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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...
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Factoring and Multiples - Fun and Memorable Lessons and Activities

Creating magical activities for struggling math students is one of my favorite things to do. Teaching fun memory strategies, hooking techniques, color coded steps, drawing strategies, and color implementation can be the secret weapon to igniting joy in the learning process. Over the years, I have found that many of my students have trouble with factoring and multiples. As a result, I have created a new publication to make the learning process both enjoyable and memorable for both the teachers and the students. Now, teachers have all the tools that they need to teach these concepts in a multisensory and effective way. Students can learn the concept once and continue to remember the process over time. What’s My Method? All of the following strategies are integrated into my publication Mathemagic Magical Math Instruction: Factoring and Multiples . M emory Strategies: Implementing memory strategies helps students encode the new material. Hooking Techniques: Presenting hookin...
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Finding the Best College for Students with Learning Disabilities

Finding the best college is tricky for any student, but for those with learning disabilities (LDs) it can be an even bigger feat. In fact, the perfect school is out there for practically anyone, but finding it, takes some time and persistence. There are a number of options for students with LDs from colleges that cater primarily to this population to larger universities that offer specialized programs. With the proper testing in hand, all schools are mandated to provide reasonable accommodations, but not all institutions make it an easy task. What Are My Options? Pre-colleges for Students with Learning Disabilities: These programs help to prepare students for the rigors of college and make sure they have the study skills, basic math, reading and writing capabilities needed to be a successful student. This might be a summer program or an additional year - commonly called a 13th year. For example, Thames at Mitchell College is a unique transition program on a college campus. ...
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Accommodating Students with Dyslexia - 12 Strategies for Success

Students with dyslexia or symptoms of dyslexia often struggle in school. It is not that they have limited abilities. On the contrary, many have IQs in the above average or genius range. As a result, instead of a dumbed down curriculum, these students need to be challenged and they need to receive accommodations, modifications and multisensory teaching techniques to unleash their learning potential. What makes it difficult to accommodate students with dyslexia is that each student has their own unique strengths and weaknesses. Yes, two students with dyslexia don’t have the same pattern of cognitive processing deficits. In fact, there are a number of profiles that can lead to this diagnosis . In addition, there are a number of specific cognitive skills that can cause symptoms of dyslexia . Consequently, a successful remediation often requires a tailored, individualized approach. To tap into the quickest results, I have learned that one has to look at the specific cognitive difficul...
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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...
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Powerful Orton-Gillingham Friendly Games that Bring Delight to Learning

About 20 years ago, when I first began offering students one-to-one Orton Gillingham based reading remediation , I was having to bribe my students to read long lists of words, word parts, and nonsense syllables. My enticements began with candy, moved to stickers, and finally morphed into a well-stocked prize box. This worked, but I found that I was getting my students hooked on external reinforcements, and that what I really wanted was for them to be internally motivated. I wanted to kindle a joy for learning. How Could I Bring the Fun Factor into my Lessons? I began to look around for game-like activities that could make the learning process fun. What I found were simple matching activities and bingo-like games, but nothing was addressing the specific syllable and syllabication rules. In addition, writing, inferences, following directions, main ideas/details, and other language based learning struggles, were pretty much all addressed through boring workbook pages. Clea...
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16 Ways to Make Lessons Memorable and So Much Fun

Making lessons both memorable and fun brings magic into any classroom. Instead of looking to a room of passive, bored faces, you can transform your learners into active, engaged participants. I work with students one-on-one, and this is what makes my practice a success. I often tell my students, if you don’t love coming to our sessions, I’m not doing my job.   16 Strategies that Can Transform Your Classroom or One-to-One Sessions: Don't call home assignments, homework, but come up with a name that is more appealing and motivating such as home fun. Also, when introducing a new lesson or assignment, think like you are selling a product, and be sure to create fun and enticing names. For instance, I do not teach script or cursive, I teach roller-coaster letters! Furthermore, generate excitement for upcoming topics by showing your own enthusiasm. Bring the arts, music, and games into assignments. Many students enjoy fine arts, acting, music, and making as well as playing game...
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The Best Option - Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Fine Arts

Deciding on a post, high school, educational plan can be a challenging task. With the changing landscape of training and career options, traditional values and approaches may not be the best solution anymore. This week I will be focusing my discussion on out of the box, creative learners that are interested in careers in the arts. What are the options? What can students do to prepare for the application process? Formal Training Options: There are a number of choices for high school students that are thinking about having a career in the arts. For formal training, one can consider a liberal arts university and major in art, enroll in a fine arts college, or attend ateliers (schools that train students in realism). 4-Year Liberal Arts College - Bachelors of Arts:  A liberal arts degree can provide you with a well-rounded education that gives you greater career options. Many students dismiss this option, because they don’t want to take the SAT or ACT college entrance te...
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Self Advocacy - 5 Reasons this Skill Should be Taught

Self advocacy is one of the most important skills struggling students can learn. Whether it is communicating with a teacher about a best learning approach, a needed testing modification, or a classroom accommodation, self advocacy can assure that students get what they need to learn. What is Student Self-Advocacy? Student self-advocacy is when a learner communicates what he or she needs to a teacher or administrator in an academic environment. This skill should be taught in middle school so that students are knowledgeable about the process and procedures by high school. Although it sounds easy, it’s actually quite complex, because students must be savvy about: Individual needs: Students should have a comprehensive understanding of their strengths, weaknesses as well as their accommodations, so that they can monitor services and manage their own needs. Mandated rights: Students should know about the laws that protect students with disabilities, so they can evaluate whether th...
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Games that Benefit the Brain

Most kids love to play card and board games, but did you know that many offer benefits far beyond the obvious social gains. Many games are actually good for cognition and can exercise the brain in areas like visual processing, processing speed, executive functioning, attention, and more! There are three types of benefits: Brain Breaks : Some games offer quick “brain breaks” that can be used during homework completion. A quick reward, when stamina is low, can energize the brain and regain focus. Brain Integration : Other games can help integrate the brain. Some students can lack integration between the two hemispheres of the brain and these activities activate the whole brain. Cognitive Remediation : Finally, there are games that help to strengthen specific areas of cognition and they can serve as a form of cognitive therapy. By exercising these parts of the brain, new neural pathways can develop and areas of weakness can be strengthened and even remediated. I have ...
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