Queen Bethany

This is Bethany and one of Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers' Instructors, Toni. As with all of our Instructors, Toni has quite a varied and interesting background. Toni's background includes being a professional singer and I'm pretty sure Queen Bethany ordered a song or two from her while she was here and thanked her on the day this picture was taken by letting her wear a crown too.

And speaking of singing, if you're ever around when we do our birthday greetings, you may find other Langsford staff slightly scuffling to be strategically situated close to Toni so everyone thinks they can sing great too!

D.J. - 10 Years Later

We heard from another past client a couple of weeks ago. D.J. has been attending Bellarmine University and is now in the process of planning to take the GMAT. The family contacted us for copies of his pre and post testing for documentation he needed in reference to taking this test. Here's what his mom had to say about his recent educational activities:

Thank you so much for getting that information out to us. I have sent it along to get permission for D.J. get assistance while taking the GMA

Please share that he has had outstanding assistance at Bellarmine, he has made the Dean's List several times. With a smaller class size, Professors that are willing to work one-on-one, as well as being willing to meet at the local bookstore on Sunday afternoon to help the entire class.. and an entire staff that is willing to bend over backwards to assist.. You can't go wrong!!

We are very proud of him, he is entering the Masters Program!! Where there is a will, there is a wa

Please know that without Langsford's help I don't know that he would be as successful as he is today!! A million thanks!!

Together we believed in him and he believed in himself!! Once he finishes his Masters Program he will graduate with an MBA and a Bachelors in Communication. Who would have believed that this little boy, in sixth grade.. reading at a first grade level when he entered Langsford, would accomplish his dreams with the tools he learned in your center. Langsford 97'-98', Thank you again!!

Sincerely,
Donna

Staff Spotlight: Jenny

Let's spotlight another member of our staff. This is Jenny, who is Langsford's Scheduler. She is the one who has the amazing ability to solve the weekly puzzle of matching our available instructors to the students. It's quite the challenge but she's really, really a master at the task. (And if you read what she likes to do in her free time, you can see why she's perfect for her position.) Here's more about her:

Where were you born and how long have you lived in Louisville?
Methodist Hospital, in Louisville, all my life

My school/work background is...
...I went to Presentation Academy, then Bellarmine College. Prior to Langsford, my work background was all in the non-profit sector.

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

In my free time, I….
...like to read, work puzzles. I love sitting on my back porch, with or without a book in hand.

One of my favorite books of all time would be….
...Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston

One of my hidden talents is…
…I have an incredible knack for killing plants.

I love and I hate…
...sitting on my back porch, listening to the ocean, the sound of rain, watching a thunderstorm, the smell of coffee, sunsets over water, dogs, I could keep going. I hate, and am probably certifiably phobic of snakes.

People say I…

…should do massage therapy for a living

Blocks and Dogs

We never know what will happen during the 5 minute breaks between sessions or when students are waiting for someone to pick them up after they are done for the day.



This is Anna, who ran back into our office one day because she wanted to show off her little puppy to one of our Instructors, Kim. Kim was already back teaching her next session so we took this picture for her. Looks to me like these two are going to be great buddies. But I don't know how much longer Anna will be able to carry her puppy around for visits with her friends!



And this is Patrick. He's another one of our block builders. He was excited to show off the height he managed to build this tower so we took a picture for him as well. I'm almost to the point where I may have to just hang my camera off my neck so I'm always well prepared to record the activities of our busy students!

Following Up: The Learning Continues

Kristin, one of Langsford's Learning Coordinators, recently followed up with a family of a student who will be entering 8th grade this fall. At the end of his work here, Kristin prepared further recommendations so he could continue to benefit and strengthen the gains he made from his work at Langsford.

Kristin's main recommendation was that the student continue to work on writing this summer. So as summer arrived, she contacted his mother to remind her about that and to offer specific suggestions. She wanted to offer ideas that would be fun, help motivate and give him more control over the process, so she recommended creative writing. She gave the mom the following link to help along those lines. Readers of this blog may want to check it out as well. Click here.

Another recommendation Kristin made for this particular family was to investigate the possibility of using a Franklin Speller. Technological advances such as these electronic dictionaries and spellers can be helpful depending on the situation. Sometimes these tools are used soley for accomodation or compensation. Langsford believes it's important to concentrate on remediation first and then move to technology to assist in learning and the Franklin Speller can be a great tool.

Finally, Kristin recommended that this family have some fun with a Group Story. A Group Story is where someone starts a story and then passes it off to another person who writes a few sentences and so on. The stories can get quite crazy and you never know how it's going to turn out. I know I (Debbie) did this several times with my children and I still have my favorite. We suggest everyone give it a try.

Kristin received this feedback from mom after her follow up:

Good Morning Kristin,

I hope this finds you well. Yes, Brock did finish with a great report card. All his grades were 88 and above. He made second honors for the very first time! YEAH!

I purchased the Franklin speller for him and he seemed to benefit from it. Thanks for that good suggestion.

To say the least I am impressed with your follow up! I always appreciate people that hold me to my word. I purchased the notebook for the combined story writing weeks ago. Now, making the time for the writing. Thanks for the nudge.

Please pass along my thanks and appreciation to your staff for their part in Brock's success!

Take care,
Courtney

There's a word for that?

It's important to Langsford that we stay on top of what's happening in the field of reading and reading research. So our Director Stephen is always on the hunt to learn more and keep up to date.

Recently he ran into a new word he hadn't heard before: Phonotactics. Of course, it's highly related to one of the the underlying brain processes we work with at Langsford every day, all day long: phonemic awareness. But phonotactics takes the idea of phonemes in a bit of a different direction. You can read more about it here.

We compile the work Stephen does in keeping up with the research in reading and include the links in an email newsletter we publish every other month. If you are interested in adding your email to our list, please contact us by clicking here.

Benjamin's Surprise

People sometimes ask if Langsford is part of a franchise and the answer is no. Since its beginnings in 1992, Langsford has been owned and operated by Stephen and Claudia McCrocklin.

One unique difference about Langsford is that Claudia and Stephen want to remain very involved and hands-on in the work that goes on here, even though they also have broader responsibilities as owners/directors. So when Benjamin's family decided to sign up to do work at Langsford, Claudia became his Learning Coordinator.

Benjamin happens to attend the same school as Stephen and Claudia's son. The day Benjamin found out it was his buddy's mom who would be helping him, he said "Wow, this is cool!"