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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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10 Reasons to Stop Using Candy to Motivate Students

Providing sweets to children to make them momentarily more compliant is a trick that teachers have used for ages.  In fact, fifteen years ago, when I started my private practice, I too can remember bribing challenging students to read lists of words or work through tedious drills.  But it was not long before I realized that this was the wrong tool to entice young learners.  In fact, loading youngsters with sugary sweets and empty calories proves to be detrimental in a number of ways.
Candy is not a good academic motivation tool
10 Reasons to Stop Bribing Learners with Candy:
  1. Consuming candy is terrible for children's teeth.
  2. Ingested sugar has the potential of destroying one's general health and immunity as it can strip the body of important vitamins and minerals. 
  3. Many children are addicted to sugar, and many insist on eating it instead of vital, nutritious diets.  http://eric.ed.gov/?q=sugars+impact+on+learning&id=EJ872852
  4. Eating too much sugar makes children vulnerable to the overgrowth of yeast, which can cause eczema, chronic nasal congestion, and ear infections. In addition, yeast overgrowth has been linked to sensory integration disorders and mental fogginess. 
  5. Sugar hinders the absorption of some B vitamins, and B vitamins help maintain optimal thinking, coordination, and memory.  http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/this-is-your-brain-on-sugar-ucla-233992 
  6. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that the average U.S. citizen consumes 156 pounds of added sugar every year.       
  7. Chronic consumption of added sugar dulls the brain’s mechanism for telling you to stop eating.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12088740  
  8. Students that are offered extrinsic motivation or external incentives tend to select simpler tasks, and they generally offer minimal effort for maximum rewards.
  9. Rewards can devalue learning and counteract the development of intrinsic motivation (internal drive) and self-discipline.  
What Are Some Successful Ways to Motivate Learners?
  1. Make your educational approach fun.  Create games, creative projects, and engaging activities that have your students begging for more.
  2. Go multisensory.  Use a variety of materials and approaches that tap into the 12 ways of Learning. 
  3. Foster an environment that nurtures intrinsic motivation.  Making learning pleasurable by igniting students interest in the subject matter will motivate learners to select challenging tasks and learn information in greater depth. 
  4. Extend praise and positive feedback that is timely, sincere, and specific. 
  5. Offer healthy, nutritious snacks if you feel the need to use edible rewards.
  6. Present opportunities to earn points or tokens that can be exchanged for privileges if you want to move your student slowly away from tangible rewards.
Clearly, the secret lies in instilling intrinsic motivation in students as well as creating a positive, multisensory, and playful learning environment.  This can be done when teachers foster a cooperative, nurturing atmosphere where each student feels respected, valued, and empowered.   

 I hope you enjoyed this post.  If you have any questions or thoughts, please leave a comment.

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
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