Memory Training for The Child Who Can’t Remember

MEMORY IS THE ABILITY TO RETRIEVE INFORMATION THAT HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY UNDERSTOOD. "My child just can't remember!" When I hear this statement from a parent or educator, my mind switches into a questioning mode. What kinds of things don’t they remember? Can you give me an example of what they can’t remember? Is it just one thing? Is it multiple things? Is it situational? What’s happening when they can’t remember? Is the information they don’t remember visual or auditory? Is the difficulty in remembering information or numbers? No, I don’t badger the witness; I just wonder. The good news is…

The Door Opener to the Visual System

The SOI assessments provide information about an individual’s ability to process visual information. Over the years, I have actually become more impressed with how hard the eyes have to work in order to actively engage the mind in the learning process, in remembering visual information, and in correctly solving problems with that information. This is perhaps the most misunderstood group of sub-tests in the SOI Model. Vision is thought of as eyesight, visual acuity, and the health of the eyes. We are often told that an individual is concerned about his/her poor reading ability, lack of comprehension, and misreading words,…

The Potholes in Education

I agree. My topic and thoughts today sound odd. I stand accused of thinking too much about the challenges in education, even when sitting in a long line of cars out at the coast of Oregon. A large section of Highway 101 was being repaired for potholes. In the section I was at, it is only a two lane road and the wait ended up to be about 15 minutes going and coming. I was not driving, so I looked up how much potholes cost the American people - billions of dollars. AAA reports the cost of automobile damage resulting…

Empowering Students to be Successful: SOI Paradigm

Working with children with learning challenges and concerns for the past twenty years has given a meaningful direction and purpose to my life. I have traveled extensively from New Delhi, India to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Denver, Colorado; and Sacramento, California in my journey as a student and a facilitator for the children with learning issues and their families. I started my career as a remedial education teacher at Educare, New Delhi, where I learned the basics of the Orton Gillingham approach of teaching phonics and reading skills under Dr. Sunita Sodhi. This was a very fulfilling experience of understanding the concepts…

Learning Solutions: The Actions You See – The Words You Never Hear

SOI HAS BEEN PROVIDING INNOVATIVE LEARNING SOLUTIONS FOR OVER 50 YEARS. SAM, AGE 8 “Oh no, we’re going to read out loud again? I wish I could just disappear. She’s handing out the books. I can’t, I just can’t read out loud again and have the guys laugh when I stumble over the words. I don’t get why they can read without stumbling and I read like a K student. When we go out to recess, someone always says something dumb to me and I just shrug my shoulders. My parents and teacher hate when I do that. Think… I’m…

Vision: Focusing Skills

Vision: “The ability of sight, the manner in which one sees or conceives of something” Think about it: If you are unable to scan horizontally - a visual requisite for reading and closing letters into words that are meaningful - your achievement level drops. If you are unable to distinguish small differences (visual discrimination), which is especially critical for sustained reading over an extended period of time, your achievement level drops. If you are unable to understand vocabulary and verbal ideas due to visual fatigue and loss of concentration, your achievement level drops. If you have jerky eye movement when…

Boyhood

Fall temperatures have finally arrived in Texas after a very long, hot summer. This weekend, I had the opportunity to take three of my grandsons to the Botanic Garden here in Fort Worth. We meandered through the gardens, having a picnic by the fountain pond, counting turtles by the bridge, throwing sticks in the water, exploring “mysterious forest paths,” and climbing on rocks. The boys led the expedition, and huffing and puffing, I followed. These three grandsons also attend our school, Shady Oak Learning. Major, age 4, is currently in his “junior fireman” stage after crawling on a firetruck last…

Essential Reading Skills & Abilities

How many intelligent children are failed each year due to their lack of reading skills? How many teachers blame themselves because their students do not thrive under their tutelage? If one says it takes intelligence to learn to read, everyone would agree. Therein lies the conundrum – what is meant by intelligence? We know that general intelligence is not the answer. What if we asked a different question – not how much intelligence but what kind. If we ask what kind of intelligence is required for learning to read, we have a much better chance of understanding how intelligence is…

Parents: Take Your Babies Out of Those Buckets!

What buckets am I talking about? I mean those carriers for babies that small children sit in while riding in the car. I am sure you have seen moms take the baby and his “bucket” out of the car and put the child and “bucket” into the grocery cart at the market or the stroller at the mall. When shopping is done, back into the car goes the baby in his “bucket.” What amazes me is that these babies seldom cry or act like they want to be picked up. Neither of my grandsons would stand for the being in…

I Can Hear the Drum Roll of Education

SOI gives you the tools and materials needed to help students who are struggling, challenge those that are gifted, and give them all a solid foundation to be successful throughout their education! It has arrived or will soon arrive. That would be the new school year. The machinery behind school beginning is monumental even down to the small five-year-old I saw that was proudly lugging a basket full of schools supplies. I expressed my respect to him that he was carrying that big basket himself. He cocked his head and said, “Yup, I’m going to school and we have everything…

Memory Training for The Child Who Can’t Remember

The Door Opener to the Visual System

The Potholes in Education

Empowering Students to be Successful: SOI Paradigm

Learning Solutions: The Actions You See – The Words You Never Hear

Vision: Focusing Skills

Boyhood

Essential Reading Skills & Abilities

Parents: Take Your Babies Out of Those Buckets!

I Can Hear the Drum Roll of Education

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