Sunday, May 7, 2017

Tutoring Kids with Dyslexia

When tutoring kids with dyslexia it helps to keep in mind that they learn differently than other students. They often struggle with their reading skills and require one-on-one instruction to overcome their struggles.








Multisensory structured language education (MSLE) is the preferred method for teaching dyslexic students the skills they need to become avid readers. There are three possible programs that should be used to teach reading skills to these students.

1. Wilson Reading System
2. Lindamood-Bell Program
3. Barton Reading Program

Each of these three programs takes a slightly different approach to teaching literacy. All three programs fall into the category of MSLE.

The Wilson Reading System was designed specifically with adolescents who struggle with their reading skills due to dyslexia. Special education classes taught in both private and public schools often use this program of instruction. While other reading programs emphasize the use of pictures, this one does not. The purpose of this is to teach students how to decode words without relying on a picture to do so. In most cases, this system is used on students who are in the second grade or higher.

Private learning and tutoring centers often prefer to use the Lindamood-Bell Program. Skills such as blending letters to form words are used to make the reading process easier. Using this program, reading skills are taught one at a time. Students don't move onto the next skill until they have mastered the one they are currently learning.

The Barton Reading Program is one that can be used to teach a dyslexic student, without having to be a trained professional educator. Videos accompany each lesson in this program, making it a great way for you to tutor your children in the privacy of your own home. Online and phone support is easy to get when using this program to teach your own children.

This program is helpful for dyslexic students who are struggling with more than just reading and spelling. You can also use it to help students expand their vocabulary. The program involves a lot of memorizing and practicing rules they can use to make themselves better readers.

When tutoring kids with dyslexia it is important to limit their tutoring sessions so that they don't become overwhelmed. In most cases, the recommended frequency is two or three days each week, with each tutoring session lasting no longer than one hour. Though every kid's needs are different, individual tutoring sessions should generally last longer than tutoring sessions that involve a small group of students.

Helping dyslexic kids develop their reading skills is something that must be approached with patience and sensitivity. They often become frustrated and discouraged. It is the job of their tutor to ensure that they can remain focused, positive and confident in their ability to improve their reading skills.

Learn more about tutoring, brain training and cognitive skills development at LearningRx Charlotte North.

Friday, March 31, 2017

Tutor in Concord NC

Do you have a child that struggles in learning a certain subject? If so, there are millions of others around the world that are facing the same challenges. Luckily, a tutor in Concord, NC can provide the assistance they need to learn the details of the content. A tutor in Concord gives the student the benefit of one-on-one instruction from a teacher which is extremely helpful when curriculum is missed. Curriculum can be missed for many reasons such as a change in school districts, an illness that prevents the student from attending class or an illness with the teacher and the substitute presented the information poorly.

Means of Tutoring

There are many types of effective strategies from your tutor in Concord. First, tutoring must foster independence by allowing them to become independent learners. Second, your tutor in Concord will need to connect to the child to make the information relatable. Third, brain training features interesting games that will keep your child interested and engaged in the subject. Finally, the use of multimedia tools can help your child grasp the knowledge with a more hands-on approach.

Cognitive Skills

In some instances, your child is struggling for another reason that is related to their cognitive ability to receive and process the content well. Cognitive skills are the foundational skills that the brain utilizes to read, reason, learn and focus. When those skills are on the weaker side, processing information can be impacted. In this instance, traditional tutoring can only address the symptom of the issue but not the cause. To address the root cause, your student needs to train those weak skills with a brain training tutor in Concord, NC. Cognitive skill development is critical as it is the key to more efficient learning and becomes increasingly important as the subjects become more voluminous and complicated in the higher grades at school.

Brain Training

If your child has weak cognitive skills, the best way to strengthen those skills is through brain training with a tutor in Concord, NC. In the same way physical exercise allows the body to remain healthy, mental exercises do the same for the brain. Numerous research publications note that variation in mental activity is the key to long-term success. Therefore, a little bit of reading and studying is not enough to continue strengthening cognitive skills.

Brain training with a tutor in Concord, NC creates challenges and targets logic, memory, verbal skills and attention through various exercises proven by scientific research. The idea is that over time, your child will get better at the exercises which will have a positive impact on their daily life and learning ability. Several of the primary benefits include, improvement of working memory, better understanding of the information and improved focus and attention to detail.

Although weak cognitive skills can have a major impact on the learning capabilities of your child, there are options available through a tutoring in Concord. Brain training can be a fun and effective alternative that will motivate your child to learn improve upon many other cognitive skills.

To help your child improve their academic learning, contact LearningRx to schedule an evaluation. 704-499-8888.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

What Makes A Great Tutor?

There are several things that make an individual an excellent tutor. Firstly, you need to be good with students and people. You should aim to improve their physical and academic performance, and secondly, you should have acquired many good years of experience. With students, it should be immensely gratifying, for you (the tutor) and the student.

Tutoring is now a huge part of schools, especially the ones with blended learning programs. Lots of educators and parents are becoming more aware that coaching benefits the heart of learning, instruction and personalizing the meaning of the subject at hand. There are so many distractions in today's technological world that having a one-to-one interaction through coaching, mentoring, and tutoring will go a long way in helping students. So what are the criteria that can make an individual a good tutor? Scroll below to see some of the major tips:

Tip 1: A Good Tutor Listens and Communicates Effectively With Parents and Teachers

Excellent communication and working together with all stakeholders are significant elements that can lead to a student’s success. When tutors set their sights on creating benchmarks, goal setting, and planning backward, it can lead to the academic progress of students. An excellent tutor will co-manage the individualized learning process with his or her students, with understanding from parents and teachers, so as to leverage the work from key adults influence in students' lives and make a perfect plan for accountability and success. Also, when tutors greatly connect with teachers, it is discovered that their students were 85% more active in class, and 75 percent more willing to participate in school.

Tip 2: A Good Tutor Uses Specific Content Expertise

A remarkable tutor who can make learning fun, rigorous and relevant, such a tutor is an expert in his/her academic content. They have a perfect idea of the subject's concepts and its challenges inside out. Although a good number of tutors may never get to experience a custom project-based learning session, they can introduce and discuss the ordeal of real-life applications. Instructors are more likely to engage students permanently if they can turn school assignments into project-based exercise and show opportunities for serious, hands-on work rather than a written worksheet or general tasks. Tutors who make learning relevant to the interest of students build more students that care about what they are learning.

Finally, instructors who make learning more challenging, adequately rigorous, while at the same time not so tight for students to quickly get fed up and stop trying, shows more growth in their students' success. Research has also shown that tutors who were content experts, 90 percent of their students show tremendous improvement in their academic works as measured by grade improvement.

Tip 3: Remarkable Tutors Builds Solid, and Personal Relationships with Students

Tutors are given various roles that differ from teachers and parents, and this role places them in a particular position to render support to students. Personal relationships are a key factor to student progress, for the more cooperation a student gets from his/her tutor, the more respect and trust the tutor creates, which is an essential ingredient for students to learn well. When tutors listen and take quality time to build a good relationship with their student’s, the tutors can:

• Teach students strength and minimize their weakness

• Place more awareness to student’s interests

More studies have shown that about 95% of students are more likely to complete their workload and accuracy with a tutor who takes the time to build a robust and personal relationship with them.

The Ideal Partnership

Tutoring is universal. Excellent tutors know the importance of adjusting their instruction to blend with that of the one in the classroom. Teachers get to see their students on a daily basis just as parents, a tutor who works face to face with a student, even if it's once in a week for an hour needs to acknowledge the amount of learning being done whenever they are unavailable.

Parents

Parents often set the tone of the relationship a student can have with their tutor, and they also have the opportunity to assist in lessons. As a parent, ensure to keep contact with your child's tutor regularly. Parents can also learn a couple of things from working with their child's tutor; this can be through preparing for each session and learning new things each week.

The learning process works both ways, from tutor-student, then student-parent, and so the process continues. Asking and expressing interest in what your child does or learned in school (or maybe what their tutor taught them) is an ideal way to increase understanding.

Teachers

It is a huge relieve for students when teachers take advantage of the tutoring around them. In schools, teachers can assist by making sure that their student's tutor has their syllabus and that it is up to date with student’s grades. More so, ensure to communicate your point regularly with the tutor (either on a monthly, or weekly basis), and check in from time to time to review student weakness and strengths. For younger students, it's recommended that frequent communication is established with them by their tutors.

Tutors

The best educators and tutors know the importance of being lifelong learners. There's room for improvement; even professional tutors can always improve. Excellent tutors always think and set goals for themselves, so create what is called "key performance indicators" where you can score yourself on an annually, monthly, or quarterly basis.

Monday, March 13, 2017

What Academic Tutoring Approach Is Best for Kids?

Children can only attain their highest potential under the guidance of an appropriate tutoring approach that incorporates academic and co-curricular programs. Parents and tutors should keep in mind that nearly all kids struggle before mastering whatever they are taught. The following are some of the most pragmatic kid-friendly academic tutoring approaches that tutors ought to use.

Individualized Directed/Targeted Instruction

In a typical classroom, a tutor may have up to 20 learners. He/she is likely to get weighed down by the burden of expectations since all learners are anticipated to master content uniformly. Nonetheless, it is almost impossible to have a smooth learning curve since kids learn at their own individual pace. Individualized directed instruction basically entails one-on-one tutoring sessions. This enables the instructor to pinpoint each kid's learning difficulties. In doing so, it is easy to formulate and tailor-make individualized instructional methods that address difficulties in each learner, therefore, making the tutoring effective.

Outside Tutoring Programs

After a long day in class, prep time is always the last thing on each kid's mind. Despite this, it is the best time for learners to complete their class projects and assignments individually and in an environment that suits them best. Such programs similarly enable learners to catch up on whatever they might have missed in class. However, parents and tutors who offer these programs should avoid wearing down the learners since this might ultimately be counterproductive.

Dedicated Study Space for Tutoring

Quiet and conducive reading rooms for tutoring set the mood right as far as mastering content is concerned. This induces learners mentally besides preparing them for individual learning sessions. Besides this, all the necessary equipment should be available. This includes computers for carrying out research.

Enriching Learning

Most tutoring programs offered in schools entirely focus on the stipulated syllabus and its core subjects. It's high time tutors realized that too much emphasis on essential subjects can be counterproductive in the long run. It should be understood that kids long for diversity when it comes to learning.

Learning can be enriched by incorporating experiences that go beyond the core subjects. For instance, incorporating chess sessions in a mathematics class can help kids sharpen their problem-solving skills. Drama and poetry can help enhance their language and speech skills. Enriching learning with interactive and fun sessions goes a long way in producing all-round learners and hence successful tutoring.

Independent Learning

As aforementioned, kids' learning curves differ. For better understanding, lessons should aim at encouraging the young ones to be independent learners. Critical thinking in particular, should be encouraged since it gives learners the ability to analyze subjects more deeply and systematically. From a young age, they will develop creativity and profound thinking skills, which come in handy as they progress with their education. Encouraging independent learning in the classroom environment also nurtures a mentoring approach in the sense that learners will feel cared for by their tutors.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Does Your Child Need Individual Tutoring?

Seeing your child struggle through studies can be painful. These difficult school days become as hard for you as they are for them. These struggles can result in many other problems including emotional and behavioral disorders. There is help for your child if you recognize they are struggling with their studies. Identifying and supporting your child's mental health in school is important.

Does Your Child Need Individual Tutoring?

Closing the gap in your child's educational needs can often be accomplished during the summer break. Using the summer recess is not an easy decision and parents often have to decide what's right for their child. There are signs to look for to know whether or not tutoring will help your child regain their confidence in school.

Is Tutoring the Answer?

If the reasons your child is struggling are due to:

Missing a significant portion of the school year due to an absence
Experiencing trouble in only one class and needs information re-taught

Then tutoring is the best choice to help them regain the information they've lost or misunderstood during regular school classes.

What Will Tutoring Provide?

Tutoring and teaching have a lot in common. Both of these will deliver information to your child and help create opportunities for them to think, read, pay attention, and remember information. This small learning environment allows your child to solve problems and perform academic tasks they found difficult in the classroom.

When Should You Provide Tutoring?

If you know, the struggles your child is experiencing is not related to weak cognitive skills but more because of missing too much class time, then tutoring will help deliver the missed information. Sometimes illness may require a student be out of school for a number of days, or the family has taken a vacation resulting in missed class time. Help from a tutor to catch up on lost material is an excellent answer.

If your family has moved and your child finds the new school is ahead of their previous school, then a tutor can help them catch up on the material, so they are at the same level. Another common reason for a child to fall behind in studies is a change in teaching methods. Substitutes often do not deliver the same degree of instruction as a regular classroom teacher can.

If there is some form of external cause for your child not to be at the same level as his or hers classmates, they will benefit with the help of a tutor. A tutor can redeliver the missed or not understood material in a manner that will make sense for your child.

Treating the Root of Learning Struggles

Learning RX specializes in determining the source of your child's learning struggles. Their professionals can address learning struggles such as ADD, ADHD, and more. Their expert educators will also provide support in math, reading and other academic advancements.

Monday, January 30, 2017

Tutoring vs. Brain Training

Learning is a continuous life process, which goes on up to adulthood. The quality of learning that children undergo during their formative years greatly determines the kind of adults that they will grow into. Brain training and one-one-one tutoring are two of the most popular learning techniques that parents use on their school-going children.
You children’s academic excellence is accentuated by their ability to learn. This means that as a parent, you must ensure that they receive high quality learning. Nonetheless, children require specific learning techniques for them to attain maximum academic excellence. The end objective of both brain training and tutoring is to help children who are struggling with learning difficulties to become academic high-fliers.
Brain Training
This learning technique is also referred to as cognitive skills training. Its objective is to improve your child’s brain performance. Your child could be struggling academically simply because he/she has weak cognitive skills. This disputes many individual’s perception that learning struggles are a result of poorly presented information. Weak cognitive skills can make academic progress difficult irrespective of the number of times that the information is taught and re-taught.
Tutoring is not a permanent solution for your children if they have weak cognitive skills. This is because they will struggle to comprehend and process information right from the first time they are taught. In as much as they may be able to get through class projects, they will continue struggling thereafter.
One-on-One Tutoring
This learning technique is akin to teaching since its main objective is to deliver new ideas and information to learners. It also seeks to create opportunities for your children so that they can learn skills such as reading, thinking, remembering, and paying attention. These skills help learners to find solutions to problems, and undertake various academic tasks.
The success of this learning technique relies on learner’s cognitive strength. Nonetheless, tutoring is preferred among learners who failed to grasp information due to other factors apart from weak cognitive skills. This may include absence from class, and change of tutors.
What is the Best Alternative?
As a parent, it is advisable to know the root cause of your child’s learning difficulties before you choose a learning technique for him/her. This means you must identify weaknesses that are making him/her lose the ability to decipher new information. Tutoring is an effective learning technique if an external factor interfered with your child’s ability to grasp and process information. In this case, it is advisable to redeliver the information that was missed in the first place.

Brain training on the other hand is used to address the causes of your child’s learning struggles. The weaknesses are first identified and then strengthened. Research indicates that four-fifths of students who perform poorly academically do so due to weak cognitive skills. Therefore, brain training provides transferable gains since it improves how the brain processes information in every topic taught. This makes it the best training technique for your child.

Monday, January 23, 2017

One-On-One Tutoring vs. Brain Training

Watching your child struggle through school work can be as frustrating for you as it is for them. Children who continuously find reading, math, or any subject challenging are often offered outside help or tutoring. Is this the best solution for your child?
One-on-One Tutoring vs. Brain Training
Tutoring is often offered as a solution to students who are experiencing struggles with one or more subjects. If you are seeing a change in your child's academic success due to missed days at school, a change in their program, or any other external change in routine then tutoring is a great alternative to help them regain the knowledge needed to catch up with material. If your child's struggles have been ongoing and they consistently experience challenges with school work, they may be suffering from weak cognitive skills, and this needs special training to overcome those challenges.
When Tutoring is Effective
If your child has previously been successful with school studies and suddenly falls behind in one or more subject, it may be related to a change in routine. They may have experienced a change in the classroom such as a new teacher who changes how material is delivered or may have been out of the classroom due to illness or vacation time. When these situations affect your child's understanding, a tutor is a great alternative for them to catch up on missed instructions. This alternative can also deliver the lesson in a different manner that is easier for them to grasp.
Tutoring can be a very useful tool to help your child receive additional material to build on their skills. Additional teaching will deliver information to assist in solving problems and complete their academic tasks.  When the struggles your child is experiencing is not related to missed class instruction and is a result of weak cognitive skills, tutoring may only further frustrate them. They may need to train their brain how to learn material.
When to use Brain Training
Struggling with learning can be due to weak cognitive skills the brain needs to think, perform, and learn. These cognitive skills help your child:
·         Pay attention to the delivery of material
·         Help your child process the material
·         Allow them to remember what they hear
·         Allow them to use reasoning and logic to understand
Brain Training provides your child with a personal trainer who targets their weak skills and strengthens them through mental exercises that are fun and challenging. Brain Training provides your child with the mental edge needed to improve their learning potential. They will be taught better thinking skills they can transfer to any learning environment. This training will build your child's cognitive skills and allow them to discontinue medications, no longer need remediation reading groups, and no longer have to be pulled from class for special help.

Brain Training for your child will help them eliminate struggles with academics. This training will help your child develop better self-esteem and confidence in themselves as they experience more success in the classroom. 

Monday, January 16, 2017

Is brain training better than tutoring?

Brain training and tutoring have provided help for many families of children who are struggling with reading or learning. Is one better than the other?

Actually, tutoring and brain training are both great solutions, but they are not interchangeable. In fact, tutoring and brain training are two very different answers to two very different problems.

There are circumstances in which tutoring will be more effective than brain training, and circumstances in which the reverse is true.

It really boils down to this: Learning requires two things: strong educational content, and strongHYPERLINK "http://www.learningrx.com/charlotte-north/charlotte-north-cognitive-skills/" cognitive skills to learn and apply that content. Typically, tutoring is the preferred method of delivering (or redelivering) educational content, while brain training is the preferred method of strengthening weak cognitive skills.

When is tutoring the right choice?

Is your child:
• Struggling as a result of missing classes due to illness or vacation?
• Struggling as a result of moving to a new school, or relocating frequently?
• Struggling in a single class due to poor presentation of information (inexperienced or absent teacher, missing class materials, etc)?
• Demonstrating a special gifting or passion, and you want to hire someone knowledgeable in that subject to tutor your child at an advanced level?
• Good at catching on right away if a concept needs to be explained a second time?

Since tutoring redelivers educational content that wasn’t grasped the first time it was presented, hire a tutor when your child needs help getting “caught up” because something has interfered with the delivery of that content the first time around.

When is brain training the right choice?

Do any of the following statements describe your child?
• Has received tutoring in subjects in which he/she still struggles
• Is struggling in more than one class
• Has always disliked or struggled with reading
• Takes a long time doing homework
• Has chronically struggled in school or with tests
• Has to work harder or longer than other kids to achieve good grades
• Says he or she feels stupid, can’t succeed, or isn’t as smart as other kids

If even one of the above statements describes your child, there is a good chance that brain training will prove more effective than tutoring. This is because each of the above statements describe common experiences when one or more cognitive skills are weak.
Brain training strengthens foundational cognitive skills the brain uses to think and learn, making it the right way to address weak skills that are making learning harder than it should be. This is not uncommon, by the way. Studies show that the majority of learning struggles are caused by one or more weak cognitive skills.

One-on-one brain training, a form of cognitive training, pairs clients of all ages with their own personal brain trainers. Programs consist of fun, challenging mental exercises that strengthen attention, long-term memory, short-term memory, auditory processing, visual processing, logic & reasoning, and processing speed. The improvements are often dramatic (see www.learningrx.com/results).

If weak skills are at the root of your child’s struggle with reading, learning, or paying attention, brain training is the best approach.

Begin by having your child take a one-hour cognitive assessment

Whatever you ultimately decide in terms of the right intervention for your child, a good first step is to have your child take a cognitive assessment so you can know for sure if weak cognitive skills are at the root of the struggles. If the assessment shows that your child has strong cognitive skills, then the root of the problem lies elsewhere, and tutoring is probably the better choice.

If the assessment shows one or more weak cognitive skills, those skills need to be strengthened, and brain training is probably the better choice. A cognitive skills assessment is the right place to begin, and will give you a detailed look at your child’s cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Cognitive assessments are offered by LearningRx, the largest one-on-one brain training company in the world with 80 centers across the nation and 40 locations around the globe.

Contact us today and schedule a cognitive skills assessment for yourself or your child.


Monday, January 9, 2017

The Benefits of Tutoring For Math and Reading

When it comes to increasing a student's academic performance, there are few things that are more helpful than a tutoring program that is designed to improve their math and reading aptitude. Thanks to the assistance of Brain Training, students can improve their grades and change the manner that they are accustomed to learning.

Struggling students no longer have to shoulder their academic burdens alone and with the help of programs like Brain Training, they can enjoy a number of different benefits. Be sure to read on and learn more about all of the advantages that a student is able to enjoy by enrolling.

1. Individualized Learning Regimen

It can be difficult for students who are struggling with math and reading to keep up with their more advanced peers and teachers are not always capable of tailoring their curriculum to the needs of students who learn at a different pace. With the help of an experienced tutor, a student that needs additional attention outside of the traditional classroom environment can receive assistance that is structured to their particular areas of weakness.

Teachers can be great and while they are typically well equipped to handle the needs of the children in their classroom, it can be challenging to balance the learning requirements of several different children at one time. For kids that could use some additional one on one time outside of their usual classroom environment, math and reading tutors are an invaluable resource that cannot be ignored. Students benefit immensely from customized activities and lessons that are designed to turn their weaknesses into strengths.

2. Avoiding the All Too Common Summer Backslide

When children finally receive a much needed respite from the classroom and the demands on their teachers, there is a certain tendency to exhale and allow the lessons that have been learned during the school room to fade from memory. Parents that wish to delay the effects of the summer slide and keep the mind of their young student sharp all year round will often enlist the services of a math or reading tutor to ensure better performance during the next school term.

If kids are not practicing these crucial skills during the summer months, a simple break can turn into an unavoidable backslide, causing the student to forget all of the lessons that they have just learned. Tutoring provides students with a much needed opportunity to remain ahead of the curve and steer clear of the dreaded summer backslide period. Not only does tutoring help a student remain sharp, but it also places them on the fast track for greater levels of success during the next school year.

3. Eliminating Any and All Distractions

Sometimes, a child may struggle to learn at the same pace as their peers because their classroom environment is littered with distractions that keep them from taking the proper steps. Some children will become too focused on spending time with their friends, while other children may have a tendency to spend their classroom time daydreaming, as opposed to learning. If your child fits into one of these categories, they will benefit greatly from the presence of a math and reading tutor.

Tutoring creates a special space where the student and their tutor are 100 percent focused on the process of learning. Children who simply need more time to practice and receive increased repetitions are able to avoid the frustration associated with practicing their skills in the wrong manner. Practicing their math and reading skills with a helpful manner keeps them from establishing poor study habits that could dog them well into adulthood.

4. Improved Grades

There are certain skills that need to be mastered in the classroom in order for a student to receive satisfactory marks in their math and reading related courses and when these skills are not properly cultivated by their teacher, this can leave them woefully behind the rest of their classmates when it comes to their grade point average, which can also adversely affect their ability to choose the proper college or secondary learning institution to advance their education.

Tutors have the unique ability to spend time with a student and learn more about where their weaknesses lie, developing an advanced learning plan that targets the areas that are causing students to experience unsatisfactory grades. In many instances, all it takes is a little bit of extra practice and some helpful math and reading review for a student to change their C’s and D’s into B’s and A’s. The aspects that the student is struggling to grasp become the primary areas of focus.

5. Challenging Your Gifted Student

There is a common misconception that math and reading tutors are only assigned to children who lag behind their peers, but in many instances, a gifted child will also begin to struggle in school when they do not feel as if they are being properly challenged. A gifted student may become bored and feel as if the lessons that they are being taught are beneath them, which can cause grades to slip.

That's why it is important to enlist a tutor to push your gifted student and ensure that they remain challenged at all times. Tutoring is not only beneficial to the students who are in danger of falling behind, a student who is currently excelling can also stand to benefit as well. A student who does not feel as if they are being pushed will greatly enjoy the customized lessons and specialized practice that only the best tutors can provide.