It's happened again. "He has really come a long way!" "Wow, what a wonderful attitude!" "Way to go, buddy!" So says his teacher. And then comes... The Compliment Jinx: When teachers dare speak aloud about a child's recently improved efforts... and...

Today was our first day back with kids after 2 teacher workdays. Sadly, we sent another child home with flu-like symptoms... fever, cough, etc. Poor kid looked gray/green. 2 out of 6 kids down; who will be next? With 2/3 of the class gone home, we...

This afternoon we saw a great breakthrough moment.... and in this business, that's rare! After weeks of teaching, reteaching, modeling, practicing, reinforcing, ignoring, following a complicated behavior plan, and reinforcing some more.... he walked...

You may be asking yourself, hmmm, I wonder which part of her day Mrs. Ris likes the best...? My favorite "kid time"? Our daily morning meeting often reminds me of the old Art Linkletter schtick-"Kids say the darndest things..." Over the years I have...

So much went well today, and I plan to take a moment to enjoy that. Aaaaah. Don't get me wrong, it was NOT a perfect day: we worked through two major blow-ups, and one of them lasted over an hour. There was whining, manipulating, sassy-talk, and even...