Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label Language Arts

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
Read more

How to Easily Teach Struggling Students to Follow Directions

Learning to follow both aural and written directions is a crucial skill for students to master. It is the foundation of learning and difficulties in this area can impact a student’s ability to focus, follow a sequence of steps, take notes, answer questions as well as show their knowledge on written assignments and even tests. What Causes Difficulties in Following Directions? Even if a student appears to be listening, it doesn’t mean that they will actually follow directions.  Once a student hears the information, the brain needs to make sense of the sounds, and weaknesses in attention, auditory processing, visual processing, reasoning, executive functioning, and language processing can block one's understanding.  So if students do not understand lessons, we can't expect them to provide the needed response. So What can be Done about This? The best solution is to exercise and strengthen the core cognitive skills. Students need to learn and practice the subtlet...
Post a Comment
Read more

Letter Reversals - 11 Free Fun Activities for Dyslexics

Almost all elementary students experience some letter, number and word reversals, but for some, it is a pervasive problem.  Many of these students have symptoms of dyslexia or visual processing weaknesses, and they need to develop learning strategies and exercise visual processing and recognition to a point of automaticity.  Automaticity is the ability to do things without occupying the mind, allowing a process to become an automatic response or habit. It is usually the result of learning, repetition, and practice. Why Did I Create Reversing Reversals? I created the Reversing Reversals series, because I want to help struggling learners to quickly remediate visual processing weaknesses with fun activities that exercise cognition and provide memorable strategies. What Population of Learners are Served by this Workbook? I created the Reversing Reversals Series to help students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities to develop the core skills needed for reading an...
Post a Comment
Read more

How Can I Improve My Reading Speed and Comprehension?

There are all sorts of companies that are trying to sell “speed reading” programs and a “quick comprehension fix.” I often evaluate these products, and I continually find them, too good to be true. What I do know, as a seasoned reading specialist, and educational therapist, is there is not a single solution that serves every struggling reader. So why is this and what can you do? Why Does the Solution to Improved Reading Differ Across Individuals? The secret to improving both reading speed and comprehension depends on each individual’s learning profile and preferences. What are the cognitive weaknesses that are causing the reading difficulties? These deficits need to be remediated through individualized support and accommodated with assistive technology tools. In addition, what are the cognitive strengths of the learner? Tapping into these abilities can help struggling readers develop compensatory strategies or workarounds. Finally, looking at individual preferences can also help. Thi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Teaching Inferences - 7 Fun Ways to Master Implied Meaning

Inferences or an implied hidden meaning is an abstract higher-order language skill that is challenging to teach and tricky for students to master. For many concrete learners, taking the leap into hidden meanings is both confusing and frustrating. Most students first come across inferences when reading books, but I like to prepare and teach my students how to make sense of implied meaning through images, metaphors, product names, games, and more.  7 Fun Strategies that Teach Students How to Uncover Inferences: Review magazine advertisements and search for hidden images and messages that lure buyers to purchase products. Look at the pictures, words, colors, backgrounds, expressions, layouts, and more. Encourage your students to find their own magazine advertisements. Ask them to cut out their five favorites and answer the following questions. 1) What are all the hidden messages in each advertisement that helps to sell the product? 2) Can you think of any other hidden message ...
Post a Comment
Read more