Good Sensory Learning Blog

Do your students have trouble remembering all the phonics, grammar, and spelling rules? Do you have to continually review past lessons to assure that struggling readers know the foundational skills? Do you find that one day a student has mastered a concept and the next day you have to start at square one?  Having to continually review the same old stuff can be a boring chore for everyone involved. However, one of the most effective methods I have employed with my students is helping them to create their own colorful, language arts handbook. What’s more, this activity can be fun,...

Did you know that visualization can be the key to unlocking memory abilities, attentional skills and enjoyment for learning? Surprisingly, the use of mental imagery for learning is not a new Use of Visualization Throughout History: In fact, an appreciation and recognition of visualization is sprinkled throughout history. It can be traced back as far as Aristotle in 348 B.C.  He wrote, “recollection is a searching of an image.” Again, in the 5th and 6th century, Greek and Roman intellectuals used mental images to enhance memory (Ashcraft, 1989; Sadoski and Paivio, 2001). At that time, visualization was a common strategy used for...

Can you imagine trying to learn in a classroom all day while being bound in a straitjacket? For many kinesthetic learners as well as kids with ADHD, requiring them to sit still during instruction is quite similar to binding them in their chairs. Although some learners do benefit from sitting motionless, for others it is almost impossible to learn while their bodies remain idle. Why Do Most Middle School and High school Teachers Require Their Students to “Sit Still?” It makes sense that one would teach in a way that they, themselves, learn. As a result, most teachers reflect upon...

Have you ever made a mistake or error? Were you ever wrong? Were you ever told that you were careless, lazy or unmotivated?  How did that make you feel? Were you embarrassed? Were you ashamed? Were you angry? Were you sad? Erasing Mistakes Now, I want you to imagine a giant eraser, because were are going to erase all mistakes. We are going to erase errors. We are going to erase anything and everything wrong or careless. And, as we mindfully delete all those negative words and memories while holding onto any valuable lessons, all those bad feelings disappear too.Imagine...

There is often an easy solution to helping elementary students that struggle with math.  But first, we must understand that the cause of the math troubles. Finding the Root Cause of Math Problems Elementary math difficulties often results from one or more of the following: lack of experience and practice working with numbers and symbols. drab or humdrum instruction. problems activating the needed areas of cognition to solve these problems. weaknesses in the cognitive areas of quantitative reasoning, spatial skills, visual processing sequencing, and working memory.  What Happens to These Struggling Learners? Young learners often lose interest and motivation quickly when they...