Teaching Tips & Tricks

Using the Hands-on Approach for Kids with ADHD

July 12, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

playdoh

Image by zalo via Flickr

If you’ve ever taught a child with ADHD, then you know how their hands never stop. They’re touching their neighbor, they’re moving all around, and they can’t sit still. That’s why using a hands-on approach to learning can be very beneficial.

The Play dough Technique

Play dough is a fun toy because it allows the user to create and mold and then mold and create something new. If you’re in a classroom teaching something that doesn’t lend itself to a hands-on lesson plan, consider giving the children some play dough. Let anyone who wants some to have some not singling any one child out. You’ll likely find that everyone will take a container, but the interesting thing is that most kids are done with it after about 10 or 15 minutes. Kids with ADHD, however, will continue to play with the play dough throughout the whole lesson.

Hands-on Lesson Plan

The better choice, however, is to use lessons that are hands on. You can use apples to represent fractions, have the students draw pictures to represent what they’re reading, or have the students act out scenes from history. Whatever your lesson is, look for ways into involve the students instead of just talking to them while they sit in their seats. Engaged learning is more effective than disengaged learning.

The main thing to remember when teaching kids with ADHD is to be understanding. Although it may seem like the kids are acting out on purpose, most of the time they really want to “be good,” but can’t seem to control themselves.

Filed Under: Family Support, Teaching Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Learning disability, Parent

Teaching Dyslexic Child Using a Multi-Sensory Approach

July 2, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Image via Wikipedia

The thing about children with dyslexia is even though they may have perfect hearing and perfect vision, they aren’t always able to process the information that is given visually or auditory. Each child differs, so you may not always know what isn’t getting through. The best approach is to use all five senses, if possible, to teach students with dyslexia. And really, it’s better for all children to learn this way, so it’s good for all students.

At the beginning of the lesson, briefly go over what the lesson will cover in small, easy-to-digest chunks. This will help alleviate the feeling of being overwhelmed felt by those with dyslexia. Just remember that dyslexic children have a hard time reading the board or an overhead. If possible, make an individual copy for each student, or at least the child with dyslexia.

When you do write on the board, use a different color of marker or chalk for each point. This will help your dyslexic students distinguish the different points instead of just seeing a chunk of text. Also, leave the information on the board for as long as possible, so the students have plenty of time to write the information down.

When you’re evaluating a dyslexic student for information comprehension and retention, consider giving the student a verbal quiz on the information rather than written. This will decrease test anxiety and help the student to more likely be successful. The best thing you can do is help your students feel confident and intelligent.

Filed Under: Family Support, Teaching Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Dyslexia, Learning Disabilities, University of Twente

Innovative Computer Programs Provide Adequate Teaching Methods for Parents

May 18, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Image by San Jose Library via Flickr

Since the inception of the Internet, there has been a variety of different tools provided to people who utilize it on a regular basis. From the ease of searching through vast amounts of information for a seemingly instantaneous answer, to the endless forms of entertainment; the Internet has uniquely shaped society in a number of different ways. However, among one of the more important aspects of society that the Internet has assisted in changing is that of education. There are a barrage of unique and innovative programs and online tools that can be utilized to help children learn while simultaneously having fun.

Useful Information and How-to Guides

As mentioned earlier, the Internet is full of useful and easily accessible information. Due to this fact, parents can find and use proven teaching methods to work with at home with their children. Whether parents are homeschooling their children through Elementary School, or simply getting the ball rolling before enrolling into a public school; there are many inventive and interactive curriculums available online.

Interactive Teaching Programs

In addition to the large amount of useful information online that pertains to teaching, there are also many free and purchasable programs that help make learning fun for children. Generally, these types of programs provide a unique environment in which children can do things that are stimulating to their brain while simultaneously holding their interest. From mathematics to English, there are programs that cover each of the important fundamentals in general education. These types of visually appealing programs tend to be particularly useful for children with learning disabilities.

Filed Under: Teaching Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Child, Education, Elementary School

Unique Approaches to Home-Schooling

May 12, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Home-schooling is a hotly debated topic between those that are for home-schooling and those who regard public schooling as the only viable option. Unfortunately, those who are on the side of the public school systems tend to stereotype homeschooling as a bland source of education in which the child is held back both academically as well as socially. However, many people do not know that, especially since the inception of the widespread use of the Internet, there are many effective and innovative ways for parents to home-school their children. Below is a short list of some of the more popular tools utilized to accomplish this.

Access to the Many University Sponsored Curriculums

There has been a growing trend in Universities and professional advocates of home-schooling providing effective and proven curriculums to parents who might need some resources to get started. These curriculums consist of basic easy to follow teaching methods for the basics in academics, to unique and fun field trips that pertain to specific lessons that are both fun and educational for children. Due to the success of these curriculums, there has been an increase in the variations that are readily available.

Interactive Online Computer Games

Most people right off the bat might turn their backs to the concept of games and education mixing. However, this concept is particularly effective for children who are younger and might have trouble paying attention. There are many education based games that teach children the basics of academics through interactive and aesthetically pleasing environments that hold their attention and allow them to learn while having fun.

Filed Under: Teaching Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Approaches, Schooling

How to Hire the Best Tutor for Your Child

May 4, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

When it comes to hiring a tutor for your child, it can be somewhat overwhelming. There are many aspects to consider in ensuring the tutor will be effective in full-filling your child’s needs. In some cases, children have learning disabilities that can pose as a prospective hurdle in their ability to learn specific materials. Choosing the right tutor to help reinforce their individual areas that they might be weak and can be vital to their future success. Due to this fact, it is important to do a few things prior to hiring a tutor for your child that will ensure a positive experience.

Find out What Will Function Best for Your Child

Sit down with your child and get a better feel as to how they respond to learning specific elements. As their parent, you probably already know what kinds of personality they respond to best, as well as their general academic abilities. However, sitting down with them prior to beginning your search for a prospective tutor is a good way to reinforce what you know and allow you to start your search with the right information.

Perform Adequate Research

When it comes to locating a tutor, a parent can never perform too much research. Most parents who are beginning this step will approach generalized forums and or blogs pertaining to tutoring to get a good idea as to what things to look for in an effective tutor over one that is not. Upon finding and considering a few candidates, it is then good practice to research those candidates, whether online or through provided sources to ensure everything looks viable before making a final decision.

Filed Under: Teaching Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Child, Education, Tutor

Assistive Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities

March 20, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Children with learning disabilities often have difficulty functioning in a traditional classroom. Given a reading assignment when it is a struggle to read or writing a report when your hand doesn’t do what you want it to do can make a ten-minute assignment take hours. By using assistive technology, students can work around these difficulties and become a successful learner.

Assistive technology, which can be learning tools both high- and low-tech, enable people with learning disabilities to reach their potential by working around their deficit. These tools can be as simple as books on tape, calculators and color coding files. More high-tech devices include computers with speech-recognition or print-recognition software that turn oral language into written text or written text into oral language, respectively, and talking calculators.

Through the use of assistive technology, students with learning disabilities can improve their speed and accuracy, thereby cutting hours offer of laborious assignments. Students also may require less help and be able to fit in better with the rest of the classroom’s learning and routines. A student’s success will also help to motivate him to set higher goals for himself and to stick with his work.

It is important to note that assistive technology isn’t the end all, be all for learning disabilities. It does not make learning disabilities suddenly disappear and it will not make up for poor teaching. Assistive technology also will not instantly make a student become a motivated learner or benefit each user in the same way.

A major benefit of assistive technology for the learning disabled student is the reduction in stress the student experiences. These additional learning supports can empower a student and raise his self-image.

Filed Under: Teaching Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Assistive technology, Learning disability, Student

Hidden Teaching Resources

March 19, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Many parents of children, tweens, or teens with disabilities are active with schoolwork. Parental involvement throughout college can be the difference between barely passing or excelling in academics. Here are some ways to find hidden teaching resources.

Finding all of the available programs to support students may be challenging. Creating a positive learning environment involves making one or several resources readily available. Changing schools or going from middle to high school or college is often a time of great changes in the students daily routine.

Thoroughly read the school website, and look for any offered services. If there are no resources clearly listed take time to contact the school directly. Making phone calls is a great start. Ask specifically for programs that offer additional help or any ongoing support groups. Many educators love to see parental involvement and will share the information. However, many public schools may these programs but they are not always talked about. Contacting the districts main office sometime yields better results. There may be a tutoring program, computer loan program, free online access to software, and a host of other resources available. Testing for learning disabilities may be offered for free or at a discount if you go through the schools referral. Another great alternative is distance learning. Seek the help of online educational systems like earnmydegree.com and inquire on practical methods applied to make learning easier for your child.

Many districts may offer programs at different schools throughout the month. There may be programs available that simply have to be signed up for. Some of these programs may need a certain number of students who are interested for particiaption at your child’s school. Some state and government sponsored programs do not have income restrictions to qualify.

Tapping into these hidden resources is easy once you find a knowledgeable person within the schools offices. Many colleges offer a variety of resources for students. Finding the best resources for your child involves being proactive about all current avenues for additional help.

Filed Under: Teaching Tips & Tricks Tagged With: High school, Learning disability

Special Education

February 23, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Special education has gotten a face lift in the last 20 years or so through the revision of the IDEA format, Individuals with Disabilities Act. This change was prompted by parents of children with disabilities that felt that it was unfair for their children to be segregated from the rest of the school because of their disability. This was also made visible with students that had reading difficulties that were combined with severe Down Syndrome students. The problem was that the students with the mild to moderate learning disabilities were feeling severely disabled because that was the group they were placed with. According to the revisions made on IDEA one of the key revisions was that a student was going to have the least restrictive environment possible. This is where No Child Left Behind, or NCLB, was developed.

The least restrictive environment means that a child is to be with other students, and if help is needed, an inclusion teacher assigned to that student will offer help in the classroom. This also meant that the mainstream teacher, and special education teacher were to work hand in hand in developing proper workloads for particular students, based on the provisions of their IEP, Individual Education Plan. This has inclusion model is a nationwide model, and is used in every school in America. The idea behind the model is to eliminate as much one on one special education time, which in the past was making students feel defeated rather than empowered, and allow them the opportunity to learn the same information with their peers. This has been highly successful, and many are considering a new over haul of special education that would consider mainstream teacher be licenced for accommodations to help eliminate the middle man in their classrooms.

Filed Under: Teaching Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Disability, Education, Special education

A Passion for Teaching

January 21, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

If you are interested in helping children form the foundation for a happy and successful future, you’re probably already looking at an early childhood education degree. All young children deserve an excellent education, but some children require more care and attention to thrive than others. These special needs children may have fewer opportunities to learn because not all teachers know how to help them. If you want to be a teacher who can help these children, the first step toward that goal is to earn an early childhood education degree that focuses on special needs.

Holding a degree in early childhood education is quite an accomplishment, but holding one that focuses on special needs in particular will mean that you will always be in demand. Individuals with these degrees are highly sought after because few people choose to become special needs teachers. If you also have a deep passion for the work then you will be even more qualified because teaching children with special needs can be challenging on an emotional level as well as an academic one–and your passion can change the course of a child’s life for the better. If you want a rewarding career, one that leaves you not wondering but knowing that you have made a difference in the world, then this is the career for you.

Many universities offer early childhood education programs, but if there isn’t one in your area don’t worry–there are now online colleges offering online degrees in childhood education. There are hundreds of universities to choose from online and thanks to technology you can attend classes at any of them from wherever you live—as long as you have access to a computer and an Internet connection. Whether you go to college online or in person, the education that you receive will be as good as the college you choose, so pick carefully.

Filed Under: Teaching Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Child, Children Youth and Family, Early Childhood, Early childhood education, Education, Organizations, Research, Teacher

Glancing at the St. Louis Institute for the Deaf and the Blind

January 20, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Founded in 1962, the St. Louis Institute for the Deaf and the Blind provides a regular secondary, higher secondary and university education to students with the disability of deafness or blindness. The school started with only three teachers and 51 students; today, the institute boasts nearly 45 teachers and 400 students. The paragraphs that follow will offer a brief look at this extraordinary school — examining its aims and vision, its academics, and its facilities.

Vision

The St. Louis Institute hopes that, with rigorous work and dedication, the disabled students who attend the school can eventually join society as “useful citizens in a dignified way.” The institute works to find employment for its graduates and hopes to expand its reach to other corners of the world, ensuring that as many disabled students as possible get a chance to lead fulfilling lives.

Academics

The programs offered by the institute include a school for the deaf, a school for the blind, vocational training for students with hearing impairment, and a college for the deaf. The classes incorporate all the major subjects — English, mathematics, science, history and geography — but there also are more elective-type classes such as sewing, printing, drawing, computer science, weaving and music. Providing a core education along with vocational and enrichment studies is important to the institute.

Facilities

Students with disabilities, and especially blind or deaf students, often require advanced technology and facilities in order to receive a proper education. The St. Louis Institute has a library for the hearing impaired, the visually impaired, and the college. The blind students use multimedia and Braille. There are also computer labs that match the three libraries. The lab for blind students includes a Braille printer, which allows the students to type and print books with Braille as well as to write their own music. Other facilities include an infirmary, a hostel, an audiology center, an auditorium and a gymnasium.

Filed Under: Teaching Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Disability