Special Ties

One of the greatest things about working at Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers is getting to meet so many amazing kids! Working together closely to achieve success in reading can create some everlasting bonds.

Recently we had the pleasure of working with a fireball of energy and enthusiasm named Allie! One of our directors, Claudia McCrocklin, was Allie's Learning Coordinator. Simply put, Claudia was the one who created an individualized plan of action for Allie and oversaw it's implementation through the Langsford instructors.

Claudia went into Allie's sessions on a regular basis and it wasn't long until she and Allie became great friends! Allie often ran up the hall to give Claudia a big hug when she saw her!

When Allie finished her work and came back to have her skills retested to determine the level of progress she'd made, Allie was excited about seeing all the friends she'd made here, especially Claudia!

A Thank You That Warmed Our Hearts!

We just love getting feedback from the kids we work with! This is Will and he wrote something special for us and read it at his last day celebration.

It said: "I can't believe how much better my reading got. Thank you Langsford."

Will: we are so glad your reading got better! We truly enjoyed working with you!

Exactly What is a Reading Problem?

"Why Can't I get this?"

Oftentimes there is some confusion about the underlying cause of a student's academic problems.  They are often associated with reading, but reading is not a single process and, when we talk about reading, we could be meaning different things.  The end goal of reading is, of course, comprehension of the material.  But poor reading comprehension is not necessarily the result of a weakness in one's language comprehension skills.

Reading comprehension can only occur when other factors of reading are in place.  It is dependent on a student's phonemic awareness skills, knowledge of phonics, word attack skills, and the fluency of their reading being efficient and automatic.

Whether a reader is struggling or unable to decode words in a text, or he or she is just inefficient in doing so, the result is that they are putting most of their energy into the process of decoding and are not focused on determining what the text is actually saying.

It is also hard to understand what you are reading when you are not a fluent reader.  When your reading is slow and choppy, perhaps lacking in expression, it is more difficult to glean meaning from what you have read.   

Parents frequently think or are told by their child's teacher or tutor that they have a comprehension problem, when, in fact, it is actually a problem within the mechanics of their reading.  This is related to people erroneously believing that if a student cannot answer questions about what he or she has read that it must be due to a weakness in their basic comprehension skills.

Conversely, some students are perceived to be poor readers because they are unable to answer questions about what they read.  In this instance, the false assumption is that if a student is a good reader they will be able to answer questions about a text, and precludes the possibility that the incorrect responses were due to under-developed or inefficient language comprehension strategies.

The confusion around these areas is why we, at Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers, do a comprehensive evaluation of all areas of the reading process to determine the precise needs of any given student.  We want the family to have clarity on what underpinnings are not in place and what area or areas need to be addressed for their child to perform optimally academically.

So remember:  Reading and reading comprehension are two different, but related, entities.  Both areas should be evaluated and considered when looking into whether a student has a "reading problem."

Reading Rocks!

Check this out and see how much fun reading can be! This video reflects how we feel about reading at Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers!

Huh?

Hmmmmmmm.......

I know you think you understand what you thought I said,

but I'm not sure that what you heard is what I actually meant!

Have you ever been on either end of this scenario? It is frustrating for both parties. Language comprehension is essential for one to communicate effectively with others. A person must be able to not only receptively understand language, but to also be able to use his or her expressive vocabulary to effectively convey that information to others.

Surprisingly, one can be highly intelligent and still have difficulty with language comprehension. At Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers, our experience in teaching reading over the last 19 years has been that many who are struggling to comprehend are simply lacking the foundational skills necessary for good comprehension.

Research indicates that people with good comprehension utilize concept imagery to facilitate understanding. Simply put, they make mental movies in their head when reading or listening.

Have you ever tried to put together a bookcase or a child's bicycle? Did you find the diagrams that accompanied the directions to be of more help than the written directions? That's because the diagrams helped your brain to see the relationships between the pieces and how they would work together as a whole. Concept imagery is very much like this.

Clients who we tutor in comprehension at Langsford do systematic work to develop their imaging skills, starting with a simple sentence and building up to multi-page units of material. Once they have the information pictured in their minds, they practice recalling and verbalizing it in a clear and concise manner. Emphasis is also placed on determining the main idea and important details, as well as on developing higher order thinking skills (such as making inferences, drawing conclusions, or making evaluations of material).

Many people make mental movies in their minds naturally and without prompting. For those that don't or those who do not do it efficiently, structured practice to develop their concept imagery and verbalizing skills can make both school and interaction with others easier and less frustrating.

In conclusion,

I hope that what you read and what you think I said

matches what I actually said and what I meant to say!

Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers

2520 Bardstown Road

Louisville, Kentucky

(502) 473-7000

We teach reading and learning skills for life. Spread the word!

A Couple of Brainy Boys!

Zach and Grant didn't know each other before coming to Langsford Center, but they became fast friends.  On breaks they bragged to each other about how much they'd read the night before, each trying to outdo the other!  

We always retest our clients upon completion of their work, and Zach and Grant were excited to find that they were both testing on the same day.  They both worked extra hard to do their very best!  

So hard that, for a moment, I thought I could see their brains working!

Creating Readers in Dolly Parton's Hometown

Wouldn't it be great if you could figure out a way to foster a love for reading in children?

Dolly Parton, of country music fame, did when she launched an effort called  the Imagination Library. 

Dolly wanted to foster a love of reading among her hometown's preschool children and their families in east Tennessee.  She wanted children to be excited about books and to feel the magic they can create.  She wanted to make sure all the children in her hometown had books to read, regardless of their family's income.  So, in 1996, she started her Imagination Library.

Thanks to Dolly, every child under the age of five in Sevier County, TN receives a new age- appropriate book in the mailbox each month.  Just imagine the joy they must feel each month when their new book arrives! 

Since that time, many other communities have followed her example and now provide the Imagination Library to their children.  To learn more about this awesome program, go to www.imaginationlibrary.com.