Learning Specialist and Teacher Materials

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Struggling Students - Energize the Body and Fuel the Brain

One of the most important things we can teach our children is that the food that we eat plays a vital role in our health and cognition. Unfortunately, we live in a consumer society and children are constantly targeted by large companies that entice them into consuming junk foods and drinks that are void of nutrients and are packed with harmful and addictive fillers. In fact, I continually see students that have poor diets consisting of processed foods, starchy entrees and sugary snacks. Sadly, if you even suggest changing diets to healthy options, many adamantly oppose, as they are hooked to this lifestyle. You can see that they are undernourished, because their skin coloration is often pallid and pasty, they have trouble focusing their attention, many are irritable, and most are struggling at school. That’s right, when kids do not consume healthy fats, vegetables, and other whole foods, it can lead to a whole slew of physical and mental challenges. What Can Be Done to Get the ...

Routines - Stimulating Student Confidence and Productivity

Helping students establish positive, daily routines can be a lesson that will serve them throughout their lives. Instead of aimlessly floating from task to task, when students learn to create a structured schedule with intentions and goals, they can steer their way to high marks, navigate childhood stressors, and cultivate improved confidence and productivity. Creating Routines Throughout the Day: Establishing routines throughout the day, can help both parents and teachers maintain power and respect while providing kids the structure that they need. For this blog post, I will be focusing on a home routine, but many of these ideas and principles can be applied to the classroom. You’ll notice that I include positive intentions, affirmations, and gratitude as this can help nurture a positive attitude as well as a positive inner voice. Getting your children into the following habits can make mornings more manageable for all family members. You can pick and choose from the foll...

PhotoMath and ModMath - Best FREE Apps for Struggling Math Students

Serving the needs of struggling math students can be challenging, and giving them the assistive technology tools for independent learning is vital. This week, I’m excited about sharing my two favorite, free math apps that can really change the playing field for students with ADHD, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, as well as those with graphomotor, visual processing, and spatial difficulties. Photomath: This FREE Android App and IOS App will knock your socks off! Open up Photomath in your smartphone or tablet, take a picture of a math problem, and Photomath will quickly provide the answer. Press the red arrow, and Photomath will display each step required to solve the problem. Photomath Offers: Camera calculator that scans printed math problems and provides an answer. Camera calculator that also scans neat, handwritten problems. Step-by-step instructions on how to solve math problems. Manual, smart calculator with accessible math symbols. Graphs (NEW) Phot...

10 Successful Strategies for Tactile Learners

Can you imagine what it would be like to navigate our surroundings without a sense of touch? It would probably be challenging to simply get from place to place, let alone learn anything! For many learners, a hands-on approach greatly enhances the learning process, and we as teachers need to know how to accommodate these students. Virtually everyone learns through the sense of touch, but there is a vast continuum with some learners reporting the tactile modality to be somewhat distracting while others find that it serves a vital role. In fact, over the past 20 years as a learning specialist and educational therapist, I have found that there are three distinct types of tactile learning that should be considered. Feeling objects in the environment: Some students learn best when touching or manipulating objects. Using an abacus for math calculations, interacting with a historical diorama, or even sorting sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks, for example, can assist with t...

How to Identify Slow Processing Speed in your Child

This week I am thrilled to feature a blog by the Founder and President of LearningWorks for Kids, Randy Kulman, Ph.D. Randy tells us about how to identify slow processing speed in your child. It can be very difficult to identify slow processing speed in your child. Many kids who process information slowly initially appear to be frustrated, unmotivated, and disinterested. A child’s reaction to difficulty in processing information is often more noticeable than the slow pace at which he completes tasks. As a result, many kids with slow processing speed are misidentified as lazy and indifferent about achieving goals. However, the reality is that many of these kids just require more time to take in information, do something with that information in their brain, and then produce a result. They find themselves falling behind their peers, seeming to take forever to do schoolwork, and feeling frustrated in their ability to show what they know. If you have a child who is not reaching ...

Soothe Your Students and Increase Homework Productivity

When students are spent and stressed from a long day at school, it can be a chore to get them to complete their homework. So how can one entice these passive, unmotivated learners to pick up the pencil and mindfully coast through their assignments? Working as a learning specialist and educational therapist, I meet with most of my students for a single hour each week. Therefore, it is imperative that I use every minute of my session wisely. It took me some time to realize that, for some students, it is a fruitless and frustrating chore to push them to plow through assignments. For these students, I need to commence at a slow pace and pause for 5 to 10 minutes, before they are encouraged to plunge into the pool of school work. What Gets in the Way? There are a number of hurdles that can topple a student session. Low stamina: Many students are cognitively spent after a day of school. Poor motivation: Some students have little to no interest in completing homework. Attention ...

7 Mindful Methods Boost Sensory Processing for Improved Learning

An awesome sunset will likely capture one’s attention for a minute or two, but much of our sensory processing information remains overlooked. Although we are subconsciously processing our surroundings with our senses so that we can navigate our environment, being consciously aware of this sensory input is less common. I’ll never forget a seventh grade student, Mary, that I had in a study skills course. One afternoon, she came bursting into the classroom and eagerly shared a profound revelation. Mary had consciously decided to focus her attention and listen in class, and she was astonished at how easy it was to learn. Individuals of all ages have the ability to get “lost in thoughts,” and these distractions can be past experiences, future predictions, fantasies, worries, or even new and creative ideas. In fact, many of us are so tangled in the past and the future, that we miss the present moment. Students that struggle with processing sensory information in the moment are often...

Empowering Students - Pay Attention and You Will Find the Magic

As a learning specialist and educational therapist, I find an individualized approach for each of my students is key. I often begin by giving the Eclectic Teaching Profile, which is an assessment that comes with the Eclectic Teaching Approach , but I also pay careful attention to my student’s mannerisms, sense of humor, and passions when creating a tailored intervention. Just this past week, I was working with Olivia, a 10-year-old that will be entering the 5th grade this fall. In school, Olivia has struggled with maintaining attention, reading comprehension, multi-step directions, and math. This student is a vivacious and voracious learner who loves color and order. In fact, this past week, Olivia eagerly showed me a strategy that she created to organize her iPhone, and quite frankly, it blew me away. It is not only an approach that I am now using myself, but it provides a wonderful glimpse on how I can best serve the needs of this creative learner. What is Olivia’s...

Language Processing Disorder - 12 Easy Steps to Boost Receptive Language

The spoken word gives human’s an incredible advantage over other species, but for those that struggle with language processing, this “invisible difficulty,” can create countless challenges. What’s more, this problem often goes unnoticed and many of these students are misunderstood and mislabeled as inattentive, careless, lazy absent-minded, and defiant. What is a Language Processing Disorder? Language processing disorders are not uncommon, and it is a difficulty that impacts communication and social relations. This disorder can impact a student’s ability to understand language (receptive language) and/or express their thoughts (expressive language). Like many cognitive based challenges, it can manifest in a variety of ways. One student might struggle to outline their thoughts, while another might battle with accessing the right word or name from their memory banks, following a sequence of directives, or even maintaining attention. In addition, a student may experience d...

Learning Specialist and Teacher Materials - Good Sensory Learning

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