August 2015 Archives

In August, a parent's thoughts turn to the new school year that will be starting all too soon, and what can be done to set up our kids to do their best and feel good about it. Knowing that kids are not all alike, we've been thinking about how to prime kids who have particular emotional or learning challenges for a strong start. 

This week on childmind.org we kick off a series of specialized back-to-school tips with what we're calling our School Success Kit for Kids With Executive Functioning Issues. It's a list of supplies and strategies tailored to kids who are organizationally challenged. It's aimed at helping kids keep track of the things they're responsible for (from homework assignments to house keys), have less trouble getting out the door in the morning (Where did that other sneaker go?), and better manage their time (What was it I'm supposed to be doing?). 

We'll follow this with lists for kids with anxiety, ADHD, sensory problems, selective mutism, and more, throughout the month of August. Check out our Facebook page to see when they're posted.

 --Caroline Miller, Editorial Director

On Friday, at a joint press conference, the Secretary for Education and Attorney General announced the Obama administration's intention to explore the restoration of Pell grants for incarcerated Americans. Next month, the Department of Education will launch an "experimental site" program which restores Pell eligibility for three years, for a small group of participating programs which will be chosen in the months ahead.

This announcement is evidence that optimism is not unwarranted. After many years of things only getting worse, after so much work by so many, things can and will get better. If you haven't yet seen the recent New York Times' editorial lauding the announcement and describing BPI's work as "highly acclaimed" and "widely emulated," please read here.

At the same time, the scale of the intervention proposed is limited and reminds us - however far we've come - how much work remains to be done.

Nothing that we've accomplished at BPI over the past fifteen years would be possible without the generous support of individuals across the country who took a risk on us long before the cause was fashionable.

Please continue with us in the months and years ahead as we work to ensure the next generation of Americans will be better served by our systems of education and justice than the last one.

To celebrate this milestone, please join me in making a contribution to BPI here.