Pyramid of Potential

 

 

Reading #4

 

 

 

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June 24, 2015

 

Hey Folks!


 

I hope you are enjoying this June! Here in the Northeast, the weather has been sunny and rainy - perfect for growing anything! And here at Pyramid of Potential, we are growing brains - LOL. As you are finishing up June, and I am finishing up a month of writing about reading, I will complete the month with Blocks to Comprehension.

 

Two newsletters ago we reviewed the many aspects of vision relate to the ability to read. Last week we looked at the 7 visual blocks to reading. If you want to read past newsletters, just go to http://www.pyramidofpotential.com/read-newsletters/.

  

Registration for Brain Advancement Training ends on Friday. We start July 1st. Be sure to sign up if you are interested, time is almost up. Head over to Brainadvancementteam.com for more information. Contact us if you are interested or have some questions.

 

Thank you so much! Kathy

Blocks to Comprehension 

 

Decoding

The very first block to comprehension is poor decoding. If someone has to stop and sound out a word, the attention is taken away from comprehension and given to decoding. The more a person has to decode, the less brain power will be given to remembering and understanding the information. A very quick decoding method can be found in the book, Reading Reflex by McGuinness.

 

Working memory

If a person has poor working memory (a low amount of information can be stored and manipulated in the brain at one time) and has to decode, the problem mentioned above is even worse. Just stopping for one word can make a person with low working memory forget everything read. I once had a young child read - haltingly - a passage in a textbook. When done, we went to the comprehension questions. After I asked the first one, she asked to see the book to look up the answer. I thought she would know the answer, but she explained that she read the information, but couldn't remember it at the same time. To improve working memory, an intense daily program works best. If you are a do-it-yourself type person, Growing Brains Everyday, for elementary students, or Equipping Minds for older students is great. They can both be found at http://www.pyramidofpotential.com/store/. Both include the Maintaining Brains Everyday DVD for neurodevelopment. Or, see if there is a Brain Advancement Coach near you at http://www.brainadvancementteam.com/locate-a-coach/ . If not, consider training to be a coach!

 

Visualization

Most people, when they read, have a movie in their head. When they want to remember what was read, they replay the movie. This requires the ability to visualize - to make pictures in their head of what was going on in the book. Other people remember the words, the story, and/or the emotions without pictures. This is much harder to remediate, while visualization is fairly quick and easy. I use the book, Visualization and Verbalization by Lindamood Bell.I found that it took only a couple of weeks to get a child comprehending and summarizing using it.

 

Other visual issues

If a child cannot read without his eyes jumping all over the page, missing words, jumping over lines, etc. then he has to read the paragraph several times to keep straight what was read. I know, because I used to have this problem! I was a slow reader and poor at comprehension. Another visual issue that can hold people back is double vision. In my testing I have found that approximately 10% of the LD kids who came in saw double vision at least some of the time. And no one knew! That is because no one routinely checks.

 

To help with vision issues, read the whole newsletter from http://www.pyramidofpotential.com/read-newsletters/. Read the one called 7 Visual Blocks. It gives much more detail about visual issues as well as remediation.

 

Logic and reasoning

Have you ever had a student or child who is a "concrete thinker"? These people have a very difficult time deducing, going beyond the information said or read. They lack the skill of logic and reasoning. If you give a concrete thinker a paragraph with comprehension questions, those questions have to have the same language as the paragraph. Otherwise, that person cannot translate the questions into what the paragraph said. So, if the language of the questions match the paragraph, then this does not test comprehension, it actually tests matching abilities.

 

In the work that I have done, as well as our coaches, we have found that logic and reasoning skills have leapt by years (age equivalent) in months or weeks from integrating primitive reflexes. They have used the DVD "Maintaining Brains Everyday" found on http://www.pyramidofpotential.com/store/. A school in Wisconsin had amazing results that you can read about on the page http://www.pyramidofpotential.com/testimonials/. Scroll down a bit - it starts off with "Good Morning Kathy", tells what they did and the results.

 

Poor vocabulary

I was working with this one girl who had integrated her reflexes, done listening therapy, completed cognitive training, learned decoding, and improved her visualization. I knew that she also had a poor vocabulary. In fact, her school testing had found that she had a deficit in expressive and receptive language. Since she was in Middle School, I knew that we needed to fill up her vocabulary bucket as quickly as possible. So I told her to ask whenever she heard or read a word she didn't know. In the beginning, a word she asked for the definition for was "ditch". You never really know what a person knows or doesn't know.

 

By the way, I started working with her in 5th grade, in March. By the end of 6th grade, I was only helping fill in her math knowledge one hour a week, and she was out of Special ed and on the high honor roll! You can see why I get so excited about this work!

 

For July and August, we will be exploring in-depth all about where learning struggles start - during the first year of life. It will be very important information!!

June Conference - Don't Miss It!!

Saratoga Jazz Festival: http://www.spac.org/freihofers-saratoga-jazz-festival

Consider a vacation in Saratoga Springs, New York!

June 28 - The Plastic Brain:

Improving Memory, Attention, Processing Speed and More

Registration is at www.tinyurl.com/plasticbrain

Save by registering before May 15!!

 

Throughout the day, Ms. Johnson will train participants in exactly how to remediate some of the most difficult problems that are a result of incomplete brain development in infancy. However, as she likes to say, there is no silver bullet! Each child is an individual who will require a unique approach.

Ms. Johnson will describe a model where the emphasis changes from spending increasingly more time and energy on academics to incorporating brain development into early childhood, special education, and regular education classrooms, freeing up the teacher to teach more academics as a result.

She will share the results from an elementary school in Wisconsin who is implementing these methods with significant cognitive improvements in less than a year! "the improvement in the classroom has been the best news that we hear" Wisconsin Teacher Ryan McBurney


 

The Developing Brain and Case Histories

Body and Mind Health, and the effect on brain development

     Nutrition, Stress, Exercise, Sleep

Neurodevelopmental Stages; Why Cognitive Skills never Developed

     Primitive Reflexes

     Symptoms and Integration exercises

     Incorporating reflex exercises into the school day

Sensory Development

     Auditory Processing

       Symptoms of an auditory processing disorder

       What to do

     Visual Processing

       Tracking and Convergence Screening

       Simple eye exercises

       Irlen Syndrome and Colored Overlays

       Vision Therapy

Cognitive Skills Development

     Phonemic Awareness

     Attention

     Memory

     Logic and reasoning

     Processing speed

Integrating brain development into school day without losing precious academic time

 

June 29 - Primitive Reflexes:

Foundation for Learning

Registration is at www.tinyurl.com/primreflex

Save by registering before May 15!!

 

 

The primitive reflexes have been around as long as people have been around. They are present primarily to force the infant to move the body in such ways that it develops and matures to survive. The additional benefit, as humans, is that along with motor movements, many other brain components are developing that help with academics: the visual system, the auditory system, the ability to concentrate, remember, and understand.

 

Several people have commented that they believe this is the missing link. And indeed, in my experience since 2000, I have found that the integration of the primitive reflexes to be one of the least expensive and most effective therapies today.

 

 "I have a student that a year ago was basically a selective mute on the Autistic Spectrum.  I have put a lot of work in class working in the Moro and can report that she changed like a light switch coming on.  She is speaking in class, she will transition independently, is reading basic readers, and is exhibiting significantly fewer behaviors to the point that we may be removing the 1:1 behavioral specialist from her IEP." - California Teacher Mark Steiner


 

Introduction

     Case histories

     History of Reflex Integration

     Research

     Primitive reflexes guidelines

     Beyond Primitive Reflexes

Moro Reflex:

      Symptoms, Testing, Integration

Palmar Reflex:

      Symptoms, Testing, Integration

Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex:

      Symptoms, Testing, Integration

Spinal Galant:

      Symptoms, Testing, Integration

Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex:

      Symptoms, Testing, Integration

Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex:

      Symptoms, Testing, Integration

 

NOTE: Please bring a yoga mat or blanket plus a small pillow and wear comfortable clothes as we will be practicing on the floor

Contact Us
Kathy Johnson, MS Ed

Bob Johnson

Pyramid of Potential
245 Washington St #3369
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
518-260-3937

Take a Look!
Video of the Week!

Reading: 3 Amazing Activities
This video goes over the actual reasons behind reading failure. It's not the teacher; it's not the method; it's not motivation. actually, a child's brain must be set up for the ability to process all the different things that contribute to good reading skills, including being able to process sounds well - for decoding - and vision skills to be able to process letters and words on the page. Also important are vocabulary and language skills, processing speed, memory and visualization for comprehension. Watch this video all the way through to understand what can be done!!
This video goes over the actual reasons behind reading failure. It's not the teacher; it's not the method; it's not motivation. actually, a child's brain must be set up for the ability to process all the different things that contribute to good reading skills, including being able to process sounds well - for decoding - and vision skills to be able to process letters and words on the page. Also important are vocabulary and language skills, processing speed, memory and visualization for comprehension. Watch this video all the way through to understand what can be done!!

Upcoming Local Presentations

 

Improving Handwriting and Composition Abilities
 

August 20. 6:30 - 8:30

63 Putnam Street, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

 

Improving Math and Word Problems When the Methods Don't Work Well Enough
 

September 17, 6:30 - 8:30

63 Putnam Street, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

 

 
Where's Kathy?

It is now time to set up your professional development at your school - Kathy is available for many dates this Fall! Call now to secure YOUR date!

 

Below are the upcoming workshops that Kathy Johnson is giving. If she is not coming to your area, why not hire her for your next professional development?

   

  Kathy Johnson Photo 2010

 

Wednesday, September 23, 2015 in WHITE PLAINS, NY 
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $189.99 

Thursday, September 24, 2015 in PLAINVIEW, NY
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $189.99 

Friday, September 25, 2015 in MANHATTAN, NY
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $189.99 

 

Wednesday, October 7, 2015 in Poughkeepsie, NY
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $189.99 

Thursday, October 8, 2015 in Springfield, MA
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $189.99 

Friday, October 9, 2015 in Albany, NY
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $189.99 

Wednesday, November 18 2015 in San Antonio, TX 
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $189.99 

Thursday, November 19, 2015 in Austin, TX
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $189.99 

Friday, November 20, 2015 in Houston, TX
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $189.99 

 

 

If you aren't near any of these on-site professional development conferences, consider the following:

 

Dyslexia, Dyscalculia & Dysgraphia: An Integrated Approach   Price: $169.99  Author: Kathy Johnson, MS Ed.  Format: DVD