Students who suffer from learning differences truly do suffer. Not just in the classroom, where they often feel less than adequate, but on the playground as well. Almost every student who has a learning difference such as dyslexia, ADD, autism, or a special education label has been the target of bullying.

I hear reports of this on a regular basis, and it is heartbreaking to say the least. And, I have witnessed it first hand during my many years of teaching. Bus rides…torture. Name calling….prevalent. And even worse, there are moments of actual physical violence.

When a person finishes school, it does not mean that the process of learning ends there. Learning is a continuous learning process that's why we continue to educate ourselves by reading. But understanding what you're reading needs focus and concentration so that you can retain what you have learned.

"And this is when taking the time to take good notes while reading becomes so useful in enhancing learning.

After realizing there's really not much in the way of an at-home dyscalculia test we've just uploaded a new test which both describes typical symptoms and provides a test you can administer.

You can fin the test at

http://www.learning-aids.com/testing-dyscalculia

We hope it is helpful

nicole"Do I Have Dyslexia?"
I hear it asked so often. Dyslexia is a common condition – one in five has it. And yet, people are always asking me how to know if they or their child has it. And, even worse, once they find out they have it, what should they do about it?

Dyslexia can be diagnosed by a professional, but it is often costly. I always look for indicators of dyslexia, because the only necessary component is how to treat it. Diagnosing dyslexia can often make the person feel better, because just knowing that he/she is intelligent is always helpful. So many dyslexics are traveling through life thinking that they are dumb, when in fact, they are highly intelligent.

At 5:00 PM today Lisa and Liz will be doing a blog talk radio show on IEP experiences. We've been gathering numerous experiences from parents, students, teachers and advocates and have quit a lot of information on the subject.

If you'd like to participate and call in for the show we'd love to hear from you

IEP (Individualized Education Program) on Blog Talk Radio

The listing of experiences can be found at this link

IEP (Individualized Education Program) Experiences

If you'd like to add your own experience please do so here

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. – Albert Einstein

I initially was trained to do brain retraining with the use of muscle testing. I, too, found it to be confusing for both the student and myself. I also felt it was somewhat invasive, especially for teens. I do believe in muscle testing and I believe that it works. However, I thought about what it was being used to tell me, which was which system to remediate, and I decided to try using remediation with every system. I added other components that made sense to me, and then started trying this new system out on kids. This was about five or six years ago, and I have had outstanding results using brain retraining without muscle testing. Another reason I abandoned muscle testing is that it is very time consuming.

Humans by nature are visual creatures. As a matter of fact, 75 to 90% of all that we learn comes to us through visual pathways. Knowing this, it’s important to identify children who may have weakened visual processing skills and give them a method to overcome these weaknesses. First, understand that 20/20 vision has very little to do with this. Second, you should have a general understanding of the anatomy of the eye. And finally, you will need some basic exercises to help the student overcome any of these problems. There are six tiny muscles that surround the eye and control its movements. They are known as the extraocular muscles. Four of these muscles control the eye’s movements from left to right and up and down. The other two rotate the eyes inward or outward.

Brain Retraining is done through a series of physical exercises that selectively access a certain part of the brain by having the eyes look in a specified direction. The direction is related to a sensory stimulation point. Most of these exercises will cross the vertical midline of the body, which helps to integrate the left and right hemispheres of the brain. The exercises necessary for brain retraining are: the cross crawl, the straight crawl, eye eights, ear eights, magic eights, and mirrors. Once the student knows how to do these simple exercises, then it is easy to go through the specified steps of brain retraining. It is so simple to do, yet for some reason people seem a bit afraid of this. The sequence is like this: 1.

I was introducing some information on retraining the brain, and I think it is beneficial to know a little bit of information about the brain. The brain is separated into two hemispheres, the left and the right. The right hemisphere is the creative side of your brain. It is the side of the brain that is responsible for movement, colors, pictures,shapes, music, emotion, daydreaming,expression, synthesis, and problem solving. The left side of the brain is quite different. It is responsible for conscious control, words, phonics, reasoning, numbers, math, lists, categories,analysis, and linear thought. Right brain dominant children learn best from whole to part. Left brain dominant learn best from part to whole.

Retraining the brain transforms lives. The children I have used these techniques with have improved significantly, not only academically, but socially, emotionally, and behaviorally as well. When the brain becomes balanced and wired correctly then kids can learn and succeed as nature intended. The techniques that I use are based on over thirty years of research on how the brain works. The foundational work in this area was done by two medical doctors, Glenn and Robert Doman, and an educator, Carl Delacoto. These men were trying to find out how head injury patients could recover functions that were lost, such as reading and writing. Their findings brought the conclusion that the brain develops through stimulation and that children are not born “wired” for all tasks at birth.

I have used this program with an autistic girl. She could speak but didn't communicate. She repeated the same phrase over and over again. She also had to line up everything and wipe things off before moving on to another activity. At 9 years of age she couldn't read or write, although she did know her alphabet sounds. She had rage issues as well. I had to be very physical with her at first and take her by the hand to perform the exercises. Fortunately she trusted me and would allow it. It has been a year and a half and she is communicating with peers and adults. She reads at a 2nd grade level and is approaching 3rd grade. Her rages have subsided, although she still is having some fear issues. She can write, although not yet at grade level.

This is a common question, believe it or not. Many kids are verbal, bright, and almost seem "gifted". Yet, when they go to school they are judged to be below grade level or their grades don't reflect their intelligence. Parents get so frustrated and urge their children to try harder when, in fact, the children are doing their best. So, does this boy have a learning disability? Most likely he does, but without testing him it is hard to be sure. But, keep in mind that these are symptoms of his visual processing system being in distress. The written work is the key here. Most of the school day is spent writing and copying.

I am often asked by frustrated parents how they can go about helping their child succeed in school. After all, every parent wants just that. And, it seems like if your child isn't doing well in school that the world is spinning out of control in more ways than one. So, what do I tell them to do? The first thing is to relax and take a deep breath. Now, let's go to the core of the problem. The first thing you have to do is find the reason for the poor academic performance. Telling your child to try harder usually doesn't get the job done. Think about it. Don't you think they want to do well in school, too? So, find out where the problem lies. I usually find that the child is weak in visual processing. How can a parent tell?