Skip to main content

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
Post a Comment

Working Memory, Hemisphere Integration and Attention Building Activities

Successful learners are fully engaged, can maintain attention and they activate both hemispheres of their brain. However, many young learners go through their daily classroom activities without being fully conscious of the task at hand. Many of these kids struggle with executive functioning and working memory difficulties. 
 
They may be constantly distracted by external stimuli as well as their own internal thoughts that take them on “little trips” outside of the classroom. Although their bodies are present, their minds are elsewhere. What’s more, when these students eventually become consciously involved in the classroom, many have missed important instruction and they may only be activating the dominant side of their brain. So, for example, if a student is only using the right hemisphere, reading can become a difficult task, as for most people, the left hemisphere of the brain is dominant for language. For students that fall into this profile, learning can become difficult, frustrating and taxing.

What Can We Do to Help Students Improve Memory, Activate Their Whole Brain and Improve Attention?
The key to developing these skills lies in improving three areas of cognition:
strengthen working memory
Click on the image to learn more
  1. Working memory
  2. Hemispheric Integration
  3. Attention
What is Working Memory?According to Google definitions, working memory is the part of short-term memory that is concerned with immediate, conscious, perceptual and linguistic processing. The development of working memory is fundamental to helping students to be present and mindful while in the classroom. It also helps them to encode information as well as perform mental manipulations.

What is Hemispheric Integration? 
Hemispheric Integration is the activation of both the left and right hemispheres of the brain. When hemisphere integration is poor, there is decreased communication between the right and left sides of the brain. Electrically, the two hemispheres are not communicating, there is an imbalance between the right and left sides of the brain or one hemisphere is activated while the other remains largely inactive. Multisensory integration is essential for almost every activity that we perform because the combination of multiple sensory inputs is essential for us to comprehend our surroundings. Dan Seigal (see link below) suggests, "A healthy and productive mind “emerges from a process called integration." Both Dennison (see link below) and Hannaford (see link below) offer physical activities that integrate the brain through movement, but this publication offers quick printable activities that can also activate both hemispheres and train the brain to be mindful and present for improved memory and processing.

What are Attention Building Activities?
Attention building activities require students to maintain attention in order to complete the exercise. Without being fully focused, the drills are virtually impossible. If instructors or learning specialists slowly increase the number of activities that the student completes in a single session, they will be training the brain to concentrate over longer and longer periods of time. 

Why I Created and Use These Activities with My Students?
We live in a society that is constantly bombarding children with stimuli to the point that when there is no stimulation, many kids get bored. In addition, many children do not know how to activate their own cognition and take control of their own thought processes. I created these fun, game-like activities to help students become mindfully present, develop working memory, engage both hemispheres of the brain and improve the capacity to sustain attention. Many of the activities were created with the Stroop Effect in mind. The effect is named after John Ridley Stroop who first researched and published the effect in England in 1935. Later, his findings inspired a test, The Stroop Test. The Stroop Test is purported to measure selective attention, cognitive flexibility, processing speed, and executive functions. If you would like to learn more about these activities as well as see some sample pages, Click Here. I also created some fun card games to strengthen executive functioning/working memory skills.

Cheers, Dr. Erica Warren
Dr. Erica Warren is the author, illustrator, and publisher of multisensory educational materials at Good Sensory Learning and Dyslexia Materials. She is also the director of Learning to Learn and Learning Specialist Courses.

· Blog: https://learningspecialistmaterials.blogspot.com/
· YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/warrenerica1
· Podcast: https://godyslexia.com/
· Store: http://www.Goodsensorylearning.com/ & www.dyslexiamaterials.com
· Courses: http://www.learningspecialistcourses.com/
· Newsletter Sign-up: https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/69400
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

88 Assistive Technology Tools for Struggling Learners

Making sense of the complex weave of assistive technology devices and applications for struggling learners can be a confusing and frustrating chore. This blog talks about 15 different types of assistive technology that can benefit struggling learners with links to my favorite tools. For a more comprehensive discussion of these technologies  CLICK HERE Comprehensive Technologies: Don Johnston Inc. - $. Kurzweil 3000 - $   TextHelp - $ ClaroRead - $ Planning, Time Management, and Organization: iStudies Pro - Free/$ - Remember the Milk - Free - RescueTime - $ Strict Workflow  - Free - Wunderlist - Free - Text to Speech: AnyBook Personal Reader - $ Audible.com - $ IntoWords - $ NaturalReaders - Free/$ Project Gutenberg & Librivox - Free Raz-Kids - $ Read & Write for Google Chrome - Free/$ Read OutLoud - $ Snap&Read Universal - $ Voice Dream Reader - Free/$ Voice Typing - Free Speech to Text: Co-writer Un
Post a Comment
Read more

10 Free Ways to Improving Visual Tracking for Weak Readers

While reading, tracking across the page from one line to the next can be tricky when the text is small, but for students with dyslexia or weak reading skills, it can be a problem regardless of the font size.  So why is this the case?  Perhaps one of the problems is poor tracking skills. What Exactly is Tracking? Tracking is the ability for one's eyes to move smoothly across the page from one line of text to another. Tracking difficulties happen when eyes jump backward and forward and struggle to stay on a single line of text.  This results in problems such as word omissions, reversals, eye fatigue, losing your place while reading and most importantly it can impact normal reading development.   Can Tracking be Improved? Tracking can be improved by strengthening eye muscles as well as getting your eyes and brain to work cooperatively.  There are three eye movements that need to be developed:   Fixations: The ability to hold one's eyes steady without moving
Post a Comment
Read more

Do I have dyslexia - Explaining Symptoms and Myths for Kids

What do you do when you learn that your child has dyslexia? Should you hide this diagnosis to protect them from labels and misunderstandings, or should you tell them? If you do decide to tell them, how do you do this? Can you help them to overcome any potential fears or misunderstandings? These are the questions that I will answer in this blog that includes kid-friendly graphics. What are the Benefits of Telling Your Child That He or She Has Dyslexia? Educating your child with dyslexia about the common signs and misconceptions can help them to: understand that they learn in a different way than other kids that don’t have dyslexia.  shed negative labels such as stupid, careless, unmotivated and lazy. correct any misunderstandings. identify with other successful people that have or had dyslexia. acquire the needed intervention and instruction in school. learn that many people with dyslexia have strengths that others do not have. Individuals with dyslexia are often: great
Post a Comment
Read more