Learning Skills 101

Learning Skills 101 So what are learning skills anyway? Most of us were never taught about these underlying mental skills that lay the foundation for our ability to learn. We were always taught that we could learn if we set our mind to it. Between home and school we should be fine. If not, just see a tutor for a bit and you will be good to go. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to learn in this type of scenario. Why? Well, how easily and efficiently we learn is based on how strong our underlying learning skills are. This definitely turned out to be the case for my daughter and all of the students who have worked through my system. The skills we use to learn with are technically known as working memory, attention, processing, auditory analysis (including auditory processing), visual processing, word attack and logic and reasoning. We see these skills play out everyday based on how well we can pay attention, how well we can remember, how well we can process what we hear(we hear fine - its the processing of the sounds), how well we can process what we see(letter reversals, etc.), how well we can read unknown words (beyond the words we may have memorized) and how well we can plan, organize and problem solve. For each of these learning skills there are sub-categories that exist too. Lets explore an example of attention as a weak learning skill. In this example, we have a student is able to attend to one thing at a time only. However, the student will state that they get distracted very easily. After I work them through a series of exercises I can tell whether or not this is truly the case. 9 times out of 10 it is not the case. You see, students like this one tend to hyperfocus on their targeted input. They zone in on the teacher and everything else around them disappears. So, when an additional task is being introduced that requires processing, they are conflicted because they can only attend to one thing at a time and state they get distracted. In actuality, their "divided attention" skill is very weak along with their ability to process more than one thing at a time. A student with the above weakness will stated easy distractibility but will also have great difficulty with remembering information coming from different inputs at the same time, especially is one is auditory. This student is able to take notes and process the input in the brain. However, if the teacher begins "discussing" the topic of the notes on the board, the student is lost. Similarly, if the teacher started to talk first, the student would be able to process this input but once the teachers asks the student to start writing notes along with the teacher speaking, the student would be unsuccessful. They are unable to share processing within the brain. The good news is that the above weak skill is just one of many that you are able to strengthen due to the brain's ability to develop and grow. A student doesn't need to struggle with this weak skill set any longer. The Enhanced Learning Skills System was designed to strengthen learning skills required to learn and read easier and more efficiently. Call me today for an assessment and let's begin working together to help your child learn with ease. Next time, we will discuss another learning skill and that impacts everyday learning ability and how there is hope and a solution. Call today for more information on your choices! Copyright © Enhanced Learning Skills for Kids 2008 For more information on the article you just read, you can email or visit my website. Click HERE to Subscribe to my Ezine.

========= Parents: If you child is having difficulty with reading and comprehension or learning in general, there is a solution. ELSK provides research based programs that provide impactful measurable results in as little as 12 weeks. Studies on the incredible results are ready for your viewing. I provide services for children with learning challenges and specialize in students with reading and comprehension challenges. Your child will enjoy learning with much less effort. Go to my website today for more information. ================= Colleen Bain has a Masters in Special Education. She is certified in special and general education. She has been married for 16 years and has been blessed with two children with special needs. She has over eleven 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 cognitive training to individuals ages 6 and older, specializing in Reading and Comprehension.