All Articles tagged Testing

Finding the Missing Piece for Struggling Readers

October 9, 2013 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

What is Reading?

For fluent readers, it seems almost instinctual. Words are instantly recognized; stories come to life easily. But for those just learning how to read, it is a complex process that is anything but automatic.

The process of reading involves many visual and mental processes. In order to read and understand, students need a variety of different skills. These skills begin at the most basic level of associating letter symbols with sounds. Next, readers must recognize or decode whole words and understand the meaning of the words within a sentence. Readers must then string words together to understand a complete sentence within the larger context of a paragraph.

All of these processes occur at the same time and understanding can break down at any point in the process.

How can reading problems be addressed?

Students who struggle with reading often complain that they dislike it. Young readers often mask their difficulty with it by saying things like, “Reading is boring!” “This book is too easy!” “This is a baby book!”

The latest research about struggling readers, such as dyslexic students, states that these types of students need systematic, explicit instruction in order to build their sound and symbol recognition. Orton-Gillingham based approaches such as PAF are created to to help these students build vital, basic reading skills. Many explicit literacy programs such as these use simply illustrated or unillustrated texts so that students can fully attend to the print on the page, instead of relying on pictures for help. Programs like these can turn a student’s entire school experience around by helping them to build skills and confidence to tackle these decodable texts.

While explicit instruction helps students build confidence and skills, these students need powerful literacy experiences (such as read alouds) to supplement their instruction in order to build basic motivation to learn to read. Students need to learn that reading is a pleasurable and rewarding experience, and decodable texts are sometimes not enough to teach students this valuable lesson. These students also need to be exposed to literature that is more complex, advanced and in line with their personal interests in addition to working on decodable texts. Read alouds (at any age) help build fluency, comprehension the motivation to keep progressing. Book discussions about these read alouds help students think critically and develop an interest in reading.

Many factors can contribute to reading problems including a lack of background knowledge, phonics issues, trouble with comprehension, vision problems, processing delays, lack of vocabulary, or limited sight word vocabulary, among others. The more parents and educators understand the complexity of reading, the more adept we are at targeting our support to teach children to read.

Contact us to learn more and work with Orton-Gillingham trained Reading Specialists at My Learning Springboard to set up a plan to help your struggling reader.

By Joanna Brown, Reading Specialist

The Five Keys to Unlocking a Successful School Year

September 24, 2013 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Executive functioning skills are essential to succeed in life. Certain executive functioning skills, such as time management and organization, help individuals in their jobs, daily chores, and day to day responsibilities. Students with a variety of learning challenges, such as ADHD, learning disabilities, or autism spectrum disorders, may have deficits in such executive functioning skills, which can, in turn, adversely affect the school experience. Although these deficits may seem insurmountable at times, there are ways to tackle them to achieve success.

As a new school year is beginning, high school faculty and staff, parents, and students themselves, are searching for systems to put in place to develop such executive functioning skills and to maximize the classroom learning experience. To help, here are New Frontiers in Learning’s Five Keys to a Successful School Year:

Start Off (and Stay) Organized:

Having a system for keeping track of all notes, papers, grades, homework, assignment descriptions, etc. is an important start to any school year. Some students find it helpful to have separate notebooks and folders for each class. In this case, all books and folders can be color coded and labeled for easy identification. Another method of organization is to use a single binder with separate sections for each class. Each section should be labeled and should contain loose-leaf paper for note taking. All papers and handouts for the class should also be added to the section on a daily basis. Whichever method is chosen, be sure to figure out which one works specifically for the student early on and encourage them to follow it consistently throughout the year. Organizing all papers and notes daily allows students to be able to find class materials more easily.

Budget and Schedule Time:

We all face difficulties managing our time; therefore, students should set themselves up for success by using and maintaining a daily schedule. This schedule should include all class names, locations, and times, plus any other outside responsibilities that the student may have, such as work hours, sports practice, family obligations, etc. By maintaining a weekly schedule, the student can keep track of not only unchanged repeated responsibilities (i.e., class), but also any one-time obligations for each week (i.e., concert, special afterschool group study session, etc.). Further, following a daily and weekly schedule makes it much easier to see where the student can build in study and homework times, as well as study breaks. Once a schedule is made, students should be encouraged to stick to it! Having a planner that has both weekly and monthly sections allows the student to clearly see and review short and long term expectations.

Ask for Help

Many times, students with executive functioning deficits have a difficult time recognizing when they need help, as well as identifying who and/or where to turn to receive help. Students need to review the help-seeking process in the beginning of each school year: If something is confusing, if they don’t know how to start or structure a project or assignment, or if they have any other questions about class requirements, students should be reminded to ask for help! Students need to understand that asking for help will not make them look bad; rather, it will actually show their parents, teachers, and other professionals that they care about the class and want to be successful. Students should review the protocol in asking clarifying questions; some teachers use the beginning or end of the school day, while others encourage students to email them. Once students know what their individual teachers prefer, they should be encouraged to follow such systems as a resource to clear up any questions that may arise!

Write it All Down

Have you ever told yourself that you didn’t need to write something down because you would remember it, only to struggle to remember what that very thing was just minutes later? You’re not alone – it happens to everyone, especially students taking multiple classes with various responsibilities. To prevent students from forgetting key information in class, they should be encouraged to write everything down – even the things that they think they will remember later. Writing everything down can be difficult sometimes, thus an alternative for students could be to audio record their classes or to use some form of assistive technology, such as a Smart Pen.

Setting Reminders

Having a system in place to help remind students of important dates is essential. Sometimes teachers announce due dates infrequently during a course, or due dates for assignments and exams may be outlined far in advance and then not discussed again. In such cases, it may be the day of an exam or an assignment being due, and the student begins to panic because they are not prepared! To alleviate this, students need to learn to set reminders in their daily planner or on smart phones –students can set a timer to go off several times as the assignment or exam due date approaches. Utilizing reminders can also help students remember when to start studying or when to begin an assignment, preventing the anxiety associated with cramming or unpreparedness.

By Samantha Feinman, Program Director, and Casey Schmalacker, Coach, from New Frontiers in Learning

When Kids Refuse to Go to School

September 2, 2013 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

How to recognize what’s called ‘school refusal’ and how to get kids back in class.

By Rachel Busman, PsyD,
Original Source: Child Mind Institute
Originally posted September 26, 2014

The term “school refusal” used to be more or less synonymous with truancy, invoking a picture of kids hanging out on the street corner, or holed up in their bedrooms playing video games.

While it is true that some game-playing might well be involved, it’s important to understand that school refusal is not the same as playing hooky. It isn’t driven by the allure of having fun outside of school, but rather by an aversion to school itself.

Everyone resists going to school once in a while, but school refusal is an extreme pattern of avoiding school that causes real problems for a child. It is distinguished from normal avoidance by how long a child has been avoiding school, how much distress she associates with attending school, how strongly she resists it, and how much her resistance is interfering with her (and her family’s) life. Including all these aspects is important, because a child can still have school refusal even if she attends school most days. I’ve worked with kids who have missed only a day or two of school, but they’ve been tardy 30 times because their anxiety is so extreme it keeps them from getting to school on time. Kids with school refusal might also have a habit of leaving early, spending a lot of time visiting the nurse, or texting parents throughout the day.

Often kids with school refusal will start reporting unexplained symptoms like headaches or stomachaches. Anxiety does manifest in physical ways, so their symptoms could be indicative of that. As a parent, the first thing you want to do in this situation is get your child checked out by a pediatrician; you don’t want to overlook a medical problem. But it may be that going to school is her problem.

Sometimes resistance to attending school is just a little blip on the radar, and it can be easily remedied. Maybe your child had the flu and was out for a good amount of time, and now she is having a hard time making the transition back to school. Suddenly she’s getting clingy and anxious about all the homework she missed. In this scenario, it is important not to prolong time at home. Instead, you want to have a conversation with the teacher and with your daughter. You want to be able to tell her, “We’ve talked to your teacher, and he knows you were sick. I know you’re worried, but he understands. It’s time to get back to school.” Then she returns to school and often things go relatively smoothly.

These are mild situations. Similarly, some kids experience blips of anxiety after vacations. The key point is to get children back in school as soon as possible.

When school refusal starts to become a bigger problem—it’s going on for numerous days, weeks or even months—you should reach out and ask for help. This includes kids who go to school but only attend partial days because they are spending a lot of time in the nurse’s office and getting sent home early from school.

For more serious cases of school refusal, the first step in treatment is getting a comprehensive diagnostic assessment. While school refusal is not a diagnosable disorder, it often accompanies disorders like separation anxiety or social anxiety. A complete assessment helps treatment professionals understand what is underlying school refusal, allowing them to tailor therapy to your child’s particular situation.

It’s also possible that something specific is happening at school, like bullying or a difficult class. This doesn’t mean you should immediately jump in and ask your child who doesn’t want to go to school, “Who’s bullying you?” But it is important to know what is going on in your child’s life. You should expect to hear what her teacher is like and how homework is going. You should also have a sense of the kids your child is hanging out with. These are all things that should come up in everyday conversation. And if your child mentions that something happened that day, perk your ears and put down whatever you were doing and listen in a nonjudgmental way, because it could be important.

Treatment providers working with kids who have school refusal will often use cognitive behavioral therapy, which helps kids learn to manage their anxious thoughts and face their fears. While kids who are anxious might disagree, the best way to get over anxiety is actually to get more comfortable with feeling anxious. Kids need the chance to see that they can attend school and their worst fears won’t happen. Exposure therapy, which reintroduces kids to the school environment gradually, is very effective at this. In the very beginning of treatment, this might mean driving by the school or walking through its empty halls on the weekend. From there kids can work up to attending one or two classes and then eventually attending a full day towards the end of treatment.

It’s best to be proactive and catch school refusal as soon as you can. Unfortunately, the longer a child misses school, the harder it is to get back in the routine, because being absent is very reinforcing. I have worked with families that describe getting ready for school like it’s a battle complete with huge tantrums. Sometimes the morning gets so challenging and exhausting that mom and dad just give up and say, “Fine, stay home; I’ll go pick up your homework.” It’s a very understandable situation, but again, letting it continue puts kids one day further from being back at school. It is important for parents to know that the sooner the child gets back to school the better, and reaching out for help is an important first step.

Jack’s Asperger’s Talk

April 8, 2013 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Jack is our hero. Jack is a middle school student with Asperger’s Syndrome. He has always known he was different from many of the students in his class but he never disclosed his diagnosis with any of them. He stood in front of his class last year and explained to them that he has Asperger’s Syndrome. He was honest about his challenges and difficulties and took great pride in all he has accomplished. I nod my cap to such a courageous young adult. We should all learn from Jack and take a moment to appreciate the strengths and challenges we all have.

A Transcript of Jack’s Presentation:

Hi. I’m Jack Lebersfeld. I have been in school with most of you since the 2nd grade. I am, for the most part just like you, but in some ways I am different. I have Asperger’s syndrome, also known as autism spectrum disorder or AS for short. AS is not a disease. You can’t catch it. It is not something that can be cured. It is a condition that I have and will always have. It means my brain is a little different than yours. I see the world in a slightly different way than you do. This difference has given me some great strengths, but also some big challenges. There are many characteristics of AS and I am going to share with you some of mine. I am doing this today so that I may become more understandable to you and maybe you can be more understandable to me.

The most common difficulties for people with AS is with social situations. Like having conversations or having a play date. I do not always act appropriately, because I am often unsure of the right way to behave. I want to learn to be more social. It is very hard for me to have conversations about things I am not interested in. It’s not that I don’t care about you, but I am much more comfortable talking about things that are meaningful to me. Please alert me if I am not being appropriate. Also, it is sometimes uncomfortable for me to look someone in the eye. It doesn’t mean I am not paying attention to you if I’m not looking straight at you.

I am very literal and many times it is hard for me to understand things that may have more than one meaning, like saying “He died laughing.” I may think you really meant someone died! It would be helpful to me if you could explain what you mean in another way if I seem not to understand you. Please do not tell me to do things that I shouldn’t because I cannot always tell whether it is the right thing to do. I assume you are being honest and helpful. If you tell me to lay on the floor, I may do it because I think you are telling me something important that I don’t know and I listen to you.

I am also very impulsive. That means I may move around a lot and can blurt things out. I often do not have enough control to filter the things I say, or I can be very direct. I would never intend to hurt anyone’s feelings. If I say something that seems hurtful please explain that to me. If I say something like “I didn’t imagine your house to be small,” all I mean is that in my head I pictured your house to be bigger. I don’t really care the size of anyone’s house.

Sometimes I react to a situation more strongly than you may. Sometimes I get more upset than I should. I know I should be able to control myself more, but sometimes I just can’t.

I’m also forgetful. My mind moves very quickly and sometimes I can’t keep up with it. Sometimes I get lost in my own world and a friendly touch on the shoulder can bring me back.

I am very disorganized. Things like keeping my papers orderly or remembering to hand in homework come easily to most of you. For me it is hard. If you notice I have forgotten something, please tell me.

My brain is not wired like yours so I don’t process information like you do. Because of that, I know that sometimes I may seem different than you. Please know that I still have feelings. I am telling you this because I want to be accepted and included but can sometimes use some help. I am hoping you will not tease me or make fun of me for being different but rather help me to learn to be more social. I want very much to have friends, but don’t always know how to go about that. I have to work very hard to try to fit in.

I don’t want you to feel sorry for me. I am not sad that I have Asperger’s. We are all different from one another. I do have some challenges, but I have some great strengths too. I have a really good memory and I’m very creative.

They say Bill Gates has it and Albert Einstein had it, and Marshall Mathers also known as Eminem may have it, so I am in good company. Hopefully one day I can do something that will also change the world.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to me. I hope we can be friends.

If you have a child with learning differences and are looking for services for them, please contact the My Learning Springboard team and we can help you create a customized learning solutions that can accomodate their needs.

Written by: Editorial Team, My Learning Springboard, Inc.

A Road Map for Successful Parent: Teacher Conferences

February 21, 2013 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Conferences provide one of the best opportunities during the school year for parents and teachers to share important information. At times perspectives will differ but the goal of the conference will be the same: for the child to make academic progress, to feel valued and to be successful. Research has shown that when parents and teachers work together everyone benefits. The suggestions below will ensure that both parents and teachers arrive at the destination – your child’s successful academic achievement – with a clear and shared understanding of the journey ahead.

Getting Prepared

Be Proactive – If possible meet and get to know the teacher before the conference. This is important because if concerns and problems arise, you have already established a positive and trusting relationship with your child’s teacher
Assemble and Review Relevant Materials – gather appropriate materials to help prepare for the conference this may include current and past report cards, test scores, and student work samples. If there are any relevant medical concerns or information, be prepared to share that information as well. If you have not done so already, you will want to consider starting a file or notebook so this material is always in one place, in chronological order.
Avoid Surprises – Conferences aren’t the place for them. As a parent, you want to be continually up-to-date, knowledgeable and involved in your child’s academic and/or social emotional progress. If you’re initiating the conference, share the purpose of the conference with the teacher when you schedule the meeting. Don’t wait until you sit down at the table to share your concerns. Teachers don’t like surprises either.
Take Notes – It’s important to document conversations and recommendations, particularly if a student is struggling and concerns and strategies are being discussed. Depending on the situation, you will want to send a follow-up summary of notes to be sure everyone has the same understanding and to facilitate follow through.

Conferencing

At the start, restate the purpose for the conference and ask the teacher to provide an update on your child’s progress.
During the update, listen for specific data regarding your child’s progress in relation to grade level standards and benchmarks in academic subject areas.
Seek clarification or further explanation on anything you are unsure about. This is important because educational terminology is not familiar to everyone.
Ask the teacher to share work samples if they have not been provided. They will help to deepen your understanding about the information being shared.
Offer to be involved with your child’s learning outside of school. Ask for specific suggestions, materials, and/or strategies to enrich, extend or reinforce the concepts and skills learned during the school day.
If there are learning challenges or your child is struggling in a specific area, work closely with the classroom teacher to develop an intervention plan that includes a home component. The plan must identify specific and measurable goals to be accomplished within a set period of time. Remember to check in with the teacher regularly regarding the status of the intervention plan and your child’s progress.

In the End

By the end of the conference you should know:

Your child’s strengths
Goals and steps to facilitate improvement
How and when follow-up will occur
What you will be doing with your child outside of school to support these goals

Whether the conference is initiated by the parent or by the teacher, mutual respect and a positive tone are essential in ensuring a successful meeting and ongoing relationship. It is limiting to think that parent-teacher conferences must occur within the brick and mortar walls of the school building. Be creative. Technology provides a wide range of options such as phone, Skype, Face Time and Google Chat. The use of technology allows all stakeholders to be actively involved in their child’s education. The use of these tips provides a road map to alleviate a bumpy ride during parent-teacher conferences. The journey is worth it.

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