Brain Awareness Week (BAW) is March 13-19, 2017   The Special Needs Brain: Research That’s Changing How We Address Learning Struggles   Every year, for one week in March, the Dana Foundation and its global partners launch Brain Awareness Week (BAW). The campaign’s goal is to “increase public awareness of

Just because it’s wrapped in pretty paper doesn’t mean it’s valuable. Sometimes the best gifts aren’t appreciated until the child is older because they’re not “hands-on” toys, clothes, or accessories. Here are 10 gifts that are worthy of your financial or time investment today because they “pay off” (sometimes literally,

If you’re the parent to a special needs child, you probably don’t need to be told what your stressors are. But sometimes it helps to get tips that have worked for other parents. Here are some of our favorites. Involve your child in determining how you’ll get organized. For example,

Like most parents, you may worry what bad habits your teen will pick up when they’re in college. Sleeping in through classes, forgetting to brush their teeth at least twice a day, eating junk food, choosing parties over studying are just a few of the anxiety-inducing bad habits that parents

It may seem premature to be weighing things like high school athletics and class rank before a child even enters kindergarten, but those are real factors for some parents who are considering “redshirting” their five-year-old. What is redshirting? Named for the sports-related concept of having athletes who are kept out

Three Common Learning Disabilities (And Clues Your Child Has Been Trying to Work Around Them!)   The term “learning disability” can strike a chord of panic in parents. “But my child is smart! How can she have a learning disability?” is a common reaction. And the reality is, they’re right!

Understanding a teenager’s brain is as complicated as the cosmos. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, you’re face to face with unchartered territory. But with the help of advancing technology, like the noninvasive fMRI, we learn more about this enigma every day. In fact, there’s so much

Lots of activities are good for your kid’s brain: music lessons, board games, learning a second language, puzzles, and personal brain training. But unstructured play has taken a back seat in our ever-busy, high-tech world. Remember hide-and-seek, dress-up, restaurant, bike rides, roller skating, building snowmen and making up dance routines?