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14104 Steve Harper Interviews Allan Philip Gold Retired District Psychologist at Reed Union School District

·29 min·1 clip

Dr. Alan Gold says the 11-year-old may have a learning disability in mathematics.

The setup is familiar and small. A student is struggling with math, and the host asks Gold to look past the surface behavior and think about what might really be going on. Gold keeps coming back to difficulty. What looks like disinterest in children may start with something simpler: the subject does not come easily, so the child backs away from it. The host makes that easy to understand. Math examples come naturally to Gold, while the host admits that even basic examples can make his own head spin. That little aside helps. It moves the conversation away from judging kids and toward noticing how adults also dodge subjects that feel hard. Parents still have a role. Gold points to practical support, including the chance that memorizing math facts at home could make the work less painful. School has work to do too. Before choosing an intervention, someone has to figure out whether the problem is disinterest, difficulty, or another challenge. The conversation then turns to Emily from Edison, New Jersey, who is studying psychology and considering school psychology. She asks how a future school psychologist should carry the responsibility of recommendations that may shape a child's academic path. Gold does not brush that off. He describes school psychology as problem solving: find the challenge, then choose a reasonable recommendation. Research matters. The answer should not come off the top of someone's head. The host keeps the questions moving and gives Gold room to explain the work in the steady rhythm of someone who has spent years in schools. Nothing gets dressed up. The useful part is the reminder that a child's resistance may be information, and good help starts with careful understanding.

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