Posts Tagged ‘reinforce learning’
June 15th, 2009 | Author: Brenda
Kindall Nelson, a reporter for the Chicago Special Education Examiner, has put together a list she calls Summer Reading for Parents of Special Needs Students.
One of my favorites, The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal by Jonathan Mooney, is on the list. Also included are some great handbooks for both parents and teachers.
The Wrightslaw books are excellent resources for parents, taking complicated issues and making them easier to understand.
How to Reach and Teach Children with ADD/ADHD: Practical Techniques, Strategies and Interventions by Sandra F. Rief, MA is aimed at teachers, but might be helpful for parents as well. You can use these ideas at home for homework and share them with your child’s teachers, too.
See Kindall’s post for the full list and her comments.
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June 4th, 2009 | Author: Brenda
June is here, and for most kids in North America, that means the end of school. For those of you in other parts of the world who may still be in school, keep these tips in mind for when school is out in your area.
My 5 tips for a better summer:
1. Encourage reading for pleasure. Most kids, even those without ADHD, lose a good portion of their reading skills during the summer break. And believe it or not, that reduced ability come fall means teachers have to back track a little to get them up to speed. Poor reading skills can also affect other subject areas such as math or science.
2. Improve their diet by taking advantage of all the fresh fruits and vegetables summer has to offer. Rely less on packaged or processed foods, and take the words “drive through” out of your vocabulary. Concentrate on good proteins, fruits and veggies and less on grains.
3. Let them live by their own rhythm for a while. Let them stay up later and sleep in if they choose (within reason, of course). You can’t save up or bank sleep, but the extra rest and relaxation will do them good.
4. Encourage time spent outdoors. Time spent in nature seems to soothe the ADHD soul, so take advantage of the weather and go outside. Put up a basketball hoop, or a pool. Join the community pool if you have one, or start riding bikes or roller blading. Camping is an excellent idea that most kids enjoy. Plan your vacation around an outdoor setting or spend more time in the park.
5. Find activities they enjoy and use them to teach them skills they need. For instance, if focus or paying attention is a problem, look for times when they do focus well. Perhaps they love to play baseball or tennis and are good at concentrating on the game. Talk to them about that, ask questions, figure out how you can use that in other situations. And remember, the most important thing to do is to approach this in a casual, friendly let’s-get-together-and-figure-this-out way instead of a you’re-going-to-spend-all-summer-learning-to-do-better-in-school way.
Above all, spend time with all of your kids and enjoy every moment you can.
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May 5th, 2009 | Author: Brenda
Kids with ADHD aren’t the only ones who have trouble learning. We’ve all had that experience at one time or another.
Like a lot of the ideas on this blog, today’s suggestion isn’t just for kids with ADHD; it’s for anyone to use whenever they are having trouble understanding something.
The idea is simple: use something you know and understand in order to help you grasp the new idea.
For instance, learning things like division, percentages, and decimals might be easier for a kid who’s a sports fan. Just pull out the latest stats and show them how batting averages are determined.
Or take them shopping, if that’s what they prefer. Show them how to figure out how much 20% off the price of those jeans will be. Honestly - it’s how I learned percentages - at the mall.
If it’s English that’s the problem - reading books and understanding the underlying story, history - understanding the dynamics behind the scenes - look to the movies. I would have never gotten through Shakespeare in college without movies to help me understand. There are a lot of modern movies that are based on classic novels, although you might never guess it.
10 Things I Hate About You - with Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger - is based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. West Side Story is an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, and some people even say that The Lion King is based on Hamlet!
And of course, you can find a wealth of movies that depict many important moments in history.
Movies are also beneficial in that they combine visual and kinesthetic means of learning in addition to auditory ones.
Current events can also help to make ideas clearer. Our current economy, for instance, might allow kids learning about the Great Depression to grasp it’s meaning more clearly.
The bottom line is that you may have to do more outside of school to help your ADD student understand his or her lessons, but if you can bring the ideas into their world, you have a better chance at understanding and retention.
Sometimes just replacing the characters in the book with familiar people can help with understanding. You’re bringing it down from what seems like theory into real life.
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