What To Do For Your Smart Struggling Child?
Now is the time when standardized test scores arrive, year-end reality sinks in, and as a parent, you may be wondering what to do this summer to make the difference?
We have three key thoughts:
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Make reading FUN! Read books with your child that will get them excited. Do more of the reading yourself at first, and let them pick up more of it later. Be sure to make it fun.
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Take the time to look at their results over the last two or three years. What do the trends tell you? Click here for a one-page guideline
you can use to layout the critical information.
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If the past results and present performance are unsatisfactory, or they are just OK, consider options to really make the difference this summer. It is possible to improve your child’s reading comprehension by 1 or 2 grade levels before school starts next August, and by 3 or 4 grade levels before the end of 2010.
Making Reading and Learning Fun
A study shared in the book “Outliers”, by Malcolm Gladwell, highlights the point that less fortunate kids often fall much further behind their peers, because they do not make gains over the summer.
The same is true for non-readers. If your children only read what they are supposed to read, and there is no summer reading list, then they too may avoid reading and then they will fall further behind their peers.
We have three key suggestions:
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Pick books of interest for your child. Choose books at their present reading level and move up slowly. If your child likes to read about horses, read about horses, if they love baseball, read about baseball.
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The first few weeks, read 4 pages out of 5 and let them read one page. If you are reading, always have them follow along. Then every 3 weeks have them read one more page, so at the end of the summer they are reading 4 pages out of 5.
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Watch for signs of challenges and keep track of words or concepts that your child does not understand. You can use our Reading Journal to help you identify key issues to be aware of.
Trends Tell A Ton
Mary was not happy with her son’s reading progress. His teacher said his reading was adequate. When she later went back and asked about reading comprehension, the teacher commented that, “His reading is OK, but his comprehension is well below grade level" Actually was 3 years below grade level!!! The records showed:
Reading Comprehension
| | Two Years Ago
| LastYear | This Year
|
Mary's Child
| 1.5 | 2.1 | 2.5 |
Grade Level
| 3.5 | 4.5 | 5.5 |
Years Below Grade Level
| (2.0) | (2.4) | (3.0) |
When transferred to a graph, the picture became clear.
When both parents looked at the results, they were both angry and empowered.
As they looked at the trend, they realized that at this rate their child would be 4 or even 5 grade levels below his peers within a few years. That was scary.
Now both parents were on the same page – angry with the present and fearful of what could happen. They had friends in a similar situation who did nothing; soon their son’s grades suffered and he was hanging out with a bad crowd. More complications followed.
The good news is that with the right action, one can prevent this from happening.
We have helped:
A 3rd grader who was reading two years below grade level, increased his reading level by 3 years within 12 months. He was able to avoid being held back.
A 7th grader who was reading 5 years below grade level, gain 6 years in his reading comprehension within 7 months.
A 10th grader who was 4 years below grade level, gain 5 years in his reading comprehension within 4 months.
Smart struggling students can often do well in advanced classes where other students are attentive and the work is challenging.
Conversely, they can struggle when the pace is slow, the work is not challenging and there are many disruptions.
We can help your child make similar advances.
Review the following questions:
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Does your child remember places visited, even from years ago?
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Does your child remember details from movies they have seen, even from years ago?
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Does your child learn best when seeing and experiencing information?
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Does your child skip words and lines when reading?
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Does your child have difficulty paying attention to that which is boring or frustrating?
Does this sound like your child?
Affirmative answers to the first three questions tend to indicate a right-brained learner; someone who learns best when they see and experience information.
They often have uncanny memories for what they see and experience. Most smart struggling students learn differently than their siblings and friends who excel in school. If this profile fits your child, you want to consider a right-brained learning program that plays to their strengths.
Warning – phonics-based reading programs are now calling themselves multisensory programs. While many of them are, they do not tend to be hands-on programs that include movement and teaching the way your child learns.
Over 70% of the students we see skip words and lines when reading, and many of their parents are not aware this is occurring. Vision training can help, but it is only part of the solution.
Close to 70% of the students we see also have attention problems, although only a fraction of these students have ADHD. There are now natural and effective ways to address this challenge.
Over 50% of our students have difficulty doing jumping jacks. This amazes most of their parents. This indicates a problem being able to integrate mind and body, which affects coordination and balance.
All our programs work on improving mind and body integration, which helps with reading, test taking and basic coordination.
Looking back at our success stories, we have observed some common issues.
1- Most of our students have significant visual tracking issues. We are now able to integrate the 3D Learner Program ® and the Gemstone Vision Program ® to accommodate these students.
2 - Some parents want to be able to have more personalized coaching to maximize results.
3 - Times are tough. Some parents want more affordable options, where they can do things at home or have their child work in a small group during the summer.
Below are three sets of options for the summer of 2010:
3D Learner Platinum Program ™
Our team has designed a robust program in conjunction with Gemstone Vision Foundation. For twelve students who qualify and whose parents are committed to follow the program, we are offering:
1- Our intensive 3D Learner Program ®
2- The Gemstone Vision Software ®
3- A 4-month coaching system, where we will provide support on a weekly basis to help your child to make dramatic gains.
4- An Introductory Price for the first 12 students, when parents and students make certain commitments.
New 3D Learner Guarantee
For students in 4th
grade or above, with an average or above average IQ and no major challenges, we will guarantee a 2 grade level improvement in reading comprehension, if parents and students do the 3D Learner Platinum Program ® and the assigned tasks, or we will extend the Reading and Vision Software and the Coaching for an additional 4 months at no additional cost.
Click here for details on the 3D Learner Platinum Program ™
Core 3D Learner Program ®
We will continue to offer the core 3D Learner Program ® - where we help students:
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Locally for 3 days of intensive work and the balance at mutually agreeable times.
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For 5-days intensively, and then provide training and support over the next few months.
For more details go to 3D Learner Local Program ™ or 3D Learner Intensive Program ™
Summer Camps – and Summer Program ®
For those living close, or in Boca Raton, Fl., we are offering summer camp programs, including a week-long intensive writing workshop for rising 4th graders.
For those who would like to pursue at home options, we are offering:
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Our Smart Start for students entering 1st or 2nd grades
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For students entering grade 3 or higher we are offering our Home Learning System plus:
o
The Taylor Reading Program ®
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The Gemstone Vision Program ®
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Both the Taylor Reading Program and The Gemstone Vision Program
Two Ways to Get Started
We will be offering two free Teleseminars designed to help parents understand, “Why Your Smart Child Struggles and How You Can Make The Difference”.
The two calls are scheduled for:
|
 Tuesday May 18th, 2010
12 Noon Eastern Standard Time, and
9:05 PM Eastern Standard Time
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To join the calls, just call (641) 715-3630 Access Code: 279115#
The best way to get started is to take our On-Line Assessment. For $57, you can get insights into whether your child learns differently, has a visual perception challenge and/or an attention issue. Included is a 30-minute consult.
As one grandmother said, “This assessment gave me more valuable information than the one I paid $2500 for”.
For those in the Boca Raton area, or those who participate in our intensive program, we offer a more intensive assessment that includes the Structure of Intellect Assessment ®, the Interactive Metronome ® and a Visagraph ® Click here for the benefits of the 3D Learner Intensive Assessment ™
Call 561-361-7495 to schedule an assessment or if you have any questions.