Good Sensory Learning Blog

Early intervention is a key strategy for struggling learners.  It can help to define a remedial approach and can assist learners with the tools and strategies for working around potential academic challenges. This is a particularly important approach for students with dyslexia.  How Prevalent is Dyslexia? Recent reports suggest that dyslexia impacts 5-10 percent of the population. Imagine the benefits if this condition could be detected before children learn to read. Early detection would allow for the strengthening of weaknesses and the implementation of appropriate teaching methodologies, ensuring successful reading experiences from the start. This proactive approach could save the educational system significant resources and...

Many teachers can not fathom how apparently simple tasks such as using an agenda or turning in an assignment can be very difficult for some of their students. In fact, many students need comprehensive instruction and scaffolding to learn to plan, manage time, and organize. What Is Executive Functions? Executive functions are the cognitive tools that enable us to plan, organize and manage time.  Although executive functions are one of the first cognitive processing areas to begin development, it is also the last part of the brain to fully develop.  In actuality, it does not reach maturation until students reach their early...

Many students plod through schooling as passive learners and they rarely learn to take control of their own cognition. In contrast, others learn to be active participants in the learning process and develop metacognitive skills. What is Metacognition? Metacognition is the awareness of one’s own cognition or thought process and it involves higher order thinking that enables understanding, analysis and control. For many concrete learners, as well as those that struggle with attentional issues, this notion can be difficult to grasp. However, the process can be taught through visual aids, demonstrations, discussions, group work, and graphic organizers. In fact, the...

As a child, I was often teased by my silly misunderstandings of expressions, phrases, words and even lyrics to songs. Although my hearing was excellent, I struggled with auditory discrimination difficulties. As a result, I continually confused sounds that were similar and often misconstrued what people were telling me.  Funny Misunderstandings After a year abroad with my family living in England, we returned to the United States and I entered the first grade. On the first day of school, when my teachers and peers detected my British inflections they asked me about it. To my dismay, my explanation resulted in...

Having an understanding of how each student processes information and conceptualizes ideas is key in the remedial writing process. Students can think in a sequence of images, a series of words, webs of pictures, an outline of phrases, a collage of imagery, a patchwork of terms, movie-like scenes and more. Assessing How Students Think Offers Writing Solutions By evaluating the ways your students conduct the thinking process, you can help them to tweak their method so that writing can become a fluid and enjoyable process. This can be done through discussion, but what I find to be most helpful is...