Change is part of life. Without change and adapting to new situations we are not able to grow. A quote that is often wrongly attributed to Charles Darwin is: “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, or the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” This is true; we must adapt to new situations and make changes in our lives.

Often a life coach or counsellor can be a facilitator for change.

However, sometimes when is difficult to change our immediate situation, we must change the way we think about it!

If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.
~ Mary Engelbreit

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Assistive technology makes life easier!

Students with learning difficulties, specific learning disabilities or physical disabilities such as vision or hearing deficits can benefit from specialised assistive technology.

There are a variety of gadgets, programs and equipment that can make life a whole lot easier!

Many of my clients have found that a variety of assistive technology can help them with their academic work.

You might not be the world’s best speller and you won’t always have access to a dictionary or a computer, so you might like to try a hand held spell checker. It is about the size of a calculator and fits nicely into a pencil case or hand bag.

There are numerous programs that help you with grammar and writing skills that you can use on your computer. Other programs such as WYNN (What You Need Now!) or JAWS will read documents to you! Makes reading and correcting your work easier!

An Information sheet for assistive technology for students can be downloaded here.

I was asked to talk to a group of year three and four students the other day about ways to resolve conflict. I asked some of the students to suggest ways that they resolve conflict in their daily lives.

After some discussion, I presented the group with 10 tips and we discussed each tip in detail.
Ten ways to resolve conflict
1.    Seek to understand the problem.
2.    Listen to each other – take turns to speak.
3.    Listen to the other person’s point of view.
4.    Calm down first – manage your emotions.
5.    Clearly and calmly state your opinion.
6.    Be honest about your feelings.
7.    Always put yourself in the other person’s shoes.
8.    Compromise on some things.
9.    Seek a win – win solution.
10.  Ask some to help you (e.g. a Teacher or Counsellor).
As our discussion came to the end, one of the students said in a matter of fact way, “Yes, we need to be honest and talk about it!” This is exactly what the 14th Dalai Lama (b.1935), Tenzin Gyatso said:

“Dialogue is the most effective way of resolving conflict.”