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Should ADHD Students Sit Still? New Research on Movement and Learning

Can you imagine trying to learn in a classroom all day while being bound in a strait jacket? For many kinesthetic learners as well as kids with ADHD, requiring them to sit still during instruction is quite similar to binding them in their chairs. Although some learners do benefit from sitting motionless, for others it is almost impossible to learn while their bodies remain idle. Why Do Most Middle school and High school Teachers Require Their Students to “Sit Still?” It makes sense that one would teach in a way that they, themselves, learn. As a result, most teachers reflect upon their own ways of processing information when they create their lesson plans. I have found in my many years of conducting workshops with teachers, that very few teachers personally find movement helpful with the learning process. In fact, I have my own theory that teacher education does not attract many kinesthetic learners, as the process to become a teacher requires little to no movement. This hypothes...

Sleep and Learning: Strategies to Help School Children Fall Asleep

Do your students or children struggle to get out of bed in the morning? Do they complain that they are fatigued during the school week? Many youngsters are up late doing homework, and as a result, they do not get the needed rest. In fact, recent research suggests that insufficient sleep has been shown to cause poor school performance, cognitive and emotional problems, disciplinary problems, sleepiness in classes, and poor attention skills. Insufficient Sleep Can Also Lead to: 1. symptoms of depression and anxiety 2. aging of the skin 3. serious health problems 4. weight gain 5. impaired judgement How Much Sleep Do Children Need? According to WebMD, the amount of sleep needed varies per age. · 7-12-year-old children need 10 - 11 hours of sleep per night · 12-18-year-old adolescents need 8 - 9 hours per night. What Does the Recent Research Suggest? Recent research has revealed an association between insufficient sleep and poorer g...

Teaching Mental Math to All Elementary Students

Many people think that mental math is too difficult for elementary learners, but, in fact, youngsters have wonderful imaginations and capacities to visualize that can be utilized while doing mathematical calculations. In addition, it teaches them how to use their brains in an efficient, mindful and active manner. What's more it develops working memory, executive functioning skills and attention abilities that can serve them for the rest of their lives. How Can Mental Math Utilize and Develop Working Memory, Executive Functioning and Attention? Working memory is the key mental process that enables one to hold, manipulate, organize and process both new and stored visual and auditory information. When employing working memory, students also develop their executive functioning skills as well as their attention so that they can retrieve, integrate, and process the problem at hand. Teaching Children the Power of Visualization Makes Mental Math Fun and Memorable Another importa...

Why Copying from a Board is Ineffective for Dyslexics

Having to take notes by copying from a board or projection while a teacher is lecturing is challenging for any learner, because it requires students to multitask and constantly shift modes of learning. The process demands students to read, listen and write while making sense of the material. However, for students with dyslexia this teaching method can be disastrous. How Has Technology Impacted Note-taking? Before the rise of educational technology, students used to copy while the teacher wrote on the blackboard, however, with the use of devices such as the Smartboard and software like PowerPoint, the words just magically appear. As a result, many teachers lecture while the students are trying to read and write from the projected image, and what often happens is confusion, shoddy notes, gaps in knowledge, and frustrated learners. But what about students with dyslexia that are also dealing with weaknesses in language processing and memory? According to the British Dyslexia Associat...

An Overview of the Orton-Gillingham Approach to Reading Instruction

Many parents and professionals ask me about the Orton-Gillingham approach to reading and spelling. It is a well-researched and multisensory way of teaching struggling readers. In fact, popular programs such as Lindamood-Bell, Wilson, Barton, Fast Forward, and Spire are all based on this incremental approach. What is at the Heart of the Orton-Gillingham Approach? I created the following infographic to help provide an overview of the process: When was the Orton-Gillingham Approach Created, and Who Designed it? The Orton-Gillingham approach has been around since the 1930's. It was designed by a Samuel T. Orton, neurologist and pathologist, and Anna Gillingham, an educator and psychologist. They developed an explicit, incremental and diagnostic way to teach reading instruction for students with dyslexia. There are many programs that use this approach. CLICK HERE to see a list. Limitations to using Orton-Gillingham Based Programs: Al...

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...

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