 Brain Fact
The visual cortex of the brain is involved in a person's ability to create images in the mind's eye. Recent research indicates that even when a person's sight is limited or non-existent, alternative pathways are used (like touch orsmell) to form visual images in the brain.
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February Learning Tip
If you were asked to visualize a horse, most likely you could do it easily because a horse is a tangible object that most people are familiar with. You know what a horse looks like. You probably also know what it sounds like and could even conjure an identifiable smell to strengthen the image in your mind's eye. However, if you were asked to visualize a concept that is more abstract, such as "volume" or "democracy", could you do it easily?
In school the ability to portray ideas in the mind through a variety of ways (e.g., verbal, visual, metaphorical) can strengthen a student's understanding of concepts. The rotation of the planets, place value and photosynthesis are examples of concepts that may be best understood through mental representation.
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Did You Know?: A Common Vision Problem, Convergence Insufficiency, is NOT Indicative of a Learning Disability
 Parents of children with convergence insufficiency may think their child has a learning disability, because the condition can cause difficulty with reading, but this is not necessarily so. Convergence insufficiency occurs when your eyes don't turn inward properly while you're focusing on a nearby object. When you read or look at a close object, your eyes should converge - turn inward together to focus - so that they provide binocular vision and you see a single image. But if you have convergence insufficiency, you won't be able to move your eyes inward to focus normally. The exact cause isn't known, but the misalignment involves the muscles that move the eye. Typically, one eye drifts outward when you're focusing on a word or object at close range. Convergence insufficiency is most often diagnosed in older children and adolescents.
Pencil push-ups are the most simple and cost-effective way of addressing convergence insufficiency. There is rarely need for expensive interventions at eye therapy clinics. In this simple exercise, you focus on a small letter on the side of a pencil as you move it closer to the bridge of your nose, stopping the movement when you start to have double vision. The exercise is often done for 15 minutes a day, five or more days a week over a period of 3 months. During one session, the push-ups may be repeated 100 or more times.
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CSS Clinician Training Set For May 2010
CSS will be offering Rx for School Success: Adapting a practical approach to managing variations in learning across disciplines in May 2010.
The training will provide health care professionals (school nurses, psychologists, pediatricians, family physicians) with an innovative framework allowing them to link their medical expertise with a neurodevelopmental approach to learning. The training will help health care professionals recognize and understand the effects of common school related-problems, which will lead to their becoming better and more efficient screeners. |
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CSS Spring -Summer Courses Announced
CSS will be offering Applying a Neurodevelopmental Approach to Instructional Practice (ND5020) and the Role of Attention and Memory in Learning (ND5050) this spring. These courses have pre-requisites. Download a PSU spring registration form.
Click here for a complete 2009-2010 course schedule, including summer offerings.
Visit www.centerforschoolsuccess.org for more information as well as course descriptions onThe Neurodevelopmental Approach to Teaching Masters and CAGS program CSS offers through a partnership with Plymouth State University. |
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Upper Valley@ Work Year 3 Profiles Begin
Year 3 of the Upper Valley @ Work profiles are well under way. This month meet Veterinarian, Blakeley Murrell-Liland. Upper Valley @ Work is a profile series highlighting local residents who use their unique strengths to better their lives and communities. The Upper Valley at Work campaign is intended to help give young people a sense of the options they may have to find meaningful employment in the Upper Valley area. The project is a collaboration with these partner organizations that are working together to strengthen our region. Upper Valley at Work partners are: Center for School Success, Upper Valley and Business Education Partnership, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation-Upper Valley Region, Upper Valley United Way and Vermont Community Foundation The profile series is published monthly in the Valley News and is available on the web. Learn more. | |
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About the Center for School Success
The Center for School Success, located in West Lebanon, NH, is a non-profit organization that helps struggling students achieve measurable success in school and in life. CSS offers learning assessments (grade 2-college), professional development and outreach services. CSS services help students, their parents and teachers apply recent brain-based research findings to link how the student learns best with a plan for success.
Phone: (603) 298-6700 | |
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