Resources & Tools

Growing our Community

At TQS, our community of faculty, staff, social workers and therapists work together to support our students socially, emotionally, and academically.  In keeping with the TQS sense of community, we've partnered with a variety of professionals to share their blogs, resources and information on a variety of topics to help families with children with complex challenges.

ABA

What the heck is ABA anyway?

When you’re the parent of a child with complex challenges, you get pretty used to acronyms. IEP … ASD … ADHD … the letter lists are endless – and can quickly get overwhelming. 

So today, let’s add some meaning behind three letters that are becoming increasingly common and important in schools for children with complex learning differences, such as The Quaker School at Horsham – ABA. What is it, really?  

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Michelle Hunter, Sassafras Program Director

Tara Bradford, BCBA

ADHD

The Keys to Success for Children with ADHD

All parents want their children to grow into successful adults. Each of us may define success slightly differently, but it’s likely that we all hope our children will grow up to be independent, responsible, self-supporting, and content. The question, when ADHD is in the mix, is how to get them there. As you’ve just read in the Introduction, ADHD comes with a group of challenges that at times may make your child’s prospects of achieving success seem somewhat dim. The impulsiveness, inattention, disorganization, deficient emotional control, and other effects of executive function deficits can make it difficult for your child to make good choices in the moment and plan for a good future, whether that’s later today or 10 years from now.  How can your son or daughter get around these challenges?

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Dr. Russell Barkley

Nurturing Resilience

Nurturing Resilience

My interest in the concept of resilience and the application of a strength-based approach to psychotherapy, parenting, and teaching began more than 40 years ago.  Several key experiences contributed to this interest, including my role as (a) the principal of a school in the inpatient unit of a child and adolescent program of a psychiatric hospital and (b) a therapist for many children, adolescents, and adults, a number of whom were struggling with learning.

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Dr. Robert Brooks

Social-Emotional Learning

Mike Fogel, MA, ATR-BC, LPC

Author of the Social Emotional Guidebook

Founder/Director of the Art of Friendship Social-Coping Program & Camp Pegasus

Rise Above: Second Thoughts are Better than First Thoughts

As a child and adolescent therapist, a session sometimes stars with a recounting of the day as follows: Sarah spilled her cereal this morning. “This is going to be the worst day ever!” On the school bus, her best friend had extra bags and couldn’t make room for them to sit together. Sarah simultaneously thought and muttered “Jerk!”. Arriving at school, her first class was her least favorite, math. Sarah’s mood plummeted and she talked back to her teacher. And so it went…

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Working Memory

Teaching the Student with Inadequate Working Memory

Working memory is one’s ability to hold and manipulate information in immediate awareness. It is an imperative skill upon which many other mental processes are based. Think of it as a human’s RAM (random-access memory).  Working memory has limited capacity and duration, which increase with age during childhood. The average 5-year-old is able to hold about two bits of information in mind. This increases to about four bits by age 10, five bits at age 13, and six bits by age 16-years.

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Dr. Cheryl Chase

Youth Mental Health

The Youth Mental Health Crisis & What Parents Can Do About It

While the world continues spinning against the effects of a global pandemic that remains seemingly evasive to our efforts, a second pandemic has been inflicting our youth for much longer. Over the past decade, rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide among youth have increased significantly. More recently, between 2019 and 2021, rates of depression and anxiety among children doubled, with 25% of kids reporting depressive symptoms and 20% endorsing anxiety.

According to a new 53-page advisory from U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s office, America’s youth are no strangers to mental health challenges prior to the pandemic, but he says, “the COVID-19 pandemic further altered their experiences at home, school, and in the community, and the effect on their mental health has been devastating.”

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Dr. Krysti Vo

Upcoming Events

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Upper School families are invited to a Lunch and Learn focused on College Planning for Students with Complex Challenges beginning at 12:00 p.m.  Laura Sibbald, Executive Director of Neurodiversity Initiatives from Chestnut Hill College and Kristen Tabun, Director of Transition from TQS will review with families how to know if their student is ready for college, what to do now to support a transition, and how to successfully navigate the many changes students will face in college.

Recent Stories

What's the Latest in Accessible Technology? New Features that Benefit Students with Complex Challenges
Alex Brosowsky

From intricate functionalities to unknown risks to potential impact, new technology can be quite intimidating. Yet when emerging technology is used to help people with disabilities be more independent and connected, it can be incredibly life-changing.

Apple is one company with a long-standing commitment to making products for everyone, and it’s intriguing to watch the company develop innovative solutions aimed at empowering all individuals to use its products with greater ease and independence.

  • accessibility
  • featured
  • technology
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