We will break apart the writing process in terms of executive functioning skills so that parents and educators can better support students who struggle with writing. Discover how to create effective strategies for an individual student’s needs as well as general writing tips.

When: 3/26 at 12pm

Where: Online

Register at: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=E953D985824839

Cost: FREE!

The Reading Clinic

Learn how communication skills are affected by ADHD and what you can do about it. We will discuss strategies for improving listening comprehension and organizing thoughts before speaking. We will also explore the connection between reading comprehension and communication for students with ADHD.

When: 3/12 at 12pm

Where: Online

Register at: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=E953D985824B31

Cost: FREE!

The Reading Clinic

At The Reading Clinic we have met hundreds of students who are struggling to learn how to read.  As a result, we’ve heard some common themes about what happens in the classroom and at home. We have three simple wishes that would make a world of difference to any student learning how to read.

If we had only one wish it would be this:

Stop encouraging kids to guess at how to read a word based on a picture or from context.

Let’s take a very common example:  A student learning to read sees the word “dog” and guesses the word “puppy”.  “Dog” is a decodable word, meaning that each letter is voiced with its expected sound.  Most words in the early stages of reading are decodable to encourage sounding out.

There is a sense of accomplishment for kids when they start sounding words out and hear them turn into words they recognize. It is the first magical experience of reading. Guessing undermines the ability for a child to grasp that each letter has a sound. It also robs students of a chance to practice sounding words out. And, most detrimental, by guessing, they are now linking sounds to a word with no corresponding letters. Why would you want a student to associate /p//u//p//ee/ with d-o-g?

Guessing makes sense when you’re trying to understand the meaning of a word, but it is not how you learn to read. In fact, it is the hardest habit for kids to break once they learn to read. For students who struggle with learning to read, especially students with dyslexia, the choice between giving their brain a workout to figure out a word and just guessing is an obvious one. It’s an even easier choice to make when their parents and teachers have told them to guess.

Do not wait for two years to identify a reading disability.

Speaking from experience, we can easily teach a child to read in first grade, even when a child has severe dyslexia. In first grade, they haven’t struggled for so long that they’ve decided they can’t learn. Some of their peers are still having a hard time and everyone is reading at about the same level. They’re still with the pack even if they’re bringing up the rear.  By third grade, a student who is struggling with reading will have developed coping mechanisms like memorization, avoidance, and guessing. They were probably always aware they were having a harder time, but now they’ve been left behind and their discouraging impression of their ability to read often impedes their progress.

Instead of waiting two years to see what happens, it is important to address learning to read in specific stages. There is such a thing as pushing a child too hard to read, but it has little to do with age and more to do with requisite skills. Phonemic awareness is the fundamental pre-reading skill that is often overlooked. Being able to blend the sounds /c//a//t/ into cat, hear that dog is made of the sound /d//o//g/, and recognizing rhymes are some examples of these skills. Many children can speak quite articulately but still have weak phonemic awareness, so don’t let that fool you! Next, students need to be able to recognize that each letter has a sound, and when you sound out a series of letters in order, you make a word. That’s phonics in a nutshell. After that, it is important that students can retain words after they’ve read them. It is common for a child to reread a word several times before they start to recognize it but this is a skill that can be developed when needed. If all of these requisite skills are in place, then waiting might make sense.

If we meet a first grader for whom we’d recommend 20 – 40 hours of tutoring in first grade, we would likely recommend at least 80 – 120 hours of tutoring to them if they get no help by third grade. The idea that reading gets better with time really only applies to students who have already learned to read fluently. Kids who learn to read by memorizing words, and don’t eventually figure out how to read words they haven’t seen before, will suddenly have noticeable issues with reading in middle school once the words get too similar and too long to memorize, like commission versus commensurate.

Recognize that intelligence is a red flag when there is a difficulty learning to read.

“She’s smart, she’ll figure it out” or “He’s so smart he gets bored trying to read such easy books so he won’t try.” Unfortunately, the reality is quite the opposite. Most kids who are having trouble to read are plenty smart and are eager to learn how to read, but the way their brain is wired makes it difficult to learn how to read and so they get discouraged. They might figure it out, but never enjoy it because their ineffective strategies make reading laborious. Great teachers and the right programs for learning how to read can make a huge difference. But sometimes that’s not enough. Some kids, even exceptionally bright kids, will require 1-to-1 support using the right methodology for their needs. Learning to read will be the most difficult and unnatural thing they will ever accomplish.

If you have concerns about your child’s reading ability, it is never too late to seek help. The easiest way to find out what is happening with your child is to schedule a reading assessment. We offer the Slingerland Screening for Dyslexia  as a tool to identify specific strengths and weaknesses. Afterward, we can make recommendations for the best approach to help your child learn how to read.

The Reading Clinic

The Dreaded Word Problem

We had a parent ask about how to help her son with word problems. Our response is based on the variety of issues we’ve seen kids have with word problems.

There are some general strategies that help just about everyone:
- Draw a picture (don’t worry about how long they take to draw it)
- Make a chart of what the problem tells you, what it’s asking, and what you know
- Use different color highlighters to highlight what you know and what you’re figuring out

Beyond that, there are several components to a word problem, and any number of them can make it difficult. A student needs to be able to read accurately, understand what he’s reading, connect a mathematical concept to the question and then compute the answer correctly.

Typically students with dyslexia will struggle with the first and last examples and kids with ADHD or ASD will struggle with the middle areas. It’s always best to check area though because if you’re targeting the wrong skill area it can be very frustrating for everyone involved!

1) Try reading a word problem to your child. If he has a really easy time with it, then chances are the issue is more connected to reading. Sometimes the effort that goes into reading is so draining that there’s not a lot left over for thinking about what it means or for the math part. In that case, working on reading will improve his ability to do word problems.

2) If he’s is reading easily and accurately and easily, and there’s a comprehension issue, you’ll see it when the picture is being drawn. The picture won’t make sense or he won’t know how to draw it. In that case, you have to ask lots of questions about what the problem says.

“Is it about pink flamingos?”

“ No, it’s about trees.”

“ Oh! How many trees?”

” Three.”

“Okay, draw three trees.”

Etc…until he has drawn a picture that correctly represents the problem.

From there, you will be able to tell if he understand how to connect mathematical concepts to the picture and is able to get the right answer.

3) There is an issue with math concepts if he draws the picture but have no idea what math concept goes with it. In that case, lots of hands-on math activities and connecting what those activities have to do with math will help.

4) And, finally, sometimes kids can do all of the above, but they just can’t figure out the answer correctly. In which case, they may just need more practice with computation or there may be some underlying issues that need to be addressed – either conceptual or processing issues.

The Reading Clinic

Some kids have an amazing, but counter-productive, ability to mask or compensate for underlying difficulties. And for most kids, the strategies eventually stop being effective when the workload or difficulty out paces their compensatory strategies.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned at The Reading Clinic it is to not assume that a child has a particular skill because of their age or apparent ability. We have met kids and adults with dyslexia who appear to be reading fluently, but really have just memorized a lot of words. They come to us because reading is laborious and they have a hard time understanding what they read due to the effort they are putting into to recalling so many memorized words. We’ve also met “straight A” students, often times with ADHD, who have an exceptional ability to retain information from classroom lectures and read beautifully but cannot remember and/or understand a bit of what they’ve read. In math, some students are able to memorize how to solve problems, but never understand why those solutions work and can’t solve word problems. We also work with students who do not appear to comprehend what they read but actually do and just can’t explain themselves well enough, sometimes verbally and often in writing, to demonstrate how much they know. They do well on multiple choice and matching tests because they can recognize the answers.

Getting support for kids with strong compensatory strategies can be challenging because it is easy to miss the underlying issue. Kids may get increasingly frustrated because their classes or tutoring is not on target for what they need. Part of our expertise at The Reading Clinic is in making sure that our lessons are getting to the heart of an issue and that the method we are using will get results. It matters to us how they kids feel about their sessions because that is usually the first indicator whether or not we are on target. And often, what students need most is also what is most difficult for them so we take great care in making sure lessons are paced in a way to challenge, but not overwhelm them.

We offer assessments to help us pinpoint what foundational skills need to be strengthened. We also take into account parent and teacher feedback to make sure we are addressing the underlying difficulties. And, of course, we expect to see consistent progress with our students and monitor their performance in every session.

The Reading Clinic

Here’s an interesting article that isn’t just trying to make people with dyslexia feel good about themselves – it points out how many gifts kids with dyslexia have for learning. It can be frustrating and confusing for teachers and parents to have a child who is smart but can’t seem to learn how to read.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/the-upside-of-dyslexia.html

Our tutors are prepared to adjust lessons based on a student’s learning needs. Some students pick up the rules very quickly, but can’t remember them the next day so we make sure they practice using the rules until they are automatic. Others take a while to learn one rule, but never forget it once they understand it. Some need mnemonic tricks and stories to remember rules, others need visuals and graphs. Whatever your child needs to learn how to read, we will provide.

At The Reading Clinic, we know both the gifts and the struggles that dyslexia has to offer. We are the experts at adjusting our wealth of knowledge to fit your child’s needs and making sure they learn how to read. To find out more about how we support dyselxia at The Reading Clinic, please visit www.thereadingclinic.com/dyslexia.

Has dyslexia been a gift in your life?

The Reading Clinic

It is one of the few black and white things in life; a problem that always has a solution. It is mathematics and for many students can be one of the most challenging subjects they face in their academic careers. Math can be frustrating for parents as well as problems become more complicated and the rules of their youth have faded away from their daily use. While many of the complex mathematical equations from school have very specific applications in the outside world, in school it is crucial to academic success. When a child shows signs of struggling what is a parent to do?

The Reading Clinic offers much more than reading comprehension and writing support for your child. Mathematics tutoring is part of the individualized curriculum developed to support the numerous students who visit The Reading Clinic every day. With a multi-sensory approach to mathematics, The Reading Clinic provides support in a variety of math related tasks.

Starting at an early age, The Reading Clinic starts with helping children with their number and quantity senses as well as counting. With a focus on developing more efficient counting strategies, pattern recognition, and visualization of numbers in the world, The Reading Clinic can start at the foundation of mathematics. Without these crucial building blocks the rest of mathematics will become increasingly difficult.

Once a child has a strong foundation in numbers and counting they naturally move on to basic fact strategies. This is the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division that we are all familiar with. This is another area where children begin to struggle. Putting numbers into use other than just counting presents challenges for some children and the professionals at The Reading Clinic have many tried and true techniques to get your child over this important hurdle.

Each step of the mathematic tutoring progression includes more challenging use of numbers. Decimals, fractions, percentages can all further complicate matters. As with the early programs developed at The Reading Clinic, there are strategies to fit every child. The challenges that prevent one child from grasping these concepts are not necessarily universal to all children. That is why it is so important that The Reading Clinic develops individualized plans for each child that comes in for support. With multiple approaches at each step of the way, The Reading Clinic will be able to find an approach that works for your child.

The first step in getting your child back on track is to schedule an evaluation to determine the areas of proficiency and the areas that need to be addressed. The Reading Clinic has a variety of services available to meet the needs of every family. Contact The Reading Clinic for your child’s evaluation today. Get them back on the road to academic success.

The Reading Clinic

By this time of the year school is in full swing. Children have settled into their routines and every day brings a new set of learning challenges to be overcome. For many children those challenges can be overwhelming. Getting the additional support they need to succeed can be difficult especially for the child with special needs.

Public schools have lots of children all vying for the instruction from their teachers. For the child who needs that little bit of extra support, finding that time in the class room is not always possible. Supporting a child with needs such as ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, etc. can even be more than the average tutor can handle. As the school year progresses, these children can find themselves falling further and further behind. To ensure continued success a child with special education needs can require the assistance of a learning disability tutor that understands their unique educational challenges.

At The Reading Clinic each student is provided support according to their individual educational needs. This includes the students with special needs. Every child that comes to The Reading Clinic is evaluated to find out the issues specific to them that are creating roadblocks to academic success. Based on the information gathered during this evaluation process, an individualized program is developed to help them succeed.

This approach is universal for all children who receive tutoring services at The Reading Clinic but what really sets this academic support center apart from the others is the special education training that the staff has. It is not enough to recognize a child’s special needs. The tutoring program needs to be trained and understand how to help a child achieve optimal results as part of their individualized plan. The professionals at The Reading Clinic have been helping children overcome all of the obstacles to their academic success since 1997. Time and time again, The Reading Clinic has proven their ability to help every child succeed to the best of their ability.

Offering more than just another ADHD tutoring service, The Reading Clinic offers online training and informative seminars to help families support their child at home as well as in school. The philosophy that a child’s success is more than the tutors and teachers supporting them, that a wrap-around support structure works best for both children and families, are the basis of these seminars. The Reading Clinic and families united are the foundation to your child’s success.

As the school year moves forward, don’t let your child be one left behind. At the first sign of a struggle contact The Reading Clinic for an evaluation. Catching issues early can help your child stay on track in regards to their education.

The Reading Clinic

We live in the information age.  With the internet so readily available a person can find the details on just about anything with a click of a button.  While the manner in which we get our information may have changed the basics are still the same; reading!

Reading is one of the core skill sets necessary to find and convey information and those skills are developed at a young age.  If a child struggles with the fundamentals of reading and reading comprehension it can seriously impede their ability to grow academically.  Reading is the foundation to other academic courses such as science, history, literature, and even impacts a child’s ability to write.  Recognizing a child’s struggles early on can help get them back on track and keep them there.

When a boy or girl enters the 4^th grade a real emphasis is put on reading and reading comprehension.  In most instances reading up to this level has been about learning the skills necessary to put the words together and giving the students tools to take it to the next level.  From the 4^th grade on, students become responsible for the material they read and each year they are required to find information through reading more independently.  This is often the time when children who struggle with reading have the most difficult time.  It is important to address this struggle as quickly as possible to prevent a child from falling behind.

Every child is different.  This is true in a child’s approach to education.  The Reading Clinic recognizes the differences each child brings to the table academically and supports them in unique ways.  By creating individualized academic support plans, each child gets the attention they need to succeed and in the areas they need it.  By providing each child and his or her family with a personal evaluation The Reading Clinic can create a very specific approach to helping your child.

The Reading Clinic is more than a tutoring service, it is a full academic support center.  With locations throughout the greater San Francisco area, getting your child the help he or she needs has never been easier.  With school getting into full swing, now is the time to talk to the professionals at The Reading Clinic.

The Reading Clinic

While communication becomes easier to do with the advent of mobile technology, the ability to communicate through writing remains an important skill to have.  Whether we write to convey academic prowess or to report career related information, writing remains a crucial part of our everyday lives.

As a child progresses through their schooling writing grows in importance.  From the early years of learning hand writing, structure, and spelling to report writing and critical thinking, a child needs to keep up with their skills with the written word.  How a child communicates their knowledge through the written word will determine how other people think of their academic proficiency.  A teen may know Mark Twain through and through but if they cannot convey that information effectively through a written book report their grades will suffer.  Since college applications require an essay from perspective students, a student who struggles with writing could even find their college options limited.

Every person is different and very few children breeze through their academic years without the need for additional support.  Because the ability to write is tied to so many academic classes throughout a child’s school age years (and into adulthood) recognizing a child who is struggling early can make a significant difference for a child by getting them back on track with additional support.

Because every child has a unique approach to learning, utilizing an academic support center like The Reading Clinic can increase a child’s chances of success even more.  The writing tutors at the Reading Clinic create an individualized plan for each child that plays to their strengths while providing them the necessary support they need to grow.  No two plans are the same.

Keeping up with the writing learning curve is important for a child from the time they first begins writing letters through, in many cases, their adult careers.  If your child or a child you know is struggling with their writing skills then it is time to look into the writing tutorials at The Reading Clinic.  With locations throughout the great San Francisco area, The Reading Clinic could be just the thing that could get that boy or girl back onto the road to academic success.

The Reading Clinic