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Showing posts from 2011

100 Powerful Learning Specialist and Educational Therapy Materials

This week I wanted to tell you about my online store, Good Sensory Learning. I’m Dr. Erica Warren, and I established this site so I could share all the materials that I have created over the last 20+ years as a learning specialist and educational therapist. When I first began my private practice, Learning to Learn, I had great difficulty finding fun and multisensory materials for my students that were effective and engaging. So back in 2005, I made it my mission to design and distribute high-end, remedial products as well as memorable, motivating lessons that bring delight to learning. If you would like to try a free sampling of my activities , CLICK HERE . How Are the Products Organized at Good Sensory Learning? You can download my Free Printable Catalog or you can browse the site using the grey “search all products” bar in the top right of any page with keywords such as dyslexia, working memory, and executive functioning. What’s more, drop down menus in the red banner allow you t
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Following Directions: How Do I Teach this Skill?

It's easy to forget how challenging it can be to learn the complexities of linguistic skills. Following oral directives, interpreting the needed steps to complete assignments, understanding multiple choice questions, and discerning a teacher's written instructions are just a few instances of how young learners need to know how to navigate the subtleties embedded within our language. For many children, learning to follow directions is a complex task that requires explicit instruction, and the mastery of this skill involves vocabulary development, mental flexibility, attention to details, listening skills, receptive language skills, verbal reasoning, and expressive language skills. What Happens When Kids Have Trouble Following Directions? When kids have trouble following directions, they often encounter the annoyance and frustration of others. In fact, a true misunderstanding can even result in ridicule and punishments that can leave the child confused and dejected. H
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Multisensory Teaching Reaches All Types of Learners

A common question and frustration plaguing teachers is how to meet the diverse learning styles of all the students in their classrooms.  With as many as 12 learning styles, teachers can get overwhelmed thinking about teaching a topic in 12 different ways.  There is a solution.  First, it is imperative to understand the different learning styles or ways of learning.  Second, one must consider a number of teaching strategies. Understanding the 12 Learning Styles: There are 12 ways of learning: visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic, sequential simultaneous, reflective/logical, verbal, interactive, direct experience, indirect experience and rhythmic/melodic.  Although most students can learn in some capacity using all 12 learning styles, when students’ unique profiles or preferences are accommodated, they often experience joy in the learning process and celebrate remarkable gains.  Below, the 12 learning styles are defined and 3 to 4 teaching suggestions are mad
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Helping Students that Struggle with Executive Functioning

Many students struggle with organization, time management and planning. Capable and intelligent learners can sabotage their grades by: losing materials, forgetting to turn in assignments, leaving things to the last minute, miscalculating or underestimating the amount of time it will take to complete a task, failing to record homework in an agenda or planner, leaving needed materials at school, leaving needed materials at home, failing to prepare for tests, failing to plan and break down long-term assignments into manageable tasks or goals, neglecting to plan for midterms or finals, missing assignments, forgetting details, losing focus and missing important notes or directions, losing mental stamina and failing to complete a task, misplacing important materials, rushing through work. The publication, Planning, Time Management and Organization for Success offers methods and strategies to help structure, guide, and support students in the areas of organization, time management and plan
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It’s all in the Presentation - Place Value Games a Success

If students are subjected to boring presentations and endless practice problems, many may disengage and some may even act out. Have you ever heard the expression, “It’s all in the presentation?” The way a teacher presents new class topics can impact each student’s interest, degree of focus, as well as their learning curve. For example, a teacher could announce, “We will be starting a new unit on script tomorrow morning,” or they could say, “I have great news! Tomorrow we will be starting one of my favorite activities, roller coaster letters!” The second presentation will surely create a greater sense of excitement and anticipation. However, teachers are not only contending with the constant challenge of making their lessons engaging, but they also have to accommodate diverse learning styles. For instance, some students need to see examples, others are aided with manipulates, still others may need to process ideas aloud or make connections through webs or a sequence of steps.
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