Good Sensory Learning Blog

Many young learners are being diagnosed with executive functioning weaknesses and schools are struggling to meet the needs of this population of learners. The problem is that many teachers and administrators don’t understand the difficulties associated with this problem and therefore find accommodating these students an ever increasing challenge.  Click This Image to See a Free Prezi or Click Here What is Executive Functioning? The command and control center of the brain The conductor of cognitive skills The cognitive process that connects learned experiences with present actions. The place that encodes, retrieves and manipulates information.  What is the Impact of...

Part of the learning process is making mistakes. However, inadvertently teachers and parents often correct young learners with negative remarks. Kids continually hear the words "no," "incorrect" and "wrong." What’s more, in moments of frustration, many children must withstand cutting, belittling names such as careless, lazy and unmotivated. I think we have all been called these names at some time in our life, and I can promise you, these negative labels never help the situation. It only breeds frustration and disempowerment. In fact, if teachers or parents get too critical, students can feel dejected and even develop a sense of...

Successful learners are fully engaged, can maintain attention and they activate both hemispheres of their brain. However, many young learners go through their daily classroom activities without being fully conscious of the task at hand. Many of these kids struggle with executive functioning and working memory difficulties. They may be constantly distracted by external stimuli as well as their own internal thoughts that take them on “little trips” outside of the classroom. Although their bodies are present, their minds are elsewhere. What’s more, when these students eventually become consciously involved in the classroom, many have missed important instruction and they...

For many students, midterms or finals are right around the corner, and learning how to plan for these comprehensive exams can be key to helping them manage test anxiety and achieve the desired grades.  What Can Teachers Do to Help Prepare Students for Midterms and Finals? 1. Throughout the Term Encourage Your Students to Create a “Test Preparation Portfolio”: Help your students to create test preparation materials weekly from homework, classwork, notes, handouts and textbooks. Provide the opportunity for your students to ask questions about prior class content that creates confusion when they are preparing their portfolio. Evaluate each student’s...

If you have been reading my blogs, you know I'm a big fan of bringing the fun factor into learning. In fact, did you know there are many games that can improve cognitive functioning?  Some Games Exercise and Strengthen the Brain Kids love to play card and board games, and there are quite a few that exercise and strengthen the brain. Games that require players to use their memory, attention, planning abilities, and visualization skills can help to improve working memory and executive functions at large.  Other games that require one to process visual information can help to develop visual...