Brayden Gets A Lecture from Langsford

Brayden put in a lot of hard work this past summer. One of the areas of work Brayden worked on was Lecture Noting. During Lecture Noting, students learn to organize oral presentations in order to improve their comprehension. They learn to pull out the main points and important supporting details from all the information presented.

This skill becomes very important as students get older, and especially in college, when much information is being presented orally in class.

When Stars Read Video

During the Dyslexia: Beyond Reversals presentation, Stephen mentioned this video. We wanted to make it available to everyone, so we uploaded it here in two parts. Produced by the National Institute of Health, this video depicting the improvement possible with effective remediation, is a Langsford staff favorite. It's a total of about 12 minutes and well worth the time.

Part 1



Part 2

Dyslexia Presentation

Stephen McCrocklin, Director of Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers in Louisville, gave a presentation last week called Dyslexia: Beyond Reversals. Many people still believe that letter reversals (b-d confusion) and word reversals (was for saw) are the primary signs of dyslexia. This presentation shattered that long held belief!

The large group of professional educators that attended the presentation learned what the converging evidence says about dyslexia and how to identify it. This presentation was so well received that we're sure to schedule it again, so if you are reading this and interested in attending the next one, just let us know and we will place you on the list to be notified when another one is scheduled.

Katie Reads The Wig

This is Katie. While on her break between sessions the other day, she was sharing her excitement with everyone in the lobby about how she finished reading a whole book and was able to decode all the words!

The photos above show her in sessions reading that book, titled The Wig. It's a story about a dog who gets into some mischief which Katie found really funny. In the second photo, Katie is showing us a picture of the dog wearing the wig.

Nice job Katie!

If Jack Becomes Famous, He'll Be Ready...

to sign lots of autographs!

Here is a picture of Jack, taking a break from working on his handwriting. The work Jack is doing falls under the area of visual-motor processing. Click here to learn more.

Teddy's Reading Novels

When Teddy first came to work with us, his Learning Coordinator, Mary, created a customized plan of action that developed his reading and spelling up to the simple multi-syllable level. Upon finishing that phase of work, he stopped attending daily sessions and then returned the following summer for 2 weeks to work at the complex multi-syllable level. This is often done with our younger clients so we can give them time to stabilize their new skills and then work on the more complex levels at the same time this type of work is increasing in school, usually after the third grade year.

This past summer, Teddy returned for a one week review. Teddy is now at the level where he is beginning to read novels so we also did some work on Novel Noting. Our Novel Noting sessions help with organizing and planning this type of school reading to gain a deeper understanding of the book. Our work includes ways to organize the setting and characters, develop main ideas of each chapter, and also learn new vocabulary words.

Thoroughly Delightful

This is Anika who did some work with us this summer. Kristin reports that Anika made great strides with writing down her thoughts.

Paul taught quite a few of her sessions and he told me she is a "thoroughly delightful" child and it was so much fun to work with her.

With increased confidence in her spelling ability, she will now be able to write some "thoroughly delightful" stories!

Reading Can Be Magical At Langsford

Remember Queen Bethany? She had her post test recently.

When we administer our post test, the examiner asks a few questions to get student feedback on how they felt about doing work here at Langsford. So when Jessica asked Bethany how she uses the skills she acquired here at school, this was Bethany's reply---

"I just use the magic. I got magic from here. It makes me lucky."

Staff Spotlight: Paul

Paul is one of our Instructors and he's been around here, on and off, for more than 10 years.

Where were you born and how long have you lived in Louisville?
Reese Air Force Base, Lubbock Texas

My school/work background is...
History

People say I...
am crazy. And they worry about my soul.

When I was a child and thought about what I wanted to be when I grew up, I...
wanted to be a jet fighter pilot, soldier, architect.

In my free time, I...
read, garden, play soccer.

One of my favorite books of all time would be...
Stuart Little, War and Peace, Lord of the Rings

One of my hidden talents is...
It is too well hidden, I haven't found it yet.

I once won an award for...
sportsmanship.

Past Langsford Client Receives Distinction in Reading

We heard great news from a past client the other day. Michael's mother brought in an award he received from The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth.

He received Distinction in Reading for the 2008 academic year!

His proud mother wrote:

"Michael came to the Langsford Center 1999-2000; now, 8 years later, it still holds! Thank you!"

Practicing in Pink is Perfect

Anna had her last day celebration recently. Isn't she pretty in pink? We think so, and we even printed her Langsford certificate to match her outfit. :)

Anna worked very hard while she was here and mom reports that they successfully did some reading and worked on her sight words during a vacation recently. Like any other activity we learn, Anna's mom understands that this daily practice is important for Anna to continue to progress in her reading and spelling skills.

The great thing about practicing reading is that there are so many good books on many different topics that will grab a child's interest. To get an idea of a topic Anna is probably interested in reading about, click here to see the visitor she brought to Langsford this past summer.