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Showing posts from March, 2016

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...

Excellent Reading Comprehension: Developing the 3 Core Cognitive Skills

Every teacher would love to ignite a love for reading and nurture voracious readers, but simply teaching your students how to read and asking them to read each night isn't necessarily going to help them comprehend the text that they are scanning. The key to helping your students get lost in the pages depends on whether they have developed 3 foundational cognitive skills.  What are The 3 Cognitive Skills? Automatized Naming (RAN): RAN or rapid naming is the ability to quickly verbalize a series of familiar items including letters, numbers, colors or objects. Research suggests that RAN is much like executive functioning in that it is a control center. RAN is a complex set of cognitive processing areas - verbal, visual and motor systems - that work together thus defining one’s reading fluency capabilities. Decoding: Most students are taught in the traditional classroom how to decode. Decoding is the ability to recognize and analyze printed words and to connect it to spoke...

New Executive Functioning Game: No Match Penguins

I'm so pleased to announce the release of my new Publication: Executive Functioning Game: No Match Penguin! It is the third of a series of four executive functioning games that I have been creating over the past couple months. My students have been active participants in the creation and testing of this game, and they love it! No Match Penguin is the simplest of all the games involves and can be played individually or against an opponent. This game was created to exercise working memory, attention to detail, stamina, response inhibition, as well as mental shifting and sustained attention. It can be used to exercise core cognitive skills, as a warm-up to integrate the two hemispheres of the brain, and it can also be used as a fun brain break. It’s great for individuals with ADHD, dyslexia, visual processing issues and executive functioning disorder. It can also be used with the head injured and the elderly. Card Descriptions: All 27 cards include a mother and baby pengu...

Changing Edu-chaos to Aweducation: 8 Awe Inspiring Classroom Ideas

Wouldn't you like to be the teacher that inspires a sense of excitement and wonder in the classroom and creates lessons that put students in a state of awe? While research on awe is quite new, studies conducted by Dacher Keltner at the  Greater Good Science Center  have shown that experiences that generate a state of awe foster enthusiasm, exuberance and even an overall sense of wellbeing! How Can We Reach a State of Awe? When people experience an inspiring video, image or mind-expanding idea or theory, they often feel a sense of "wow" that motivates and opens them up to new perspectives and creative ideas. Keltner reports that awe "makes us feel connected to something larger than ourselves" and explains that this is "a crucial and necessary aspect of purpose." This larger connection can help to foster inspiration, motivation as well as resilience when facing challenges. By integrating awe into the classroom, teachers can increase attention,...

5 Paragraph Essay Freebie

Many learners struggle to master the five paragraph essay. When I work with students on an individualized basis, I'm continually teaching this concept. To help, I created a free Prezi for my students and other professionals, parents and teachers that want to help students master the formula behind writing a 5 paragraph essay. Students can also use this as a reference each time they are assigned a new essay. In addition, because many teachers have their own variations or tweak to the 5 paragraph essay, students can show the Prezi to the teachers and make any needed alterations. I'd love to hear your thoughts!! CLICK HERE for free access. 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://learningspecialistmateri...

Free Following Directions Sample Activities

Many young learners struggle with the complexities of linguistic cues and following both written and oral directions can be a challenge.  This requires vocabulary development as well as the strengthening of cognitive processing areas such as auditory processing, visual processing, sequencing and more Come download  free sample activities  that you can use to help your students strengthen these needed 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/  &  w...