was affecting his grades because he was not able to show his knowledge. When she finally met with the team, she was met with misinformation and resistance.

To set the record straight, children DO experience anxiety (and every other emotion that we adults feel!). In fact, the CDC es...

This week, we were interviewed by Special Education and Civil Rights attorneys, Amanda and Vickie, over at the  Inclusive Education Project. We had a great conversation and shared more about our mission as well as tips and tricks to help parents raising kids with ADHD and anxiety. 

In the podcast, we covered a lot of different topics, including: 

1) A little bit about Lori, Katie, and Mallory and why we started the Childhood Collective.

2) School refusal and anxiety.

3) The not so common symptoms of anxiety.

4) What questions you can ask your kids if you suspect anxiety.

5) Kids do well if they can.

6) What kids really need. Hint: It isn't more punishment!

7) Why parenting children with ADHD is not at all intuitive.

8) Our online ADHD parenting course, Creating Calm, and why it is so unique.

And much more!

Check out the podcast: Empowering Parentings a Conversation with The Childhood Collective

Have an amazing week!

The contents of this site are opinions of The ...

"There are no right answers to wrong questions.” – Urusla K. Le Guin

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