All posts by Julie Gisbon

Oh, What a Magical Year! Lindamood-Bell 2019 in Review

January 23, 2020* NewsJulie Gisbon

2019 was an amazing year for Lindamood-Bell! We expanded internationally and shared the magic of learning with thousands of individuals across the globe.

As we celebrate 2019 and set our sights on another wonderful year in 2020, please enjoy this gift sample of fun and informational stories from the Imagine That! book series.

■ 57 permanent Learning Center locations

■ 34 seasonal Learning Camps

■ 49 countries were delivered instruction. We help individuals worldwide!

■ Over 4500 students working towards reaching their potential with in-center and/or online intensive instruction.

■ Countless lives changed.

“Nothing beats seeing a kid jump several grade levels in their reading over the course of a few months.“

– Lindamood-Bell Consultant

The Lindamood-Bell Academy is a unique in-person or online accredited private school where we develop the imagery-language foundation for language and literacy skills and apply those skills to all curriculum and content.

2018-19 School Year:

■ 287 Academy students in 45 Learning Centers

■ 12 online students

“Finally, I can read like my friends. My teachers are fun and we are all proud of my hard work.”

– Academy Student, Jack Roberts, Age 7, Grade 1, Memphis TN

Lindamood-Bell has created school implementation and professional development options designed to maximize student achievement. Evidence-based programs are our foundation.

■ 5,041 workshop attendees

■ 1,110 members in our NEW Imagery-Language Connection community

■ 27 School Partnerships

■ 30 countries

■ 6 Leaders in Literacy webinar events

“One of our most important tools is Lindamood-Bell…It’s been in our district for 10 years. When you tell parents they’re going to be getting extra support in Lindamood-Bell, it’s not ‘What is that?’ It’s ‘Oh, good!'”

– Michael Zoerhoff, Superintendent, Kentwood Public Schools

Lindamood-Bell collaborates with universities to study the behavioral and neurological effects of our sensory-cognitive instruction. To maintain our exceptional standard of quality, we internally monitor student results at our learning centers, our Academy, and at our school partnerships.

Interested in learning more about Lindamood-Bell? Get in Touch.

Imagine a Fresh Start | Turn Student Struggles into School Success

January 17, 2020Learning CentersJulie Gisbon

Why Is My Child Struggling In School?

“My teacher hates me!” Jamie exclaimed as she threw her backpack onto the kitchen floor. “She always calls me out for talking or not paying attention, but I am paying attention!”

It can be disheartening for parents to hear that your child is having a hard time with a teacher, or that they may have difficulty staying on task. And when their grades are poor, too, you may wonder, “How do I help my child improve in school?”

Intervention Ideas for Struggling Students

Talk to Your Student About Why School is Hard

Start by gathering more information about what specifically is challenging for your child at school. Ask your child for examples of what happens at school while acknowledging their feelings. “It sounds like you had a rough day at school. I’m sorry to hear that. Help me picture what happened. What did your teacher say? What was happening right before that?” Take notes on activities or subjects that cause difficulty in school. Make mention of the emotion your student experiences, is she stressed at school or bored, frustrated or disinterested in learning?

Develop Strategies for Promoting Positive Behavior in the Classroom

Use imagery language to help your child picture what they could do differently, based on what the issue may be. “I know you were so excited about going to the movies over the weekend. When do you picture is the best time to tell your friends? During homeroom announcements or during recess?” Offering choices can make it easier for students who have difficulty verbalizing their thoughts or are hesitant to talk about how school is going. Picturing the right choice to make can help a child with behavior problems in school.

Communicate with the Teacher about Supporting Your Struggling Learner

Start a conversation with the teacher about how to help your struggling student. Because tone can often be misinterpreted, it’s often best to meet in person. Sending a brief email to set up a time to chat may be helpful. Keeping a positive and respectful tone may help keep things productive: “Jamie seems to be having a tough time meeting the classroom expectations lately. I would love to meet one day to discuss what I can do to help support her in school.” The teacher may be able to shed light on the times of day or activities that are tricky for your student. She may suggest homework and assignments you can help with at home, which would help your student feel more prepared in the classroom. There may even be extra help available in the classroom or after school.

Signs of a Deeper Issue: Supporting Struggling Learners

Despite everyone’s efforts, students may continue struggle with school work. A renewed focus on your child’s homework can often reveal difficulties with the material; weakness in learning and literacy skills may seem more apparent. They may also start to share more detail about their classroom struggles.

How To Help Struggling Learners

For many struggling students, behavior problems often begin in the classroom when the workload becomes too hard or when they realize they aren’t able to read as well or as quickly as their peers. They know they can’t always do the assignments presented to them, so it becomes easier to find new and clever ways to avoid tasks. Gifted children can present behavior issues in school when expectations don’t align with performance. Students with a high IQ for example, often are labeled “lazy” because it is assumed that they should be able to read and comprehend well. For these bright students, it’s especially tough to see how much easier reading is for their peers.

No parent wants to feel like their child is falling behind in school. For many, the first step in helping struggling learners succeed in school is addressing underlying learning challenges. If the foundational sensory-cognitive skills for reading are not in place, students may struggle to reach their learning potential.

Learning Challenges: Symbol Imagery and Concept Imagery

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 primary cause of language comprehension problems is difficulty creating an imagined gestalt. This is called weak concept imagery. This weakness in comprehension causes individuals to get only “parts” of information they read or hear, but not the whole.

Signs of weak symbol imagery can be easier to spot in struggling students (slow, labored reading, difficulty with spelling) than those of weak concept imagery (difficulty with following directions, answering open-ended questions, grasping humor, mental mapping). Students struggling with symbol imagery often have difficulty reading words but can comprehend, and maybe labeled dyslexic. Weakness in comprehension can often present as low motivation or a short attention span in students struggling in school.

How to Help a Child Struggling with Reading

Finding the right intervention can make all the difference for children struggling with reading and comprehension. Individualized sensory-cognitive instruction can address the specific learning challenge of each child and help them find success in school.

Watch the video below to hear from a mom whose daughter was struggling at school and wasn’t able to read despite being extremely bright. She describes how Lindamood-Bell instruction changed their family’s life: “She took a final assessment at the end, and the results were just incredible. More than what I had hoped for.”

Learn more about how Lindamood-Bell instruction can turn this school year around for your struggling student. An accurate Learning Ability Evaluation is the first step in teaching individuals to learn to their potential. Click here to find a Learning Center near you.

Tips for Preventing the Summer Slide

May 24, 2019Academy, Helpful Tips, Learning CentersJulie Gisbon

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 practice, 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 visualize 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 the fall with better skills, ready to tackle the new year. Students can spend part of their summer at one of our learning centers to turn what could have been a learning loss, into a learning gain.

Summer learning at Lindamood-Bell is individualized 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 math. And, we make recommendations for individualized 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! 800-300-1818

Learning at Lindamood-Bell

Lindamood-Bell instruction is based on the learning needs of each student. We can make a difference for students of all ages and abilities.

Our individualized Summer Programs result in extraordinary academic gain in just a few weeks. We teach reading, comprehension, and math at our learning centers.

Families seeking a complete solution, including curriculum, can explore Lindamood-Bell Academy, a K-12 private school. Now enrolling for the 2019-20 school year.

Lindamood-Bell Online Instruction: Flexible and Interactive!

December 29, 2017Instruction, Learning Centers, OnlineJulie Gisbon

Juggling after-school activities, homework and a social life is challenging for any student — but for students who also need academic support, it can be almost impossible to find a way to fit it all in.

Luckily, technology has made it easier to streamline a lot of our daily activities. Lindamood-Bell offers online instruction that’s personal, flexible, and interactive. Delivered via the internet, online instruction provides the same quality instruction that students receive in our Learning Centers.

Austin receives daily instruction based on his individual learning needs. The learning center connects with the family to provide genuine Lindamood-Bell instruction.

Online instruction works great for Austin’s busy family. No driving back and forth after school!

Qualified students are able to receive Sensory-cognitive, intensive, one-to-one instruction — without having to worry about travel time between activities or rush hour traffic after school. Our online students experience the same magic of learning and make the same life-changing gains as our students who receive intensive instruction in person.

Watch Lindamood-Bell online instruction in action.

Learn more and get started. Find your nearest Learning Center here.

Better Comprehension | Every Day Tips for Parents

December 21, 2017Australia, ComprehensionJulie Gisbon

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

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

December 15, 2017Australia, InstructionJulie Gisbon

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:

Imagine Your Child’s Learning Potential

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 individualised 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.

Summer is a great time to schedule intensive instruction, and get ahead for the next school year. Get started today by contacting our learning centre to discuss your child’s needs: Double Bay (02) 9328 7119 | Chatswood (02) 9410 1006 | Melbourne (03) 9815 2949.

Is Weak Comprehension Making School Hard?

December 15, 2017Comprehension, SpecialsJulie Gisbon

“Time’s up!”

Looking around at her classmates, Lauri starts to worry—they all seem to have written more than she has. “Why do they all have highlighters out?” she wonders to herself. It’s too late to find out now, and even if there was time to ask, she’d be too embarrassed to be the only one to “not get it” yet again.

“Once you hand in your test paper, grab your bagged lunch so we can head to the bus!”

Lauri sighs. She knew her fifth grade class was going to the planetarium, but she couldn’t picture exactly when and she hadn’t remembered to bring a lunch with her today. She gets a sinking feeling in her stomach as she realizes she may not have turned in her permission slip either. She quickly glances into her desk and sees broken pencils, crumpled up papers and her math book. There in the very back of her desk was the permission slip. Had she remembered to get it signed? Phew! She had.

While her classmates bound over to get in line, she quickly and quietly walks up to Mrs. Gregory’s desk and hands her the permission slip.

“This was due last week, Lauri,” she scolds. “Why, I think you’d lose your head if it weren’t screwed on!”

The whole class laughs, and Lauri turns bright red. She already feels bad enough about not having a lunch with her, and now everyone else knows she messed up. Again. And what does that even mean? People’s heads have bones and tissue in them, not screws.

The Right Instruction

The Visualizing and Verbalizing® (V/V®) program develops concept imagery—the ability to create an imagined or imaged gestalt from language—as a basis for comprehension and higher order thinking. The development of concept imagery improves reading and listening comprehension, memory, oral vocabulary, critical thinking, and writing.

Strengthening Lauri’s concept imagery will help make actual tests of comprehension in school easier in addition to allowing her to respond to the communicating world more easily.

The first step in helping Lauri and other students who are struggling to stay afloat in the classroom is a Learning Ability Evaluation. This comprehensive evaluation uses a number of standardized academic and literacy tests to identify a student’s individualized strengths and weaknesses along with a consultation to review the results.

Normally $875, our Learning Ability Evaluation is available for $295 now through 12/31/17! Contact us to schedule your child, 800-300-1818. Find a learning center location near you: Locations.

2018 Kid’s Calendar | Free Downloadable PDF!

December 8, 2017Academy, Learning CentersJulie Gisbon

We’re proud to feature a collection of drawings and stories from students at Lindamood-Bell® Learning Centers, School Partnerships, and Lindamood-Bell Academy in our 2018 Kid’s Calendar!

The PDF version is now available for download and printing.

We wish you happy, healthy, and safe 2018!

Change Summer Learning Loss into Learning Gain!

December 7, 2017Australia, Learning CentersJulie Gisbon

For many students, three months away from academics can lead to measurable learning loss in skills like reading and maths—which, of course, is not what any family wants to be faced with at the start of the upcoming school year. We’ve gathered a few ideas to help your family balance rest and learning all summer.