Next year, struggling students will have more schoolwork than this year, and it will be more difficult. What can be done to prepare struggling students for the new challenges this fall?
“What kinds of students make the greatest gains?” “Is it for everyone?” “Do some get greater gains than others?”
Every summer we get students from all over the country (sometimes even from outside the U.S.) that attend our learning centers for summer intensive programs. We do have limited space in each center so contact us immediately if you are interested.
Doing anything for 40 or 60 or 90 intense hours will make some kind of difference. But certain kinds of students make more progress than other students. For the right student, the results are dramatic.
Parents often believe it is miraculous.
In reality it’s just matching the right student to the right protocol using the right resources to strengthen the right skills, which make learning easier.
Based on results of over 30 years of clinicians across the country working with students, here is a brief description of the kinds of students who will make the most progress:
- Students who are on the verge of a breakthrough
They have worked hard and are right on the edge of making a big time breakthrough. You can already tell that they are developing the skills that will make school easier next year.But how do you make sure they don’t regress over the summer? And what would it be like if they actually improved their skills over the summer?A summer program can really push them over the hump. It gets them through the transition and starts next year really ready to take on the greater workload.
- Students who are completely “lost”
Do you know students who can’t follow directions, are often clumsy, disorganized – in the wrong place at the wrong time without the materials they might need. “Homework? Yes, I think I did it. No, I don’t know where it might be.” What an intensive will give them is grounding. It gives them an organizational starting point…a sense of themselves and others, and a sense focus. Starting school with new and solid foundational skills will make a huge difference for these students.
- Students who are working too hard
They may even be getting good grades, but it is simply taking too long and is terribly inefficient…and eventually fatiguing. And one day the work will become too much for their inefficient skills to keep up with. Summer can help them dramatically speed up their processing as well as starting to make new skills automatic.
- Students who should be doing well but can’t seem to “get it together”
These are students that have all the “puzzle pieces” but can’t seem to put them together. They look as if it will all come together, but instead it falls apart and they feel as if they are starting all over again. They may look scattered at times but then turn around and have moments of great organization and focus. Then all of a sudden, it’s back to chaos again. Summer sessions can stop the “roller coaster” and bring order to the every day school life in the fall.
- Students (or parents) who are frustrated with how much EXTRA time school and homework take and how studying longer or harder don’t seem to make a difference
These are parents who are just staring to question why their child spends more time on homework than other students. At the very beginning of this process, it’s difficult for parents to see that a severe learning problem might be the issue. (“He’s not doing THAT badly. He’ll probably just grow out of it.”) But as students move up, schoolwork and homework struggles just get worse. Summer is the perfect time to begin working on those underlying skills so that the frustration doesn’t continue to build. It stops big trouble before it starts.
For the right student, a summer intensive can be THE single turning point.
Yes, next year CAN be significantly better!
Want to know more? Join us for a Parent Information Meeting.
Click here to RSVP: Parent Information Night RSVP
If you are out of the Chino, Irvine, or Pasadena area, call us for more details: 1-877-774-0444.
“Helping smart but struggling students dramatically improve or completely correct their learning and attention challenges by developing the underlying learning skills that are not supporting the learner well enough.”
We serve children and adults with diagnosed or undiagnosed learning and attention challenges including learning disabilities, dyslexia, ADHD, auditory processing disorders, and autism spectrum disorders.
Jill Stowell, M.S.
Author: At Wit’s End A Parent’s Guide to Ending the Struggle, Tears, and Turmoil of Learning Disabilities
Founder and Executive Director – Stowell Learning Centers
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Speak to a Learning Specialist to learn more about the results from students and parents at Stowell Learning Centers.