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 […]
Neuroplasticity and Learning: shaping the mind and the brain
Post #2 in category. We recommend reading posts in numerical order. “Relationships between neuronal structure and function underpin the complexity of human organization: the individual’s thinking, feeling and doing.” – Gerald Edelman Neuroplasticity (the brain’s capacity to alter its structure and function in response to experience) has transformed how we understand learning and human development. […]
Integrated Developmental Domain Systems
Post #3 in category. We recommend reading posts in numerical order. Introduction Some of the prevailing assumptions guiding the parenting, assessment, teaching and treatment of children with significant developmental delays may need to change if we want to improve the child’s interpersonal connections, learning and development. We may be diligent, compassionate and technically skilled but […]
Maturation, Mediated Learning and GPPSP Parallel Assessment
Post #3 in category. We recommend reading posts in numerical order. Note: Ideas expressed here are not meant to be given in report form, but rather to describe mindsets and methods in Organizing Minds blog posts. Ideas and procedures in the post below can be tried and discussed with the child’s parents and each of […]
Brain and Mind, Continually Changing Connections
Post #1 in category. We recommend reading posts in numerical order. Download a PDF of Brain and Mind, Continually Changing Connections
Development vs Deficiency
It is easier to make a diagnosis the first time you see a patient and it gets harder the better you know a patient. – Irving Yalom Post #3 in category. We suggest reading posts in numerical order. Too often, people think of children with developmental disabilities as “different,” as somehow belonging to a […]
Parallel Development and the Collaborative Team Approach
“Knowledge is indivisible. When people grow wise in one direction, they are sure to make it easier for themselves to grow wise in other directions as well. On the other hand, when they split up knowledge, concentrate on their own field, and scorn and ignore other fields, they grow less wise–even in their own field.” […]
Parallel Assessment within the Framework of Parallel Development
Post #2 in category. We suggest you read posts in numerical order. A Highly Subjective and Intuitive Ongoing Assessment In working with children with developmental disabilities, we search for tools, strategies, and systems that can guide their growth and our own. Over the years, I have put into practice a framework I call Parallel Development, […]