All posts by Amy Kessler

The ABCs of Report Cards

Australia, Comprehension, Decoding, Helpful Tips

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 his day and his report card feels like a jumble of letters or percentages.

 

After getting straight A’s last year, is your third year student suddenly having to labour 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 unable to pass his History tests despite spending hours pouring over note cards and study guides?

 

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 marks.

 

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.  Can that B in Geography be an A? And what about that C in Maths? Should it be a B?

 

It’s important to know what your child is capable of when it comes to their marks so you can correctly evaluate their report cards. While your child might be counting down the days till summer, there’s still plenty of time to help him reach his potential this year.

 

Learn more about Lindamood-Bell’s evaluation process here.

Comprehension Weakness – Five Signs

Australia, Comprehension, , ,

Students with decoding issues, including dyslexia, can be easy to spot. They often miscall words (e.g. breakfast as “basket”); their oral reading is slow and “choppy;” and spelling is tough to master. It is important to identify these students who struggle, so they can get the help they need.

 

Unfortunately, there are many students who have a different, separate, learning issue that is rarely identified and, therefore, never addressed. Hidden in plain sight, many students have a learning weakness that prevents them from fully understanding the language they read and hear. For example, a student who doesn’t turn in homework assignments may be perceived as “unmotivated” or “lazy.” But it may just be that he has trouble understanding instructions in class.

 

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.

 

Signs of comprehension weakness include:

 

1. Trouble understanding what they read

Students with weak comprehension have difficulty recalling what they’ve read. They might get parts, or some details, but may have difficulty remembering a book or story as a whole. Homework and schoolwork relying on their understanding of the text will be difficult.  They may not enjoy reading for pleasure.

 

2. Weak problem solving skills

Students with weak comprehension can be prone to poor decision making. Thinking through the implications and consequences of their actions may be challenging. Because they are only processing parts, they may not “see” the big picture.

 

They may have difficulty with problem solving methods required in maths and science.

 

3. Writing assignments are “painful” and poorly done

Many students with language comprehension weakness may also have poor writing skills because they lack the imagery for the gestalt (whole). Without the “big picture” idea for their topic, a student will have a hard time coming up with a strong paragraph. The ability to generate the main idea, offer supporting details, make inferences, and wrap up with a conclusion that is cohesive and well organised is challenging for this student.

 

4. Verbal expression is affected

This student may be prone to including irrelevant details or issues when speaking; she may re-tell stories out of sequence. On the other hand, she may be very quiet and shy. Whether they talk very little or a lot, their language seems disconnected from the listener.

 

5. Difficulty following directions

Students with a comprehension issue can become overwhelmed after more than one or two directions (“I’ll meet you at the car. Bring your tennis shoes. . .”). Directions from teachers and parents may appear to go in one ear and out the other, without a connection, and they seem unable to focus on what they are told.

 

Summer Solutions at Lindamood-Bell

The imagery-language connection can be developed as a foundation for comprehension and thinking. Students can make years of academic growth in just a few weeks, and go back to school ready to learn.

 

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 school, 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.

 

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

 

Double Bay (02) 9328 7119 | Chatswood (02) 9410 1006 | Melbourne (03) 9815 2949

Help Your Child with Homework

Helpful Tips,

Kids with learning or attention issues can have a tough time with homework, no matter how hard they try. As a parent, you know the importance of completing homework and developing strong study skills. But it can be hard to know how to be supportive without doing too much. Students should get the learning benefit from the assignment.

 

What does Lindamood-Bell know about homework?

In our learning center, we apply our expertise about learning and cognition to supporting students after school. During Homework Matters sessions, we help students complete their own homework to the best of their abilities. And in Academic Prep, we help with writing, test-taking, organization skills, and more. We are happy to pass along a few tips that reflect our unique approach. Let’s help your child with homework!

 

Why homework can be hard

Students who struggle with school may have a weakness that is affecting learning. 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 or 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 prevent them from accessing school curriculum. Learn more about how we help students here.

 

The imagery-language connection is key to good thinking and communication, and can really help with homework. Whether or not a student has poor comprehension, parents can use language that creates imagery. Asking a question like “What are you picturing for colonial?” can open the door to a great homework session.

 

Your role in homework

Most experts agree that parents should provide the basics for homework: the right environment and needed supplies, the time and opportunity, and an adult resource for answering questions. Of course, some students need additional help. And you may want to take a more active role facilitating their work. Checking out your child’s understanding of a given assignment is a good place to start. Have your child read directions aloud and ask questions that prompt imagery. For example, if the assignment is, “Read chapter 2, and answer questions 1-5” ask,  “How are you picturing yourself ‘answering questions’?”  You’ll be making sure they are visualizing that they will be writing or typing answers.

 

Reading time

Most students have to read as part of their homework load. This is a great opportunity to gauge comprehension and keep your child engaged with the text if that is an issue. Ask questions like, “How did you see that happening?” or “What do you picture happening next?” You’ll be able to see if they are understanding the language they are reading.

 

Spend time on vocabulary

If you are helping a student who is having difficulty understanding material, at any grade level, giving some extra attention to vocabulary can be helpful. Before diving into new material, check on your child’s understanding of key terms, using language that stimulates imagery. For example, during a lesson on photosynthesis, ask questions like, “What are you picturing for what the sunlight is doing?” and, “What do you see happening?”

 

To commit new terms to memory, flash cards are a great tool for practice. Have your child write the word on one side of the card. The other side can include the definition, a hand drawn picture, and a brief sentence using the word in context. During practice, use language that prompts her to draw on her images. Instead of, “Do you remember the steps of photosynthesis?” ask, “What are you picturing for photosynthesis?” and “What do you see happening next?” If a term is unstable, flip over the card for her definition and drawing to discuss. Create piles for her “fast,” “medium,” and “slow” cards to help focus practice sessions.

 

Planning and organization

Like adults, kids enjoy knowing there is an end in sight, and what they have to look forward to. It’s no surprise that struggling students will do whatever they can to avoid homework. A simple schedule can help. Work together to write down what needs to happen. Include ongoing skill-building activities like math facts so your student can progress, even when it gets busy. Don’t forget free time!

 

Example:

 

 

Check for understanding ahead of time.  You can ask questions that prompt your student to visualize—the key to good comprehension. For example, on the ride home ask, “What do you picture us doing when we get home?”

 

It’s also important to plan for a distraction-free homework zone with all the supplies your child needs. Eliminate the “stops and starts” and you’ll maximize time spent on what matters. Check out this video for tips.

 

Imagine a Better School Year: Free Parent Workshop

Ready to learn more? Attend a free parent workshop.

 

Our 30-minute parent workshop will show you ways to use the imagery-language foundation to make homework easier:

 

  • Learn how to check if your child really understands something
  • Learn to help your child study for tests
  • Learn a simple method to assist with writing

 

This workshop includes an academic planner to help your child stay organized.

 

Events will take place at all Lindamood-Bell Learning Centers during the week of September 18th, 2017.

Learn More

MIT Study Shows Low SES Students Get Big Benefit from Seeing Stars Reading Intervention

Research,

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) McGovern Institute for Brain Research and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, in collaboration with Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes, conducted a randomized controlled trial involving young children with reading disabilities and difficulties. This experiment investigated the efficacy of the Seeing Stars program, which develops symbol imagery for reading. Children were randomly assigned to intervention (Seeing Stars) or non-intervention (control) groups. Before and after, all children received functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure cortical thickness. Over a six-week period of time, children in the Seeing Stars group received between 100 and 120 hours of instruction that was delivered by specially trained Lindamood-Bell staff.

 

Brain regions grew significantly thicker in children whose reading scores improved after Seeing Stars instruction. In addition, children from lower-socioeconomic status (SES) families were more likely to benefit from instruction than children from higher-SES families, and children with more severe reading disability exhibited the most improvement in reading scores. “These findings indicate that effective summer reading intervention is coupled with cortical growth, and is especially beneficial for children with reading disabilities and difficulties who come from lower-SES home environments.”

 

Download a summary of the research:

 

Access full article

 

Numerous peer-reviewed articles based on studies examining the effectiveness of the Lindamood-Bell programs have been published in scholarly journals. Explore articles here.

Hurricane Harvey and Our Star Cast – A Message from Nanci Bell

* News, Community

With her permission, we are sharing a message Nanci Bell (our co-founder) sent to Lindamood-Bell employees around the world in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. 

 

All – I am happy to report that our star cast are still safe in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, but we just learned that one of our staff have been displaced from her home. Please keep her in your thoughts as she goes through this challenge.

 

Along with our donation to the American Red Cross and paying our cast for scheduled hours in the Houston Learning Center, we are contributing to the effort our local Meathead Movers is making for those impacted by the hurricane.

 

Meathead Movers is a local moving company and they are accepting donations in San Luis Obispo, and southern California, through 6PM Sunday and then they are driving two trucks to the Dallas Convention Center Mega Shelter next week.  We hope some of our local cast will consider joining us in making contributions.  Go to the link below for more information.

 

The Houston Learning Center is hoping to be open next Tuesday—we appreciate each of you.  And, we appreciate the spirit of the people in Texas.  You are in our thoughts every day.  

 

– Nanci

 

 

 

Learn about Meathead Movers donations here.

Celebrate the School Year! | Time to Save on Instruction

Learning Centers, Specials,

Back-to-school season marks the beginning of School Year Savings at our Learning Centers. That makes it a great time to consider how changing your child’s learning could help them have a great year. While summer is a busy time in our learning centers, year after year, many families wait for fall so they can take advantage of our School Year Savings Plan. Here’s why:

 

✔ Learn more, save more

Enjoy up to 25% off instruction when you secure your student’s schedule. Discount rate, 5-25% off, depends on total sessions scheduled. This makes it especially attractive for families planning on intensive instruction.

 

✔ Save everywhere

We are pleased to extend School Year Savings Plan for all Learning Center, Seasonal Learning Clinic, and Online Instruction during the academic year.

 

 

✔ Save on any type of Lindamood-Bell instruction

Student instruction can focus on reading, math, or comprehension. Savings apply to our renowned sensory-cognitive instruction, after school help, like Homework Matters, and more.

 

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 a child. 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.

 

Contact your local Learning Center to find out about how the School Year Savings Plan works and to get started.

DREAM BIG for Learning Open Day

Australia, Events

Please come to our DREAM BIG for Learning Open Day!

 

We’d love to show you how we have been creating the Magic of Learning for over 30 years!

 

We help students learn to read, comprehend and do maths to their potential. Our instruction is based on an individual’s learning needs.

 

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

 

Our summer instruction results in extraordinary gains in just a few weeks.  Spending part of a summer with us can be one of the most positive learning experiences of a child’s life.

 

We believe in the potential of your child and we want to help your big dreams come true!

 

Click on your city for RSVP information

 

NEW SOUTH WALES

Double Bay – 27/9/2017 @ 9:00 a.m.

Chatswood – 26/9/2017 @ 9:00 a.m.

 

VICTORIA

Melbourne – 26/9/2017 @ 9:00 a.m.

 

 

Imagine a Better School Year: Free Parent Workshop

Events, ,

 

This event has ended. For further information or questions regarding our instruction, please contact your local Learning Center.

 

 

 

Coming soon to your Learning Center, a free event for parents you won’t want to miss.

 

Many kids have a tough time with homework, no matter how hard they try. In our free 30-minute workshop, we’ll cover ways to establish the imagery-language foundation for homework.

 

This parent workshop includes a free academic planner, to help your child stay organized. We look forward to helping your family imagine better homework.

 

 

Does Your Child Need Reading Help? – 4 Signs

Australia, Reading, ,

It is only natural for parents to wonder how their child’s reading stacks up next to peers. This is especially the case when there is an older sibling or friend in the picture who seemed to breeze through the process.  It is not always clear whether a child has a weakness that needs to be helped, or if reading simply hasn’t “clicked” for them yet.

 

Students might avoid reading, or say they “are bad” at it, or even that they dislike it. While these concerns could be related to a real reading difficulty,  there are specific reading behaviours that every parent can look out for. Check out the following 4 signs that a student needs reading help.

 

Not sure about one? During homework tonight, have your child read year-level text aloud to you.

 

1. Sounding out words is difficult

Some students have difficulty sounding out new words—even those words that “play fair.” They might add or omit sounds or syllables, or read sounds out of order; for example, they might read the word stream as “steam,” or read grater as “garter” or “grate.”

 

2. Difficulty learning and retaining sight words

Many common words, like eye and thought “don’t play fair,” so recognising them is the only way to read them. And, because they are common, these words should be recognised quickly, leading to fluent paragraph reading. A student who has difficulty may attempt to sound out common words that they have already learned, reading people as “pee/oh/plee,” for example. Students may also do a lot of guessing (e.g. reading people as “purple”).

 

3. Slow and laborious passage reading

Some students may be able to sound out words but they are not able to put it all together on the page. These readers can get mired down in sounding out every word, though they may not recognise the same word when they encounter it in the next paragraph.

 

Slow decoding also interferes with reading comprehension; by the time they get to the end of a passage, they have lost the big picture or meaning. This can be especially frustrating for students who are curious and love learning.

 

4. Poor spelling

Some students have difficulty identifying all of the needed phonemes (optnrty for opportunity); and some students can spell phonetically but cannot retain spelling patterns (opertunity for opportunity).

 

Reading Help at Lindamood-Bell

For many students, a cause of reading difficulties is weak symbol imagery—the ability to visualise letters in your mind’s eye. This connection of imagery and language is necessary for sounding out new words, as well as quickly recognising letters and common words. Students who read fluently, and are able to self-correct their errors, have strong symbol imagery. Learn more about symbol imagery and solutions for reading difficulties here.

 

A child who seems to have trouble reading could be behind, or may, in fact, be developmentally on-target for their age and year. Regardless, if you are seeing signs of a reading difficulty, you need to find out why. A learning ability evaluation uncovers the strengths and weaknesses that affect learning. While some students come to us with a previous diagnosis, such as dyslexia, many seek our help to enhance their skills or to just make learning easier—and we do.

 

Contact us to discuss your child’s reading and for information about our Learning Ability Evaluation, the first step in teaching students to read to their potential: Double Bay (02) 9328 7119 | Chatswood (02) 9410 1006 | Melbourne (03) 9815 2949.

Teaching Math to Students Who Just “Don’t Get It”

For Schools, Professional Development, ,

Many students can grasp addition and subtraction problems using math manipulatives. But take away the concrete objects and their understanding seems to disappear. Manipulatives are a very helpful visual representation, but math students of all ages need to learn to visualize what numbers mean as well.

 

Mathematics is cognitive processing, or thinking, that requires both imagery and language. Imagery is fundamental to the process of thinking with numbers.

 

The primary cause of math difficulties is a weakness in two areas: numeral imagery—the ability to visualize numbers—and concept imagery—the ability to process the gestalt (whole) from language. Individuals who demonstrate weaknesses in these areas often attempt to memorize math facts instead of being able to think, reason, and problem solve with numbers.

 

People who are great at math can easily visualize math functions. The language of numbers turns into imagery and they “see” mathematical relationships. However, many individuals may experience an inability to image the concepts underlying math processes. This causes weakness in the following:

 

  • Learning math facts
  • Grasping mathematical relationships
  • Following proper mathematical operations
  • Solving word problems
  • Estimating numerical values
  • Understanding higher level math

 

The following excerpt from On Cloud Nine Math by Nanci Bell and Kimberly Tuley, explains the importance of both concept and numeral imagery:

 

“To bring concept and numeral imagery to a conscious level as the missing link in math instruction, On Cloud Nine integrates and applies the principles of Bell’s programs: Visualizing and Verbalizing for Language Comprehension and Thinking (V/V) and Seeing Stars: Symbol Imagery for Phonological and Orthographic Processing in Reading and Spelling (SI). As individuals become familiar with the concrete manipulatives, they are questioned and directed to consciously transfer the experienced to the imaged. They image the concrete and attach language to their imagery. The integration of imagery and language is then applied to computation. They develop the sensory-cognitive processing to understand and use the logic of mathematics in mental and written computation.”

 

The On Cloud Nine Visualizing and Verbalizing for Math (OCN™) program develops the ability to image and verbalize the concepts and processes of math. Concept imagery and numeral imagery are integrated with language to improve both mathematical reasoning and mathematical computation.

 

 

 

Help students who struggle with Common Core math

On Cloud Nine develops skills required for success with Common Core math. The standards emphasize a focus on building both computational and conceptual math skills. On Cloud Nine integrates to the Common Core through the following:

 

  • On Cloud Nine instruction develops Concept Imagery for math, developing the ability of students to understand and  apply math concepts.
  • On Cloud Nine instruction explicitly develops the concepts of whole numbers, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions and decimals.
  • On Cloud Nine instruction develops a student’s ability to visualize math for conceptual understanding.
  • On Cloud Nine instruction addresses the abilities necessary for students to become become independent and self-correcting in procedural math skills.
  • Instruction is differentiated based on the age, developmental level, and needs of the student.

 

Math Workshop for Educators | In-Person or Online

Educators can learn the steps of On Cloud Nine Math in one of our acclaimed professional development workshops, and teach your students how to “see” math.

 

Explore our event schedule here.

 

For your convenience, the On Cloud Nine Math workshop is also available online.