Yesterday, we had our guest blogger, Best of Mother Earth, Karen Hanrahan, talk about the dangers of sugar.

The medical journal reports are coming out almost daily on how dangerous too much sugar is for your child and your family - causing a whole host of health problems, ranging from obesity, to Type II diabetes.

Today, Karen has graciously given us some tips for getting kids off the sugar by eating more vegetables.

Here’s how:  http://bestwellnessconsultant.com/2008/09/18/eat-your-vegetables-tricks-for-picky-kids-best-of-mother-earth.aspx

Remember, every child is smart.

Warmly, Pat Wyman and Erin Mavredakis M.D.

P.S. If you like this post, then be sure and leave a comment or questions (add up those two numbers so we know you’re human:):)) , and if you want to help other parents with these tips click on the “share this” button and let the social community know about tips for Raising Smarter Children blog and its tips to help your child be smart in every way.

Thank you, and when you’re looking for other resources to help your child in school, visit our other site at http://www.HowToLearn.com

Does you worry that your child, or other family members eat too much sugar?  There’s so much in the news these days about obesity and the Type II epidemic in kids, our next two posts will give you some solid information on the dangers of sugar and what to do about it from our invited guest blogger, Karen Hanrahan. 

Today she talks about the dangers of sugar - read more at…

http://bestwellnessconsultant.com/2008/10/29/dangers-of-sugar-b-complex-deficiencies-best-of-mother-earth.aspx

Warmly,

Pat Wyman and Erin Mavredakis M.D.

Visit our other site at http://www.HowToLearn.com for more resources to help your child in every way.

If you like this post, please leave a comment and we will reply, as well as click the “share this button” so you can spread the word and help other parents who are concerned that their child, or other family members may be eating too much sugar

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 was to be the second of our 4 back to school success posts, but I’ve just finished surviving the devastation of Hurricane Ike.

So, next post will be number 2 in our back to school success series, and I thought this was too important a time not to write down these thoughts.

I’ve never been in a hurricane before and while visiting my sister in Texas, it happened.  Did it ever - and I pray it never happens again to anyone, anywhere.

Being from California, and knowing absolutely zero about hurricanes, I got a crash course in how they work, but more importantly, how people can bond together and help each other get through with no power, no water, no energy, gas and food.

Folks, my first thought when I heard this was coming is what does it mean?  What  will happen?  The kids that live in Texas are used to hurricanes, but this was very, very different.  I certainly had no idea what to expect.  It’s one thing to see things on T.V. and quite another to be in the middle of it when it’s happening. 

What I learned is that a tragedy can actually be time for some very good and powerful learning for your children. (and me too).

1.   You are your child’s model.  What you do in a crisis, will influence them forever.  Be calm and steady - if not for you, do it for the kids.  If you’re calm and prepared, your kids will be too.  Work together getting the house ready (if you don’t have to evacuate), shop together telling the kids how much easier it will be with lots of water, ice, canned items and the rest of food that you will need,  because most likely the power will go out.   

2.  Study hurricanes together as a family, again calmly.  Learn about how they work and why the sky may turn aqua green just after what looks like lightening.  Learning new things together helps children want to learn and builds their curiosity about other things too.

Have lots of games to play together when the power goes out, and a whole lot of flashlights.  When it’s really dark, everybody feels better with light.

The games will help your kids feel happier when you’re playing, and can calm them too.  Play every single game you can with them.  Read happy stories to your kids because it releases the ‘feel good’ neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. 

3.  Make contingency plans since you can’t predict everything.  Insure your kids know what to do and that you will be there for them.  This helps your kids learn to think ahead when things are unknown.

4.  The neighbors here had one of those wind up radios from radio shack and they let us use it to get more information.  I highly recommend, after what I’ve just been through, to invest the few dollars and get one.  You don’t need any power - just wind it up.  It was so helpful.  Again, your kids will learn what they need during a crisis.   Information is one of your most powerful allies.

5.  When your kids are informed about what’s coming, they are far more likely to want to help you and each other and quickly learn the value of what it means to be a real family - stick together. 

6.  Answer their questions - all of them.  Again, be calm.  Let the kids know it’s O.K. to be afraid, but that you’re doing everything you can to prepare.  You’ve got plenty of warning time so you have a real opportunity to help your children help themselves and make amazingly good choices during a crisis.

7.  If they want to be right next to you when the hurricane hits, find that room with no outside walls and put the mattresses there, or make a game of jumping in the tub and putting the mattress over your heads before it hits. Try to lighten things up a bit for everyone.  Believe me, this goes a long way toward both teaching the kids what they need to know, and helping them laugh at the same time.

8.  Tell them why you need to fill your tubs with water, why to duct tape your windows and board them up.  Have them help you - they will feel much safer and more secure when you’re doing these things together. 

9.  Assume the very best of your kids - they will surprise you with their creativity and thoughts if you let them.  This is a time they can quickly learn kindness, humility and courage - all at the same time.

10.  When the hurricane is over, go outside, look around and thank God you’re all safe.  It may be a huge mess (it sure was here), but you’ll be surprised at how the neighborhood bonds together to help each other.

This is the time for your children to learn compassion for others too.  We heard that the first response teams needed food and water because they had none.  Remember these are the folks who are supposed to rescue others.  And they had no food or water.  So when the call went out to help, we gathered up all our extra water and food we could, and took it to them.  They were so happy and grateful.

Imagine how good your kids will feel helping the police or firefighters or even the national guard with simple things like water.  What does that teach them?  We’re a community and all in this together.

I learned a lot from this and pray you never have to experience anything like it, but if you do, some real good can come from it.

With gratitude,

Pat Wyman

If you like these ideas, please hit the comment button and share your thoughts.  Help others by clicking on the “share this” button and letting the social community know.  That’s what it’s really all about -sharing and caring.  I thank you for reading this and if you’ve been to our other site for back to school help and resources,  http://www.HowToLearn.com I thank you now for your patience because things are understandably delayed.

Warmly,

Pat Wyman

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.

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.

According to The American Psychological Foundation, certain video games improved dexterity and problem solving ability.

A while back, I wrote an article on how some types of video games gave kids skills they need in life - motivation, ability to keep going when things get rough, and forethought.  A study at Fordham University in New York, showed that playing video games improved cognitive and perceptual skills in 5th, 6th, and 7th graders.

At several other universities, continuing studies show that video games improve the scientific thought process. However, violent video games fostered violence among students, while social video games made the students more helpful to others. 

Ongoing research definitely shows that playing video games all the time makes kids obese and reduces their school performance. 

One of the most surprising results of the research is that laparoscopic surgeons improved dexterity by playing video games.  According to psychologist Douglas Gentile, Ph.D., of Iowa State, doctors who played video games were able to “perform surgery 27 percent faster and made 37 percent fewer errors.  He also said video games were good predictors of suturing capabilities.

The bottom line is what most parents already know.  Video games are like anything else.  Good value games, played in balance with other life activities can enhance education and important life skills. 

Gentile says, “This means that games are not good or bad, but are powerful educational tools and have many effects we might not have expected they could.”

The tip for today is attention - look closely at the type of video games your child plays, limit the time, and know that there may be some inherent value for your child who wants to play a video game.  You never know, s/he may turn out to be that laparoscopic surgeon.

As it’s gettng close to back to school, here’s another “tech smart” tip your child can use on the computer. 

There’s a free, one hour online CD, for you and your child, if you’re serious about making this the best school year ever.  It’s the first of 8 CD’s in the How To Win The School Game System, showing your child how to get A’s and B’s with “how to learn” strategies.

Visit our website at http://www.howtolearn.com/coachingstudents2.html for more on how to get higher grades in 14 days.

Remember, every child is smart,

Pat Wyman and Erin Mavredaks, M.D.

If you like this post, please send a comment or click on the “share this” button below the post.  Join the social media networks and help spread the word about raising a smarter child in every way.  Thank you.