Posts
Having tried to find some good apps for a friend's ipad to help her son with autism, I know it can be frustrating to find the apps that are good and worth the money: educational, engaging, improve communication, teach emotions, etc.
A list of some websites that provide reviews of quality apps for children with Autism was published today on Gadgetwise from the NYT. You can read it here.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
"Researchers find a country's wealth correlates with its collective knowledge"
A friend recently forwarded to me a brief article that describes new research on the correlation between economic complexity and prosperity - communal knowledge and economic success.
"The researchers, led by Ricardo Hausmann, director of Harvard’s Center for International Development and former Minister of Planning for Venezuela, and Cesar A. Hidalgo, assistant professor at MIT’s Media Laboratory and faculty associate at Harvard’s Center for International Development, have published a book called The Atlas of Economic Complexity. Starting today, the book is free to download at http://atlas.media.mit.edu."
“The total amount of knowledge embedded in a hunter-gatherer society is not very different from that which is embedded in each one of its members,” the researchers write in their book. “The secret of modern societies is not that each person holds much more productive knowledge than those in a more traditional society. The secret to modernity is that we collectively use large volumes of knowledge, while each one of us holds only a few bits of it. Society functions because its members form webs that allow them to specialize and share their knowledge with others.”
"The researchers, led by Ricardo Hausmann, director of Harvard’s Center for International Development and former Minister of Planning for Venezuela, and Cesar A. Hidalgo, assistant professor at MIT’s Media Laboratory and faculty associate at Harvard’s Center for International Development, have published a book called The Atlas of Economic Complexity. Starting today, the book is free to download at http://atlas.media.mit.edu."
“The total amount of knowledge embedded in a hunter-gatherer society is not very different from that which is embedded in each one of its members,” the researchers write in their book. “The secret of modern societies is not that each person holds much more productive knowledge than those in a more traditional society. The secret to modernity is that we collectively use large volumes of knowledge, while each one of us holds only a few bits of it. Society functions because its members form webs that allow them to specialize and share their knowledge with others.”
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Notes on Officiating
A few weeks ago, I had the honor of officiating my cousin's wedding in Baltimore. It was on the sixth anniversary of my brother's wedding, at which I also officiated. In preparing the ceremony, one that I wrote from scratch with the help of my cousin and his fiancee, I asked friends and family what they remember as the most memorable parts of their wedding ceremonies, or those they had recently attended and even officiated.
The most common response was the parts of the ceremony where the quality of the couple's relationship clearly shines through. To help me capture the quality and history of their ten years together, my cousin, Drew and his fiancee, Eleni, came out to visit me for a long weekend. We spent our time hiking, visiting the gardens, and reflecting on their relationship. I was able to ask them exploratory questions that got them to reflect and speak openly about how they developed their relationship, how they fell in love, and how they work so well together.
As I said in the ceremony, part of what struck me about their relationship is their ability to grow with each other and because of each other. At their suggestion, we used a quote from Vincent van Gogh to illustrate this: “And there is the same difference between someone who is in love and what he was like before as there is between a lamp that is lit and one that is not. The lamp was there all the time and was a good lamp, and now it is giving light and that is its true function.”
It seems to be a remarkable indicator of resilience and fulfillment when a couple can mutually reinforce their individualities, help each other glow more brightly, as they foster their partnership. Drew & Eleni do this in encouraging each other's individual passions and in sharing their passions supportively. They find joy in returning to each other and recounting their adventures together. They also find great reward in helping each other to appreciate and enjoy their passions together.
Another essential aspect of the ceremony that Drew and Eleni wanted to capture was the powerful impact their families and friends have had and continue to have on their relationship. To help illustrate how important this is to Drew and Eleni and to help their gathered families and friends re-invigorate their commitment to fostering the enduring relationship, we asked the community to stand at the end of the ceremony. The bride and groom faced all those gathered. And in response to my calling upon them to affirm their commitment to encourage, love and support Drew & Eleni into the future, they all proclaimed, "We do."
It was a profound and moving moment in which the community was actively involved in the ceremony. They were able to commit to stay involved in the couple's life, bearing witness and helping bear responsibility for their well-being.
I was thrilled we captured the richness and joy of their relationship. What a tremendous honor to be called upon to officiate.
It's also worth checking out the venue, the library at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. Here's a link to some photos and some history. Here's another striking photo.
The most common response was the parts of the ceremony where the quality of the couple's relationship clearly shines through. To help me capture the quality and history of their ten years together, my cousin, Drew and his fiancee, Eleni, came out to visit me for a long weekend. We spent our time hiking, visiting the gardens, and reflecting on their relationship. I was able to ask them exploratory questions that got them to reflect and speak openly about how they developed their relationship, how they fell in love, and how they work so well together.
As I said in the ceremony, part of what struck me about their relationship is their ability to grow with each other and because of each other. At their suggestion, we used a quote from Vincent van Gogh to illustrate this: “And there is the same difference between someone who is in love and what he was like before as there is between a lamp that is lit and one that is not. The lamp was there all the time and was a good lamp, and now it is giving light and that is its true function.”
It seems to be a remarkable indicator of resilience and fulfillment when a couple can mutually reinforce their individualities, help each other glow more brightly, as they foster their partnership. Drew & Eleni do this in encouraging each other's individual passions and in sharing their passions supportively. They find joy in returning to each other and recounting their adventures together. They also find great reward in helping each other to appreciate and enjoy their passions together.
Another essential aspect of the ceremony that Drew and Eleni wanted to capture was the powerful impact their families and friends have had and continue to have on their relationship. To help illustrate how important this is to Drew and Eleni and to help their gathered families and friends re-invigorate their commitment to fostering the enduring relationship, we asked the community to stand at the end of the ceremony. The bride and groom faced all those gathered. And in response to my calling upon them to affirm their commitment to encourage, love and support Drew & Eleni into the future, they all proclaimed, "We do."
It was a profound and moving moment in which the community was actively involved in the ceremony. They were able to commit to stay involved in the couple's life, bearing witness and helping bear responsibility for their well-being.
I was thrilled we captured the richness and joy of their relationship. What a tremendous honor to be called upon to officiate.
It's also worth checking out the venue, the library at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. Here's a link to some photos and some history. Here's another striking photo.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Find Praise for your Praise in Resilient Children
New research over the last few years is indicating that the nature and quality of parental praise is as important as the presence of praise itself. Just like most activities of parenting, there are scales of quality and room for growth. No one is born a good parent; it's important to remain open to the idea that we can always improve our parenting. This means freeing ourselves from self-castigation when we mess up and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable - ready to admit an underwhelming performance and accepting of new strategies to try out.
Many of us are trained by past modeling to praise children for inherent capacities like being smart or pretty. Research is now indicating that children raised on this type of praise are more likely to end up under-achieving and more likely to give up early. Children who are given praise based on their performance, their attempts, their effort and their actions seem to grow up more resilient, more persistent, more willing to take risks and learn from their less than stellar performances.
A recent post on the Motherlode blog at the NYT in response to a NY Magazine article discusses this briefly and gives a succinct summary of some of this new research by Carol Dweck of Stanford.
The mention of Dweck's work reminded me of the first chapter of Nurture Shock by Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman. Here, the authors go into a bit more depth. They illustrate that a widespread parenting practice of the last few decades has been based on the presumption that convincing kids they are inherently smart will help them tackle daunting academic challenges. Actually, this kind of praise might be convincing kids to shy away from unfamiliar territory for fear of not doing well.
Dweck gives a clear summary of her results in saying, "Emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control. They come to see themselves as in control of their success. Emphasizing natural intelligence takes it out of the child's control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure."
So what are some helpful ingredients to effective praise?
1. Praise needs to be specific, about a child's positive actions - even just naming them - "You put a lot of effort into your homework tonight."
2. Praise should be sincere in tone and veracity, based on a child's effort, skill or talent.
3. Excessive praise may overwhelm intrinsic reward. Use it judiciously, or children might perform for praise alone.
4. Upon under-achievement, provide supportive action steps to improve performance. Avoid broad, empty promises like "you'll do better next time."
With this new research and some tweaking to your praising strategies, you can have a direct impact on your children's resilience and perseverance, two powerful indicators of achievement.
As your children grow to be self-motivated, independent, successful young adults, feel free to take their development as sincere, specific, meaningful praise for all your parenting efforts!
Many of us are trained by past modeling to praise children for inherent capacities like being smart or pretty. Research is now indicating that children raised on this type of praise are more likely to end up under-achieving and more likely to give up early. Children who are given praise based on their performance, their attempts, their effort and their actions seem to grow up more resilient, more persistent, more willing to take risks and learn from their less than stellar performances.
A recent post on the Motherlode blog at the NYT in response to a NY Magazine article discusses this briefly and gives a succinct summary of some of this new research by Carol Dweck of Stanford.
The mention of Dweck's work reminded me of the first chapter of Nurture Shock by Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman. Here, the authors go into a bit more depth. They illustrate that a widespread parenting practice of the last few decades has been based on the presumption that convincing kids they are inherently smart will help them tackle daunting academic challenges. Actually, this kind of praise might be convincing kids to shy away from unfamiliar territory for fear of not doing well.
Dweck gives a clear summary of her results in saying, "Emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control. They come to see themselves as in control of their success. Emphasizing natural intelligence takes it out of the child's control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure."
So what are some helpful ingredients to effective praise?
1. Praise needs to be specific, about a child's positive actions - even just naming them - "You put a lot of effort into your homework tonight."
2. Praise should be sincere in tone and veracity, based on a child's effort, skill or talent.
3. Excessive praise may overwhelm intrinsic reward. Use it judiciously, or children might perform for praise alone.
4. Upon under-achievement, provide supportive action steps to improve performance. Avoid broad, empty promises like "you'll do better next time."
With this new research and some tweaking to your praising strategies, you can have a direct impact on your children's resilience and perseverance, two powerful indicators of achievement.
As your children grow to be self-motivated, independent, successful young adults, feel free to take their development as sincere, specific, meaningful praise for all your parenting efforts!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Childproofing: Crawling Your Way to Safety
Childproofing: Crawling Your Way to Safety (Click title at left to link to article)
"...if you get your childproofing advice from friends, don’t trust everything you hear. That’s because childproofing has changed in recent years, both in the products offered and in the household hazards parents face. So, families with older children are working with yesterday’s ideas."New York Times, BOB TEDESCHI, October 26, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Poignant & Profound: "Notes From a Dragon Mom"
Who am I to offer response? Rather, simply, l'chaim and gratitude for the strength of parents who can be so brave:
Notes From a Dragon Mom
By EMILY RAPP
Published: October 15, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Skype Therapy?
The New York Times published a brief article Sept 23 by Jan Hoffman entitled, "When Your Therapist Is Only a Click Away." It scratches the surface of the new practice of talk therapy by Skype or video conferencing.
It can be very helpful when distance (clients in rural areas) and accessibility (clients with disabilities getting therapy in their own homes) are problems. It still raises concerns about privacy, efficacy and connectivity - what happens when the connection fades out at a crucial, vulnerable moment? Well worth a read - you can find it here.
It can be very helpful when distance (clients in rural areas) and accessibility (clients with disabilities getting therapy in their own homes) are problems. It still raises concerns about privacy, efficacy and connectivity - what happens when the connection fades out at a crucial, vulnerable moment? Well worth a read - you can find it here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)