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A Learning Disability Diagnosis: Should I Tell My Child?

I find that a lot of parents decide to hide the fact that their child has a learning disability. They want to protect them from negative associations with the label. Most of all, they don't want their child to feel disabled or experience any bullying from his or her peers. Although there might be some short-lived uncertainties and uneasiness associated with learning about one's diagnosis, the research shows that has lasting beneficial outcomes. How Can Learning about One's Learning Disability Diagnosis Help? Learning about one's diagnosis can help in a number of ways. Whether the child is in elementary school or even approaching college, learning about one's learning disability: shows there is a reason for academic struggles and that the child can receive support and reasonable accommodations that will help them to succeed. helps define the type of assistance that a child needs so that remediation can be tailored. enables children to shed negative labels s...

The Key to Improved Attention and Memory for Optimal Learning

Did you know that visualization can be the key to unlocking memory abilities, attentional skills and enjoyment for learning? Surprisingly, the use of mental imagery for learning is not a new idea. Use of Visualization Throughout History: In fact, an appreciation and recognition of visualization is sprinkled throughout history. It can be traced back as far as Aristotle in 348 B.C. He wrote, “recollection is a searching of an image.” Again, in the 5 th and 6 th century, Greek and Roman intellectuals used mental images to enhance memory (Ashcraft, 1989; Sadoski and Paivio, 2001). At that time, visualization was a common strategy used for public speaking. Scholars used this skill, which is now known as method of loci, to organize and recall a speech by imagining and associating topics with everyday objects (Douville, Pugalee, Wallace, & Lock, 2002). Yet again, in the thirteenth century, St Thomas Aquinas spoke of visualization, indicating that we acquire kno...

Eradicating Errors and Mistakes and Embracing Oopsy Doodles

Have you ever made a mistake or error? Were you ever wrong? Were you ever told that you were careless, lazy or umotivated? How did that make you feel? Were you embarrassed? Were you ashamed? Were you angry? Were you sad? Now, I want you to imagine a giant eraser, because were are going to erase all mistakes. We are going to erase errors. We are going to erase anything and everything wrong or careless. And, as we mindfully delete all those negative words and memories while holding onto any valuable lessons, all those bad feelings disappear too. Imagine that you travel around the world and erase every careless mistake - every single error - everything that is wrong. All those bad feelings leave everyone and float up into the sky and disappear. All that remains is a perfect, deep blue sky with wispy clouds. Now, imagine that in the sky, appears the words Oopsy Doodles in colorful swirly letters. Oopsy Doodles are wonderful, because they help us to grow. Oopsy Doodles ...

Strategies that Strengthening Math Abilities for Struggling Elementary Students

There is often an easy solution to helping elementary students that struggle with math. But first, we must understand that the root of math troubles often results from one or more of the following: lack of experience and practice working with numbers and symbols. drab or humdrum instruction. problems activating the needed areas of cognition to solve these problems. weaknesses in the cognitive areas of quantitive reasoning, spatial skills, visual processing sequencing, and working memory. What Happens to These Struggling Learners in Our Present Education System? Young learners often lose interest and motivation quickly when they have problems learning concepts. What's more, when their peers exhibit learning mastery and they do not, it can feel embarrassing and humiliating. If left unaddressed, anxiety, a poor academic self-concept and even helplessness can result. How Can We Protect Students from Negative Thoughts that Quickly Damage One's Academic Self Concep...

Working Memory Definition, Facts, Symptoms and Strategies Infographic

Did you know that working memory is now suggested to be one of the best indicators of academic success? Working memory is a cognitive functioning that enables an individual to remember and use relevant information to complete an activity. Information enters the brain through the senses and our conscious awareness processes and makes sense of the information through thoughts, inner visualizations, and the inner voice. It also enables learners to hold multiple pieces of information in the mind and manipulate them. It is often described as a mental workspace that helps students stay focused, block distractions and stay abreast of their surroundings. What is the Working Memory Process? Attending to the immediate experience Accessing prior information Holding and processing information Satisfying current goals. What are Some Fun Facts about Working Memory? Working memory focuses attention on experiences in the moment. Working memory only lasts a few seconds. W...

10 Ways to Teach Planning, Time Management and Organization

Teaching students planning, time management and organizational skills is necessary in education. Although some find executive functioning to be quite obvious, there are those that need to learn the process. Here are 10 recommendations: Provide an organized environment. Set an example. Use a planner and create a structured routine for yourself and use labeled boxes, shelves and filing systems so that everything has it's place. Praise self initiation. In the beginning, rewarding kids for executive functioning skills will provide greater motivation. Organize time and post schedule around the house or classroom so that a daily routine can be established. Provide structure by offering a lot of support in the beginning. Do the process together and slowly pull away as the needed skills are acquired independently. Give reminders and help students come up with systems so that they can remind others as well as themselves. Use calendars. Show the different calendar options to s...

Letter Cube Fun: Freebie Language Arts Game

I love to use foam blocks for all sorts of language arts fun. Most recently, I created a game that my students adore. I call it letter cubes. Here are the steps, so you can create it too. You can purchase colorful foam cubes on Amazon for a very reasonable price. I included a link at the bottom of the post. Select 12 cubes. I line the cubes up in a row and write all the vowels in capital letters (including "y") on each cube two times making sure not to place the same vowel on a single cube more than once. Then I add the consonants as suggested below. I assign the point value on the bottom right hand corner. This will also help the players to orient the letters. For example the letter P will look like the letter d when it is upside-down but as long as the number indicating the point value is in the bottom right hand corner, players can recognize that they need to rotate the letter to the proper orientation. Also, using capital letters helps with letter confusio...

Using Simple Images to Teach Math Concepts

Utilizing imagery and visual memory can be very helpful when learning mathematics such as proportions. A single picture can help a student define and remember a concept, or it can even help them to recall the steps required to compute a problem. What’s more, it often brings the “fun factor” into the learning environment as students can pull out their crayons, colored pencils or magic markers to complete the activity. I recently learned about the Palm Tree Method. I scoured the internet to find its origin, but came up empty handed. So, although I did not come up with this idea, it is still one of my favorites for solving proportions. Where Can I Find Other Fun and Multisensory Math Lessons and Activities? If you would like to learn about my multisensory math strategies, lessons and imagery activities to help your students learn math concepts, you might like my blog entitled Mathemagic or my products: CLICK HERE . Cheers, Dr. Erica Warren Dr. Erica Warren i...

Mindful Meditations for Children: An Interview Heather Bestel

It is with great pleasure to share with you an interview with Heather Bestel - the creator or Magical Meditations for Kids. Heather is a holistic therapist and mindful teacher that embraces the ideas of "hope, love, kindness and forgiveness." She believes that "everyone is capable of doing great things" and she helps many along their path to success. New research suggests that meditation benefits children academically, emotionally, and personally, and Heather's materials are truly outstanding. My students love Heather's meditations! Erica: If you had to put it into a single sentence, what is at the heart of Magical Meditations for Kids? Heather: Inspiring children to connect with their inner sense of calm. Erica: Why did you create your products? Heather: I had been working with children as an educational psychotherapist for many years and loved to use stories and meditations with them as part of the process. I’m passionate about the po...

Word Finding Strategies for Dyslexics with Word Retrieval Deficits

We all suffer, from time to time, with that feeling that a name or phrase we are trying to recall is on the tip of our tongue, but somehow we just can't access the needed information in the moment. For many students this happens during stressful moments such as test taking, but for others, such as most students with dyslexia , this is a pervasive problem that requires intervention. What Exactly is a Wording Finding Problem? Word finding problems, also known as word retrieval difficulties, dysnomia, anomia or semantic dyslexia, result in difficulties recalling names of objects, places, and people, with no impairment of comprehension or the capacity to repeat the words. This difficulty can stem from the cognitive processes of encoding, retrieving or a combination of encoding and retrieving. What Are the Symptoms of Word Finding Problems? A student with word finding difficulties may display the following challenges: Word Substitutions - Using another word that ...

Mindfulness and Resilience for Teachers and Students: An Interview with Renee Jain

I am truly honored and very excited to share an interview that I conducted with Renee Jain. Renee is an award-winning technology entrepreneur, speaker and certified life coach that specializes in cultivating mindful resilience skills for children and adults. Renee has transformed research-based concepts into fun and multisensory learning modules and workbooks that are ideal for teachers and students. My questions focused on her site, GoStrengths! , that offers metacognitive techniques through digital animation and activities. However, I soon learned, as will you, that she has a number of fabulous products and resources. Erica: Hi Renee. Thank you for making the time to speak with us. If you had to put it into a single sentence, what is the heart of Go Strengths? Renee: The idea that happiness is a skill that can be fine-tuned with practice. Erica: Why did you create the Go Strengths website and products? Renee: There are simple research-based tools that ...

Learning Specialist and Teacher Materials - Good Sensory Learning

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