FITCHBURG — The Applewild School Speaker Series will present a free talk by Wendy Grolnick, psychology professor at Clark University, at 7 p.m. March 26 at the school, 120 Prospect St. Her talk is titled "Facilitating Children's Motivation in a Pressured World: Challenges for Parents and Teachers." Grolnick is among the seminal thinkers about how to develop self-motivation in children.

Ms. Grolnick is the author of two books, including "Pressured Parents, Stressed-Out Kids" which she co-wrote with Kathy Seal. According to their website, pressuredparents.com, "The authors focus on three essential feelings — autonomy, competence and connectedness — which parents can foster in their children to maximize the child's chances of success and minimize family conflict."

Ms. Grolnick will touch on how parents can resist or avoid the natural pitfalls of being overly controlling and of putting too much external pressure on their children, and why this is important. She will also address how educators can facilitate this same self-motivation in children and how they can help parents to balance their desire to see their children succeed without creating pressure.

For more information, call (978) 342-6053 or visit www.applewild.org.