Every parent looks forward to the day their child can read fluently. Society leads us to believe that this is the pinnacle of a child’s early academic career. We’ve been told it indicates children will be more successful in their overall long-term education. However, research has found the opposite to be true. Read on to learn how early reading is correlated with success in elementary school, but doesn’t seem to lead directly to college enrollment or success.

While research on executive functioning has been taking place since the early 1970s, it has recently become a common buzzword in the worlds of education and speech-language pathology. This may be due to new research showing that a child’s future success depends less on their ability to memorize math facts and decode words, and more on having strong executive functioning and social-emotional skills. So what is executive functioning, and why is it so important for learning?

It is so important that every member of a child’s treatment team is empowered to support their growth and has the tools to help that child succeed. The Parish School seeks to develop resources for growing the skills of our staff, families and students. The Hanen Centre©, a non-profit organization, shares this goal of helping others to help children communicate. Within the past year, Parish has implemented several programs from the Hanen organization as part of family and staff training. Here are a few of our favorite Hanen strategies parents can try during book reading with their child...

Learn how Adventure Playground at The Parish School allows children the freedom to take risks and experience the full range of human emotion amongst peers, which includes the freedom to experience conflict.