Raising Smarter Children

 

In part 3 of our back to school success series, both Joe Biden and Sarah Palin showed specific preparation strategies and memory techniques we’d recommend to your child for superstar school success.

1.  The Vice Presidential debate gave some excellent tips for our third part of the back to school success series.

While each person “crammed for this debate” they both anticipated and knew what would be asked during the debate.  It’s important that your child speak in detail with each teacher to find out as much as possible about the type of test and what information will be covered on that test. 

When studying for a test, be prepared - not just out loud, but in writing too.  Students who get terrific marks turn all their material into pictures, because the brain can retrieve pictures thousands of times faster than words.

The old saying, one picture is worth a thousand words is never more true than in school.  Good readers turn the print they read into mental movies.

2.  When taking notes - make picture perfect summaries - and use a circle, putting information on spokes that go around the circle clockwise.

3.  Notice that Palin and Biden held their heads high - that fact alone is a long known technique that puts kids in visual success positions.  Tests are highly visual and holding your head up high and even looking up, will help your child retrieve what they studied on their picture perfect summaries.  It’s almost as if they are at a movie - and we all know how easy it is to recall movies.

4.  When answering essay questions, take “some” tips from Biden (more than Palin) - use more facts to support your thesis and don’t sidestep issues simply because you don’t know the answer, or won’t follow the rules the teacher’s given - and above all, don’t make up things you don’t know about.

Step 4, last in our back to school success series will be next week, and contain specific strategies in every subject.

Remember, every child is smart!

Warmly,

Pat Wyman and Erin Mavredakis M.D.

If you like this post, hit the “share this button” below and help more parents get tips for their child’s school success.  If you don’t have a copy already, the 210 page e-book, Instant Learning For Amazing Grades, at http://www.howtolearn.com/amazinggrades.html has all the proven strategies that have helped over 250,000 students get A’s and B’s over many years.

We welcome your comments and questions and will answer them.  Bookmark this site and return often for the best ways to help every child fulfill their full potential.

Tags: back to school success tips, brain, Erin Mavredakis M.D., good readers, Joe Biden, one picture is worth a thousand words, Pat Wyman, preparation strategies, Sarah Palin, school success, vice presidential debate

 

This is part 2 of our back to school success series.

How to Diagnose and Correct Your Child’s Learning Problems

You can use the following questionnaires to determine your child’s or learning needs.

This information may save your child hours of specialized and expensive testing and can be used to report the information to your child’s teacher.  If necessary, you may bring this information into a special education IEP meeting.

The information that follows the testing will help you design an individual solution to meet your child’s learning needs.

Before you begin, it is helpful to understand what causes most learning problems. Once you read through these, you will want to have your child or student present so that you can read the questions aloud as they look at them in print. 

That way, you’re involving your child in determining what is needed to solve his or her own learning problems and it preserves their self-esteem once they see that these issues are not the result of being a “slow” learner as most kids tend to think, because they compare themselves with other kids. 

It also helps their self-esteem because you won’t get a “grade level” score, but a true picture of how the world looks and sounds to your child.

The Four Primary Reasons for Learning Problems/Disabilities

Years of research and teaching experience has revealed that most learning disabilities, ADHD or “at risk” student learning problems are basically the result of only four things:

1. Learning Styles: a mis-match between how your child learns and how s/he is tested in writing. Kids learn in 3 primary ways - in pictures (visual);, by listening and repeating (auditory) and physically, by touching or feeling the information (kinesthetic).

The problem is that schools test in only one of those styles - the written visual style.  If your child is more auditory or kinesthetic, they may not be able to show what they know on a written test.

This mis-match may cause problems in learning math facts, spelling, vocabulary, reading comprehension and study skills.

2. Vision and Perception: undetected eyesight or visual perception stress problems which cause reading and writing problems. 

You don’t know how the printed page looks to your child, and your child’s school vision screening misses over 90% of what children need in order to read, copy from the board, and even play sports.  This is more than just eyesight - perception of what they see is involved and most schools never check for these items which may cause untold reading and learning problems.

Additionally, If a child has something like a visual figure-grouud problem, he or she will not be able to distinguish what is on certain pages from the background (remember where’s Waldo? - It is very much like that)- so imagine how much a child struggles to read with a visual figure ground problem.

3. Nutrition: nutritional deficiencies or food sensitivities and allergies can masquerade as learning disability/behavioral symptoms. Your child may be labeled with ADHD and it could be, according to pediatric allergist, Doris Rapp, M.D., numerous other problems that look like ADHD.

4. Speech and language, or auditory perception problems: the inability to hear and create various sounds or auditory figure ground problems (the inability to hear the words one person speaks when there is other background noise in the room).

Although other factors such as hearing difficulties, severe emotional distress or organic brain dysfunction may be at the root of a smaller number of learning problems, but the vast majority of children respond with overwhelming success when the four aspects discussed above are addressed.

Be sure to check with your pediatrician about other possible causes of learning difficulties like autism, dysgraphia (my son suffered from this, which is a small motor control problem which makes things like writing or cutting with scissors very difficult), etc.

 Resources: 

Questionnaires to Discover the Causes Of Your Child’s or Student’s Learning Needs

By answering the following questionnaires, you can determine the actual causes of most learning difficulties. You will receive more information on how to solve most learning challenges at the end of each questionnaire. You may find that your child or student has a combination of needs, which when dealt with directly, will result in the inspiring success we have found in our 25 years of positive educational experience.

With the exception of true organic brain dysfunction the three causes of most learning problems listed above can easily be determined by answering the questions on each of the following questionnaires:

A. Want to know how your child learns best and how to fix a possible mis-match between learning and testing?

Use the Personal Learning Style Inventory at http://www.howtolearn.com

B. Want to know how to improve your child’s reading?

Use the Parent and Teacher’s Guide to Vision Problems at http://www.howtolearn.com/ireadisucceed.html

C. Want to know if food is causing your child’s learning problems?

Go to: http://www.howtolearn.com/add-adhd.html for the chart on what may be masquerading as ADHD.

D.  See your local, highly recommended speech and language pathologist if you believe your child is having speech and language issues which may impede learning.  Be sure to check for auditory figure ground perception problems.  Next, take your child to a hearing specialist to check hearing and listening levels.  This is critical to school success.

We hope you find these resources helpful and if you have comments or questions, please submit them below - (add the two numbers together so the system knows you’re a real person :)

Also, if you want to share this information with your friends, hit the “share this” button and pass the information around to the social communities where millions of parents can see it and get the help they need.

Bookmark this page and return shortly for part 3 of our Back To School Success Series.

Remember, every child is smart!

Warmly,

Pat Wyman and Erin Mavredakis, M.D.

Tags: ADHD, auditory, auditory learning style, back to school, back to school success series. http://www.howtolearn.co, Doris Rapp M.D., Erin Mavredakis M.D., IEP, kinesthetic, kinesthetic learning style, learning, learning challenges, learning problems, math facts, nutrition, Pat Wyman, pediatric allergist, pediatrician, perception, questionnaire, school success, self esteem, special education, speech and language, speech and language pathologist, success series, vision, vision problems, visual, visual learning style

This is the first in a 4 part Back To School Success Series. 

Bookmark this page and return to read for our experts’ solutions to help your child be a school superstar this year.

What Can You Do To Make Sure Your Child Beats The Odds And Is Not Part Of The Majority Of Kids Who Are Below Grade Level? 

The United States Department of Education, Nation’s Report Card says that nearly 70% of our nation’s schoolchildren are below grade level in our four most important subjects:

Reading:  Grade 4:  68% are below grade level

Reading:  Grade 8:  70% are below grade level

Writing:  Grade 8:   70% are below grade level

Math:  Grade 4:      62% are below grade level

Math:  Grade 8:      69% are below grade level

Science:  Grades 4 and 8:  73% are below grade level.

Our goal is to help your child beat these abysmal odds.

Bookmark this page and return weekly, for the remaining 3 parts in our Back To School Success Series.

Next post:  Learning Problems - Top 4 Reasons

Remember, every child is smart - but they simply may not know how to show what they know on their written tests.  But our experts can help.

Warmly,

Pat Wyman and Erin Mavredakis M.D.

P.S.  If you want to get stared with more information on back to school success, visit http://www.HowToLearn.com/coachingstudents.html or http://www.HowToLearn.com/AmazingGrades.html

We’d love to hear from you so make a comment below (just add the two numbers together so we know you’re a human :);)  

If you want to share this Back To School Success Series with others, please click on the “share this” button and send it to all the social media communities.

Tags: back to school, beat the odds, eighth graders, Erin Mavredakis M.D., fourth graders, http://www.HowToLearn.com/amazinggrades.html, math, Pat Wyman, reading, school success, school year, science, shocking facts, statistics, United States Department Of Education, writing, written tests

The predidential candidates have chosen their running mates. Between the four of them, do you believe that the two elected, can solve the nation’s reading crisis?   Do they have the knowledge and ability to get all the facts and do things differently than what led us to this crisis?  

Time Magazine and The Washington Post reports that Mrs. Palin has tried to ban books from her state’s libraries simply because she disagrees with what is in them.  The reports then say she threatened to fire a  libraian if she did not comply with “her governor”.

This act alone, if repeated nationally, might remove a book that your child would like to read in their local library.  So, unfortunately, removing books from libraries might not emplify the best way to get kids reading.

It deeply hurts me, and all of us, to know that nearly 70% of our nation’s children are not reading at grade level.  What will it take to solve this crisis and who can solve it?   I want to hear from you on this one, so please hit that comment button.

As a life-long childrens’ learning and reading success advocate, I believe we must start to help our children read at home, and  then move on to revamping the school vision screening system when children enter school, and each year while they are in school.

Interviews with several recent experts and best sellers, which will be posted shortly, reveal that reading to children increases their dopamine levels - that’s the feel good neurotransmitter in your brain.  Simple things like helping your child make a movie in his or her mind of what you or they read is actually critical to reading success.

As former President Lyndon Johnson’s daughter, Luci said, “Hang a mobile over your baby’s crib.”  It strengthens their visual system and later translates into stronger reading abilities.

There is legislation pending, but bogged down in the House of Representatives, on improving school vision screenings.  You can do something about that - read it, and write to Senators Obama, Biden, McCain and Governor Palin. They need to hear from you. 

When our children don’t read, they lose a gateway to the world that harms them in too many ways to count, and their ability to succeed in school diminishes proportionately.  Kids who don’t read often end up in our prison system, using or selling drugs, and statistics say are more likely to become juvenile delinquents.

Folks, we cannot afford to ignore this crisis.  Find out what the printed page looks like to your child, take your child for a learning related vision exam with a developmental optometrist who specializes in both eye health and learning and reading.  They even specialize in improving athletic skills. 

Here are three websites to visit to learn more. 

1.  Have your child take the free Eye-Q Reading Inventory at http://www.howtolearn.com/ireadisucceed.html and read about Luci Johnson and why she nearly dropped out of school while her father was President.  Then read what she did to solve her reading problems.

2. Go to www.covd.org and www.oep.org to find optometrists who are specially trained to diagnose the real reasons behind most reading problems and how to fix them.  You’ll discover everything you want to know about what it takes to be a good reader, how to help your child, what to look for when they read, success stories and so much more.   If you truly want a “smarter” child, help your child be a great reader.

As many of you know, the co-founder of this blog, my daughter, Dr. Erin Mavredakis, (you can read more in the ”About” page up on the nav bar), had some reading problems in the first grade - and yet, she could read at age 4. 

It wasn’t until we took her to a developmental optometrist and discovered the hidden causes of her reading problems and fixed them with vision therapy, that she could really succeed in school. 

Readers, I am a reading specialist whose vast training did not include anything about the types of reading problems my daugher had, and new statistics say that nearly 1 in 4 children in America alone, have reading problems.

As you can see in the “about” section of this blog, Erin is a pediatrician today.  Certainly she had love, support and commitment, but without diagnosing and solving her reading problems, I have to question whether she would have achieved her dream. 

So, no matter who you believe should be our President, all politicians need to be made aware of the inadequate school vision screenings we have now (like the eye-chart, which has nothing to do with reading at near point), and how to implement a more thorough school vision screening that makes sense for reading and learning.

The tips for parents, will continue in other posts and you’ll hear our doctors, authors and educational experts give you profoundly simple tips to insure that your child reads at or above grade level - with complete comprhension and the ability to use the information they read.

So, please cast your votes, and as you’re doing so, write or call the legislators - we need some real change in our schools, and one of the first places to begin is with screening for reading readiness in a way that relates to reading.

Remember, every child is smart!

Warmly,

Pat Wyman and Erin Mavredakis, M.D.

If you like this post, or not, please, do comment.  We want to hear what you’re thinking.  Also, you can click on the “share this”  button below and do a lot of good by spreading the word about solving our reading crisis in the social media networks.  Thank you.

Tags: baby, Biden, crib, dopamine, Erin Mavredakis M.D., how to learn, illiteracy, Joe Biden, juvenile delinquents, knowledge about reading, legislation on school vision screenings, literacy, Luci Johnson, McCain, mobile, neurotransmitter, Obama, Pat Wyman, President Lyndon Johnson, raising smarter children, raising smarter kids, reading, reading crisis, school vision screenings, Senator Barack Obama, Senator Joe Biden, Senator John McCain, smarter children, Smarter kids, vision screen

If you’re child is having a tough time remembering their spelling words, in weely or standardized tests, the best tip is to use the mental image strategy that spelling bee champions use.  If your child suffers week after week with low spelling grades, the good news is this visual spelling strategy will also help improve their self-esteem.

Author, Thomas Armstrong, says, ““The Super Speller Strategy provides an excellent introduction to some powerful learning strategies. 

I hope that parents and teachers will  throw away the old worn-out spelling methods (“write it down 10 times”) and use the kinds of approaches contained in this online strategy instead.”

When you use the visual spelling strategy, you’re going to begin with just a couple of words to get your child comfortable with a new way of learning and remembering. 

Generally, kids who struggle with spelling don’t see the word in their mind like great spellers do, they just look down and know how they feel about it, using a kinesthetic learning style where they don’t make pictures that are easy to remember.

The full Spelling Success Strategy is in the online program, but you can jump start your child’s success by getting them to write their words on colored unlined note cards or construction paper strips, and then have them hold the words above eye level as they trace the letters with their hand.  Next, take the card away, and have your child look up above eye level and actually see the mental picture of the word.  It’s just like they are seeing a movie.

Brain research tells us that pictures are much faster and easier to remember for a written test, so when your child looks up above eye level, he or she will see the whole word in living color, and can easily write it correctly on the test.

One teacher, Cathy Heissler, owner of the Learning For Tomorrow Center, said, “The Super Speller Strategy changes my students’ lives.  All of my students went from failing to getting A’s and B’s.  Their self-esteem improves so much that they do better in all their other subjects too.”

Remember, kids learn in many styles, but schools tend to test in only one - the written visual style.  If you haven’t already read about how to bridge the gap between test taking success for students of all learning styles, there are more than 20, practical ‘how to” strategies in the book, Learning vs. Testing.  These strategies cover all subject areas and teach students “how to learn” and not just what to learn.

Remember, every child is smart!

Pat Wyman and Erin Mavredakis, M.D.

If you like this post and want to spread the word about helping kids be great spellers, post a comment, and click on the “share this button”.   You can send the post to all the social networking communities and more parents and teachers will see it.  Thank you.

Tags: Erin Mavredakis M.D., kinesthetic learning style, Learning vs. Testing, Pat Wyman, spelling, spelling bee champions, spelling success strategy, spelling test, spelling test grades, standardized tests, super speller strategy, Thomas Armstrong, visual learning style, visual spelling strategy

Do you or your child struggle to read? 

                  Would you like to remove the visual stress and eyestrain from your own everyday reading and make reading faster and easier?

Eye doctors say using colored overlays over the printed page can often relieve reading stress and even raise test scores in the process.

Colored overlays can:

*  clear up the print
*  help a person read longer
*  improve comprehension and focus

Many teachers I know get several sets for their entire class. 

Some parents get two sets, one for home and one for school. 

Executives get sets for themselves and their employees. 

You’ll be excited to try them out — but there’s a warning - they may help you be a faster, better reader.

As a reading specialist, I know how powerful these overlays can be and what eye doctors have to say about their benefits. 

If you have a child or students with reading problems, I encourage you to try them.  The reading journals say they can raise reading levels by more than a year in less than a week.

Colored overlays are sturdy, 8 1/2 by 11 inch transparencies, which are thick.  Place a color over the print and see how it feels. 

When I read, I use the yellow overlay and I don’t need to use my glasses.  Jeanne Siegel, a parent from Florida, called me today and said that her son actually tapes the blue overlay on his computer screen to remove the glare and blurred print so he can read much easier.

If you’re reading for school, work, or pleasure visit http://www.HowToLearn.com/filters.html for more information.

Remember, every child is smart,

Pat Wyman and Erin Mavredakis, M.D.

P.S. If you like this post, click on the “share this” button just below, and help spread the word to the social communities.  Register for free on Digg, Technorati and the others, and then “digg” this article or paste in the web address where it appears.  Thank you and enjoy faster reading.

 You can also register for free updates on all expert interivews, articles and other posts on raising smarter children.

 

Tags: blurred print, colored filter overlays, colored overlays, developmental optometrists, difficulty reading, Dyslexia, Erin Mavredakis, executives, eye doctors, faster reading, M.D.. social communities, Pat Wyman, read faster, reading journals, reading specialist, vision therapy, visual stress, yellow overlay

Dear Friends,

We’ve been receiving some very impressive tips and discoveries about how to get kids away from the T.V., exercise more, controlling childhood obesity, and, as a result, read more often and get higher grades.

One comment you’ll want to read all the way through, comes from Dr. Russ L’HommeDieu, DPT, a parent,  author and physical therapist.

He provides on of the most unique discoveries about how to postiviely change your child’s behavior and get extraordinary results.

Read his comment below for more…

All children are smart in their own way,

Pat Wyman and Erin Mavredakis, M.D.

 

 

 

Tags: childhood obesity, exercise, food, food and learning, health, learning, reading, smarter children, Smarter kids, T.V.