Fixing Academics

June 23, 2009 by Lisa

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

I am always amazed when I find someone trying to fix poor academics with more academics. Think about it. If you have done something for seven hours each day that wasn't working, would you spend several more hours each afternoon and evening doing the same thing? Certainly not. You would think of a new strategy, a different method of trying to get the job done. Yet, every evening parents sit at kitchen tables trying to help their kids overcome learning differences by adding more academics to these students' plates. Schools do the same thing with summer school and after school intervention programs.

And the sad truth of it all is that this just isn't working. If it worked, the students would have mastered it at school. Too many kids are dying a slow death every day at school, attending after school and summer learning programs, and then going home to more of the same thing. So what is a parent to do?

Well, to start with, we need to address why the student isn't doing well academically. We need to look at the learning systems and find out where weaknesses are. Most of the students I work with are right brain dominant tactile learners. Because of this they are failing in the left brain dominant primarily auditory modern American classroom. Are these kids dumb? No. But they don't learn in the same way that the teachers are presenting the information.

The solution is so simple it is almost embarrassing. Strengthen what is weak. That is it. Whether it is visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or just getting the brain to access the left hemisphere more easily, it can all be accomplished. There isn't any mystery to any of this. The brain has plasticity at any age, and we have access to so much information about the brain. Don't you think it's time we started using it?

Check out our complete video series and learn how to get past the insanity