All Articles tagged high-school.

What is Social Thinking?

November 13, 2012 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Have you ever told a friend you loved their shirt, even though you thought it was ugly? Maybe you even said you liked a gift they got you and then returned it a week later…

Well, you’re not the only one. In fact, what you are unknowingly doing is practicing the “social fake” and acting as a good “social thinker”. Unfortunately, many of our students or children with high-functioning autism disorder, Asperger’s, ADHD, and other nonverbal learning disabilities continually struggle with these seemingly understood social concepts. Luckily, Michelle Garcia Winner, a Speech-Language Pathologist from California, developed a treatment approach based on her “Social Thinking” method, which is gaining worldwide popularity and interest at an unbelievable rate.

Ms. Winner’s work has changed the way special educators teach and explain abstract social concepts and “hidden rules” in our society. She has written numerous educational texts that define and explain core vocabulary as well as teach strategies to professionals and parents. Other books, such as You are a Social Detective, are written specifically for children aged 7-12 in a fun, comic book layout and have even been adapted into a CD-ROM interactive game by Social Skill Builder. Her new curriculum is centered around a super hero named Superflex, who battles the Team of Unthinkables, which are representative of a different social behavior and challenge. In one of her comic books, SuperFlex battles Glassman, who is responsible for making people have giant sized reactions to problems. Her books are helping to increase kids’ awareness of their own social learning challenges as well as provide them with strategies and thinking to manage their own behaviors.

In my experience as a Speech-Language Pathologist, I have seen first-hand Ms. Winner’s work significantly improve the quality of life for my students. They independently use core Social Thinking vocabulary, and they have increased their own awareness and abilities to regulate and modify their own behaviors across a variety of settings and contexts. More importantly, my students look forward to therapy and are having so much fun that they forget they are learning.

For more information on any of Michelle Garcia Winner’s work, please check out her website at www.socialthinking.com.

By Tara Feinberg, Speech and Language Therapist

Building a Strong Vocabulary

October 11, 2012 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

As parents, we need to put down all our electronic devices and look at our children and talk to and with them. With frequency and intent, these conversations are the foundations for strong intellectual development and academic progress. These conversations need to begin in infancy and continue throughout a child’s life. Quality time means that parents must be present and engaged when interacting with their children. Multi-tasking when spending time with children does not help them to develop a strong vocabulary or build their intellectual and social capacity.

Where Do We Start?

Today a lot of the information that we receive comes to us in sound bites. We recommend speaking in complete sentences even to our youngest children. Children who hear language in complete sentences learn to speak in complete sentences. This will have a positive impact on a child’s ability to learn to read and write. If you are speaking to your children in complete sentences, it is likely that you are using a greater abundance of complex words and thoughts. As we mentioned in our earlier blog post, a strong, rich and varied vocabulary provides a vehicle for children to continue to strengthen their intellectual capacity and academic progress. Simply stated: speak to your children using complete sentences and a rich and varied vocabulary.

And Then…

Capitalize on your daily routines – explain why and what you are doing. A trip to the grocery store can be an opportunity to describe, categorize, and compare all sorts of things. This might sound like: What color is this apple? Are there any other apples of the same color? Different color? How many fruits can you find that are bigger/smaller than the apples? No conversation that involves descriptive language is unimportant. Thinking aloud during your daily routines and engaging your child in this thought process is a natural way to develop and extend vocabulary. This works for all age groups and environments.

Thinking Aloud – You’re Not Really Talking to Yourself

It might feel a bit odd to verbalize your thought processes while doing something with your child. However, this provides a great opportunity for your child to gain an insight into your thoughts and actions while modeling a rich and perhaps unfamiliar vocabulary simultaneously. This is significant because as your child hears the words your actions demonstrate the meaning of the language being used. Thoughts, actions and words work collaboratively to help foster meaning and therefore a deeper comprehension. For instance, making pasta allows us to introduce words like colander, stock pot, boiling, slotted, scalding, drain, transfer, temperature, texture, firm, soft, season, spice – all words that help develop and deepen contextual understanding while allowing for generalization to other situations. While using words such as these, be sure to demonstrate or explain their meaning. It’s important to check in to see that your child understands the meaning of this rich vocabulary. Be sure to encourage your child to ask for clarification and provide opportunities for them to show what they understand and to use the words in complete sentences.

Reading Together, It’s More Than Just Fun

Everyone knows reading aloud to your child is important. Read alouds have a profound impact on vocabulary, conceptual, academic and intellectual development. Parents often wonder how to get the most out of reading aloud to their children. Be thoughtful about your selection of what you read aloud. Consider your child’s interests, but try to extend their range of knowledge by picking books they might not read on their own. Doing this generally introduces varied vocabulary and topics that encourage interesting and thoughtful discussions.

With that being said, make sure to pause during reading to check for understanding, clear up any misconceptions and allow your child to make and confirm predictions about what might happen next. This is also an opportune time for you and your child to identify words that they might not know or completely understand. You can use context clues, pictures, examples, non-examples, antonyms and/or synonyms to help your child develop understanding of the text. Shared reading is another strategy that helps readers make meaning from text. Read several sentences, pause, discuss what you’ve read and then have your child do the same thing. Shared ownership of the reading and discussion will help your child internalize vocabulary as well as understand the author’s message.

Helping our children to build and develop a strong vocabulary takes time and effort, but the payoff is huge over the long haul. The accumulation of words and meanings is an ongoing process. It doesn’t start and stop at specific points; it grows and changes as do our children. Learning to be smart never stops. Be present, directly engage with your children. They will benefit from your words.

By Laurie Gross and Amy Shapiro
My Learning Springboard, Inc.

The Importance of the Personal Profile

September 12, 2012 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Attention high school seniors! You have probably put a lot of thought into your college applications and essays, but do you understand the importance of a Personal Profile, or resume?

This document should clearly illustrate all your extracurricular activities, community service projects, and work experiences. It should also highlight your awards and honors. You may be wondering why one should bother with this, considering much of this information is required on the actual application? A personal profile includes much more detailed information about you as an individual and as learner and should be formatted like a professional resume. Creating a personal profile will show that you have gone that extra step in preparing your application for the college of your choice.

I also encourage my students to imbed a headshot at the top right hand corner, this will allow the admissions counselor to associate a face with your resume and application. I recommend taking copies with you to your college interviews and don’t forget to give one to each of the teachers who you have asked to write letters of recommendations, as it will give them more factual information they can include in their letters. Finally, make sure your high school guidance counselor has one as well! While this may seem like an extra step in the application process, keep in mind that in order to look professional, it’s smart to prepare like a professional!

By Ginny Feldman, College Counselor and Admissions

Effectively Praising Your Child: Part II

September 11, 2012 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Here we will continue the discussion that we began in “Effectively Praising Your Child: Part I.”

Avoid Praise Devaluation

Make sure that your praise, while coming often, does not lose its value. Praise loses its value when you praise actions that don’t merit praise.
Example: “Wow Tim, you kicked that rock in the street really well.”

Praise Small Progress

This principle seems to be in contradiction to the above mentioned one, but there is an important difference. Kicking rocks has no value. Finishing a chore ten minutes earlier than the previous day, while still taking 30 minutes too long, is valuable because it is one step closer to reaching the goal of getting the task done on time. Praising small steps leads to more small steps being taken. Slow steady progress is frustrating but is the way improvement occurs.

Drudge Up The Past

Holding on to past insults and injuries can be incredibly harmful to any relationship. However, holding onto and reminding your child of past successes is a very positive tool. Showing your children that you remember what they did confirms how valuable their successes are to you. A good time to bring up past successes is when your child is doing the wrong thing in a similar situation.
Example: “Rachel, I see that you’re not cleaning up your room like I asked you to. Do you remember last Wednesday when I asked you to clean up your room and you did it right away and did a really great job at it, too? That was wonderful.”

Label Your Child

The common wisdom of never labeling a child must be qualified: One should never label a child negatively. However, labeling your child positively can have drastically constructive effects. Our sense of self is heavily influenced by what others think about us. As parents we hold the most power in this respect for a good part of our child’s growth, (pre-pubescent/middle school years will see this power shift to their peer group). If we give our children specific positive labels they will form a self-image that includes those perceptions about themselves.
Example: “You did that chore without being reminded. You are responsible.”
Administering effective praise will help you develop a more meaningful relationship with your child. The more you focus on the positive, the more you will see your child in a positive light, and most importantly, the more they will see themselves in a positive light.

Please contact us for more information.

By Jeffrey Kranzler, LCSW specializing in teaching parenting skills and treating children and adolescents with ADHD, Anxiety, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Depression.

Experiences of a Professional Student: Standardized Tests

September 10, 2012 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

When fall rolls around, I always feel like I should be working on applications for college, whether I am actually going to be applying or not. In the past nine years, I have gone through the application process three times. This year, as a Ph.D. student, I realize that I am done with applications (at least for awhile). I cannot help but feel empathy, however, for high school and college students around the nation getting ready for the application process, as well as the expensive and challenging standardized tests that come with them.

I have a love-hate relationship with standardized tests. Since my junior year of high school, I have taken a slew of standardized tests. For entry as an undergraduate, I took the SAT twice. To prepare for my masters applications, I took the GRE (Graduate Record Examination—a more challenging version of the SAT for those looking for admittance into graduate schools) twice. To prepare for my doctoral applications, I took the GRE, again, as well as the GRE subject test in Literature. At this stage in my academic career, I hope to be finished with standardized tests. As a tutor for high school students, I want to share my experiences so that those who are just beginning their relationship with the ETS (Educational Testing Services—the company behind all of these tests) can learn from my successes and my failures. Below is my advice for students facing these exams.

Read: The more you read, the better your vocabulary and writing skills will be. If you have young children, encourage them to read. If you are a high school student, start getting in the habit of reading books, newspapers, magazines, cereal boxes (read everything you can!) beyond your classroom assignments. Building a strong foundation of reading skills is priceless.
Write: The more you write, the better you will become as a writer. You will also become a better reader (bringing me back to point #1). The more you write, t he less anxious you will feel about writing, which will also pay off on test day.
Practice, Practice, Practice: The first time I took the SATs, I memorized around 500 vocabulary words. Although this hard work may have helped me, I do remember seeing only about ten of those words appear on my test. Although I received a slightly-above-average score, I decided to retake the test to see if I could raise my score. Deciding to forgo the memorization, I spent the time between my tests completing practice problems and tests. My score increased about 250 points (this was ‘back in the day’ before the addition of the writing section). I had a very competitive score then, which helped me attain scholarships. Not only were practice problems less work than memorizing vocabulary, but I got much more reward for less preparation time. (I tried this same strategy for my third go at the GRE, and I moved from the 68^th to the 95^th vocabulary percentile.)
Stay Calm: Students have varying levels of test anxiety, and I know that for some, this advice may be easier said than done. If you follow my first three points, you will feel much more comfortable using the skills involved in taking these exams, so for low to moderate anxiety, preparation and practice should help. If you have high text anxiety, do not write it off as hopeless. Talk to a teacher, tutor, or your school guidance counselor for tips and exercises to help manage anxiety. Establish a test-day routine and practice it. Do whatever you have to do to keep anxiety as low as possible. And finally, remember that this test will not make or break your future. You will not end up unemployed forever because of your SAT scores. Take a deep breath, and keep in mind that it will all work out.

I realize that you have heard some of this advice again and again, but there is a reason for it. As someone who has become quite skilled in taking standardized tests, I can attest to the success of these methods. I do realize, however, that all students learn and test differently. This is another reason why practice is so important. The more you practice, the more you realize what works for you and what does not. Maybe none of my advice will work for you, but without practice, you will find out all too late.

By Elise Auvil, Private Tutor