I always hated those conferences: I had to sit in the uncomfortable short seat, I felt like I was inferior to my child's teacher, and I always had my hopes -that my child was working up to his or her potential - dashed. Every year. Each child. Silly me. If the definition of insanity is to expect a different outcome from doing the same thing time and again, well, I was insane.

That is, until I changed. I learned how to make changes in the brain. I had clients who made such amazing changes easily in a year, that I rededicated my professional life to helping the population of learning disabled people. I changed, and then so did the circumstances.

I learned over the past 13 years many things; here are but a few of the lessons learned:

1. We all do the best we can with the information we have at the time. This goes for ALL of us. If you are a parent - don't blame the teacher for not knowing how to help your child. If you know something, then share it with the teacher so that they now know it too. If you are a teacher - don't blame the parent for their child. Everyone is different, and some children come into this world as enigmas. Ask the parent about the child and about what is happening at home. Both parties need to come to the table with as much information to share as possible, because it takes everyone to be on the same page to help a child who struggles.
2. There is no silver bullet. Every person is different. The causes of learning struggles vary widely. Some people only need one therapy; most need several. There are so many great programs ou there, but none are the silver bullet. You may need to try several things, but start with the knowledge that you have about the child's strengths and weaknesses and about programs and therapies. Match them up the best you can.
3. No one is perfect. Not you. Not me. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and for most of us, our strengths are enough to help us be successful. If a child is not successful, you MUST work on the weaknesses and improve them. I've seen children who were the best soccer player, the best artist, or the best singer; but they thought they were stupid, so being the best at something that school (where they spend over 6 hours a day) does not value, hurts self-esteem. In today's world, that matters. Meanwhile, the strengths must be nurtured as well, since this is probably where that child will excel as an adult. We need to help them get to adulthood with self-confidence!
4. EVERY child who came to me for learning issues had retained primitive reflexes. 95% of those children improved with following the exercise protocol that was put in place for them. It is not the silver bullet, as this does not do the entire job, but I've also found that without including it, many times the progress made through other therapies did not stick, or they were more expensive, or they took longer. This was THE foundation for learning.

I have learned so much more, but that is enough for now!