News

Executive functioning is a term psychologists use to describe the many tasks our brains perform that are necessary to think, act, and solve problems. Executive functioning includes tasks that help us learn new information, remember and retrieve the information we've learned in the past, and use this information to solve problems of everyday life. A person's executive functioning skills make it possible for him to live, work, and learn with an appropriate level of independence and competence for his age. Executive functioning allows us to access information, think about solutions, and implement those solutions. Because executive functioning is a theory and not [...]

Summer learning has been linked to greater academic achievement and confidence. What is your child doing this summer? Our programs are fun, engaging, and motivational! Without the demands of homework, tests, and assignments, summer is the perfect opportunity for your child to improve their reading, math, writing, or language skills. Register today!

Most parents know that talking to their child helps them develop. But a new study has revealed that it’s how you talk to your child that really matters for their brain growth. Rather than just spewing complex words at them, or showing flashcards in the hope of enriching their vocabulary, the key is to engage them in “conversational turns” – in other words, a good old chat. In a study of children between the ages of 4 and 6, cognitive scientists at MIT found that such back-and-forth conversation changes the child’s brain. Specifically, it can boost the child’s brain development and language [...]

When my daughter was a toddler, I regularly spilled milk in front of her during meal time. “Oops, oh well, no big deal, let’s clean it up!!” I would say in my high-pitched, goofy mom voice. Before she could speak, I sensed that she was wired for perfectionism (something very familiar to me), so I attempted to normalize day-to-day mistakes and to show her how easy it was to bounce back from them. For many teens, perceived faults loom large as their self-consciousness grows. Theorist David Elkind’s classic description of an adolescent’s sense of an “imaginary audience” may not be [...]

Some students have learning difficulties and require a different approach to traditional schooling and tutoring. The Strategic Learning Centre helps those children. David Schipper is the director of the Centre.

Only 17% of parents of kids ages 9–11 read aloud to their children. Yet 83% of kids ages 6–17 say being read to is something they either loved or liked a lot. (Scholastic’s “Kids & Family Reading ReportTM”) Mom Andrea Chisholm, echoes this sentiment, “Even though my older one can easily read books himself, he still loves to be read to at night.” For many kids, being read to by their parents is a cherished ritual. But it’s also much more than that. Reading aloud to kids helps expand their literacy skills, love of reading, worldview, and more. Here are some [...]

Most parents have a gut feeling when their child is not progressing the way they should at school – even if the report card does not indicate a problem. Tutoring is often the first course of action, but how do you know when your child needs more? Here are some of the signs that may indicate your child needs specialized help: Your child is getting low or failing grades in subjects like math, history, English, or French and you have been unable to solve these problems at the school You think that your child is not performing to their potential [...]

Many parents consult a psychologist if they suspect that their child has a learning disability that impedes their progress in school. When parents receive the psychologist’s report, they turn to the school’s professional staff for support, but some children require additional help. Co-founded 28 years ago by Karen Foley, Strategic Learning Centre (SLC) offers a comprehensive approach to address each student’s individual learning challenges. “Students of all ages come to the Centre from the greater Montreal area and beyond,” says David Schipper, the Centre’s director since 2013. The long-time educator takes pride in his dedicated team. SLC studies the psychologist’s [...]