Learning Skills 101 - Can You Spell Washington Backwards?

So far, we have been discussing what learning skills are and how they impact a student on a daily basis. If you recall, we stated that learning skills are the underlying mental skills formally known as attention, visual/auditory processing, memory, processing, word attack and auditory analysis. Most of our children experience these skills through reading, writing, spelling, paying attention, remembering, recalling and how quick we can respond to a request.

Over the last few weeks, we have been discussing the three types of attention. Selective, Sustained and Divided Attention, and Working Memory were seen as necessary cognitive skills for students. Without these cognitive skills as strengths, the student has great difficulty within the classroom and in his life.

Remember, we said that Working Memory works with attention to make it possible to process information that is given to us. Working memory is needed for math, reading, comprehension, test taking and follow directions.

This week, I would like for you to try two simple exercises that come from Dr. Ken Gibson's book, Unlock the Einstein Inside: Applying New Brain Science to Wake Up the Smart In Your Child.

These following exercises will help you begin to understand how all of your cognitive (learning) skills work together to help you be successful in learning. First, as fast as you can, spell your first name out loud.
Let's examine the cognitive skills it took to complete this simple task. To do this, Input came as you read or heard the instructions, "Spell your first name out loud." As a part of Automatic Processing, you gave Attention to the request, held it in your Working Memory, and began to Process it. You then chose to respond to it. You made the internal, executive Decision that this was an easy request; one that you didn't really need to
think about, because you already had the answer stored in your Knowledge Bank. You drew the appropriate information (the spelling of your name) directly from your Knowledge Bank, and spoke it as Output without hesitation. This enabled you to handle this exercise quickly and easily because it was previously Known or familiar information.

Now try this: as fast as you can, spell the last name of the first American president backwards. Again, Automatic Processing enabled you to receive Input; you had to read or hear, attend to, process, and remember the request. But this time the answer wasn't automatic-instead, you made the internal, executive Decision that something about this request was New or unfamiliar. You needed to think about it using one or more of your Higher Thinking skills. You had to come up with a plan of action (using Logic and Reasoning). Your plan may have been to create a mental image (using Visual Processing) of the word "Washington." This may have required you to repeat the name a few times to hear the separate sounds (using Auditory Processing) and then retrieve the letter codes (using Long-Term Memory) that represents those individual sounds before creating the word image and calling out the letters (as Output). Using all these skills, you laid down an imprint in your Knowledge Bank. Repeating this activity a number of times would allow you to spell "Washington" more automatically and make the task of spelling other words backwards much easier.

So, how did you do overall? I want to leave it at that for this week and pick up more next week.


The good news is after a student works with the Enhanced Learning Skills System, they will have strengthened all of their cognitive skills. ADHD symptoms, that are cognitive based, disappear to the point the teachers and family take notice. Recognize that there is hope and a solution. Call today for more information on your choices! Call me at (908) 285-8352.

For more information on the article you just read, you can email or visit my website.

Learning Skills 101 - Did You Spell Washington Backwards?

So far, we have been discussing what learning skills are and how they impact a student on a daily basis. If you recall, we stated that learning skills are the underlying mental skills formally known as attention, visual/auditory processing, memory, processing, word attack and auditory analysis. Most of our children experience these skills through reading, writing, spelling, paying attention, remembering, recalling and how quick we can respond to a request.

Over the last few weeks, we have been discussing the three types of attention. Selective, Sustained and Divided Attention, and Working Memory were seen as necessary cognitive skills for students. Without these cognitive skills as strengths, the student has great difficulty within the classroom and in his life. Last week we tried an exercise from Unlock the Einstein Inside: Applying New Brain Science to Wake Up the Smart In Your Child.

The exercise demonstrates how all of the major cognitive skills work together we you learn. How did you do with trying to spell the name of the first American president backwards as fast as you could? I explained how this task required you to use higher learning thinking skills. Logic and Reasoning, Visual Processing, Auditory Processing and Long-Term Memory were used for this exercise.

Dr. Gibson's Book points out how weakness in any of these mental skills might affect performance:

• If Attention is weak you may have never fully heard the request.
• If Short-Term Memory is weak you may have forgotten the request before you responded, maybe needing the request repeated.
• If Processing Speed is slow the request may have seemed too complex, requiring the need to have it repeated.
• If Logic and Reasoning is weak you may have failed to come up with a solution.
• If Auditory Processing is weak you may have been unable to unglue sounds in "Washington."
• If Long-Term Memory is weak you may have been unable to remember letters that represent the sounds in "Washington."
• If Visual Processing is weak you may have been unable to create a picture of the word in your head.
  

The point is that if any one of these cognitive skills is weak it will hinder your performance.

Your child may be experiencing similar "breakdowns" of processing while learning because one or more cognitive skills are weak. The best way to find this out is to have your child's cognitive skills tested. The good news is after a student works with the Enhanced Learning Skills System, they will have strengthened all of their cognitive skills. ADHD symptoms, that are cognitive based, disappear to the point the teachers and family take notice. Recognize that there is hope and a solution. Call today for more information on your choices! Call me at (908) 285-8352.

Next week we will begin to discuss visual and auditory processing.

For more information on the article you just read, you can email or visit my website.

Learning Disabilities - 5 Steps to Improve a Child's Academic Success in Reading and Math

Once parents observe their child having learning challenges, they may want to dive a bit deeper into the underlying causes. Having the neurologist or the pediatrician diagnose is not sufficient in most cases. Additionally, when a neuropsychological test is completed the average Intelligence Quota (IQ) will not provide all the answers. By following these five steps, parents can help their child lessen the negative impact of their learning disabilities and improve academically.

Step 1: Determine the Underlying Causes of the Learning Difficulties

Parents can choose to have their child tutored for specific academic areas of concern. If the tutoring is provided for a few sessions and the student is able to become independent without the ongoing need of the tutor, then it is possible that lack of or poor instruction is the root cause. However, if some brief tutoring does not solve the problem than this is a red flag that the problem is beyond poor instruction or not enough instruction. If learning problems cannot be quickly resolved with tutoring then usually there are weaknesses in underlying learning skills.

Step 2: Understand the Learning Skills Required for Success

Learning skills all work together to produce great results. If, for example, a car has a bad transmission, then putting premium gasoline into the tank will not produce successful results. Our brains have an active processing system which requires many learning skills to be strong at all times. First, the brain requires attention and memory skills when attempting to receive information. As additional input is received, other learning skills are activated to assist in processing the data. Next, visual processing is needed for discerning and analyzing input. Additionally, auditory processing is used to review, process and discriminate sounds. We cannot leave out logic and reasoning skills to focus on problem solving requests as in Math. Reading comprehension skills are integrated to deal with listening and reading activities. Finally, each skill will play a part in processing almost every input. Therefore, the degree of strength in these individual learning skills will impact the ability of the active processing system to handle information. If a person's skills show some or several weak areas, then the overall learning process will not be accurate, fast or efficient.

Step 3: Assess Which Learning Skills Need to be Strengthened

One way to objectively measure a person's strong points is through standardized testing. First, the most common testing approach is using achievement tests. These tests measure how well a child is doing academic not learning skills. Another popular choice are intelligence tests. These tests measure the strengths of the underlying learning skills. Unfortunately, intelligence tests provide an average intelligence scored based on all the measures of the learning skills. They will not give the individual measures of learning skills necessary for reading, math calculations or comprehension. Parents can look at the individual test scores and compare them to their child's grades with each academic subject and discover which underlying learning skills need to be strengthened.

Step 4: Explore How to Strengthen the Weak Learning Skills

Cognitive Training is one of the fastest growing markets. Studies prove intense, challenging procedures completed one-on-one will strengthen weak learning skills without any regression. As a child progresses through a procedure, tasks are added requiring greater attention and forcing new skills to become automatic. Research studies have shown a child will gain an average over 3.6 years improvement in all deficient skills within 10 weeks! This type of training requires working with a certified trainer at least 5 hours a week for 12 weeks. The programs offer a variety of choices to work through to completion. The child, trainer and parent(s) all have a role to play in this type of therapy. The programs are not academic in nature and the children enjoy themselves. The results show great improvement but the children will notice the differences themselves without needing an assessment. They can list one to several noticeable changes a week that contribute to an improved academic and social life.

Step 5: Make your Decision
If your child has difficulty learning which impacts their self-esteem, school success, parent-child relationships then you should consider further investigation into cognitive therapy. There is plenty of studies and research results to back up the programs. A child can compensate for only so long when trying to avoid weak learning skills. Eventually, the child will run out of options. Help is available to your child through cognitive therapy.

By following the five steps outlined in this article, parents can understand that learning challenges are complex but manageable. They do not necessarily go away. However, with proper advances in science, there are alternative methods proving to be successful. Children with learning challenges are now creating new neuropathways to enable faster more efficient processing. By completing a cognitive therapy program, children lives are being changed. With new neuropathways and stronger learning skills, children once considered out of synch can now become active participants in the overall learning process.

For more information on the article you just read email colleenbain@comcast.net or visit our website http://www.els4kids.com Colleen Bain has a Masters in Special Education. She is certified in special and general education. She has been married for 16 years now and been blessed with two children with special needs. She has over 11 years of experience with special needs and over 20 years business experience. As sole proprietor of Enhanced Learning Skills for Kids, Colleen provides intense one-on-one intensive cognitive training to individuals ages 6 and older. Copyright © Enhanced Learning Skills for Kids 2008

Learning Skills 101 - What is Working Memory?

essings,olleen

Working Memory and Attention

Learning Skills 101 - What is Working Memory? To Review: So far, we have been discussing what learning skills are and how they impact a student on a daily basis. If you recall, we stated that learning skills are the underlying mental skills formally known as attention, visual/auditory processing, memory, processing, word attack and auditory analysis. Most of our children experience these skills through reading, writing, spelling, paying attention, remembering, recalling and how quick we can respond to a request. Over the last few weeks, we have been discussing the three types of attention. Selective, Sustained and Divided Attention were seen as necessary cognitive skills for students. Without these cognitive skills as strengths, the student has great difficulty within the classroom and in his life. This week, we will learn about working memory. Working Memory works with attention to make it possible to process information that is given to us. For those with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), that are cognitive based symptoms, experience difficulty with all three types of attention which impacts the strength of their working memory. Why? Because attention and working memory go hand in hand. When attention is not held long enough to process information into working memory, the skill does not get worked thus presents weak. Parents of students with ADHD usually receive comments from teachers that their child gets distracted too easily and the student needs help with memory. The teachers will state that the student cannot remember information from one day or week to the next. Working memory is needed for math, reading, comprehension, test taking and follow directions. Students use their working memory when reading and trying to comprehend. When they take tests and read the questions, if their working memory is weak, by the time they read all the possible answers for a multiple choice question, they forget the question and have to reread it again. Students will be unable to follow directions that have multiple steps because they cannot store the information long enough to follow through. Weak memory skills prohibits successful learning. Weak attention prohibits successful learning. See the pattern yet? All of our learning skills are interconnected. If just one cognitive skill is weak, our ability to learn is negatively impacted. The good news is after a student works with the Enhanced Learning Skills System, they will have strengthened all of their cognitive skills. ADHD symptoms, that are cognitive based, disappear to the point the teachers and family take notice. Recognize that there is hope and a solution. Call today for more information on your choices! Call me at (908) 285-8352. For more information on the article you just read, you can email or visit my website.