Blog
“Does Spelling Matter – Part II” (#Dyselxia)
Last week we raised the question of whether spelling matters (,https://shutdownlearner.com/does-spelling-matter-2/), as the issue of struggling spellers is often dismissed since there are a variety of spell check tools available. Almost always, struggling spelling is...
Reading Disability & a Confused Mom: Getting Clear on the Focus
There’s a lot in this business that gets me rolling my eyes. Too often when I talk to parents about what is going on with their child, I feel my cranky meter rising. Take, Patricia, the mom of 7 year old Beth Anne. Patricia plopped a stack of reports on my desk....
The Goldilocks Standard: Executive Functioning & Shut-Down Learners
I had the pleasure the other night presenting to parents at the Orchard Friends School. The topic was “Executive Functioning & Shut-Down Learners.” As I always try to do, my mission is to present concepts that I think become unnecessarily overcomplicated (like...
Overcoming Early Writing Malaise
Open-ended writing can be dreadfully difficult for school-struggling children. Many kids, especially in the early grades, find the task of writing to be overwhelming on a variety of levels. Typically, schools recommend occupational therapy (OT) to address the issue....
Shutting Down Early
“It’s getting late early.” Yogi Berra Anxiety over your child’s school-based problems can start fairly early. A mom recently contacted me after reading The Shut-down Learner. “My son is drowning in school. You think he could be a shut-down learner?” When I wrote...
Start of the School Year: The Pit in the Stomach Comes Back
At this point in the season, the pit in the stomach is reforming with back-to-school just around the corner. There are no doubts about, getting everything that your kids need to get their school year off to the best possible start can take a huge toll on your bank...
What is a Dyslexia Screening?
Dyslexia screening is a tool for identifying children who may be at risk for dyslexia (reading disability) and for gathering information to assist those children. A dyslexia screening can be performed by a range of educational professionals. Although it might be...
Reading Acquisition: Playing the Notes & the Chords
The field of learning disabilities/dyslexia can be overwhelming to parents. There is so much terminology and confusion out there, much of it is unnecessary. It is a mission of mine to try and make the obtuse clear, to put things in terms that parents can understand....
Development Rules
To finish out the week, I am going to make a simplistic point, but one that I think is often forgotten. Development rules. To illustrate, let’s forget disabilities for second. Let’s say your 7 year old is one of those Science Channel kids who knows everything about...
The Intangibles
Last night I received a very special recognition from the Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper University Medical Center where our program, the Cooper Learning Center is within the Department of Pediatrics. One thing that was particularly special was that some of...
Ben Foss is prominent inventor, entrepreneur and activist who founded Headstrong Nation a not-for-profit organization dedicated to serving the dyslexic community. He is also the inventor of the Intel Reader® a device CNN called “too ground breaking to ignore.” The...