All posts by Sylvia Smith

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Learning to Read with My Brain

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An informational blog for parents, teachers, students and those interested in current trends in thinking and learning

Vis-4VisualProcDisconnect  Blog Focus: A Year in the Life of a First Grader (Who is An Unconventional Learner)

During the 2015 – 2016 school year I will be following my little friend Jimmy’s experiences in 1st Grade. Jimmy’s Mom left him at his new school today with a big smile on his face and walked away with a lump in her throat. Her biggest hope is that her son will have a good year…just like all mothers across the country! Only, for her, she is keenly aware that Jimmy faces some challenges in school that her first son did not have to overcome.  

Last year during Kindergarten, Jimmy’s mother noticed that he was having trouble focusing, becomes overwhelmed by multiple items on a page, listening, sitting still, following directions, and completing assignments on time. While Mom realized that Jimmy was still only a Kindergartener, his actions seemed to require more effort than his classmates (or his older brother at the same stage). Jimmy was quite verbal and alert but seemed to be unconventional in how he learned and expressed his ideas to others. A side effect of his unconventionality in how he learns was that Jimmy would squirm, not focus, and seemed to avoid completing his work, which often manifested itself as behavior problems. Jimmy thought that he did not have any friends and that he “hated” school. The strange thing is that before he entered formal schooling Jimmy was curious and very talkative. In fact, his vocabulary and thought processes seemed above his age. He was a happy kid that thought he was a “super hero”…no problem!

Sound familiar? The number of kids entering school today that are not sure they have the right stuff is huge. These kids look and sound normal, but something is going on that is not quite right. Learning to read may present major challenges for them! The key is getting help early in order for these children to grow up embracing who they are and having the skills and confidence to succeed in school and in life.

 StrugglingReadercopyBackground & Impact: 

Jimmy’s mom is the angel on his shoulder. She recognized subtle signs of issues, which caused Jimmy to act out at home and school that raised a red flag for her. As a former teacher, she understood that sometimes kids’ actions are the road map to finding out what is going on inside them. So, she set more time aside to work and play with him at home to give him the little boost that she thought would help him. However, Jimmy seemed to become more moody and unhappy as the school year progressed. His confidence was very low and mom noticed that if Jimmy was asked to do near-point work as in reading or writing, he began to act silly or obstinate to get out of completing the task.  “Pay attention” was a commonly used phrase.

Mom knew his vision (acuity) was okay because she had it checked before he entered Kindergarten. Nevertheless, in the Spring she decided to have his vision checked by a vision therapist to see if he had trouble visually processing and/or interpreting what he was seeing, both at home and in school. This began a journey to help Jimmy get back on track. 

The vision specialist found that Jimmy did indeed have visual processing issues. His eyes did not work together well and he tended to have a “lazy” left eye. The vision therapist prescribed special glasses, vision exercises (including large and small movement exercises) and using a See-N-Read® Reading Tool when reading. He is now visiting the therapist every three months to check on his progress. It has only been a few months and Jimmy is clearly progressing, despite some frustrated (and frustrating for Mom) moments. The goal is to gradually improve Jimmy’s eye control and coordination so he will be able to more easily complete near-point work. Just as importantly, he needs help to understand that he processes differently from his friends, but that he can process and learn!

The diagnosis helped to explain why Jimmy was confused or overwhelmed by multiple pictures or activities on a page, had trouble completing his assignments on time, has “messy” writing, was less coordinated and seemed a bit clumsy. Each of Jimmy’s visual issues were not extreme but, taken together, they were beginning to negatively impact Jimmy’s performance and, more importantly, his confidence. AND, all this has happened while Jimmy is still in Kindergarten!

 Duck in a rowGetting Your Ducks in A Row:

 Jimmy’s mom took the proactive path to help her son. Armed with the understanding of Jimmy’s visual processing challenges before school began, she made an appointment with Jimmy’s 1st grade teacher to discuss how Jimmy processes information, the actions she was taking outside the classroom and pass on suggestions provided by the vision therapist for helping her son in the classroom. To the credit of Jimmy’s 1st grade teacher, she was very open and appreciated mom coming in to talk with her about Jimmy. Now, both mom and Jimmy’s 1st grade teacher are working together toward helping the new school year be a happy and successful experience.

 Boy with Glasses - Small“No-Shame Processing™”:

“No-Shame Processing™” is an approach to thinking and learning that acknowledges all forms of processing and prepares learners to understand how they learn and to grow a sense of confidence in who they are and in their individual learning processes.

Statistics tell us that a significant number of students are struggling to be successful in school. These students, and often their parents, know that something is not quite right, but are at a loss as to why they have such difficulty learning, especially in the area of reading fluency and comprehension. Some human brains process differently, but they do indeed process information. Learning does take place. The key is to recognize and understand that there is more than one type of processing. “Different” does not equal “bad”. “No-Shame Processing” is a critical concept to understand in order for many learners to successfully break through the learning curve and learn to read.

Parents!  Do you (or your child) have trouble following verbal instructions? Need more time to visually process information on a black board or electronic white board because the words/pictures get mixed or jumbled together as a colleague (teacher) talks? Would you like to ask questions but cannot seem to collect your thoughts in a timely manner? Well, you are not alone! Your brain may be processing information in a slightly different…or a very different… manner than your peers. You know you can learn, but you have probably figured out that you have to use “workarounds”; i.e., modify how you function in a traditional environment (e.g., a classroom). The key here is not to stop trying, but to be okay with and actually use your individual information processing style.  If kids are facing these same issues, they don’t yet have the experience to develop these “workarounds”.  Taking a few basic steps to replace that experience can be a great benefit. 

BeFunky_smallerActionChangesThings.pngNext Steps:

Unconventional learners™ are not rarities in our school systems; they exist at every intellectual capability level in virtually every classroom at every grade level. These students are not disabled, they are unconventional learners hidden under the mass of conventional curriculum: the rush to complete material on a schedule for the entire class, unbending application of standardized assessment rules in our schools, large class sizes, etc. These students are hidden because their performance levels are not low enough to qualify for an individualized education plan (IEP); they do enough to get by or they figure out workarounds so the system does not even notice, let alone adjust to, their unconventional learning processes. 

Jimmy is just such an unconventional learner.  He is a smart child…but he does need support to understand how he learns and tools to help him perform at his best. 

Please check back with us throughout this school year as we chronicle Jimmy’s first grade year in school.

**In our next blog posting, I will share different tips and techniques that can be used by unconventional learners to improve their processing and help them to retain information.**

BeFunky_Small_WhatonyoumindPic.pngThought Questions:

Have you or do you have children who struggling with reading or comprehension but in the larger scheme of things function well in day-to-day activities? Yet…there is a little voice that negatively impacts your confidence because you read slowly, have difficulty remembering things, or feel like you are fooling everyone around you? If you have figured out “workarounds” that have helped you to overcome learning challenges please let us know. Share your tips with us and it may help others…

Let me know your thoughts or share your situation…join the conversation and check back for upcoming blog topics on thinking and learning.

 

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Think and Learn Every Day

 

 

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 Thinking & Learning Blog

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An informational blog for parents, teachers, students and those interested in current trends in thinking and learning.

Vis-4VisualProcDisconnect  Blog Focus:

This blog focuses on brain-based tips and strategies to improve thinking and learning for all ages. Statistics tell us that a significant number of students are struggling to be successful in school. This is no different than in days past, but today, utilizing on new brain research, we have the capability to identify and help students who may process visual information differently than their peers. The difficulties facing students with visual processing deficits is that their performance in the classroom can look and feel as if they are not trying or that they are not very smart, which frequently causes these students to be overlooked, misjudged, or to be perceived as behavior problems.

These students, teachers, and often their parents, recognize that something is not quite right, but just can’t put their finger on the problem. On one hand, the child seems happy and easy to get along with outside the classroom, but when placed in a stressful setting where they must attend and perform in a traditional classroom situation…well, they fall apart. It is not uncommon for teachers, parents, or students themselves to misidentify specific issues causing these classroom difficulties; or they may choose not to deal with the situation because the issues seem to be minor in the big picture.

   StrugglingReadercopyImpact:

 It’s been my experience that when the educational system steps back from the traditional view and looks at students with a multidimensional lens (e.g., academic, social, emotional, and cultural), it becomes apparent that there are differences between learning-disabled students and ‘unconventional learners’. I have coined the term ‘unconventional learner™’ to describe people who have unique or different ways of cognitively processing information that are mismatched with conventional or traditional teaching methods.

These students find themselves frustrated because, as they try to process information, it is hard to understand or, even worse, it just does not “stick” at all. This chain of events may cause the student to work twice as hard to get barely acceptable grades (which is demotivating), participate as little as possible to “stay under the radar” of their teachers and peers, or just stop trying. Self-confidence is likely to be negatively impacted because of this situation.

     Lack of confidence in the ability to learn impacts a person’s self-esteem: they to feel “dumb”, knowing it’s harder for them to keep up, but not knowing why. Frequently, ‘unconventional learners™’ may be perceived as lazy, disinterested or “troublemakers” when, in fact, they have difficulty processing information in a conventional manner…impacting their ability to focus, attend, and to understand material presented in a conventional classroom.

BeFunky_SmallBoysPlayingPic.png Life Application:

To better understand a struggling learner’s cognitive processing strengths and weaknesses, educators should not only consider the learner’s academic performance and social/emotional IQ, but also their general day-to-day behavior in low stress situations. Examining students in low stress situations can provide a truer evaluation of the natural abilities that students may possess, such as leadership skills, organizational skills, verbal abilities, auditory skills, and/or sequencing skills.

   Other informal methods of evaluating cognitive processing strengths and weaknesses that can give a more rounded view of learners’ abilities are:

  • Comparing learners’ written and oral work with class norms to identify patterns in performance.
  • Identifying issues or situations that cause a dip in performance or behavior.
  • Observing behaviors, social interactions, and leadership on the playground or during informal gatherings.
  • Using technology in new ways to assess students’ capabilities through cognitive processing and brain-based gaming techniques.

BeFunky_Smaller Teacher Pic  Benefits:

Parents and educators who learn to recognize those students who underperform both academically and socially due to cognitive processing differences are better positioned to:

  1. Properly identify students in need of closer observation.
  2. Monitor their performances in academic environments with a focus on unconventional teaching and learning approaches more tailored to the individual, and finally,
  3. Fine tune diagnostic procedures to meet the needs of these students.

BeFunky_smallerActionChangesThings.png Summary:

In many cases, these students may simply have different approaches to learning, i.e., processing differences, rather than learning disabilities. The word “simply” in the last sentence is not really simple for most people to grasp. Teachers and parents need to consider how and why a student is having difficulty learning that differs from the perspective that was once the norm. We need to look beyond the behavior and any apparent lack of interest a student may exhibit and incorporate new approaches offered by brain-based learning research to reveal hidden issues that may be impacting students’ learning ability.  

   This awakening will help educators, parents and students to begin to constructively solve the mystery of why some students struggle to learn and to retain information as they read and will reveal the potential of the ‘unconventional learner™’ that is hidden in plain sight in every classroom.

BeFunky_Small_WhatonyoumindPic.png  Thought Questions:

Is there an ‘unconventional learner™’ in your life?

Are they frustrated and struggle to deal with why they don’t understand things being taught in the classroom, yet they seem more that able to function outside the classroom?

What would it mean to them to realize that they are in fact able to learn but may be misunderstood?

Let me know your thought or comments…join the conversation and check back for upcoming blog topics on thinking and learning.

 BeFunky_Until Next Time2png.png Think and Learn Everyday!