Last week, I was in a fifth/sixth grade classroom and assessed just how prepared the kids were for taking tests in the upcoming weeks. 
 
The bottom line – they weren’t.  Both teachers and parents are beginning to panic because the state testing dates are too close for comfort.
 
So, in response, here is an article from information in the Instant Learning For Amazing Grades E-book, with 5 unique tips to help your child excel when they are taking tests.  
 
I’ve also included a $10 savings coupon for this e-book, for our readers who want their kids to get higher test scores on those upcoming tests.  You may also send this onto any friends or family members who want their kids to do better on tests.
 
Just type in the word   learnfaster   where it says to apply coupon at
http://www.howtolearn.com/amazinggrades.html

As a parent, you want your child to love learning, do well on all those pesky tests, and make the whole process stress-free for both of you. 
 
Use these 5 unique test taking tips to insure your child is prepared to excel on any type of test, whether in school, for their driver’s license, or to get in and graduate from college with terrific scores. 
 
1. Tests generally involve reading, so help your child be a great reader, before taking any test.  Besides the usual preparation, listen to your child read aloud, and continue doing this several times each year.
 
Check for any of the following to uncover hidden visual/perceptual problems that may hinder reading success:  skipping lines, losing place, not noticing punctuation, adding a word from the line above or below into the current line, changing the order of letters in words, or getting tired quickly when reading.
 
These can all be signs that your child doesn’t see the printed page the way you do, or is using far more energy than necessary to read their books.
 
The Tip:  Dig deeper than a diagnostic test, giving you only a grade level score. You want to cure the cause of any reading stumbling blocks.
 
Look online for a developmental optometrist to get to the real cause of reading problems. These doctors specialize in reading and learning.
 
A great reader turns print into movies in their mind, speeding recall during any test.
 
2.  Make sure your child’s personal learning style matches the testing format, if you really want to see better test scores. 
 
If your child thinks in pictures, and is a visual learner, there’s a match, increasing the odds of much higher scores.
 
If your child is auditory and learns best by listening, or kinesthetic, and moves around a lot, there is no match between their learning style and a written test.
  
The Tip:  Respect your child’s individual learning style and add some visual learning strategies, like looking up, above eye-level, and have them make a mental movie out of everything they read to
boost memory.
 
3.  Is your child’s diet affecting behavior and test scores?

Food and learning go hand in hand.  The experts say eating protein keeps blood sugar levels more stable throughout the day. 
 
Studies frequently show that kids who eat a great breakfast, stay more focused and really do get better test scores.  The same is true for adults.
 
The Tip:  Nix most of the sugar, add more nuts, lean meats, fish or beans to their diet after a quick talk with your child’s pediatrician to make sure your child can eat more of these high protein foods.
 
4.  Have you ever asked how your child ‘feels’ when they read, write, talk in class or do their homework?  Kids really do love to learn, as long as it isn’t painful.
 
Get to the bottom of the pain, before thinking your child might be lazy or unmotivated.
  
Many kids get labeled as slow learners, learning disordered or worse, all because no one knows why learning and test-taking is hard for them.
 
Spend some quality time with your child, and keep asking how they feel about what they’re doing.  You’ll be amazed at what you can uncover. 
 
 The Tip:  Rule out learning problems, speech and language disorders, health concerns, eye and vision issues, ADHD and more by asking the right expert.
  
Ask other parents and around your community about books, and references to learning and diagnostic experts to speed up the testing process for your child.
 
When it comes to things like ADHD, a lot of ‘experts’ are quick to diagnose this problem in only a few minutes.
 
“It’s a lot more complex than that says one of our medical experts, Dr. Frank Barnill at DrHuggieBear.com, so ask your doctor to rule out other possible culprits, before using the criteria in the basic manual 
found in every doctor’s office.”
 
5. What about sleep?  Is your child getting enough?
 
My son struggled for a while because I didn’t realize that he kept waking up during the night. 
 
Ask your child how he sleeps, and if you don’t like what you hear or see, keep a diary of your child’s bedtime and sleep habits.
 
The Tip:  Ask your child’s pediatrician if sleep studies can help your child get a better night’s rest.
 
These 5 unique tips will go a long way to removing roadblocks to your child’s success and definitely help your child get better test scores.
 
For lots more practical taking success tips, check out the full ebook, Instant Learning For Amazing Grades, and help your child be prepared for those upcoming tests.
 
Put in the word learnfaster in the apply coupon section and get a $10 savings, plus the peace of mind these test taking strategies will give you and your child.
 
Remember, every child is smart!

Warmly,

Pat Wyman and Erin Mavredakis, M.D.

Be sure and hit the ’share this button’ below and help your friends and family members who have kids taking tests.  Visit our http://www.howtolearn.com site as well for many more tips on taking tests and getting better grades in school.

It occurs to me, as the new year approaches, that President Elect Obama, has made one of the wisest choices possible, amidst the thousands he needs to make - and that is to concentrate some of the resources on early childhood education.

The question is – will he focus on the two most overlooked issues that have created the dysfunctional educational system we have now?

So, Mr. Obama, if you’re listening, here’s some significant advice, based on proven statistics and 30 years experience as a reading specialist, teacher, university instructor and author of Learning vs. Testing.

Fact:  Nearly 70% of our children do not read at grade level.  Science scores are lower than that, math not much better, and it gets worse as we go.

While many try and spin these numbers, check the National Center For Education Statistics, or at the least, most local schools.  Reading levels are lower than ever, and the real reasons must be considered a national crisis in order to make any headway.

What we’ve done has not worked – so let’s get to work on change and fresh ideas. 

Children who receive the following services early, continue to enjoy learning success, higher self-esteem, a better chance of attending college, and will become people who truly contribute to our society in a positive way.  They are an integral part of the solution to our nation’s problems in every area.

If you want to insure your child’s learning success, it is imperative that you do many things; foremost among them:

1.  According to the American Optometric Society and other organizations, studies show that nearly 1 in 4 children have undetected visual problems.  Imagine how that might impact their ability to read.

Get your child an eye exam by a developmental optometrist (these are optometrists who perform regular eye exams, plus a special exam which relates to your child’s learning and reading success). 

Visit these four sites for more information and read the personal information from two former Presidents whose children or grandchildren experienced hidden visual problems themselves:  http://www.howtolearn.com/ireadisucceed.html   http://www.covd.org   http://www.oep.org and http://www.infantsee.org

Make certain your child has an eye exam before 12 months of age.  Why?

Read more about former President Jimmy Carter’s grandchildren at http://www.infantsee.org – your pediatrician is not trained to see things like lazy eye, that could lead to blindness if not corrected, and you can prevent a multitude of other visual problems early.

Luci Johnson nearly dropped out of school when her dad, Lyndon Johnson was President?  Why?  Because she had hidden vision problems to nobody diagnosed until she was 16 and ready to just quit.  If you kept failing over and over, and words on the page didn’t look the same to you as they did for the A+ students, how would you feel?

Continue with the eye exams as the demand on the eyes from computers and reading increase – don’t just visit a regular optometrist – they will only look at the health of the eye and check for visual clarity.

See a developmental optometrist once a year or once every two years, and immediately if your child of any age seems to dislike reading, has reading problems, or complains about writing and doing homework every night.  They may be giving you signals that they need this special type of exam, so you know how the world looks through their eyes.  Go to http://www.covd.org and http://www.oep.org to locate a doctor.

I did this for my daughter, and if you’ve been following my work for any time at all, you’ll know that she needed vision therapy, and is now a Pediatrician who can better help her own patients.

2.  Next, teach your kids “how to learn” and don’t let anyone just tell them what to learn.

There are very specific brain compatible and scientifically proven strategies for memory, study skills,reading a text book,  how to ace a written test, and how to write.  Use them.  You’ll do your child good for a lifetime!  One example that can truly help is in the e-book, Instant Learning For Amazing Grades – 210 pages of practical and proven strategies that have worked with well over 250,000 kids.

Read it on Friday, use the “how to learn” strategies on Monday. Some include learning math facts in half the time, cutting learning time in half, how to become a spelling bee champion, how to read and recall the information in a text or other written material for a test and much more.  There is even info on what foods help you stay focused longer.

This is at http://www.howtolearn.com/amazinggrades.html

For Mr. Obama, our next President, I urge you to think about this – if we insure that our children can read well, diagnose reading problems in the most foundational way, fix them if we find them, and then teach them “how to learn”, everybody wins. 

Kids are happier, families aim higher for their kids, values are stronger, and we hit the delete button on most behvior problems.

Thank you for listening, and if any of you have comments, we always welcome them – just press the comment button below, add those two numbers together so we know you’re a real person, and we’ll respond.

We thank you too, if you want to spread the word to help our nation’s reading and educational crisis - hit that submit button and share this post around the social networks.  They do make a difference in how many parents this information can help.

Thank you, and remember, every child is smart!

Warmly,

Pat Wyman and Erin Mavredakis, M.D.

Visit our other website for more information on helping your child solve learning and reading problems: http://www.howtolearn.com

This is our final segment in our back to school success series.  If you want more tips, just leave a comments and we’ll respond as soon as possible.

Do you have a child or student who studies and studies to learn their math facts, then can’t remember them during the test?

Does your child or student take months longer to learn their facts than you’d like?

Here’s some great news.  In this final part of our Back To School Success Series, here’s the secret formula for learning and remembering math facts in HALF THE TIME. 

This is an excerpt from my best seller, Learning vs. Testing, Strategies That Bridge The Gap Between Learning Styles and Test Taking Success.

It’s so easy, every parent, teacher and child can use it right away!

1.  Get these materials:  several packages of 5 inch by 7 inch unlined colored notecards and a note card box to store them in.  A full package of thin tipped colored markers (You can use both for all the other subjects as well.)

The secret is that your child is going to learn addition and subtraction at the same time, and following that, multiplication and division  at the same time.

Start with just a few facts for day one to give your child confidence.  For addition and subtraction, have your child make a right side up triangle, in one color, on a colored 5 inch by 7 inch note card that is unlined.  At the top of the triangle, put the answer to the addition or the subtraction problems.  On the bottom corners, put the other two numbers that make the addition or subtraction answer.

Remember to put these two numbers in another color, different from the answer at the top.

Then, have your child hold the card, above eye level, trace the fact, saying it aloud, while snapping a mental image of the fact on the triangle.  Have him or her do this several times, making sure that the card is above eye level where your child can recall any picture easiest.  It could be up to their left or up to their right, or maybe even straight up above their eye level.

While your child is doing this, make up a test for them on that fact.  As an example, put the addition fact every way it could appear on a test – numbers lined up, numbers across, etc.

After your child has practiced their fact, take the card away, remind them to look above eye level, and see the fact in their own mental movie.  This is what A+ students do – they turn everything they see and read into pictures.

Then, hand your child the test, and watch the fun begin.  If your child needs to look up into his or her “magic memory snapshot”, that’s great.  Just be sure to tell your child’s teacher what he or she is doing before any test.

If you happen to notice your child needs to correct anything, simply take the card, have your child use more colors to decorate the triangle and repeat the process to give time for another look.  Don’t use words like right and wrong, just give your child’s eyes another look, because you will preserve their self-esteem, and make them confident in the process.

For multiplication and division, do the very same thing – only invert the triangle to separate the mental image from addition and subtraction.

In just a few short weeks, your child will know all their facts – in precisely half the time!

Remember, every child is smart!  For more information on how to learn in any subject, visit our website at http://www.howtolearn.com

Warmly,

Pat Wyman and Erin Mavredakis M.D.

P.S. If you like this post, please leave us a comment, or if you have questions do the same and we’ll respond.

Also, there is button just below that you can click on to share this with other parents and teachers in the social media community.  Thank you.

Spelling Success

Does your child struggle with spelling?  Does he or she know the words aloud before the test, and then forget them during the test?

Are you frustrated because your child writes the words down 10 times each and then brings home a low spelling test grade?

In Part 4 A of our Back To School Success series, here’s the secret spelling strategy to make your child a spelling superstar!

Spelling bee champions see the whole word in their mind.  They first write the word, then look up above eye level and make a mental movie of the word.  It is like they see the word on their own big movie screen.

Watch good spellers at a spelling bee championship.  They always look up above eye level, either left, right or straight up, because they are using the visual learning style, as if they are seeing a picture on a movie screen.

Great spellers don’t use phonics because most words are not spelled as they sound.  So they actually “see” the whole word in their mind.

When your child is studying, have him or her put the word on a card and hold it above eye level, in a place where they best recall pictures.  Then, during the test, look back to that same location, above eye level, and see the word, then write it down during the test.

You’ll be amazed when your child brings home those terrific spelling grades!

If you’d like more information about the Super Speller Strategy, visit http://www.howtolearn.com/speller.html

We’d love to hear from you with any comments and questions, so be sure and add those two numbers together when it asks you to while making a comment below.

If you like this post and would like to share it with more parents and teachers, click on the “share this” button below, and send it out to the social communities.

Remember, all children are smart!

Warmly,

Pat Wyman and Erin Mavredakis, M.D.

P.S.  Part B of our Back To School Success Series will show your child how to learn their math facts in half the time! 

If you’d like to show your child how to learn strategies for every subject now, grab a copy of the Instant Learning For Amazing Grades e-book you see in the navigation bar above.  We wish your child every success.

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.

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.

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.