All the local theme parks advertising their fright-filled Halloween events, made me remember a deliciously scary Haunted House that I attended when I was 12. The creepiest thing was being blindfolded and feeling “eyeballs” (AKA peeled grapes). It’s fun to be scared when you know it’s not real, but many parents spend years of sleepless nights feeling truly frightened for their children who have learning or attention challenges “What will happen when my child gets to high school?” “Will my child be able to go to college or be an independent adult?” “What damage is being done to my…
Read MoreEvery week, I meet parents at our information meetings who feel discouraged with the schools. Families raw from spending hours and hours doing homework every night feel alone and frustrated that the schools aren’t doing more. As a former mainstream and special education teacher, I would like to shed a little light on the subject. Doesn’t Qualify – No Problem?? Students with learning or attention challenges are often quite bright. In spite of their poor performance, their intelligence, coping strategies, and intense mental effort may cause them to score just high enough in a psycho-educational evaluation that they don’t qualify…
Read MoreJessie, was a cute 7-year-old girl when she came to work with us at the Learning Center. But her behavior wasn’t so cute. In fact, when I think back on her first several sessions, I think of the Charles Schultz character, Pigpen, NOT because she was messy or dirty – far from it – but because she was surrounded by such extreme anxiety and angst. Jessie was severely dyslexic and had major meltdowns at the first sign of print, a pencil, or paper. When Jessie left us as a third grader, she was reading at the top of…
Read MoreLast week I had the pleasure of testing two very bright and very different dyslexic students. One was 9. We’ll call him Chris. Chris had tremendous confusion with letters. He not only reversed b and d, but most other similar-looking letters, such as h and n; i and l; and t, f, and j. He read by guessing at words based on the first and last letter in the word. When I asked him if it was difficult to look at the words on the page, he said, “I’m not a reading person.” He went on to say that if…
Read MoreIt brought tears to my eyes when the parent of an 8-year-old girl shared what her daughter said to her as they left for school: “Can you find me a doctor who can tell me why I can’t read?” Like so many other dyslexic students, this young girl is bright, creative, and suffering. She is smart enough to recognize that she is not on par with her classmates. She is confronted with assignments all day long that she doesn’t have the tools to tackle. Because they generally are bright and creative, children and adults with dyslexia can find ingenious ways…
Read MoreUnderstanding and Correcting Comprehension Challenges My daughter has learned that volunteering to wait for the next flight when hers is overbooked is a good way to add to her travel funds. And since she has an insatiable desire to travel, she makes a habit of asking. When flying home from Japan a few weeks ago, she texted me this exchange with the airline agent: Me: “Hello, Is the flight overbooked today?” Lady: “Yes. Overbooked.” Me: Do you need volunteers?” Lady: I laughed so hard! I could just picture the scene and the airline agent cocking her head to the…
Read MoreInattention is often the first and most obvious symptom seen by teachers when children struggle in school. This drives parents to their healthcare providers with the question, “Does my child have ADHD?” The challenge behind this question is that inattention, squirming in the chair, staring into space, slow to get started on tasks, poor listening, and taking forever to complete homework can be the result of ADD/ADHD, but can even more often be symptoms of dyslexia or other learning problems. Dyslexic students are often misunderstood at school. Some are so verbal and charming, that only their parents know how much…
Read MoreThere are Apps for absolutely everything these days, and sure enough, there are even Apps for Back-to-School! With so many students going back to school today or at least very shortly, I thought I’d share this article by John Patrick Pullen from Time Magazine: 6 Must-Have Back to School Apps http://time.com/3982036/back-best-school-apps/ This article highlights some pretty incredible tools for students of any age: Homework tracker Digital flashcards Language learning games Bibliography formatter School bus tracker Reading comprehension builder Amazing! It’s a new and exciting world for students today! What Apps Won’t Do I’m not very technologically savvy, but I am…
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