Category Archives: blog

blog

Improving Reading Comprehension In Students With ADHD

1 Comment

Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often face difficulty with reading comprehension. Maintaining attention span is important to direct intellectual focus on a stimulus, recognize and decode words as well as retain information in long term memory. Deficits in attention imply inability to store and retrieve the information being read. Children with ADHD find it difficult to control attention, thereby, have trouble in understanding the text, interlinking the context and associating it with previously learned information.

Here are some strategies that can help to improve reading comprehension in students with ADHD:

  • Provide Interesting Content: As far as possible, provide engaging content to develop the students’ interest in reading. They may find it easier to concentrate on comprehension passages that are stimulating, interesting and are not very lengthy.
  • Minimize Distractions: Even slight distractions while reading can sidetrack ADHD students. Allow them to read in short time intervals and take frequent breaks in between to stay focused. Teach them to use a reading strip in order to maintain place on the page. If the content is lengthy, help them break down the text into smaller passages to avoid getting confused.
  • Encourage Active Reading Strategies: Teach students to underline and highlight important points while reading. Provide them with different colored pencils or highlighters to set apart information according to their relevance in the content. This will help them to focus more on the important content when they are able to sustain attention.
  • Ask For Predictions: When reading a passage with the child, frequently ask him to predict what would happen next. For this, he will need to interlink the storyline and character to frame the plot for the story. It does not matter if the predictions are correct or not. Making predictions will encourage him to stay attentive throughout and you can also assess his comprehension skills.
  • Let Them Subvocalize: In contrast to reading silently, allowing children to read aloud can also help with comprehension. Reading in mind can be troublesome for children with ADHD. Subvocalizing allows them to input auditory signals into their minds which, in turn, help them to stay focused on the material being read.

See-N-Read Reading Tools can help to improve comprehension skills in students with ADHD. For more information, you can call at (630) 236 – 5592.

blog

Fun Ways To Improve Your Child’s Reading Skills

2 Comments

Reading skills are one of the most essential principles of learning. With fine reading skills, a child will be better able to understand the subject taught at school and improve academic grades. It is important that these skills are inculcated in the child right from his early school years. However, after struggling to read all day in the school, children might resist learning at home. This can be avoided by introducing some strategies that can instigate their interest in reading and encourage them to stay focused.

Here are some fun ways to improve your child’s reading skills:

  • Comic Books:You can set aside some time each day when your child can read his favorite comic book. Graphic illustrations can be of great help to make the child concentrate and connect to the context of the reading material. With large sized eye-catchy pictures and segmented bits of text, kids find comics easier to read than plain text books.
  • Surround Them With Reading Material: If you provide your child with a wide collection of books at home, he will be more inclined to read them. However, these should not just include their text books. Include a variety of genres that will stimulate his curiosity and encourage reading. Apart from books you can also include other reading material such as newspapers, magazines, websites etc.
  • Online Games: There are a wide range of online games that can help kids to build vocabulary which, in turn, improve reading skills. These may include word scrabble, picture word matching, crossword puzzles etc.
  • Relate Reading To Various Aspects: You can consider generalizing a reading material so as to help the child understand its essence. After completing the reading task, hold a discussion with the child about how the content related with other books, TV shows or even real life experiences. This will help the child think deeply about the context and comprehend the message that the writer actually wanted to convey.
  • Read To Each Other: When you read stories or books to your child, he is more likely to understand rather than while reading on his own. Subsequently, ask him to read to you in order to evaluate improvement in his reading skills and correct him wherever necessary.

If you looking for effective tools to improve your child’s reading skills, consider See-N-Read Reading Skills. The research based products have been designed to overcome reading, writing and study skills deficiencies in children of all age groups. For more information, about the reading improvement tools, you can call at (630) 236 – 5592.

blog

Teacher’s Guide To Improving Reading Comprehension In Students

2 Comments

Developing reading comprehension skills involves a lot of practice. Though the basic elements of reading, word recognition, phonetic awareness and fluency, can be easily mastered, comprehension is essential to understand any given content. It allows students to read actively, understand what is happening, predict what might occur, relate to characters and apply the learnt knowledge into real life experiences.

Here are some tips that can help teachers improve reading comprehension in students:

  • Utilize Different Reading Materials: By utilizing different mediums, such as books, magazines, audio-visual presentations, CDs, etc., children will find multiple ways to gain insights into the content. Make them read the content along with an audio version of the book. This will help them to see the words while learning their correct pronunciation and usage through the recording.
  • Generalize The Information: After the students have read a given material, you can hold discussions where they can talk over the format of the content, the characters, the message the writer wanted to convey etc. This way, the students will be better able to relate the content with the real-life situations and, thus, learn the material better.
  • Focus On Difficult Words: As students go about reading a content, ask them to note down the words they are not able to understand. Subsequently, you can hold a classroom discussion so that each student can clear his doubts and understand the meaning as well as usage of the difficult words. You can also put up a chart in the classroom in which all these words and their meaning can be noted to be used for future references.
  • Define A Purpose: Any given text may contain information that is not related to the essence of the content. Finding the main idea in the content is important to maintain focus and concentration. Teachers should brief the students beforehand regarding what the content is all about. Ask questions after every paragraph to make sure that the students are able to classify relevant information from the rest.
  • Take Notes: Encourage students to write down or highlight the information they find to be important in the passage. This way, they will be able to memorize what they have read and quickly go through it whenever needed.

See-N-Read Reading Tools are designed to improve reading comprehension in students of all age groups. The research based tools can help students find the main idea and gain a better understanding of the reading material. For more information, you can call at (630) 236 – 5592.

bannerBio
blog

Learning to Read with My Brain

2 Comments

                                                                               BeFunky_SmallerBlog Graphic.png   

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.

 

 BeFunky_Until Next Time2png.png

Think and Learn Every Day

 

 

blog

Improve Reading Fluency With See-N-Read Reading Tools

2 Comments

Fluency is an important part of reading as it offers a link between recognizing and understanding the usage of a word in a context. It is the ability of an individual to read a text precisely, quickly and with proper expression of stress, pauses as well as pitch. If one faces difficulty in reading with speed and needs to constantly stop in order to comprehend words, it is highly possible that the reading process will be quite daunting.

See-N-Read Reading Tools are research-based products designed to improve reading fluency. The tools provide a practical and easy-to use fluency intervention methods in order to improve moderate to severe deficiencies in reading, writing and study skills for people of all ages.

See-N-Read Reading Tools That Can Help To Improve Fluency

  • See-N-Read®: This reading tool is designed to enable readers to stay focused and direct attention towards the content instead of merely struggling to keep track of their position on the page. The product comes with a ReadBar™, which reduces word or line skipping while reading and prevents pattern glare without blocking the adjacent text. See-N-Read® allows the use of common reading strategies, chunking and sweeping, for better fluency.
  • MemoryMark™: This reading improvement tool allows an individual to highlight or mark the important information without having to lose place on the page. It helps to improve reading fluency, comprehension and retention of key points.
  • eSee-N-Read™: It is an electronic tools working in the same manner as See-N-Read but on a computer. The surrounding areas are slightly shaded by the ReadBar™ that allows better on-screen visibility while minimizing distractions, screen glare as well as eye strain. The entire tool or cut-out window can be customized, resized and restructured according to the user’s needs.
  • See-N-Spell™: This reading tool provides a complete spelling and vocabulary guide to the users so that they do not have to struggle in comprehending the meaning of unknown words in a context. The tool lists more than 300 most commonly used and misspelled words that helps to improve academic performance.
  • ColorTAG™: This reading tool helps readers to systematically go through, organize and retrieve important information in any given content. Thus, it provides for a better identification as well as differentiation between essential and non-essential points.
  • ColorTAG™ works by avoiding confusion between different contexts, aiding comprehension of information and improving reading fluency.

For more information about See-N-Read Reading Tools, you can call at (630) 236 – 5592.

blog

Common Reading Problems In Children

2 Comments

Reading difficulties are faced by most children and can occur due to several reasons. Learning information is a sequential process involving a combination of three different components, namely decoding, comprehension and retention. It is critical for parents and teachers to identify the source of a child’s difficulty and employ practical strategies that can help to improve reading skills.

Given here are areas in which the child may face reading difficulties:

Decoding

Students with reading difficulties may face problems in decoding the sound of different letters in a word. An important aspect of learning involves breaking up of the phonemes in order to recognize a word. For instance, children with appropriate learning skills may be able to separate the different sounds in the word ‘bag’. However, a child with reading difficulty may find it difficult to judge the meaning between the three letters and how their sounds can be combined to form a word.

Signs of problems in decoding:

  • Issues in sounding out words
  • Difficulty in recognizing individual words
  • Confusion between various letters and their sound
  • Lack of expression in reading
  • Missing punctuation marks while reading
  • Slow reading pace

Comprehension

Comprehending any information requires the ability to properly decode it. When children successfully decode the sound and connection of different words, they are in a better position to concentrate on the paragraph that they are reading. When word recognition is not problematic, children can easily understand and remember the information.

Signs of problems in comprehension:

  • Confusion in the meaning of individual words and their usage in sentences
  • Difficulty connecting different contexts in a paragraph
  • Missing out or skipping significant details
  • Lack of concentration while reading
  • Inability to distinguish between important and trivial information

Retention

This requires the mastery of both decoding and comprehension skills. Proper retention of information relies on a child’s cognitive skills and the ability to organize, summarize as well as retrieve relevant ideas. They should be able to link the present information to something they already know. This, along with sufficient practice, will allow the children to store any information in their long-term memory that can be recalled whenever required.

Signs of problems in retention:

  • Difficulty relating what is being currently read with previous knowledge
  • Trouble in real-life application of information gathered
  • Difficulty memorizing or recapitulating the information read

See-N-Read Reading Tools are aimed at improving reading skills among children of all age groups. The research-based products can help children overcome moderate to severe reading and study skill deficiencies. For more information, you can call us at (630) 236 – 5592.

blog

Improving Reading Comprehension In Students With Dyslexia

2 Comments

Students with dyslexia often tend to lay focus on identifying the pronunciation and spelling of unfamiliar words. This leads to them failing to comprehend the meaning of what they read. Dyslexia can not only lower a child’s performance in school but also cause problems throughout his life. Some of these can be loss of interest in studies, poor academic vocabulary and difficulty in getting a job.

However, certain strategies, when correctly utilized by teachers and parents, can help to improve reading comprehension in students with dyslexia.

  • Summarize: While reading, make sure you stop the child after every section to determine what all he has gathered out of it. Ask him what the paragraph was all about, what the main idea was and what could happen next. You should also make him highlight the important points that need to be remembered. By summarizing any information, students will be able to know if they have been able to understand or they need to re-read the content.
  • Use Graphic Illustrations: Students with dyslexia may face problems in organizing the information that they read. This may be due to the added concentration on comprehending the differences between letters and words. Using pictures, visual illustrations or graphic representations can be helpful in overcoming this problem. For instance, teachers can depict information through flow charts, time lines and other diagrammatical formations. They should let students be an active participant and put up or answer questions related to the content.
  • Hold Discussions: Organizing group discussions in the classroom setting can also help to improve comprehension skills. Talking about a recently read piece of information, sharing views and listening to others, promotes a better understanding of the content. Students may also feel comfortable while asking questions and sharing what they have not understood in such an informal setting.
  • Encourage Questioning: Putting up and answering questions about any information helps in gaining insights and making predictions about the upcoming set of events. The teacher can frame the questions himself or encourage the students to do so. These can be answered either during or after the information has been read.
  • Use Previous Knowledge: When reading,students face difficulty in linking the current piece of information with their existing knowledge to make it more meaningful. Before starting to read the content, teachers can make them familiar with the difficult words and any related information that they have read in the past.

 

See-N-Read Reading Tools are research-based products aimed at helping students improve their reading comprehension skills. For more information, you can call us at (630) 236 – 5592.

blog

Tools To Improve Students’ Reading Comprehension

Leave a comment

The ability to comprehend and remember reading material is extremely important for students to be successful. Improving reading comprehension can help a reader connect better with the information given on a page and apply to his existing knowledge.

Here are some useful tools to improve student’s reading comprehension skills:

  • Pre-Reading Tasks: Before beginning to read the text, students must be asked to take a brief review of what the topic discusses. They must be encouraged to recollect as much information as they can about it along with any related topics that they may have read in the past. Reading comprehension is closely associated with prior knowledge. As students are likely to frame a reference for the content that they are about to read it is useful to remember previous reads. You should make notes of the information that they are able to gather.
  • Learn New Vocabulary Words: As they go about reading the passage, make a list of unfamiliar or complex words. Allow them to refer to the dictionary to search for meanings of all these words. Writing down the definitions will also make them memorize better than by typing or simply reading.  
  • Set A Purpose For Reading: Students must also have a clear idea about the actual purpose of reading the text. For this, they need to read the questions given at the end of the passage. It will allow them to focus on the answers of those questions as they read.
  • Generate Questions: By asking questions relevant to the text, students tend to have a better understanding of the entire concept. Generate questions that require them to combine different segments of the passage in order to frame the answer. For instance, students can be asked what the main idea of the passage is, who the key characters are, what the theme is and what is likely to occur next.
  • Story Retelling: Reading comprehension can also be improved by asking students to recite a rough draft of the story to partners. Through this, they can frame the passage in their own words and relate them to their knowledge. Restating also helps to improve their recall memory of the information.

 

For more tips on how to improve reading comprehension, you can contact See-N-Read Reading Tools at (630) 236 – 5592.

blog

Tips To Help Struggling Readers

Leave a comment

Helping a struggling reader overcome his reading difficulties can be a challenging task. However, being a parent or teacher, the first step is identifying the problem area and intervening at an early stage.

A reading difficulty may manifest itself in the following ways:

  • Students are unable to successfully learn a reading concept altogether
  • They tend to forget the concept after learning
  • They learn and memorize the concept but are unable to apply it in real life situations

 

Here are some tips to help struggling readers in classrooms or at home:

  • Reading a paragraph from start to end may seem to be difficult. Often, the space between words may appear to be blurred or the child may lose track while moving from one sentence to another. Use a reading strip can help them stay focused on a specific line and understand it.
  • Encourage your child to read anything that captures their interest. You must ask the child to try and read text books, magazines, comics or any websites that he finds interesting. This will keep the child engaged and he will be able to learn many new words.
  • Set realistic reading goals for the child. If you set tough targets that need days or weeks to be achieved, the child may feel discouraged and uninterested. Each day when you begin with the lesson, tell your child the goal he will be working for. You can also reward the child for every little progress that he makes towards the goal.
  • Repeat the lessons again and again. If your child needs to read the same words or chapters many times, allow him to do so. Repetition helps in retaining the information and memorizing it for a long time.
  • Asking questions is also a great strategy to improve reading comprehension. Let your child relate with the characters in a story, their feelings and actions. Ask them questions about the story or what he assumes should happen next. This way, they will be engaged in the reading task and understand it thoroughly.

 

See-N-Read Reading Tools are designed to provide affordable and practical learning support to struggling readers. Our products are aimed at helping children overcome reading difficulties and develop memory strategies. For more details, you can call at (630) 236 – 5592.

bannerBio
blog

Welcome to See-N-Read® Blog

Leave a comment

 Thinking & Learning Blog

BeFunky_SmallerBlog Graphic.png

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!