Mind by Design

10/19/2026

That first report card of the year has a way of surfacing what a summer of easier days may have quieted. If your gut is telling you something is up with your child, listen to it. October is often when families first realize their child needs more than the classroom alone can provide. You are not alone. Our team is here to help you understand who your child is as a learner and map out the path forward.

10/13/2026

We are growing. We are hiring a Licensed Educational Psychologist to join our team. If you believe every child deserves a comprehensive assessment that looks at the whole learner, not just a diagnosis, we would love to meet you. Our team is made up of former public school professionals who understand accommodations from the inside. Full posting on EdJoin: https://www.edjoin.org/Home/JobPosting/2271411

10/09/2026

Big news from our team. Our founder Jana Parker is presenting at both the Bridges of the Mind Summit and the California Association of School Psychologists conference this season. Her sessions cover Science of Reading-Aligned Dyslexia Assessment, Academic Achievement Assessment, and applying the DSM-5-TR in practice. We are proud to see her sharing this work with psychologists and educators across California.

10/05/2026

Testing season arrives with its own atmosphere. For a student with a learning difference or ADHD, the week can feel like a public measurement of the exact skills that are hardest for them.

Here is what a state test actually measures: content knowledge, plus sustained attention, reading fluency, working memory, processing speed, and regulation under pressure. A child can know the material and still produce a score that understates what they know.

A score report is one narrow snapshot taken under unusual conditions. It does not measure creativity, kindness, effort, or potential.

09/30/2026

Your child sits down with a project sheet. Twenty minutes later, nothing is on the page.

From across the room, this can look like avoidance. Far more often, it is a student staring at a task with no visible entry point.

Getting started is its own skill. Task initiation is a real executive function, separate from motivation and separate from ability.

Breaking tasks into steps turns a wall into a staircase. Name what 'done' looks like. List the parts. Find the first move, then make it smaller. Add a time estimate. Set one checkpoint. Do it out loud with your child, not for them.

09/23/2026

Vocabulary growth is one of the quietest predictors of school success. It shapes comprehension, writing, and class participation.

For students with language-based learning differences, that growth does not happen automatically. Single words can take many more repetitions to stick.

Here is one strategy that multiplies your effort: teach word families instead of single words. When you introduce 'observe,' teach observation, observant, and observatory alongside it. Show how the root carries meaning across all four.

Suddenly your child has a strategy they can apply to words you never covered. Small moves, real growth.

09/18/2026

Many parents arrive at an evaluation expecting one clear answer. Then the report describes a reading difference alongside attention challenges, or language needs alongside anxiety, and suddenly the picture feels more complicated than expected.

Here is what we want you to know: a layered profile is not a heavier burden. It is a more accurate map.

Attention, language, memory, and emotion share overlapping brain networks. When one develops differently, others often do too. It is how the brain is wired, and naming the whole picture is what allows support to reach the root.

09/02/2026

Big feelings that erupt out of nowhere. Meltdowns over what looks like a minor setback. Difficulty calming down long after the moment has passed. If this describes your child, please know that they are not manipulating you, and you are not doing anything wrong. Emotional regulation is a skill, and for many neurodivergent children it develops later and less predictably than in their peers. Meeting the moment with calm connection is where growth begins.

09/02/2026

We are hiring an LEP! I have an immediate opening for a Licensed Educational Psychologist. The applicant must live local and be available during some weekdays for in person work. Here is the posting on Edjoin. Come work with us!

POSITION OVERVIEW This is a rare opportunity for a seasoned school psychologist ready for something more. Mind by Design is a multidisciplinary psychological assessment and therapy group practice with offices in Campbell and Morgan Hill, CA, conducting comprehensive psychoeducational evaluations an....