Archive for the ‘learning differences’ Category

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Listen, what can be done about client failures?

We in the helping professions love to report our client successes.

It inspires the successful clients, the hopeful clients, our fellow helping professionals, and ourselves.

But what of client failures? No one wants to to report these. No one wants to hear about these.

Can failure be helpful?

I am remembering a young fellow (let’s call him Casey, not his real name) who came to me with a “hearing problem.” His anxious Mom brought him in because he was failing in school (Grade 3).

Casey’s hearing was perfect, so it turns out his problem wasn’t hearing, it was listening. Listening comprehension to be exact. Auditory comprehension to be more exact. This is treatable.

Casey self-described himself:

“I’m a poor listener.”

Casey felt it was a “fixed state” problem that he frustratingly had to live with, and created severe over-dependency upon his mother.

Passive listening therapy

It turns out that there are a number of protocols out there to help students who have trouble making sense out of what others are saying, even though they may have perfect hearing.

These listening protocols are relatively unknown, especially the easy passive listening therapies.

One of the possibilities is relatively inexpensive software designed for home use, such as Patricia and Rafaele Joudry’s Sound Therapy International products coming out of the original work of Dr. Alfred Tomatis. Link: http://www.soundtherapyinternational.com/v3/our-method.html

Treatment is a “piece of cake.” Put on a high quality set of earphones and listen without paying attention to the healing sounds, often embedded in music for more pleasant listening. The child or adult wearing the headphones can turn them to low volume and go about doing other things if they wish.

One university classroom in Montreal, Quebec, CANADA, had all of the students wearing the headphones during regular classes. Their mastery of subject matter and their marks went up significantly.

Another passive listening possibility

Another passive therapy choice is Advanced Brain Technologies “The Listening Program” for children and adults. One of the things they do is address issues with auditory processing, a very important brain/ear function. Their home-based programs are a tremendous help to students struggling with “hearing” issues.

Link to video: http://a.advancedbrain.com/tlp/the_listening_program.jsp

But Casey “disappeared”

I would have recommended a home-based passive listening program for Casey and it would have helped greatly. And restless Casey would not only have tolerated treatment well, he would have settled down in addition to being able to function properly in his school classroom.

But Casey never showed up again. Emails and phone messages left for his mother went unanswered.

This meant that Casey, without some form of good listening intervention, is sure to suffer endlessly in school and onward into his adult life.

Since effective passive listening programs are relatively unknown, the chances of Casey getting the help he so desperately needs are slim.

It broke my heart.

Where are you, Casey?

Doc Meek, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA, May 17, 2014

Teddy Bear image from: 123rf.com

STOPPING BAD BEHAVIOR

(HEALING ANGER KINESTHETICALLY)

I suppose the best place to start is how to stop our own bad behavior. For example, if we are trying to stop someone’s outbursts of anger, it seems ludicrous to use our own anger in an attempt to do this. On the other hand, is there a place for anger?

 It’s “controversial”

And just what does controversial mean? At the most basic level, it means that opinions vary, sometimes very strongly.

So whose opinion gets to prevail? The biggest verbal bully? The most threatening to our health and welfare? What if our job is threatened?

 A school example 

(This will work at home as well, probably much better and much wiser, but only if an “outsider” does it, not the parent; the parent will probably not be able to withhold anger; some cultures have the “uncle” administer all “discipline” so as to preserve the parent’s gentler role and good relationship)

“Toughest” case I ever handled

I was called in one time to an inner-city elementary school because a Grade 6 boy was bullying other students on the playground at recess, at noon hour, and before and after school.

The principal and the teachers said he was unstoppable. They had tried “everything” and other students were suffering.

 No “hands on” allowed

 The teachers and all school staff were forbidden by school board policy to touch any student. Perhaps that is OK, I don’t know. All I know is that sometimes human touch is necessary to resolve violent human-touch issues.

I told the principal I would take the case if he would allow me to handle it my own way, without interference from him or any of the teachers or other staff.

Since the principal was totally defeated over this issue, he agreed.

Reluctantly. Of course. The man had wisdom and judgment.

 Calm “stealth” approach

I approached this boy (let’s call him Brandon) at recess. He was leaning up against the outside brick wall of the school, with his back to the wall. He was facing the schoolyard at the side of the school.

I put my back against the wall beside him, and said sideways:

“Hi Brandon, I’m Doc Meek.”

No response.

I continued:

“Brandon, I hear you are pushing other students around.”

No response.

He was only in Grade 6 but he was big enough to beat me up.

No response.

 Slow and gentle “wrap up”

“Brandon, are you able to just stop it?”

Came the slow answer:

“I don’t think so.”

“Here, let me show you something,” I said, sliding softly in behind him and the brick wall.

 The big teddy bear hug 

I reached gently around him with my two hands and held his left wrist with my right hand and his right wrist with my left hand. No anger in me.

Putting my knees slowly into the back of his knees, we slid softly to the ground. Now we are both sitting, Brandon with his legs extended and me with my legs extended around him. I put my legs over his legs in front of him. No anger in me.

“OK Brandon, we are just going to sit here until you just stop it, OK?” No anger in me.  

At this point Brandon decided he had had enough of this nonsense and decided to get up—tried very hard to get up in fact.

I held firm.

No anger in me. This was not my own child. I could be objective.

Since I had both of his wrists in my hands and both of his legs with my legs looped over his, he was completely “wrapped up,” thoroughly restricted in his efforts.

 No anger in me

The best he could do was try to bang his head backwards against my face, but I dodged by arching my head backwards just out of reach.

No anger in me.

Now Brandon attempted to get really violent. To no avail.

 Embedded “commands”

I whispered in this ear (no anger in me):

“The toughest cases always turn out to be the best guys.”

And I whispered other “comforting” phrases which did not reduce his violence one bit.

But his brain was registering. And his back was registering my slow and measured breathing and the slow expansion and contraction of my rib cage. No anger in me.

 The body registers kinesthetically

This will not work if anger is used.

I held him firm and whispered in his ear:

“I’ll let you go as soon as you decide to just stop it.”

And later: “Have you decided you can just stop it?”

His body was registering all along my quiet and measured breathing.

 Brandon has “enough”

 Finally Brandon decided he had enough and said:

“OK, I’ll just stop it.”

I instantly released him.

And he instantly began angrily swearing at me.

I instantly “wrapped him up” again and we sat quietly again with my back against the brick wall of the school.

I had to be really quick since he was not happy about me holding him.

No anger in me.

 More time… more embedded “commands”

I kept whispering good stuff in his ear, from time to time.

Brandon tried the “OK, I’ll just stop it” several more times and I had to “wrap him up” again several more times.

We sat there in silence (Brandon had quit resisting my gentle but firm hold on him) until school let out for the day.

 More time… silence

All the other students departed for home. No one bothered us sitting there at the side of the school.  The principal went home, without even seeing us “perched” at the side of the school.

We “sat on” in silence. I was getting tired. And so was Brandon.

The janitor came out of the school and came around to the side where we were “perched.” He observed from a distance and went back inside.

We “sat on” until sundown.  Measured breathing.

 Brandon actually achieves “enough”

Finally Brandon announced (with real conviction):

“OK, I’ll just stop it.”

And he did.

Doc Meek, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA, May 16, 2015

P.S. Another time, I was called into a Sunday School class to help with an “impossible” child. I “wrapped him up” in a gentle bear hug.

The parents and teachers were more trouble than the child.

We (child and I) only had to sit on the floor for an hour on this one.

Easier than than “all-day” Brandon.

 Can Fish Oil Help My Struggling Child?

Parents often ask if fish oil can help their child struggling with learning difficulties. I like to tell them the “bigger story” from my colleague, a doctor of environmental medicine. Let’s call him Dr. Child.

Dr. Child says, “In general, any good nutrients that help the body can potentially help the brain as well.”

“Fish oil can be a good body and brain helper. Here is why.”

“The important component for the brain is the DHA in the fish oil.”

It’s the DHA we are looking for

DHA? Docosahexaenoic acid: an omega-3 fatty acid present in fish oils.

DHA can also be found in krill oil and is available from certain algae as well.

Dr. Child says that DHA (not necessarily the EPA) us the key to brain health.

EPA? Eicosapentaenoic acid: an omega-3 fatty acid present in fish oils; also good for you but it is not the quintessential component for brain health that DHA is.

Dr. Daniel Amen (his actual name) in his book “Healing ADD” says that you need a fairly high dose if DHA to be effective. To heal ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) requires at least 2,000 mg of DHA, plus other considerations.

It’s not enough to put the good stuff in;

we need to get the bad stuff out

Dr. Child reminds us that some fish and some fish oils are contaminated with mercury,  and so we need to be alert to make sure the product we are choosing for our child is clean.

Dr. Child also reminds us that in addition to putting in good brain micronutrients, we need to test to see if existing levels of brain toxins (like mercury and lead) are present in the brain already, since “the bad stuff  interferes with learning no matter how much good stuff you put in.”

Glutathione can help the brain heal

A gentle place to start in removal of heavy metals from the brain, says Dr. Child, is to use glutathione, since it is a substance the body is already using to help clean unwanted debris from human cells, and it is effective in cleaning out brain cells.

The glutathioine supplement must be the liquid liposomal form of glutathione however as regular glutathione is mostly destroyed in the digestive process.

Liposomal means that the glutathione is packaged in a lipid (fatty) molecule so that the glutathione has access to the cell at the cellular level.

Stronger measures may be needed

if mercury or lead levels are high

in the child’s brain

Extra measures should be supervised medically.

Environmental medicine have had good success removing mercury and lead using oral detoxifiers such as DMSA and EDTA, respectively, which chelate (bind to metals) and help to remove them from the body and brain. 

DMSA? Dimercaptosuccinic acid: used to remove mercury and other heavy metals.

EDTA? Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid: used to remove lead and other heavy metals.

Dr. Child advises that IV (intravenous) chelation should be used only as a last resort. It is usually better to remove the heavy metals and other brain toxins slowly and gradually over time, using gentler oral detoxifiers.

Doc Meek, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA, May 13, 2014

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“Smog” we know, but

“electrosmog?”

Our modern culture has come to know that we have to watch for biohazards in our food and drink. We have also learned that if airborne contaminants become too concentrated we can suffer from health-hazardous smog when we breathe.

Apparently the word “smog” was invented to denote a bad combination of smoke and fog.

The word “electrosmog” is a non-sequitur because it cannot possibly denote a bad combination of electromagnetic radiation (EMR), smoke, and fog.

However, “electrosmog” does connote a bad combination of EMR (electromagnetic radiation) and the human brain.

The “smog” part of the word “electrosmog” conjures up in our minds a serious biohazard.

And EMR (electromagnetic radiation) is definitely a biohazard.

EMR is especially hazardous to the human brain, especially the student brain, the learning brain.

However, no one wants to talk about it, it seems.

The wife of a friend of mine says that it is OK to talk about biochemical hazards and toxic chemicals because we are all familiar with the territory, but talking about the effects of electricity being hazardous (aside from being shocked of course) is “weird.”

“Leave it alone,” she advises.

Enter Environmental Medicine

A colleague of mine, an MD with a Board-Certified specialty in Environmental Medicine, related a tough case he faced recently.

A teenage boy (let’s call him Harold) was brought in by his parents because he had changed from being a successful outgoing high school student into a paranoid psychotic psychiatric case in the course of only a few months.

Harold had been placed on several prescribed drugs in an attempt to control his symptoms, and was now not only “zombied out” on this drug cocktail, but was still paranoid, psychotic, socially isolated, and hostile when approached in his bedroom “hideout.”

Harold was no longer able to attend school, and his psychiatrist pronounced a dismal prognosis: Harold was likely a permanent psychiatric case and would have to be on drugs for the rest of his life.

Alarmed, the parents felt that “something” had caused Harold’s decline and they were determined to ferret out the cause.

The environmental medicine specialist tested for “everything under the sun” and could find no cause in relation to possible toxins in Harold’s food, water, or air. Neither could the doctor find any nutrient or micronutrient deficiencies in Harold’s body or brain.

Aside from the prescribed drugs, Harold was found to be free of toxins and deficiencies. All the biological and biochemical tests came back in the normal range.

What about EMR (electromagnetic radiation)?

The doctor knew from previous experience that electronic equipment of all kinds can be a cause of brain malfunction, so all of the computers, cell phones, cordless phones, video games, etc., were cleared out of Harold’s bedroom and placed in a separate study room, far removed from the bedroom.

And Harold’s time with all of this electronic equipment was limited so his brain would have a chance to heal.

No improvement.

Mystified, the good doctor took his EMR-detection equipment to the boy’s home and scanned the bedroom. Nothing. All of the electronics had been removed, so theoretically, no EMR. Right?

Suddenly, at the head of the bed, right where Harold’s head would rest on his pillow at night, or whenever he napped throughout the day, the EMR metre shot sky high.

But there was nothing there. No electronics. No electrical equipment of any kind. Not even a clock radio.

It took quite awhile to figure out that just outside the bedroom wall where Harold’s head rested fitfully every night was the heavy-duty main mast and conduit for all of the electricity that entered the house from the power pole nearby in the alley.

EMR to the max.

No one had suspected of course.

Harold’s Brain is Moved Away from the EMR Danger

Harold’s bed was placed in the spare bedroom, far removed from the main electric power mast against the outside of the house, and far removed from all of the electronics in the study room.

Would it surprise you to learn that Harold quickly began to return to the boy he once was?

Off his heavy-duty psychiatric drugs now, Harold once again became the successful and outgoing student he was before he began to sleep in the bed with his head next to the power mast on the outside of his bedroom wall.

Conclusion?

Sometimes professionals have to act more like Sherlock Holmes–the brilliant and famous detective—than to stay within their usual selves in their own areas of expertise.

“Weird?”

Doc Meek, Neurological Learning Specialist, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA, Wed, May 7, 2014

I’ve been asked to republish my June 16, 2010 article on WorkShop Way, one of the best ways to truly educate children. WorkShop Way is a sensitive and sensible combination of specificity, structure, and genuine caring for–and about–students (and teachers and parents!). – Doc Meek 😮

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos from WorkShop Way (TM).

http://www.workshopway.org

…………………………………..

We’ve been blogging about changing the world, or changing the world by changing ourselves.

Many have suggested that instead of the focus being on changing the world or changing ourselves, the focus should be on LOVE.

We are not talking about the popular culture version of love here. We’re certainly not talking about sensual love. We are talking “filios,” “brotherly love” or “sisterly love.”

We are talking about simply caring about others (say, children and students) in a genuine personal way, no matter what their academic performance is, no matter what their behavior is.

This is not easy. We do have to learn to love and respect ourselves first, completely, with our combination of strengths and weaknesses, as we learn to love students completely with their combination of strengths and weaknesses.

If love and respect are performance-based, if love and respect are conditional, they don’t work very well. Not safe. Not secure. No ultimate trust. Students need the trust to move ahead confidently.

Respect and love are effective!

And they are do-able.

Teachers or parents, for example, are not just simply purveyors of subject matter or rules.

In the classroom this translates, according to Grace Pilon, into paying attention to specific and obvious TRUTHS that apply to all of us, and certainly to students. She liked to see teachers put up LEARNING TRUTHS posters in their classrooms.

The LEARNING TRUTHS

• We respect the rights of others.
• It is intelligent to ask for help.
• It takes courage to be willing to risk.
• We are free to make mistakes while learning.
• Everyone has a right to time to think.
• We don’t have to know everything today.

These learning truths posters are not just for decorating the wall with “nice sayings.” The teachers refer to one or more of them daily, in the course of the day’s lessons, so that the students will learn how to apply them effectively. ……………………………………………………………………………………….

This applies to children in the home environment as well.

This needs more discussion in a future posting.

Filios,

Doc Meek, Neurological Learning Specialist, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA, Wednesday, June 16, 2010

P.S. Recently Susan Bostik commented on the above post, and I replied to her post as follows:

Dear Susan,

I am very grateful that you have reminded us all of the value of a single child, of every single person in this classroom called earth.

Many a child struggling in school (or simply bored to tears, struggling in a different way, eh?), has been saved by Grace Pilon’s Workshop Way.

You can prove this for yourself by checking out any of these links:

Official Website: http://www.workshopway.org/

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu4RT_IOyeE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Workshop-Way/487160230516

Academic Journal:

http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el_199009_harmin.pdf

Doc Meek: https://docmeek.com/what-can-one-teacher-do/

Not only is the child saved (revived, survived) in school, they grow up to become better parents at home (or wherever they work elsewhere), and better members of their communities, their churches, and everywhere they are in this… our common classroom…

Mother Earth.

Susan, thank you for pointing us to the nature of true education:

It’s ripple-out effect, spreading its value in ever-widening circles—for all time and all eternity—and throughout the entire cosmos (known and unknown to mankind).

And to womankind of course. :o)

They (womankind) are what makes the world worth living in, and living for.

Yes!

Doc Meek, Neurological Learning Specialist

Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA, Tuesday, April 29, 2014

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“WHAT DO YOU DO

WHEN THE WHOLE CLASSROOM

OF STUDENTS

IS RESTLESS AND FIDGETING?” 

I was asked this question somewhat in desperation by a teacher of junior high school age students. About 20 students had signed up for an after-school study skills course.

The teacher had thought that these teenagers would be attentive since they had voluntarily joined this group to improve their marks in school.

Not so!

The students chattered with each other, and wandered about the room, more intent on looking at their electronic devices than attending to what the teacher had to say.

The teacher had grown exceedingly weary of appealing to the group and encouraging individual students to “settle down.”

“Global” problem

I advised the teacher that, generally speaking, almost all students in Canada and the US are deficient in the essential calming mineral magnesium because our society (unknowingly it appears) has removed the three major sources of calming magnesium that were historically available to all:

(1) WATER SUPPLIES:

When major municipal drinking water suppliers added fluoride for dental health purposes, apparently they were unaware that the additive binds up the naturally-occurring essential calming mineral magnesium so that it is no longer bio-available to those drinking that water.

(2) MILK SUPPLIES:

When major milk suppliers fortified milk with Vitamin D for health purposes, apparently they were unaware that the additive binds up the naturally-occurring essential calming magnesium so that it is no longer bio-available to those who are drinking the milk.

(3) FOOD SUPPLIES:

When major corporate food suppliers produced food on a mass scale, apparently they were unaware that this practice depleted soils of many essential trace minerals, including the essential calming mineral magnesium.

“Global” Solution

Global efforts by scientists to remove unhealthy man-made fluoride (an industrial waste product) from municipal drinking water supplies are underway. See, for example, FAN (Fluoride Action Network):

www.FluorideAlert.org

However, in the meantime, this doesn’t help the teacher, so I suggested the teacher try a “global” solution within her own classroom:

Encourage (require?) all students to carry a water bottle with them, containing pure non-fluoridated water with naturally-occurring calming magnesium, and have them sip the good water all day long.

This gives the students a triple benefit:

(1) The students are getting (again) the essential calming mineral magnesium in the water they are now sipping all day long.

(2) The students are hydrating their brains, and this is big, because most students (owing to consumption of sugar-water drinks, soda pop, etc.) are dehydrated and brains need hydration to work properly.

(3) This helps all of the students, not just those who have been “officially” diagnosed with attention disorders such as ADD or ADHD. Thus there is no stigma for any one individual student, a great advantage in any problem-solution effort.

Students may need a calcium-magnesium dietary supplement 

There are many magnesium-rich foods and if these can be located and consumed (minus the usual pesticides and mineral soil-depletion), this can be very helpful in reducing general anxiety, restlessness and fidgeting among students and adults alike.

And finding good mineral-rich foods is the best route to take.

However, because of the general deficiency of magnesium in water, milk and food supplies in Canadian and US society, students may be well-advised to take a good pure calcium-magnesium dietary supplement from a quality supplier. For example, see:

http://www.drclarkstore.com/cal-mag-calcium-magnesium-vitamin-c-capsules.html

Many doctors prescribe calcium for bone health (and other reasons) without being aware that calcium requires its companion magnesium to ensure proper bio-availability of both the calcium and the calming magnesium.

For a good article on why you should not take a calcium supplement alone, see:

http://www.drclarkstore.com/calcium-article.html

The ideal combination of calcium and calming magnesium (whether taken together in the same supplement, or taken separately) is 2 to 1. For example, if you are taking about 1200 to 1600 milligrams of pure calcium daily, then for proper use and bio-availability you need about half that amount in magnesium, about 600 to 800 milligrams of pure calming magnesium.

If the amount of magnesium you take daily produces loose stools, either eat more insoluble fibre or reduce the amount of  magnesium a bit.

Pure water and essential magnesium hydrate and calm the brain and the body

The students were initially reluctant to undertake the pure water sipping routine in the classroom (no sugar drinks, soda pop or coffee allowed), but when the teacher gladly led by example and some of the students followed her example and found their brains worked much better, soon all of the students were sipping and studying easier and remembering longer.

Great “global” solution for a “global” deficiency of essential calming magnesium and pure water hydration of the brain!

Doc Meek, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA, Thurs, Apr 3, 2014

P.S. Happy Sipping! (Pure water only!) 😮

Image from: 12rf.com

IMAGINING FRIENDS IN YOUR HEAD OVERCOMES LEARNING DIFFICULTIES 

I had the privilege of helping a “little guy” in Grade One. He was struggling and struggling. He felt he would never be able to learn. He was way behind in arithmetic and reading.

I asked Sam (not his real name) if there was anything he liked about school.

“Nope.”

“Nothing?”

Suddenly Sam brightened.

“I really like playing on the monkey bars at recess!” he said brightly.

“Are you good at it?” I encouraged.

“Oh yeah, I can climb better than the other kids.”

An imaginary climber in his head 

“Sam, why don’t we pretend you have a little climber in your head that helps you climb monkey bars?”

Sam loved it. A friend in his head.

“Is your little climber that lives in your head a good climber?” I inquired.

“Oh yeah,” said Sam.

Climber and Adder and Reader Makes Three

“Which is easier for you, Sam… arithmetic or reading?”

“Neither one.”

“I know… and if you had to pick one, which would be easier?”

Sam frowned… then brightened and blurted out: “I can do adding!”

“Good! Let’s pretend you have a little guy in your head that helps you with adding.”

Sam liked that. Two friends in his head. Both good helpers.

“Hey!” I blurted out, “let’s pretend you have a little guy in your head that helps you with reading!”

“He’s not very good,” said Sam sadly.

 A friend in need is a friend indeed 

“Yeah… but he’s good two good friends to help him out… Climber and Adder, right?”

“I never thought of that,” said Sam thoughtfully.

“Why don’t we have Climber and Adder make friends with Reader!” I exclaimed. “Climber and Adder are really good helpers and maybe they can help Reader become a really good helper too! What do you think?”

Sam caught the vision at once and brightened considerably: “Hey, let’s have them all be good friends and help each other!”

Guess what!?

Sam and his three friends (Climber, Adder and Reader) lived happily ever after.

Would it surprise you to learn that Reader became better and better and better and better?

 – Doc Meek, Learning Specialist, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA, Feb 20, 2014

Doc Meek, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada

Image from: 123rf.com

A LOW-COST READING BUDDY IS GOLDEN

Harold (not his real name) was brought into the learning clinic by his frustrated father, a single parent. “All I want to know,” said he, “is how it is possible for my boy to be in Grade 5 and still not reading properly?”

So began a somewhat tense discussion between the father and myself, a Neurological Learning Specialist at THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE.

Different Brains Learn Different Ways

“Different brains learn in different ways,” I said to the father. “Some brains learn in very unusual ways, and the school system cannot keep up with all the variations, so they tend to teach in a few standard ways and many of the pupils learn to read using those few regular ways, and the rest tend to suffer.”

“So can you help my boy learn to read properly?” asked the father anxiously. “Most likely,” I said.

Harold attended the learning clinic for several Saturdays in a row, about an hour each Saturday. I asked the father to bring in tests of hearing and eyesight for Harold and they were normal.

Specialized Reading Strategies

I taught Harold various visualization strategies (drawing a quick rough outline of an object, such as a dog for example, and writing DOG right on the dog, not under it as a caption).

Then I said to the father, “We need Harold to be working with someone every single day for 10-15 minutes with various active learning strategies. An hour on Saturday with me won’t do the job. For one thing it’s too expensive and Harold will not make the needed progress unless he practices learning strategies daily.”

A Low-cost Learning Coach

I asked the father to find an inexpensive daily learning coach. “The lady next door? A Grade 11 student who could work with Harold every noon hour at school?”

“The learning coach does not need to have any professional credentials,” I emphasized.

“The only requirement for the learning coach is that they like Harold. ”

“And that Harold likes them. That’s it. ”

“I’ll teach the learning coach what to do, what simple learning strategies to practice each day with Harold, and you can bring Harold and his learning coach in to see me occasionally on Saturdays so we can see how things are going, OK?”

The father kept bringing Harold in every Saturday and said, “I can’t find anybody handy to work with Harold.”

“You’re wasting your money if you don’t get a daily learning coach to help,” I said, “and more to the point, Harold will not be making the progress he needs to make to be successful in school without a few minutes practice every day with the learning coach.”

An Older Student for a Learning Coach (“Reading Buddy”)

Finally, the father found a Grade 7 student to help. I was concerned the boys were only two grades apart. I was afraid they would just play around and not do any useful practice with reading.

I kept my concerns to myself.

Because the Grade 7 student was so close to Harold’s age, we decided to call him a “reading buddy” instead of a learning coach.

It was wonderful to watch this reading buddy work gently with Harold in practicing his daily learning strategies.

Now, with his daily practice in place for 15 minutes every noon hour at school, Harold’s reading skills began to soar!

The father was delighted and so was Harold!

Harold’s marks soared at school as well, and his teacher was so pleased.

The Reading Buddy Himself Struggled with Reading

I found out later that the Grade 7 student had reading problems and if I had known that I probably would not have been willing to let him act as Harold’s reading buddy.

It speaks volumes about being non-judgmental doesn’t it? The reading buddy was just far enough ahead of Harold to be of real value to him.

Because Harold’s reading buddy struggled so much with reading himself, he never ridiculed Harold about his struggles with reading.

Who would have guessed that such an unlikely pair would have made such a good reading pair?

The “take-home” lesson?

Low-cost reading buddies are worth their weight in gold!

Doc Meek, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

Image from: Photobucket.com

“Why is He Fighting All the Time?”

Blaine (not his real name) was always fighting in the schoolyard at his elementary school. 

The school principal phoned his mother to say Blaine would be suspended if the fighting did not stop.

Finally Blaine’s mother brought him in to see a Neurological Learning Specialist at THE LEARNING CLINIC.

“Why is he fighting all the time?” the mother anguished.

“Can you help him to stop fighting?”

“What else is going on?” the specialist asked. 

“He has struggled since grade one and gets poor marks,” said the mother.

She went on to say that his biggest problem was that he was now in grade four and still did not know how to read.

The learning specialist asked Blaine what he liked about school.

“Nothing.”

“What are you good at?” “Nothing.”

“What do you like outside of school?” 

Blaine brightened and said he loved to ski.

“Are you good at it?”

“Pretty good.”

The mother confirmed that Blaine was, in fact, a top notch skier.

“I can beat my Dad down the hill!” Blaine piped up.

Skier Photo from: 123rf.com

“Hey, way to go!” exclaimed the learning specialist, gently touching the right side of Blaine’s head.

Different Parts of the Brain in Charge of Different Skills 

“Hey Blaine, wouldn’t it be great if you could read just like you ski down the mountain, smoothly and easily now?”

The learning specialist then played a game with Blaine, touching the left side of Blaine’s head.

He had Blaine imagine the great skier (in the right side of his head) befriending the not-so-great reader (in the left side of his head).

Then they imagined the skier teaching the reader to read “smooth as a skier going downhill in good snow on a sunny day.” 😮

And so…

As the imaginary great skier (in the right side of Blaine’s brain) taught the imaginary reader (in the left side of his brain), Blaine the boy in Grade 4 at school gradually learned to read “smooth as silk.”

Would it surprise you to learn that as Blaine learned to read well, his fighting stopped?

Doc Meek, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada, Friday, January 24, 2014