All posts by Amy Kessler

Free Download: Summer Activity Packet

Academy, Learning Centers, , , ,

Enhance comprehension and thinking skills this summer with learning activities your kids will love. To get you started, Lindamood-Bell is giving away a FREE week-by-week Summer Activity Packet! Download yours now!

Download your
free Summer Activity packet here:

 

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Summer Learning at Lindamood-Bell
Lindamood-Bell instruction is based on each student’s learning needs. Whether online or at our Learning Centers, we can make a difference for students of all ages and abilities.

Our individualized instruction for reading, comprehension, and math results in extraordinary academic gain in just a matter of weeks. 

Lindamood-Bell Academy
Families seeking a complete solution, including curriculum, can explore Lindamood-Bell Academy, an accredited California K-12 private school. We are now enrolling for the 2024-25 school year.

Contact us to learn more and get started! 800-300-1818

Summer Savings EXTENDED | $100 Off Instruction

Instruction, Learning Centers, Specials, ,

If school is not always easy for your child, you may have mixed feelings about using summertime for learning. While we all look forward to rest and relaxation, parents of struggling students have an opportunity to use summer to give their child the ultimate gift of learning — to ensure a great next year.

 

Summer instruction at Lindamood-Bell is individualized to meet the needs of each student. Students who are currently struggling with reading, comprehension or math can use a few weeks this summer to jump-start a new or ongoing intensive instruction plan.

 

Some may benefit from an enrichment program to advance in areas like writing, study skills, and test taking. Alumni students might attend for help applying their skills to a new task like story problems or reading fluency.

 

New to Lindamood-Bell?

If school is hard for your child, you need to know why and that there is help. Identifying strengths and weaknesses is the first step toward helping your child learn to their potential. A learning evaluation will uncover the strengths and weaknesses that are affecting school. In a thorough results consultation, we will discuss an individualized learning plan to make school easier.

 

Some students come to us with a previous diagnosis such as dyslexia, autism spectrum disorder, or a general learning challenge—and we make a difference for each of them.

 

Some students seek our help to enhance their skills or to just make learning easier—and we do.

 

Let’s Get This Summer Started

Lee and Michelle knew their children needed reading help and in their words, they “didn’t want to see just a little bit of gain.”

 

 

In just a few weeks, our learning center can help make your child feel more confident and prepared for school. Because the gift of learning is one of the greatest things you can give your child, we have a special to help you get started.

 

Enroll for summer sessions by May 3rd, 2019 and receive our Summer Instruction Savings:

Extended to May 17

$100 off the first week of instruction.

 

Savings apply at all Learning Centers in the US, Singapore, and the UK (£100). Find the location near you to get started.

School Doesn’t Have to Be a Struggle – Getting Help for Your Child

Australia, Instruction, Learning Centers, , , , ,

While a science experiment involving a baking soda and vinegar volcano may be fun and exciting for most students, it can be torture for those who have trouble reading the directions or following the procedural steps independently.

 

Ideally, a typical school day is filled with tons of opportunities to explore, learn, and grow for the students who have the necessary skills to perform — but for those who struggle to keep up with their peers, each day can present challenges that can lead to frustration, behavioral issues, and eventually lowered self-esteem.

 

Why is he struggling?

Students who are ready to learn are global, independent readers and thinkers. Reading is an integration of processing skills: word attack, sight-word recognition, contextual fluency, oral vocabulary, and comprehension. Students who are poor decoders and spellers, or slow readers, may have weak symbol imagery—the ability to visualize letters in words. Students with poor comprehension, critical thinking, writing, and memory may have weak concept imagery—the ability to create an imagined gestalt (whole) from language. These difficulties are not only frustrating for a student, but also prevent them from accessing school curriculum.

 

What Can Be Done? Help from your local Learning Center.

We believe that all students can be taught to read and comprehend to their potential. Our unique, research-validated instruction helps students develop the imagery-language foundation necessary to read and comprehend content in the classroom. Traditional tutoring programs may work on homework once a week over the course of several terms, or even years. Because of this, our typical recommendations for daily instruction to change learning may be a new concept. We work with our students in a variety of ways —  in person or online and before, after, or during the school day — so that we’re able to meet the needs of each child and family.

 

Why daily? Nanci Bell provides reasoning for daily intensive instruction in the following excerpt from Visualizing and Verbalizing® for Language Comprehension and Thinking:

 

“The rate of learning gain can be improved with intensive intervention. Students with severe weakness in concept imagery may be years behind in language comprehension. For example, Johnny, a student in the fifth grade with reading comprehension at the second-grade level, has a three-year gap between his grade level and his reading comprehension. Even with adequate oral vocabulary and decoding skills, Johnny didn’t gain a year in reading comprehension for each year in school…intervention has to decrease the learning gap by increasing the rate of learning. To increase the rate of learning, you need to provide the right diagnosis and the right instruction, in the right environment. The last is often intensive intervention, four hours a day, five days a week, which results in years of gain in weeks of instruction.”

 

Meet Vanessa and Angel: parents who needed help getting their son’s reading on the right track. Like so many others, they had nearly lost hope. With Lindamood-Bell, they saw incredible gains with their child in record time.

 

 

Getting Started

The first step is to determine what may be affecting your child’s performance in the classroom. At our Learning Centers, we identify strengths and weaknesses that may be affecting school performance in reading, comprehension, and math. Our instruction is based on an individual’s learning needs. Daily instruction can happen after school or as part of a child’s school day. Students can make years of progress in just a few weeks.

 

Some students come to us with previous diagnoses such as dyslexia, autism spectrum disorder, or general learning challenges—and we make a difference for each of them.

 

Some students seek our help to enhance their skills or to just make learning easier—and we do.

 

If school is hard for your child, you need to know why and how to help. Identifying strengths and weaknesses is the first step toward helping your child finish the school year successfully.

 

A learning evaluation will uncover the strengths and weaknesses that are affecting school. In a thorough results consultation, we will discuss an individualized learning plan to make school easier.

 

Contact us to discuss how school year instruction can make an impact on your child’s learning: Double Bay (02) 9328 7119 | Chatswood (02) 9410 1006. Or, for more information about our evaluation, click here.

Extended! Early Bird Savings | Enroll Now for Summer!

Learning Centers, Specials,

Summer is a great time to get help with reading, comprehension, or math. In just a few weeks’ time, we can make years of change so your child can go back to school with new confidence. Also, working on crucial skills can minimize the learning loss that takes place for many students.

 

Our evidence-based instruction allows students to make years of academic growth in just a few weeks. Your child can go back to school feeling successful.

 

To get your family started, we are extending our special Early Bird Discount. Save 5% on your first week of summer instruction when you schedule by April 12, 2019!

 

Contact your local learning center to find out more about changing learning this summer. Or, call 800-300-1818 today to take advantage of this special offer!

 

“Mom, I don’t feel good.” | When Your Child Tries Avoiding School

Learning Centers, Learning Difficulties, ,

The first time Alyssa complained of a stomach ache, she was allowed to stay home from school to rest. But when Alyssa’s stomach started to hurt almost every day, her mother, Sharon, began to suspect that it was more than just a “bug” or a virus going around.

 

Hoping to find out why her friendly, bright fifth grader no longer wanted to go to school, Sharon began doing some research. She scoured the Internet for information on stomach aches, asked her pediatrician if there were medicines
Alyssa should take and tried to gauge if other moms were having the same experiences.

 

She asked Alyssa if there was anything she wanted to talk about. Alyssa said everything was fine — she just didn’t want to go to school. Finally, Sharon reached out to Alyssa’s teacher, who said Alyssa seemed to be having trouble keeping up with her peers.

 

“I didn’t want to tell anyone it was too hard.”

Alyssa felt stupid admitting she needed help, so she didn’t say anything or ask questions when she wasn’t sure. During Social Studies, Alyssa struggled to read the text fast enough; there were just too many words she didn’t know.

 

She didn’t know how to sound out the word “colonization,” let alone what it meant… so how could she write a five paragraph essay on it? Alyssa was ahead of the class when it came to math, but the rest of her days were filled with long chapters she couldn’t really read and questions she couldn’t really answer.

 

It was easier to just feign a stomach ache and avoid all of the frustration and embarrassment.

 

Getting to the Root of the Problem

For students like Alyssa, it’s important to determine the underlying cause of school challenges. Alyssa has difficulty sounding out new words and every time she sees one, she has to begin the laborious process over again. A cause of difficulty in establishing sight words and contextual fluency is difficulty in visualizing letters in words. This is called weak symbol imagery.

 

A significant number of students—even those who have well-developed phonemic awareness—have difficulty with rapidly perceiving sounds in words, and are slow to self-correct their reading errors.

 

Being able to comprehend what you’ve read is a separate skill and can be difficult for students with or without decoding challenges. A primary cause of language comprehension problems is difficulty creating an imagined gestalt. This is called weak concept imagery.

 

This weakness causes individuals to get only “parts” of information they read or hear, but not the whole. Alyssa often misses jokes or forgets what her teacher has asked her to do as a result. It’s also hard for her to remember what words like “colonization” mean, as she is unable to create mental imagery for new words or concepts independently.

 

Unlock Your Child’s Potential

At Lindamood-Bell, we believe that all students can be taught to read and comprehend to their potential. We start by identifying strengths and weaknesses that may be affecting school performance; our instruction is based on an individual’s learning needs. The school year is a great time to address those learning needs — helping your child develop the underlying foundational skills for reading and comprehension will ensure that they don’t start to miss curriculum-based content because they’re unable to decode or comprehend it.

 

For a student who has fallen behind, the way to close the gap is often intensive instruction. Click here to learn more about how we’re able to make years of gains in weeks of our research-validated one-to-one instruction. Students can do instruction in one of our learning centers or online from their home or school.

 

Hear from Lindamood-Bell co-founder, Nanci Bell, about how instruction in our learning centers is a Magical Learning Adventure — and one of the most important gifts you can give your child.

 

 

To learn more, contact your local Learning Center or call (800) 300-1818.

 

Unlock Report Card Success | Evaluation Special

Learning Centers, Reading, Specials, ,

You may find your child’s report card crumpled up in the bottom of his backpack or hidden in the back of his dresser drawers. He may not even understand what the letters or numbers stand for — he just knows he’s seen a lot of angry red marks on his test papers.

 

Or maybe he insists that the school’s website is down or his teacher hasn’t uploaded grades yet… anything to delay the inevitable discussion of grades and report cards.

 

Afraid of disappointing you — or worse, getting into trouble — he hides his report card.

 

For some students, the phrase “report card” comes with a sense of dread. As a parent, it can be hard to gauge how things are really going at school if your student is tight-lipped about her day and her report card feels like a jumble of letters or percentages.

 

What’s Happening at School?

After getting straight A’s last year, is your third grader suddenly having to labor over her reading assignments?

 

Does a C in Geometry mean your teenage daughter is spending too much time texting her friends instead of doing her homework? Or is she really struggling to comprehend proofs and theorems?

 

Is your son frustrated with having to study non-stop and embarrassed by needing to have tests read to him?

 

More Than Meets the Eye

Teachers may report that your student just needs to “try harder,” but there could be an underlying weakness in language processing that accounts for his low or inconsistent grades.

 

Difficulty with reading comprehension, following directions, and understanding jokes can be indicators of a weakness in language processing. Trouble with sounding out unfamiliar words or remembering even frequently seen words can also be indicators.

 

The Right Evaluation

A learning ability evaluation can provide you with specific information on your student’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s important to know your child’s potential in order to gauge their performance in the classroom.  Could that B in History be an A?

 

It’s important to know what your child is capable of when it comes to their grades so you can correctly evaluate their report cards. While he/she might be counting down the days till summer, there’s still plenty of time to help change learning now and end the year strong.  

 

Get a parent’s perspective on the Lindamood-Bell Learning Ability Evaluation:

 

 

Because pinpointing your child’s strengths and weaknesses is one of the greatest gifts you can give them, we’re offering our Learning Ability Evaluation for $449 (regularly $1050). Learn more about the Lindamood-Bell evaluation process here. Learn more or schedule at (800) 300-1818.

 

 

Your local learning center can discuss your child’s learning needs, and programs to improve reading, comprehension or math skills. Families looking for a full school solution can learn about our K-12 private school, Lindamood-Bell Academy.

Understand Why Your Child is Struggling | Special Savings

Australia, Learning Centers, Specials,

Between the tears during homework and the notes from your child’s teacher that he can’t seem to keep up with his peers, you know he’s struggling — but why? The first step in helping your child attain the success is figuring out what’s causing his difficulties.

 

“It’s like getting a fingerprint of your child’s unique learning profile.”

Our success with students starts with our unique Learning Ability Evaluation. We identify strengths and weaknesses that may be affecting school performance. Our evaluation includes 10+ standardised measures of reading, spelling and maths as well as a consultation to explain findings and develop an individualised learning plan.

 

We work with children and adults of all ages and levels. Some students come to us with general learning challenges or a previous diagnosis such as dyslexia or autism spectrum disorder. Some students come to us to enhance their skills or to just make learning easier, and we make a difference for each of them.

 

The Imagery-Language Foundation

On average, students who came to us to improve their decoding (for an average of 102 hours of instruction — about 5 weeks) achieved significant improvements in reading.  They made large (significant) standard score changes on all measures.

 

Students Who Received Decoding Instruction

 

 

Similarly, students who received comprehension instruction achieved significant improvements in areas associated with language comprehension.  They made large (significant) standard score changes on nearly all measures.

 

Students Who Received Comprehension Instruction

 

 

Evaluation Special

To get you started, we are pleased to offer our Learning Ability Evaluation at a special rate of $395 (regularly $875). Contact us to learn more and schedule your child.

 

Double Bay (02) 9328 7119 | Chatswood (02) 9410 1006

Everyday Tips for Parents | Better Comprehension

Australia, Comprehension, , ,

When a child has an identified comprehension weakness, it makes sense to pursue extra help for academics. Students can get help from tutors, learning specialists, or may have an IEP (Individualised Education Plan) in place at school. Unfortunately, language comprehension troubles can affect family life, too. This is especially difficult when weak thinking skills are misconstrued as poor behavior. The child who “never listens” may not understand the task at hand.

 

A primary cause of language comprehension problems is difficulty creating mental images for language. This weakness causes individuals to get only “parts” of information they read or hear, but not the whole. This weakness often undermines the reading and thinking process. Students with weak language comprehension are commonly saddled with the misconception that they are just not trying, or, that they are distractible.  In fact, they may be trying very hard to memorise everything they have heard or read. And they need help.

 

Check out some examples of how concept imagery issues can affect school and home:

 

 

The imagery-language connection is key to good thinking and communication. You can help address comprehension in the following ways:

 

1. In conversation

During discussions with your child about their day or current events in the news, use imagery-stimulating questions.  For example, instead of asking, “What do you think about…?” you can ask, “What did you picture for that story in the news today?”  or “What are you picturing for what might happen next?” You can expand upon these questions to dive into their images even more.

 

2. When reading together

After you or your child reads aloud or listen to a story together, you can gauge comprehension by asking some imagery questions. “How did you see that happening?” or “What do you picture happening next?” can begin a fun discussion of the story and allow you to see what your child is getting out of it.

 

3. When there’s a problem to solve

Help your child target specific images they’re creating while they’re processing oral or written language. Teach them to continually ask themselves whether they understand what the consequences may be of certain actions, and if they’re able to picture the outcome: “If I do this, what might happen? What does that look like?”

 

4. When you give instructions

Establish an imagery-language connection through daily life activities to stimulate learning.  For example, when giving your child instructions, such as brushing their teeth, getting dressed, or making their bed, ask your child to picture these tasks in their mind before they do them.

 

5. When learning something new

Whether your child is learning the rules of Monopoly for the first time or helping you get through a favourite cookie recipe, prompting your child to visualise the language is a great start. You can also fall back on the imagery-language connection to check for understanding and to answer questions. For example, “What do you see for ‘bankrupt’?”

 

Comprehension Solutions at Lindamood-Bell

The imagery-language connection can be developed as a foundation for comprehension and thinking. Students can make years of growth in just a few weeks.

 

An accurate learning ability evaluation is the first step toward helping your child learn to their potential. We uncover the strengths and weaknesses that are affecting comprehension, and in a thorough results consultation, we will discuss a learning plan to change learning in the shortest time possible. Recommendations are differentiated based on the unique learning needs of each student.

 

Contact us to learn more or get started: Double Bay and Brisbane (02) 9328 7119 | Chatswood and Melbourne (02) 9410 1006

Imagine Your Child’s Potential | Make a Difference with Intensive Instruction

Australia, Instruction, Learning Centers, , , , , ,

Those who are new to Lindamood-Bell may be more familiar with traditional tutoring and accommodations which are conducted over the course of semesters or years. Therefore, our daily instruction, that changes reading or comprehension in a short period of time, may be unfamiliar. An “intensive care” learning environment can be ideal for students who are not performing to their potential. Lindamood-Bell pioneered the concept of intensive instruction—four hours a day, five days a week with our research-validated instruction.

 

Why is daily beneficial?

Nanci Bell, co-founder, explains daily intensive instruction in the following excerpt from Visualizing and Verbalizing for Language Comprehension and Thinking:

 

“The rate of learning gain can be improved with intensive intervention. Students with severe weakness in concept imagery may be years behind in language comprehension. For example, Johnny, a student in the fifth grade with reading comprehension at the second-grade level, has a three-year gap between his grade level and his reading comprehension. Even with adequate oral vocabulary and decoding skills, Johnny didn’t gain a year in reading comprehension for each year in school…intervention has to decrease the learning gap by increasing the rate of learning. To increase the rate of learning, you need to provide the right diagnosis and the right instruction, in the right environment. The last is often intensive intervention, four hours a day, five days a week, which results in years of gain in weeks of instruction.”

 

Why do some students struggle?

Reading is an integration of processing skills: word attack, sight word recognition, contextual fluency, oral vocabulary, and comprehension. Students with poor comprehension, critical thinking, writing and memory may have weak concept imagery—the ability to create an imagined gestalt (whole) from language. Students who are poor decoders and spellers, or slow readers, may have weak symbol imagery—the ability to visualise letters in words. These difficulties are not only frustrating for a student, but prevent them from accessing school curriculum.

 

School at any grade can include the kind of good challenges that foster learning: discovering a solution in science lab, writing a poem, or even studying for a big test, can all be positive learning experiences. However, if a student has a weakness that affects learning to begin with, they may not be getting everything they should from school. Their challenges with reading or comprehension may be hindering their ability to fully participate in schoolwork. And, rather than catch up eventually, a struggling student will typically fall farther and farther behind as the year goes on.

 

Will intensive instruction be “too much” for my child?

Parents may worry that their child will not be able to maintain focus for so many hours. We get it! Even the most disciplined student would have difficulty attending to a teacher for twenty hours per week of typical reading help.

 

Our continued success with students, including those with a previous diagnosis of a learning difficulty and/or attention issue, is due to our unique approach. We accurately assess individual needs and provide research-validated instruction in a safe, positive, focused environment.  Lindamood-Bell sessions feature a high level of interaction, movement, games, and motivational rewards. Students work with a different instructor every hour to keep attention rate and intensity high and the sessions interesting. Our instructors are energetic and passionate about maximizing learning throughout every session. As a result, our students see success quickly and realize they can learn given the right tools!

 

An alumni family describes Intensive Instruction:

 

Tips for Preventing the Summer Slide

Australia, Helpful Tips, Reading,

Months away from school can lead to measurable learning loss in skills like reading. Teachers know all about “the summer slide”— students come back to school out of practise, maybe forgetting some of what they learned. For this reason, your child’s teacher may have encouraged families to make reading a summer priority.  We’ve gathered a few ideas to help get you started.

 

Keep up the momentum

Keep reading skills fresh by scheduling dedicated reading time every day. Putting library visits and/or trips to the bookstore on your family’s summer calendar can help. At home, it may be helpful to create some cozy spaces that are conducive to reading. If your family has hit the road for a summer trip, scheduled reading time in the evening can be a great wind-down activity for everyone.

 

Check in about the books they’re reading to monitor for understanding. Ask, “What did you picture for what happened in that story?”, “What do you think might happen next?”, or “How would you change the ending of the story?”

 

Explore interests

Summer is a great time for children and teens to explore their personal interests. For example, an animal enthusiast can visit the zoo or volunteer at the local animal shelter. Use their special interest to choose summer reading titles.

 

Maintain limits

Screen time, including TV, can prevent kids from being mentally and physically active.  For this reason, it’s a good idea to set time limits on screen time just as you would during the school year, allowing for ample time outside, interacting face-to-face, with family and friends. While TV and gaming can have some value, these activities offer little opportunity for students to visualise language—a key component for comprehension. Reading books, and listening to audiobooks can keep your child’s mind active.

 

Reluctant reader?

If reading is not fun for your child, implementing a summer reading plan may be especially challenging. A learning ability evaluation can uncover the strengths and weaknesses that affect reading and comprehension. The right learning plan can turn weaknesses into strengths and make school easier. Check out this infographic about the causes of some reading difficulties: [INFOGRAPHIC] Why is my child struggling in school?

 

Turn Summer Learning Loss into Learning Gain!

Imagine your child returning to school in autumn with better skills, ready to tackle the new year. Students can spend part of their summer at one of our learning centres to turn what could have been a learning loss, into a learning gain.

 

Summer learning at Lindamood-Bell is individualised to meet the learning needs of each student in a short amount of time. Because it’s one-to-one, we’ll only spend time on what your child needs. Learn about our summer programs here.

 

Some students come to us with a previous diagnosis of a learning challenge. Some need learning to be easier, while some use summer learning to get ahead for next year. We start by identifying strengths and weaknesses that may be affecting performance in reading, comprehension, and maths.  And, we make recommendations for individualised instruction plans that create learning gains. Students go back to school with more confidence.

 

Make an impact this summer!  It’s a great time to get ahead for next school year. Get started today by contacting us to discuss how we can help make this summer everything your family has been waiting for!

 

Double Bay and Brisbane (02) 9328 7119 | Chatswood and Melbourne (02) 9410 1006