Mirabel's son, Jeff, who is having a very hard time his first year in high school. In his English class, so much of what they do requires him to read long passages and extract information and then write about what he has read.
The Problem: He Can't Remember What He Reads
Jeff says he can't retain what he has read and has found it very difficult to do the assignments. Mirabel is afraid of what will happen if Jeff can't handle the reading and writing expected of him in high school, and she asked me for advice about what to do.
I asked Mirabel to watch Chapter 3 of the Understanding The Maverick Mind video on our web site, where Tiffany explains the reading problems she had in medical school. After watching this 5-minute video, both Jeff and his mom agreed that Jeff felt just like Tiffany. He would read homework over and over and it just didn't stick in his mind.
Tiffany's Results After Brain Training
Tiffany tried to benefit from many accomodations and professional specialists, including the Dean of her medical school. The problem was her visual brain was over-riding her verbal processors and making it difficult for her to use her verbal memory effectively.
I taught her how to re-engineer her brain so that her verbal was strong and durable. Then she was able to read efficiently and utilize accomodations as a supplement to her strong brain function. Tiffany went on to succeed as a medical student and became a doctor because she was finally able to pass her written medical exams.
Help 1: Summaries
Many of the reading assignments in high school use language that is much more complex than the language a student experienced in previous grades, and the more complex the language, the more difficult it is to process, at least at first.
Usually, accomodations can be developed with the classroom teachers. Find out how the teacher feels about using Spark Notes or Cliff Notes to get the main ideas and plot lines before reading a chapter. These types of study aids are great for providing plot and chapter summaries, a list of characters, and notes on what to look for while reading. But they shouldn't be used as a substitute for reading the book.
Help 2: Teacher Outlines and Notes
If the teacher has notes, study the notes before class and highlight key points so that when in class, you can listen and move into memory the most important ideas.
Help 3: Movie or YouTube
See if the teacher recommends a movie of the book or other videos that might be obtained from You Tube so that it is easier for to visualize the material. And don't overlook plays -- many of the lliterary classics are frequently presented on the stage.
The verbal brain is the system we need for effective reading. We store what we read in our word memory. So developing a strong verbal- attention-memory-processing system is the key. Accomodations support a brain that works well.
