Spring Break 2016

The upcoming week is spring break for many in this area.  What will you be doing on your spring break?  Going to the beach?  Visiting relatives?  Perhaps taking a "stay-cation" at home?

No matter what your plans are, a good book should be included in them.  Reading for pleasure is one of life's greatest joys!  You can learn about different people and cultures, travel to faraway lands, immerse yourself in mythology, or entertain yourself with some funny fiction.

No matter where you are at, or what you are doing, you have time to read.  Maybe before bed at night....maybe on a blanket at the park.....a special place makes reading even more fun!  

If you find yourself too busy for a good novel, here is an article about some reading practice you can fit into your travels!

So don't think just because school's out that you shouldn't read. On the contrary, now is the time to read whatever catches your fancy!  Books can add to the fun of any vacation!  Let me know if you read a good book over spring break that you'd like to recommend to others!  

(I'll read them myself!)

Assessment Results: Behind the Scenes Action

What happens once your child is tested?

SCORING AND DATA COLLECTION

While many institutions do not second score their evaluations, we do.  Raw scores are checked to insure accuracy and graphs and scores are printed that provide percentile scores, standard scores, and age and grade equivalents.  Our assessment department, while small, documents and records all testing information and collects teacher input and previous evaluations that you may provide.  All pertinent data is collected and put in a folder to be reviewed by our "diagnosis team."

TEAM APPROACH

This team consists of learning coordinators and/or directors meeting together to go over all of the data we have collected.  While all of our staff are well-trained and have years of experience, a room full of great minds is going to provide you with more insight into your child than any one individual could. 

ANALYSIS

 An in-depth analysis of your child's test results, background information, previous evaluations, and personal observation comes together and is discussed to determine the precise needs of your child.  In your next meeting with a Langsford representative to go over your child's testing results, you can rest assured that we will be able to explain to you what is going on with your child.

PLAN OF ACTION

Our goal is to provide you relief, for you to walk away understanding your child's learning strengths and weaknesses, and for you to have a clear idea of what your next step should be to help your child perform up to his or her full potential.  We are not satisfied unless we meet or exceed your expectations.

What to Expect: Day of Assessment

Once you've scheduled an assessment at Langsford Learning Acceleration Center, an intricate process begins taking place behind the scenes.  All of the pieces of this process are specifically designed to insure that when we meet with you, we will have a clear understanding of your child and his or her specific needs.

When you arrive for the assessment, you will be greeted by someone at the front desk, most likely Jenny who is our office manager and scheduler.  You will then be greeted by the examiner assigned to do the testing.  All of our examiners are highly trained and experienced, and your child's examiner will already have reviewed your concerns and have a battery of pre-selected tests ready to administer.

GETTING COMFORTABLE

In order to get reliable scores, it is important that your child feel relaxed and comfortable.  The examiner will be sure to make your child feel welcome and reassured that the testing is not going to be a scary or unpleasant experience.  Before going to the testing room, your child will be given a tour of our facility (you can come along if you like!) so that they will know where the restroom and water fountain are, see where other children are working, and get a glimpse of where they will be working.  They will be told that many of the tests are fun and like games, that all we ask is that they do their best, and that they will be given some breaks where they can return to the waiting area for a snack or a few minutes of play with our toys and puzzles.

Getting Started

Once your child goes to the testing room, the examiner will spend a few more minutes further developing rapport.  She will ask your child questions about how he or she feels about reading and school, what tasks are easy or difficult, and what they would like to be easier.  She will explain that most of the subtests administered are constructed in such a way that they may feel easy at the start but later begin to feel hard.  This is because they are designed to find a point of stability for the student and then pinpoint as precisely as possible the point at which the student's skills become unstable.  Your child will likely feel better knowing that they are not supposed to know all of the answers.

Interactive Evaluation

The examiner will be in the room working interactively with your child throughout the evaluation.  In addition to noting your child's responses, she will also be subtly monitoring your child's emotional behavior and responses.  She will take detailed notes that will help the team have an accurate and all-encompassing perception of your child's abilities.  This is done because we know test scores don't always present the whole picture.  For example, a good or adequate test score starts to look a little different if it is noted that the responses were slow and labored in coming.  

Every 40 minutes or so, or as needed, your child will be offered the opportunity to take a short break.  This provides them a brief respite while also allowing the examiner to confer with one or more of the Learning Coordinators or Directors if she feels the testing battery should be adjusted in any way.  

All Done!

At the end of the evaluation, your child will be thanked for his or her hard work and cooperation.  Younger clients are allowed a trip to our "treasure box," where they can pick out an item to take with them.  They are then accompanied back out front and returned to their parents.  Usually parents are surprised to find that their child actually enjoyed the assessment and feel good about the whole experience.   

Well, that's the part of the evaluation you see.  Next comes a lot of behind the scenes work to determine your child's specific strengths and weaknesses and what is needed to address any difficulties they may be having.  Stay tuned for the next installment to see what happens between the time your child is tested and when you meet with a Langsford representative to go over the test results.

Communicating With Your Child's School

"I thought everything was fine!"

Have you ever been surprised when report cards came home?  The sharing of information between teachers and parents is essential if you to want to have a complete picture of how your child is doing in school.  Communicating regularly with your child's teacher will also help everyone working with him or her at school to fully understand your child's particular strengths, weaknesses and personality.


To help forge this relationship between school and parents, the U.S. Department of Education has some tips for you.  Click here to read their article:  Working with Teachers and Schools -- Helping Your Child Succeed in School

Your Initial Call To Langsford: Your First Step Toward Relief

We take our intake process at Langsford very seriously.  We know that the folks who call us are worried and seeking relief.  We want to be that relief or, at the very least, be able to refer you appropriately so that your concerns are addressed.

In order to get a clear picture of your concerns, we'll start out by asking you a few questions.  Things like, "how old is your child?" and "are you looking for help in reading, spelling or comprehension?"  While all of us can answer your questions, we have a couple of people on staff who specifically take these calls because they have more flexible scheduling and are best prepared for any questions you might have.  If possible, you will be transferred directly to them.  If they are unavailable at the moment, we will take your contact information and a time when it would be good to call you back.  Generally, all intake calls are returned within 24 hours.

Our goal for these calls is not sales related.  We want to determine whether our testing services would provide you the information you need to figure out why your child's learning is not progressing the way you'd expect or like.  If it does not sound like we are the most appropriate next step, we will gladly suggest any other options that might be.  

If you decide that you would like to schedule a test with us, we will ask for some additional background information from you, including previous assessments and a schoolwork sample.  It's important to look closely at all the pieces of your child's learning profile in order to give you the best feedback and recommendations possible.  

Rest assured that you will not get a "sales pitch" when you phone us.  We are educators, not salespeople.  Our belief is that if we do quality work and focus on you and your child as individuals, we will get the clients we need.  We do not have a large marketing/advertising budget.  We get our business from referrals by satisfied clients.  Thank goodness it works that way, as it allows us to do what we really want to do, which is offer help and relief to you and your child.

7 Things Your Child's Teacher Wishes You Would Tell Them

While your child's teacher is an expert in educating children, no one knows your child as well as you do.  Students do best when parents and teachers work together as partners, with parents sharing any information about their child that might affect his or her school performance and teachers sharing what they are seeing in the classroom.

Emily Graham in School Family-your go-to guide for school success has come up with 7 things teachers wish you would tell them.

1. Health conditions: If your child is diabetic, uses an inhaler, is allergic to peanuts, or has a serious health condition, her teacher should know. It’s also helpful to let the teacher know whether your child has been diagnosed with conditions like ADHD, which may affect behavior and concentration.
2. Family issues: Fill in the teacher if your family is going through a major change that could affect your child, such as a divorce, a death in the family, or a move. Even if your child seems to have adjusted well, alert teachers so they can watch for behavioral changes.
3. Personality traits or behavior issues: Maybe your son is painfully shy and is worried about making friends at a new school. Or perhaps your kindergartner has been having tantrums at home and you’re concerned she’ll do the same at school. It’s best to make teachers aware of these issues before they become a problem at school.
   
4. Strengths and weaknesses: Your daughter is a star student in math but is embarrassed to read aloud. Your son loves language arts but struggles with science. If you tell teachers these things up front, they’ll have more time to help your children improve in the areas they need it most.
5. Learning style: You’ve spent years teaching your kids, from potty training to tying shoelaces, so you have a good idea of their learning styles. If your child learns better through hands-on activities than through listening to explanations, mention that to his teacher. Also share any teaching strategies that you’ve found work well with your child.
6. Study habits: Does your son speed through math homework but labor over reading assignments? Do your daughter’s grades suffer because she spends so much time at skating lessons? Tell teachers about your children’s study habits and any issues they face in completing the work. Teachers often can offer suggestions to make homework time go more smoothly.
7. Special interests: Knowing more about your child’s hobbies or interests can help the teacher forge connections in the classroom. Let the teacher know that your young son loves a particular comic book superhero and that your middle school daughter is a gifted painter.

Can You Read This?

Aoccdring to rscheearch at Cmadrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

How'd you do? Were you surprised at how well you read it? But.....did you really read it? Were you decoding the words based on the order of the letters and what each letter says?

The above paragraph is an example of what is called top-down processing. A widely accepted educational philosophy that utilizes a top-down approach to reading is called whole language.

Proponents of whole language instruction believe that comprehension should be used as the basis for decoding skills and that meaning is brought to print, not derived from it. It is a whole- to-part model, relying on readers being able to use their comprehension skills to anticipate what they think a word will likely say. It allows readers to comprehend text even though they do not recognize or cannot decode each word.

A bottom-up reading model, on the other hand, emphasizes part-to-whole processing of a text. Proponents of this model argue that the process of decoding words by using phonetic strategies leads to comprehension of the text. The reader first processes each individual linguistic unit, or phoneme, combining them to decipher words, and only then does the reader begin to comprehend the text.

Both of these models have merit, but neither, in and of itself, is the most efficient way to accurately decode and comprehend text. A better model is an interactive model which utilizes aspects of both, with a focus on the latter.

If you've been to a Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers presentation, you may recall a model for reading which draws on three areas combined, working together in unison. It is a balanced approach of drawing on word attack skills, sight words, and contextual cues. These areas combined result in accurate and efficient decoding, which allows readers to shift their focus to gleaning meaning from the text.

For more information related to this interactive model, check our website or Facebook page for the next presentation on "What Parents Should Know...about Reading and Comprehension Development." These presentations are FREE and open to the public.