Christian Post-Tested Today

Christian recently celebrated his last day of sessions and today he returned for an Assessment of Progress. After this assessment, we prepare a full written report and the parents return for an in-depth consult to discuss the results. This means families leave Langsford with clear information on where their child was upon coming to Langsford, the gains he or she made while here, what they can do at home as well as what can be done at school, and further recommendations for Langsford if applicable.

Christian's mom told us today that she is certainly curious to see what our testing shows but she already sees big changes in him and relayed a story about how Christian has a little light he uses now so he can read in the car!

Christian and his mom on his last day of sessions.

Christian during one of his sessions.

Staff Spotlight: Rhonda

Every month, we like to highlight one staff member so clients and other staff (and now you, blog readers!) can learn a bit more about the people who work here at Langsford. This month we highlight one of our Learning Coordinators, Rhonda. Let's learn more about her:

Where were you born and how long have you lived in Louisville?
New Albany, Indiana, in Louisville since age 20

My school/work background is?
I majored in English at U of L with a Minor in Philosophy. I worked at
U of L tutoring center and later I was a graduate assistant.

When I was a child and thought about what I wanted to be when I grew up, I…
...fantasized about being a dancer.

In my free time, I….
play with my dogs, go to flea markets, and listen to country music. I love to go to concerts. I have an autographed picture of Dierks Bentley and danced with Jake Owens.

One of my favorite books of all time would be….
...East of Eden

I love and I hate…
I love all things related to cowboys and I hate bananas.

I once won an award for…
…a statewide essay contest for all 4th graders in IN on “Why I like Indiana as my State and Home.”

CAPD Can't Stop Danny

A very energetic grandmother to a past client came strolling into Langsford's Highlands office last week because she wanted to let us know how her grandson is doing. She said she just had to stop in and tell us about it because "we were the turning point in this young man’s life." This young man was diagnosed with CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder: see below for more information on CAPD) in first grade, received special education services and also had some tutoring before he came to us in 7th grade.

Danny is now a freshman at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio and is getting straight A’s as well as being quite involved socially. He has also developed into a great cross country runner.

She relayed how they were just lucky to find out about us by talking with other families who have been here. She is a retired teacher and she mentioned how Danny was in special education at his school but was released after doing work here. She said she had never heard of that happening much at all. She is really a proud grandmother!

How does Langsford work with clients who have CAPD?

Many, of our clients have issues related to Central Auditory Processing Disorder (now most often referred to as APD, Auditory Processing Disorder). Saying someone has CAPD is like saying someone has a learning disability. It can include one or many areas of difficulty in varying degrees.

One of our specialties here at Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers is addressing phonological awareness instability, which is one of the many auditory processes that come under the umbrella of APD. By stabilizing this foundational process, and integrating all the other critical aspects of the reading process (phonics, words attack, sight words, fluency) in a very deliberate and systematic way, we have had tremendous success in teaching students to become independent, self-correcting readers and spellers. And Danny is a perfect example.

Ben's Point of View on Langsford

In recent posts, we've heard what Emily and Wilson, both elementary students, had to say about Langsford. Below is a paper written by highschool Junior, Ben, for his English Class.

Almost every day after school I have attended Langsford Learning Center to get help with reading, writing, spelling and fluency. Langsford is different from other tutoring because its instructors use special learning techniques to help students develop skills to use in their daily lives.

During my first hour I work with single syllable words. First I usually do a nonsense word chain where one thing changes each time: gonsh>gonth>ganth>ranth>renth. Then I usually read and spell some real and nonsense words.

In my second hour I work with multi-syllable words. First I do another word chain like my first hour but this time with words containing more than one syllable: reinsoitive>reinsloitive>disinsloitive>disinsloiture. Then I read and spell some real and nonsense words with more than one syllable.

Some things that I do both hours, for example are read from several different books. Also I read from my fluency packet. I look through my sight word box and my sight word spelling list.

Personally I do not like Langsford because of all the work I do there, however I have to admit it has helped me a lot no matter how much I don't want to say it did. I like a lot of the teachers, some more than others. I think a lot of the things they make me do are stupid but they actually work.

Finally I must say that if you ever need help with school I would suggest you go to Langsford Learning Center.

Katharine Takes a Break

The Langsford roving photographer was at the Middletown office recently and sat in on one of Katharine's sessions. Here she is taking a break from writing letters to give everyone reading the blog a big smile.

Oh, and you're probably wondering who that is over to the side. Those are the capable hands of one of our Middletown Learning Coordinators, Rhonda. Want to know more about her? Rhonda is our current staff member who is in our Staff Spotlight and we will soon be posting some some interesting tidbits of information about her.