5 Ways to Keep Kids Learning During the School Holidays

The holidays are a time for rest, relaxation, family time and celebrations.

But learning doesn’t have to stop when the school gates close…

You can help foster a love of learning in your children over the holidays.

And they won’t even know it!

Below are some great school holiday activities that get kids engaged, curious and excited about learning…

Which will help them to embrace their education once their back at school, and the value of learning for the rest of their lives.

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5 Ways Anxiety Harms Learning and 8 Things Parents Can Do to Help

There is an ‘epidemic of anxiety’ among Australian children.

And many experts are attributing this to increasing pressure at school.

But when it comes to school and anxiety – it can be a case of:

What came first, the chicken or the egg?

How and why childhood anxiety develops is not the most important issue at hand, though.

What’s important is that it’s identified and addressed as soon as possible.

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How Does Educational Psychology Help Children’s Learning?

When you mention psychology most people think of counselling as a treatment for emotional issues, such as anxiety or depression…

And while all psychologists have training in these areas, our team has specific postgraduate training in Educational and Developmental Psychology, which is a branch of psychology focused on learning and development.

Educational Psychology draws from other fields such as neuroscience and often involves standardised testing to obtain information about children’s learning skills and abilities.

This information enables us to gain insight into how children learn and process information and what their learning potential might be.

And it enables us to recommend specific learning strategies and supports for home and school to help them to reach that potential.

So what does this actually involve and how can it help children with learning?

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NEPSY: Assessments for improving your child’s learning potential — Part 3

In part 1 and 2 of our blogs on our learning assessments, we taught you about the WIAT-III and WISC-V  assessments.

We have invested in the most update-to-date versions of these assessments so that they can best identify your child’s learning potential and their educational needs.

And now we’d like you to learn about another invaluable assessment tool that we recently acquired — the NEPSY.

It’s a unique and effective test, offered by only a few psychology clinics in Melbourne, and designed to assess the neuropsychological development of children aged 3 to 16.

But before we get into the nitty gritty of the assessment, you’re probably wondering…

What is neuropsychological development?

Read more…

WIAT-III: Assessments for improving your child’s learning potential — Part 2

Learning assessments help to ease the frustrations or concerns parents may have about their child’s academic performance.

And importantly, learning assessments can help your child to achieve their full potential during their school years.

By assessing the major areas that impact learning, our psychologists get a comprehensive insight into your child’s ability, potential, and any barriers stopping them from achieving it.

From there, the best approaches and solutions can be put in place to help a child thrive school.

In our first post of this series, we delved into one of the key tools for assessing learning potential — the WISC-V assessment.

In this post, we’ll give you a run down of one of our other core assessment tools — the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test — and how it can help your child.

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How Can We Engage Our Students in the Classroom? Part 1.

There is an epidemic of disengagement in Australian classrooms.

And our students’ education is suffering as a result.

Research from the Grattan Institute has shown that around 40 per cent of school students are regularly unproductive, bored, or struggling to keep up with the curriculum. 

This ‘passive disengagement’ can result in students being up to two years behind their engaged peers in the academic setting.

But who or what is to blame?

Read more…

‘Happiness Lessons’ to be Introduced into UK Schools

In great news for British students and their families, the UK Department of Education will be investing over 2 million dollars in mental health support over the next few years.

This comes as a response to what has been called a ‘youth mental health epidemic’…

With around 10 per cent of UK students suffering from a diagnosable mental health condition.

Many students suffer from symptoms of anxiety and depression directly as a result of the extreme academic pressures they face in schooling.

So it’s a proactive and thoroughly appropriate response to tackle these issues within the school framework.

Read more…

VCE Motivation: Bribery, Threats and Restrictions, but at what cost?

Our staff psychologist Christina Rigoli was quoted on page 3 of The Age today, discussing the tactics parents use to motivate their kids to study.

Among them — bribing with $18,000 holidays, threats of boarding school, and house-wide technology freezes!

The parents confessing to these ‘motivation tactics’ said their efforts paid off, but this is more a matter of chance than formula.

The key distinction in this equation is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to motivation…

What may work in encouraging one child could backfire and have the opposite affect on another.

So how do you know what the right method of motivation is for your child?

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The Problem with Championing ‘Success’ Over Kid’s Love of Learning

If you saw our blog post about how to raise motivated children, you will be familiar with the concept of the ‘Fixed’ versus ‘Growth’ mindset.

In a nutshell, this distinction in ‘mindsets’ focuses on the idea that what makes people successful is motivation, dedication and commitment, rather than innate ability or intelligence.

And that the former are the qualities that we should be praising and instilling in our children.

A recent article in The Atlantic furthers some of the ideas that come from the Fixed versus Growth mindset model, in what one parent describes as the ‘crime against learning’.

Read more…

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Why have 2,866* parents chosen us?

(*As of 24th July, 2019.)

  • Private and confidential: We are a private service so you will receive 100% independent and confidential advice.
  • Child and adolescent experts: We only work with school age children, teenagers and parents.
  • Education and school experts: We will help you navigate the school system to get the best possible results for your child.
  • Qualified and experienced: We only employ psychologists with a master degree or higher and experience working in schools.
  • Fast appointments: We don't keep a waiting list and see most new clients within 7 days.
  • Convenient location: We are in Middle Park with easy access from many parts of Melbourne and unrestricted street parking.
  • Trusted methods: We use approaches that are strongly supported by research evidence or clinical experience.
  • Lovely beachside office: You will love our quiet, modern and attractive office, with its beach and ocean-themed rooms.