Parallel Assessment, Growing Together
Parallel Assessment, Growing Together Post #4 in category. We recommend reading posts in numerical order. As the adult mediator learns more about the child, the child is learning more about the mediator. As Parallel Assessment becomes part of everyday interaction, adult mediators gradually learn to see the child and themselves differently. And the child learns […]
The Explanation Phenomenon
Post #3 in category. We recommend reading posts in numerical order. Trust and Connection Children need more than instructions. Trust and connection come before understanding. Before children seek explanations, they seek human attention and interpersonal connection. Before they understand words, they rely on their adult caregiver’s affection, gestures, sounds, and movements. Before they understand reasons […]
E-motion, Mot-ivation and Brain
Post #3 in category. We recommend reading posts in numerical order. E-motion: “Energy and information in motion.” Dan Siegal Mot-ivation: Latin root -mot, meaning “to move”. Vector in mathematics and physics: “Magnitude and Direction. A quantity defined by both how big it is (magnitude) and the way it points (direction).” Emotion is about movement, about […]
Emotion, Motivation and Integrated Development
Post #2 in category. We recommend reading posts in numerical order. Emotion is the energy, motivation, and drive in which thought, action, and interpersonal relationships take shape. Emotion directs us to move toward or away from something. Emotion is a quick response for survival. It is an internal feeling state, a disposition, and a drive […]
Integrated Frameworks for Development
Integrated Developmental Domains help us understand how human development is organized and functions. Parallel Assessment and Parallel Development provide frameworks for helping development move forward. Parallel Development begins with the same assumption that underlies the Organizing Minds framework. Development occurs through connections and interactions between persons, between developmental domains, and is boosted and enriched by […]
Searching for Connections not Deficits
Post #5 in category. We recommend reading posts in numerical order. A significant shift in our developmental thinking occurs when we stop focusing on “What is wrong with this child?” and begin asking, “How is this child’s development system organized and expanded?” and “How can we help?” This shift in perspective and goals fundamentally alters […]
The Problem of Seeing Children as Bits and Pieces
Post #4 in category. We recommend reading posts in numerical order. As our knowledge of learning and child development has expanded, the general “scientific” and “behavioral” view has become increasingly fragmented. We have divided development into categories that are useful for study, assessment, and professional specialization. We speak of cognitive development, language development, motor development, […]
Universal Needs, Unique Journeys
Lessons from Neurotypical Early Development Parallel Assessment, Parallel Development Post #2 in category. We recommend reading posts in numerical order. Neurotypical infants are born with drives and foundational tools for survival and development. Hardwired predispositions and rudimentary mechanisms for basic sensory and perceptual processes, for basic motivations and feeling states, early foundations for learning about […]
Parallel Assessment: sensation, movement and the beginning of intention
Post #4 in category. We recommend reading posts in numerical order. Early sensorimotor responses in infancy are largely automatic, reflexive, immediate and constrained to the present moment. They are narrow in range, rigid, and often disconnected from planning and intention. Only when these early sensations and movements are stored, associated, and integrated with experience across […]
Parallel Assessment: an overview
Post #3 in category. We recommend reading posts in numerical order. To truly understand a child, we need to attend to the child as a whole human being living in the real world, not as a collection of isolated skills, deficits, or test scores. Both Parallel Assessment and Parallel Development involve ongoing, individualized processes of […]