Category Archives: ACA Blog

Your children learned the first nuances of language while they were babies in their mother’s womb. That learning continues at an explosive pace through their formative years, when their brains are primed for grasping sounds, grammar, and vocabulary. As their parents, you have great power to boost their language skills at home, and it can […]

The most common learning disability affecting reading, spelling, and writing in children and adults is dyslexia. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that about 15% of the population has a language-based learning disability, dyslexia being the most prevalent. Boys and girls suffer equally. Since dyslexia is deeply associated with language processing, some […]

The first day of preschool looms and your toddler still hasn’t shown any interest in the child-sized potty you brought out just for him. The fact that many of his peers have already embraced superhero underwear doesn’t seem to matter. Even letting him run around in a dirty, heavy diaper has no effect. How do […]

Elementary school has changed a lot since the parents of today were kindergartners, playing with blocks and drawing crude approximations of letters in crayon. With the application of national standards such as No Child Left Behind, language arts and math placement tests can start as early as kindergarten and be administered multiple times over the […]

There may be several reasons why you’re considering an after-school enrichment program for your child. Dual working parents might need to find a fun, safe, and productive program to keep children engaged in the afternoon. Perhaps your children have expressed an interest in a new activity or craft, want to play in an organized sport, […]

Even if you’ve heard it before, even if you know that it’s coming, there’s no way to brace yourself for the emotional wallop of hearing your angry child scream “I hate you!” Those painful words are an arrow straight to the heart. They stir up feelings of confusion, devastation, frustration, and emotional hurt. They’re an […]

Though it’s comforting to believe that your child will outgrow those “terrible two” tantrums by their third birthday, the truth is more complicated. Even if you’ve worked hard to help your child identify and understand their emotions, communicate better, and you strive to avoid trigger situations, an occasional tantrum is likely to erupt even through […]

Toddlers are pure, unfettered fun. They laugh with their whole bodies. They run even when they barely can, and they don’t care a whit about how silly they can be. They climb stairs, furniture, and jungle gyms without fear. From the moment they wake up in the morning, all they want to do is eat, […]

Harried parents often have two equal and competing wishes: That their child would either nap more so they could get stuff done, or not nap at all, so that they can run errands all the day through. But napping is much more than just a blessed pause in a busy day. For infants, toddlers, and […]

Shapes and colors are an important part of early childhood education. When your child strives to identify and separate blue blocks from yellow ones, she’s learning more than curves, corners, and colors. She’s making new sense of the world and developing the ability to communicate it to you. So at what age should your child […]