ILT Blog and News
By Dr. Shirley Kokot
Fun games for developing brains
If you’re a savvy parent who doesn’t allow children to turn instantly to screens for their entertainment in free time, sometimes it is useful to suggest games to play. Movement games are beneficial because, apart from being fun, they help to ensure that...
What are the keys to raising secure children?
Children need to feel securely attached to parents or caregivers. Attachment Theory is concerned with the strong emotional bond that children develop with those who care for them and stresses the importance of a positive attachment for good academic achievement, the...
What are possible causes of childrens’ concentration problems?
Teachers have so many roles to play and balls to juggle that life can seem overwhelming for much of the time. Added to their load is the expectation that they have to be able to meet the needs of children with a wide variety of abilities and challenges. No...
Can you help your child to enjoy maths?
I attended a talk on the magic and mysteries of numbers recently. The presenter gave fascinating insights to the world of mathematics but admitted that too many people are wary of maths and tend to avoid the subject. It seems as though children need encouraging to...
Should my child be studying music?
Individual music lessons aren’t part and parcel of school these days, unlike years ago, when children had the opportunity to learn an instrument in their mainstream school. Very few schools have a row of ‘music rooms,’ with specially trained teachers employed to...
How can children learn to be tidy?
Some children manage to keep their rooms tidy but they are probably in the minority. Most will allow toys, clothes and other assorted items to accumulate everywhere. They seem to prefer facing the wrath of a parent rather than attempting to clean up the mess. Daily...
How to teach children to tell the truth
We all appreciate truthfulness and as parents and educators, try to encourage our children to tell the truth. But it isn’t always easy to know whether to punish them for telling a lie or not. Research by Brock University suggests that punishing a child for telling a...
Does screen time interfere with parent-toddler interaction?
Ernie Mundell, writing for Health Day, reports on research findings concerning toddlers amount of screen time and how it may impact on their interaction with parents or other caregivers. In short, the study showed that using TVs and tablets as "e-babysitters"...
Has your 4-year-old been labelled as ADHD?
It’s not uncommon that quite a few very young boys are described as ‘ADHD’ or hyperactive. They are regarded as being overly ‘busy’, mainly by their preschool teachers. Are we forgetting that most young children are highly active, energetic and generally...