On Medical Leave

The NYTimes published a terrific article, “Childhood Trauma Doesn’t Have To Be a Lifelong Curse”, by Rochelle Sharpe, last Saturday January 31. The premise was straightforward. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) cause trauma. Trauma can lead to cancer, heart disease, stroke, alcoholism and suicide. To mitigate the effect…

In 2007 Siegfried Engelmann wrote, Teaching Needy Kids In Our Backward System: 42 Years of Trying. The book is an autobiographical account of Engelmann’s efforts to provide effective instruction to kids “at risk,” particularly children of poverty. Much of the book is spent on Project Follow Through (1968–1977), which involved 180 communities and over 20…

This is the story of Tom Rooney and the Lindsay Unified School District (LUSD), a rural district in California’s Central Valley serving students from pre-kindergarten through high school. Mr. Rooney transformed Lindsay, a traditional school district, into a self-paced program similar to Fred Keller’s “Personalized System of Instruction” (PSI) aka “Compe…

As you may know, before I retired my wife, Mary Coyne BCBA, and I owned Coyne & Associates. Coyne provided in-home ABA services to children with autism and their families throughout Southern California. One day a private-equity firm (PE) offered to buy the company. At the time, I didn’t know what private equity was or h…

I published this article in 2023 when I had fewer subscribers. If you haven’t read it here is another opportunity. The Todd Risley interview on YouTube is long but pretty interesting.

I promised to discuss easy ways for parents and teachers to collect data on themselves, their children or their students. The scatter plot diagram as displayed above is an old school easy way to display behavioral data to see if it is occurring more or less often.

Ken Johnson is a true research practitioner, i.e., someone who integrates both academic research and practical application within their field. He has dedicated over four decades to refining education methods that support students facing academic difficulties. In today’s post, I’m writing about his life’s work: Morningside Academy located in Seatle, Wa…

Gerald Patterson (1926-2016), was the founder of the Oregon Social Learning Center located in Eugene Oregon. A researcher, he investigated interactions among family members and how those interactions affected family life. A professor in the psychology department at the University of Oregon, he was one of the truely grea…

The Kalamazoo Valley Mulitihandicapped Center was an elementary school for children with special needs. Every new student who was not independent in their toileting was placed into the toilet training classroom until they could use the toilet independently. The classroom was designed solely to teach children to be …

Reporting from the NY Times, KJ Dell ‘Antonia wondered, “It’s a parent’s job to teach our children: to do the right thing, use the right words, learn and practice the skills they’ll need to handle life at school and out in the world. But some mornings — after a seemingly endless stream of corrections intended to help my daughter - I end up feeling as if…

Mary wants to play with her Mom after school. They‘ve been separated since 7 am. Mom has several things to do before dinner. Yet asking Mary to play alone after a separation may not be the best idea. Mary’s mom would be much better off playing with her for a bit. There’s almost no limit to the activities to choose from. They could pick the Play-Dough…