The SLP Book Club

This week we're discussing chapter one from Lisa Murphy on Being Child Centered . This chapter covers her first philosophical attribute of being child-centered, "Children are provided long periods of uninterrupted free time to explore their environment." Lisa challenges us to rethink the idea that young children should learn in 20 minute chunks of time. When every minute of their day is micromanag...

She's baaaaaaack! In July and August, we're reading Lisa Murphy on Being Child Centered  and we couldn't be more excited! This week we covered the introduction to the book (parts 1-4) where Lisa sets the stage for what we'll be reading. We discuss why Lisa wrote this book, the origin of her nine philosophical attributes, and what it REALLY means to be child-centered. We're just getting starte...

Today we're wrapping up The Knowledge Gap  by Natalie Wexler. In chapter 12, "Scaling Up: Can It Be Done?," Natalie describes schools, districts, and states that are all working to overcome the knowledge gap. We discuss additional knowledge-rich curricula that are currently being used with good results. In the epilogue, Natalie concludes her book with her vision for the future and the directi...

This week we're covering chapter eleven from The Knowledge Gap  by Natalie Wexler, "Don't Forget to Write." This chapter tells the story of Judith Hochman, a curriculum coordinator at a school for children with learning disabilities who pioneered a way of teaching children to write that improved reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking skills. We go over The Hochman Method, Lucy Calk...

This week we're covering chapter ten from The Knowledge Gap  by Natalie Wexler, "No More Jackpot Standards." This chapter covers the story of a school district in Washoe County, Nevada, where teachers and administrators worked together to uncover how best to apply the Common Core Standards in the classroom. We found this chapter to be inspiring and full of hope, showing how teachers can funda...

We're so excited to bring you this fun conversation with Kailey Riker and Kat Bezek from Yellow Finch Learning. Kailey is a pediatric speech-language pathologist who has worked in schools and private practice and is passionate about supporting literacy in speech therapy sessions. Kat is a K-2 teacher with experience using many approaches to literacy instruction from balanced literacy to the scienc...

This week we're covering chapter nine from The Knowledge Gap  by Natalie Wexler, "The Common Core: New Life for Knowledge, or Another Nail in its Coffin?" This chapter dives into the story of David Coleman, who was primarily responsible for the literacy standards in the Common Core. We discuss his love of close reading, his admiration for E.D. Hirsch, and his quest to integrate knowledge buil...

This week we're covering chapters seven and eight from The Knowledge Gap  by Natalie Wexler. We've started part two of the book: "How We Got Here: The History Behind the Content-Free Curriculum." In chapter seven, Natalie takes us through the history of child-centered education and teachers' aversion to teacher-directed, content-focused instruction. We discuss Rousseauian principles, social e...

This week we're covering chapters five and six from The Knowledge Gap  by Natalie Wexler. Chapter five, "Unbalanced Literacy," is about the history of the balanced literacy movement, specifically the curriculum created by Lucy Calkins and the impact it had on education here in the United States (hint: it wasn't great). Chapter six is titled "Billions for Education Reform, but Barely a Cent fo...

This week we're covering chapters three and four from The Knowledge Gap  by Natalie Wexler. These chapters are about the history of reading instruction in the United States. How have ideas about how to teach reading evolved? What is the whole-language approach? What happens when phonics are taught systematically to children, and what happens when teachers stop teaching phonics? We discuss the...

Throughout May and June, we are thrilled to discuss The Knowledge Gap  by Natalie Wexler with you. If you're an SLP who works in schools, you're going to want to read this book! This week, we're starting with chapters one and two. Chapter one is called "The Water They've Been Swimming In" and covers the way educators are currently teaching children in schools. Natalie discusses the move towar...

This week we're discussing the end of Hunt, Gather, Parent  by Michaeleen Doucleff, Ph. D. Chapter 15 is called "The Ancient Antidote for Depression." Michaeleen discusses her own postpartum depression and her realization that what she was missing early on in Rosy's life was community and support in the form of "alloparents." She gives us ways that we can create networks of support in our own...

This week we're discussing chapters 13 and 14 and TEAM 3 from Hunt, Gather, Parent  by Michaeleen Doucleff, Ph. D. Michaeleen and Rosy head to Tanzania to live with the Hadzabe. We learn about how our ancient ancestors parented and how to raise confident, competent children with little interference. We discuss the difference between autonomy and independence, and why that difference is key wh...

This week we're covering chapters 11 and 12 from Hunt, Gather, Parent  by Michaeleen Doucleff, Ph. D. We kick off this episode with our thoughts on YouTube star Ms. Rachel (you might be surprised by how we feel), then we dive into the book. Chapter 11 is called "Tools for Sculpting Behavior: Stories" and it's a fun one. Michaeleen has fully embraced the idea of using stories to shape her daug...

Today we're discussing chapter ten from Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff, Ph. D. This chapter is an introduction to parenting tools and covers Michaeleen's tools for tantrums and tools for everyday behaviors. We discuss using calmness, physicality, and awe to transform behavior. We also discuss how to ignore bad behavior like the Inuit, and when we think that tool might not be appropria...

This week we're discussing chapters eight and nine from Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff, Ph. D. Chapter eight explores the Inuit parenting approach of never yelling at children and instead speaking in a calm voice. The chapter emphasizes that yelling only hinders communication. Chapter nine delves into the author's personal experience of yelling at her own child and the struggle to con...

This week we're discussing chapters six and seven from Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff, Ph. D. Chapter six is called "Master Motivators: What's Better Than Praise?" We discuss the three ingredients needed to spark intrinsic motivation, and how praise might undermine it. We cover how simple acknowledgement can be a more powerful motivator than praise. We also cover Michaeleen's three st...

This week we're covering chapter five and TEAM 1 from Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff, Ph. D. Chapter five is titled, "How to Raise Flexible, Cooperative Kids." We discuss the importance of making a child a member of your team and emphasizing how valuable their contributions to the family are. We also discuss ways to reduce the amount of "child-centered" activities you do (Laura has an...

This week we're discussing chapters two, three, and four from Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff, Ph. D. Where do our current parenting practices come from? In chapter two, we take a look at the origins of things like sleep training and feeding schedules. You'll be surprised when you hear where they came from and how long they've been around. We also discuss whether toys are really a...

We're starting a new book for March and April: Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff, Ph. D.  To write this book, the author lived with Mayan families in Mexico, Inuit families from above the Arctic Circle, and Hadzabe families in Tanzania. From these families, she learned a universal way of parenting that produces kind, generous, helpful children. She documents how she used the techniq...

This week we're covering chapter ten and the conclusion from Age of Opportunity by Laurence Steinberg, Ph. D. Chapter ten is called "Brains on Trial" and discusses the way we handle adolescents in the legal system here in the United States. We go over how attraction to immediate rewards and difficulty weighing consequences leads to impulsive (sometimes criminal) behavior in adolescence. We discuss...

This week we're covering chapter nine from Age of Opportunity by Laurence Steinberg, Ph. D. This chapter is called "Winners and Losers" and discusses the gap between socioeconomic classes in our society and how it impacts adolescence. We cover how some children enter adolescence with an advantage, self-regulation and crime, the four rules, the coercive cycle, how poverty impacts puberty, and the p...

This week we're covering chapter eight from Age of Opportunity by Laurence Steinberg, Ph. D. This chapter is called "Reimagining High School." In this episode, we discuss where American teens stand in relation to teens around the world and how schools can help build self-control. We discuss specific strategies for supporting teens as they develop self-regulation, including executive function train...

This week we're covering chapter seven from Age of Opportunity by Laurence Steinberg, Ph. D. This chapter is called "How Parents Can Make a Difference." It's a chapter about parenting, but it applies to us as SLPs and educators! In this episode, we go over the characteristics of caregivers that are most likely to lead to strong self-regulation skills in children. Parents (and educators) need to be...

This week we're reading chapters five and six from Age of Opportunity by Laurence Steinberg, Ph. D. Chapter five is titled "Protecting Adolescents from Themselves." We discuss some statistics related to adolescent behavior, deterring risky behavior, the peer effect, and how the social brain impacts the way adolescents think and behave. Chapter six is called "The Importance of Self-Regulation." We...