How Can I Prepare My Special Needs Student To Be Successful In College?
Only a small percentage of students with special learning needs attend college, but parents have the opportunity, from the moment their child is born, to insure that their child is one of the successful college graduates. Read more
My Child Needs What?…What Are Executive Skills And Why Do Students Need Them?
All parents need to know about executive skills. These are the skills that help us monitor and direct our lives. We use our executive skills to plan and organize our behavior, make well-thought-out decisions, overrule immediate desires in favor of longer-term goals, take conscious control of emotions, and monitor our thoughts in order to work more efficiently and effectively.
Kids with ADHD have difficulty with one or more of the executive skills. And other types of learning issues can cause a child to have trouble developing and using their executive skills. Read more
Homework Tips For Kids With Special Learning Needs
The homework routine often becomes an activity that neither parent nor child look forward to. The parent’s role in the homework process is to be sure the work your child brings home is appropriate and to set up the conditions in the home that are necessary for your child to be successful. Read more
Make This a Great School Year!
It is very important for parents of kids with special learning needs to work with their child’s teacher to make the school year as productive as possible.
Learn everything you can about your child’s new teacher by talking to the principal and looking on the website. Try to arrange an informal visit with the teacher before school starts.
Take your child to visit a new school before school begins. Be sure to point out the cafeteria, lockers, gym, classroom, bus stop, play areas, restrooms, and main office. Children need to know how to get around and find all the people and places they need during the day. Read more
Parents Often Ask Me… How Is Educational Therapy Different Than Tutoring?
I’m often asked how my educational therapy approach is different from tutoring. Tutors focus on teaching bodies of facts, and sometimes a small number of study skills. Tutors are basically helpful to students when the student learns relatively easily and has just fallen a little behind for some reason such as being ill.
But tutors are NOT trained in the way the human brain learns so they don’t know how to help students who learn differently or who have complicated learning needs. Read more
Download – Meeting Student Needs: A new school for struggling students
On this episode of Special Kid School Talk Dr. Kari welcomes Wendy Zacuto, director of Pacific Point Academy and Learning Center in Santa Monica, California to discuss what makes this school such a great place for kids with special needs to learn. Even if you don’t live in the Los Angeles area, this show will give you the information you need to find the best school for your special needs child. Every student is unique and deserves a thoughtfully designed, inspiring learning environment. Students with special learning needs require programs that develop the important skills that make learning successful and enjoyable!
Click here to view Pacific Point Academy website or to send an email to Wendy Zacuto Click here.
Download – When Should You Teach Your Child to Read?
On this episode of Special Kid School Talk Dr. Kari interviews reading expert and educational therapist, Dr. Lois Provda, who explains how starting formal reading instruction too soon can have disastrous effects and shares with us the type of skills children need to develop before we begin the process of teaching them to read.
Odds are you were taught how to read in first grade. Today, though, children are expected to read by the end of kindergarten. While the literacy standards have changed, the nature of children hasn’t. Pushing children to read before they are biologically ready can do more harm than good.
Click here to see Dr. Provda’s website.
Download – Disarm Autism and Love Your Child
On this episode of Special Kid School Talk Dr. Kari is joined by Adelaide Zindler, the “Home Office Mommy” who shares her personal story of being a parent with ADHD, raising a daughter with autism. Adelaide will share how being labeled with ADHD impacted her, how she’s learned to have a “multi-sided” view of autism, her struggles as a parent, and how she’s been successful in dealing with the school system.
Download – A Parent With ADHD Shares Her Story!
On this episode of Special Kid School Talk Dr. Kari interviews Nicky VanValkenburgh, a parent of two boys who have ADHD, who has ADHD herself. She shared her challenges in raising kids with ADHD, and how she improved her life. In her new book, “Train Your Brain, Transform Your Life: How to Conquer ADHD In 60 Days, Without Ritalin” she discusses a non-medical approach to treating ADHD. The ALERT brain training device, commonly called a light and sound machine, includes special eyeglasses, headphones, and a control box. The ALERT system boosts the electro-chemical activity in the brain, and can be used in the comfort of your own home.
Listeners can purchase Ms. Van Valkenburgh’s book at a discount by visiting this website.
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