In my work as a school psychologist, I spent many years assessing reading skills in children, as well as providing recommendations to parents and teachers to assist in improving those skills. At the risk of going into far more detail than you would be interested in here, let me try to briefly explain how reading skills develop. Reading is divided into three components. Basic reading comes first, which is the ability to decode (“sound out”) unfamiliar words and to recognize si

Almost one year ago, after a long period of questioning and floundering, I made the difficult decision to quit my job just a few years short of retirement. Since making that decision, I am often asked by others going through the same struggle, “How did you know it was time?” I am always hesitant to give advice to anyone in the same situation, as I believe a decision of that magnitude is incredibly personal. Reasons for leaving or staying will be different for everyone and my

Over the past several weeks, we have been giving thought to overall health and considering our “heart, soul, mind and strength.” If you missed any of the previous lessons around relationships and/or spiritual health, you can find them here: https://www.stephanicook.org/blog-1 Today I’d like to consider the third quadrant or the “mind”. As many of you may know, my background is psychology and I worked for more than 25 years as a school psychologist completing assessments for a

Over the past two weeks, we have been giving thought to the “soul” quadrant as we more closely consider our overall health in the areas of heart, soul, mind and strength. So far in our discussion of spiritual health as it pertains to the Christian faith, we’ve answered two of three big questions: 1) Do I have to go to church to be a Christian? 2) How do I know God’s purpose for my life? If you missed either of those, you will find them here: https://www.stephanicook.org/blog-