Good Sensory Learning Blog

Teaching the Alphabet: Tailoring Instruction

Posted by Erica Warren on

One of my favorite things about being a learning specialist and educational therapist is creating a unique approach for each of my students.  Each learner comes with a one-of-a-kind set of strengths and weakness, as well as likes and dislikes.   Therefore, with the help of my students, I'm continually fashioning new instructional approaches and materials.  But meeting the needs of my students is just half my professional pie, as I also strive to assist and guide colleagues and parents in solving onerous, remedial needs. Cracking Difficult Student Cases: I often get emails from my followers asking for my advice about how to...

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Mastering the Vowel Teams Freebie

Posted by Erica Warren on

Would you teach your students a reading rule, if the rule only worked or was applicable less than 50% of the time?  The saying: When two vowels go a walkin', the first one does the talkin' is a rule that most learners know.  But if your students apply this to a comprehensive exam on vowel teams or vowel combinations, they would likely fail the test.  Clearly, this rule creates more confusion than good. What are the Vowel Teams? Vowel teams or vowel combinations are when two to four letters that include at least one vowel make a single sound.  They are...

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Simplifying what's best for ADHD Students

Posted by Erica Warren on

Students that struggle with ADHD battle maintaining their focus on classroom materials and can be a challenge to hook and reel in for any teacher.  Many teachers and parents ask me to help them address what is best for ADHD learners, and the magic for motivating and enticing these students falls into five realms: the learning environment, the teaching approach, the teachers presentation, mindfulness training and the assessment of learning method.   Establishing a Positive Learning Environment for ADHD Students The Learning Environment:   Create an engaging, multisensory learning environment that offers fun learning tools. Offer hands on experiences and consider creating learning...

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10 Reasons to Stop Using Candy to Motivate Students

Posted by Erica Warren on

Providing sweets to children to make them momentarily more compliant is a trick that teachers have used for ages.  In fact, fifteen years ago, when I started my private practice, I too can remember bribing challenging students to read lists of words or work through tedious drills.  But it was not long before I realized that this was the wrong tool to entice young learners.  In fact, loading youngsters with sugary sweets and empty calories proves to be detrimental in a number of ways.  10 Reasons to Stop Bribing Learners with Candy: Consuming candy is terrible for children's teeth. Sugar...

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Free Tools for Helping Students to Plan and Organize for School

Posted by Erica Warren on

Developing excellent study strategies is all about planning and organization. But what most teachers and parents don't know is that the part of the brain that assists with planning, time management, and organization, called executive functioning, is not fully developed until students reach their early twenties.   Helping Students with Planning and Organization For most young learners, adults need to help create a structured plan and provide assistance when prepping and gathering materials for school. Checklists, graphic organizers, step by step procedures, strategies and more are often required to help develop executive functioning skills, but many adults are overwhelmed with other...

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