The Blog
What is an Educational Psychologist?
An educational psychologist is a qualified psychologist with a special interest in all things related to education. Educational psychologists do educational assessments. An educational assessment is best described as an evaluation of a child's strengths and weaknesses, with the purpose of helping them to achieve their potential in the classroom.
Processing Speed
Processing speed is a cognitive process that determines the rate at which one does something. It determines how fast one learns and grasps information in a one-to-one context and in a classroom setting. It is impacted by visual perception as well as auditory processing. It is also impacted by fine motor control and attention/concentration.
What is an Educational Assessment?
An educational assessment is a process of testing, designed to identify a child's strengths and weaknesses within the realm of education. The purpose of an assessment is to determine a personalized intervention strategy or support structure to help a child maximize their potential at school.
Career assessments
Careers as we know them are shifting and changing constantly. In decades gone by, people had fixed careers. It was not unusual to hear of someone who had served in one company for 30 years or more. However, this is seldom the case in the current times and rather than careers we talk about career paths.
What are concessions?
Concessions, or also known as accommodations, are a brilliant resource for students with barriers, to help level the playing fields at school. A concession is a support tool that enables a student to perform closer to their potential in tests and examinations. Examples of concessions include a reader, for instance, where the examination is read to them, or played to them digitally via a headset.
The birds and the bees
Christy Herselman is a local author who has developed an amazing resource for parents and her book entitled "The Chat: Birds, Bees and Destinies" is a must-have item for all parents and caregivers. She encourages caregivers to start "the conversation" with children as young as 2, so that when children have questions about sexuality and body privacy later on, they feel safe to bring it up.
Give of yourself this Christmas
If you are looking for ideas on how to gift children in your life in a less commercial way this year, have a look through this list to see if anything strikes your fancy. The best gift we can give children is ourselves, our time and our love. Some of these gifts are still a tad bit commercial but aim to provide more of an experience than simply opening a gift on December 25th.
Free play
In this post I share some practical activities to begin fostering free play and creativity for toddlers and pre-schoolers. These lists are by no means exhaustive and each one is open to endless versions. My hope is that these kick start more free play for your kids and activate them to expand how they play.
Let them play some more
In the last post, we touched on how pre-school burnout is becoming a real concern. If you are a parent, my hope for you is that your child is at a school where the focus is on play. I know mine is and it is a great feeling knowing that the school prioritizes that.
Let them play
In decades gone by, children were simply expected to arrive at school, play, eat and play some more until they were grubby and exhausted. That’s why it was called Play School. However, the expectation has slowly shifted and it is becoming more about learning - learning to read, learning to count and learning to write.