Guest Post: Lexercise Customer Reads on Grade Level in Four Months
Randy is a first-grader. He reads.
That’s a big change. Just four months ago, Randy was not able to read and his teacher was on the verge of recommending that Randy be held back in school.
Fortunately, Randy’s pediatric ophthalmologist urged Randy’s mom, Anitra Spencer, to get her son a comprehensive evaluation. The evaluation, which is always the essential first step toward successful treatment, confirmed Randy’s diagnosis and launched him into a Lexercise treatment program.
The results have been impressive.
I recently interviewed Antira Spencer about her experience — getting the evaluation, working with Lexercise online, the changes in Randy and her perspective and recommendations after four months.
Our online conversation is recorded in the short video segments that follow each of my questions.
- Why did you initially seek an evaluation through Lexercise?
- Did you have any concerns or reservations about this online, blended therapy model? If so, how did your did your perspective change?
- After doing this therapeutic intervention for four months, what changes have you noticed?
- What would you tell parents who are considering using Lexercise?
Thank you, Anitra, and keep up the good work, Randy!
If your child struggles with reading, writing or spelling, please have a look at the Lexercise Online Dyslexia Testing and Treatment page. It could turn your child into a reader!
It’s Children’s Book Week ~ May 7-13, 2012
It’s Children’s Book Week, the national celebration of books and reading for youth. There are events scheduled throughout the nation. Check your local bookstores and libraries or visit the Children’s Book Week website for additional information.
This week, and all weeks, we encourage you to read aloud with your children. For some wonderful read-aloud resources, have a look at one of my earlier posts.
Meanwhile, if your child struggles with reading, writing or spelling, I welcome your questions at AskSandie@Lexercise.com or 1-888-603-1788.
Guest post: Scott interviews 7-year-old playwright
In today’s post, Lexercise Clinical Educator Scott Tiernan interviews one of his students, 7-year-old Addison Whitehead, about a play she wrote that won an award. Take it away, Scott…
When I first began working with Addison Whitehead, she told me she loved to write. Turns out she’s pretty good at it!
Recently Addison submitted an original play to the Florida Studio Theatre’s 2012 Young Playwrights Festival. There were over 4,000 plays submitted, and just a few weeks ago Addison learned that her play, We Are One, was awarded Honorable Mention. Way to go Addison!
On May 2 Addison will attend the Florida Theatre Studio in Sarasota with her class to see her play performed by the theatre troupe. The following week she gets to return to the Theatre for a luncheon. Pretty great for a 7-year-old!
I caught up with Addison to ask her a few questions about her play, her penchant for knock-knock jokes (she’s got a ton of them!) and her favorite writing utensil (hint: her answers below are written in blue). Without further adieu, here’s…Addison.
ST: Your play is titled, We Are One. Tell us about the play and how you came up with the idea?
AW: My idea was to think of how people can work together and stop conflict. My play is about how we all work together. The characters are a cloud, the rain, the sun and a rainbow. The play tells a story of teamwork between the cloud, rain and sun to make a rainbow.
ST: Who is your favorite character in the play?
AW: My favorite character in the play is the Rainbow because it is at the end and is the result of teamwork.
ST: How long did it take you to write the play?
AW: Let me see; it took me three days to write the play.
ST: How did you feel when you found out your play was one of the ones selected from over 4,000 entries?
AW: I couldn’t go to sleep for a minute as I was feeling surprised and proud. When I was writing my play I was hoping it would be selected. I am also a little bit nervous to attend the luncheon.
ST: Do you think you’ll be nervous watching your play?
AW: Yes I will be nervous watching because it is a funny play and I do not want the actors to miss a line.
ST: What other types of writing do you like to do? Are you working on a new play?
AW: I like to write poetry, stories and songs using cursive print. No I am not working on a new play but I hope to be soon.
ST: Where is your favorite place to write? Do you have a favorite pencil or pen you write with? Or, do you type on the computer?
AW: My favorite place to write is at school, in the Language class with Ms. Rachel. I like to write with blue pencils. I like to Skype on the computer and type messages.
ST: I know you like jokes. Can you tell us a funny one?
AW: Yes, I can, although this may not work on the computer.
Knock, knock…
Who’s there?
Barbie
Barbie who?
Barbie-cue hot dogs are my favorite.
ST: If you become a famous playwright one day, can we please have an autographed copy of We Are One?
AW: I don’t know what to say (big smile). I hope so, yes, this would be okay. Thank you!
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Thank you, Scott. We love to hear success stories!
Learn more about Scott Tiernan here.
If your child has difficulty reading, writing or spelling, Lexercise can help. Take a look at our Online Dyslexia Testing and Treatment page or contact me directly at AskSandie@Lexercise.com or 1-888-603-1788.
Talking to kids: in praise of effort
In my post on task persistence I cited the work of Carol Dweck, her growth mindset approach (and book) and her Brainology curriculum. In this post, I’d like to talk a little more about how we offer praise and reinforcement to children.
By the time they get into school, many kids have well-established ideas about their abilities and “talents.” Whether the messages they’ve received are subtle or overt, some children have already come to accept that they are “smart” or “not very bright” or “lazy” — designations that seem as unchangeable as brown eyes.
What these messages suggest is that achievement is not based on personal effort, but on some fixed quality or character. The “smart” kids think they don’t really have to try because everything will come to them; the “not-so-smart” kids think they don’t have to try because they already know they’re going to fail.
Carol Dweck’s growth mindset approach helps children “understand that their intelligence can be developed. Instead of worrying about how smart they are, they work hard to learn more and get smarter.”
In his blog, Playdate Nation, Scott T. cites the book Nurture Shock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman and the authors’ conclusion that “too much praise actually weakens children’s defense mechanisms and reduces their ability to respond to failure.” (Be sure to read about Scott’s praise experiment with his 4-year-old daughter.)
So where does that leave parents who want to encourage their child’s efforts without loading on “dangerous” praise?
The biggest challenge is resisting the easy, automatic phrases that we heard as children and parrot back without thinking. As Scott recounts, in his experiment with Sophia he had to stop himself at each praising opportunity and consider another way to engage with his daughter — to show interest and appreciation without suggesting that she had achieved her results because she was smart or pretty or talented.
Do any of these less-than-ideal phrases sound familiar?
- I knew you’d do a good job because you’re so smart/talented/pretty/graceful/handsome/etc. (Note that these are all attributes that may be true but required no effort or skill on the part of the child.)
- That drawing (or other achievement) is beautiful (or other general praise). (Rather than finding something specific and meaningful to comment on, parents often praise even mediocre achievements with this kind of statement.)
- Of course it’s good – you’re an “A” student. (While good grades are definitely praiseworthy, without referring to the child’s specific efforts to achieve top grades, the “A student” description isn’t much different from talented/smart/pretty.)
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What can you say instead? Here are a few suggestions:
- Express appreciation for effort: I love watching you [fill in the task] because you’re so [fill in the descriptor – focused, careful, thoughtful, excited, energetic, etc.]
- Express curiosity about complexity/novelty: Have you ever done [fill in the task] this way before? What made you decide to do it this way? Did you learn anything from doing it this way? Was it fun to try something new?
- Express appreciation for specific positive achievements even when the overall results were less than hoped-for: I’m so impressed that you decided to do [fill in the task] without being asked. You worked really hard to understand the _____. The time you spent on _______ really paid off, didn’t it? It’s really terrific that you remembered ______ from the other day.
- Express the belief that success and solutions are achievable: Let’s work together to see if we can figure out another way to do this. What would be a good thing to try to make this work better?
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At first, this way of thinking and these phrases might seem awkward, but, as Scott discovered in his experiment, children are ready to engage in conversation about what they do and to build success through effort and experience.
What feedback phrases work best for you and your child? I’d love to hear about your successes in the effort-versus-talent challenge!
If your child has difficulty reading, writing or spelling, Lexercise can help. Take a look at our Online Dyslexia Testing and Treatment page or contact me directly at AskSandie@Lexercise.com or 1-888-603-1788.
Task Persistence
Children who struggle to read, write or spell are often criticized for being “lazy.” They’re “not trying,” the thinking goes, and so they get blamed for failing to measure up to their peers. On the flip side, children who excel at academics are often praised for being “smart” and “talented.” What we know about language-processing disorders, such as dyslexia, and what we’re learning about learning should call both of those approaches into question.
In a recent post, I talked about the significance of delayed gratification or strategic allocation of attention as components of effective learning. In this post, I’d like to talk about another tremendously important learning skill: task persistence.
Task persistence is simply the ability to stick with something in spite of distractions, physical or emotional discomfort or lack of immediate success. We are familiar with the image of the Olympics-hopeful athlete, visualizing the goal and practicing without regard to weather, worries or even injuries. That’s task persistence.
In a September 14, 2011, New York Times article, “What if the Secret to Success is Failure?” Paul Tough talks about how educators and psychologists are working to understand why some students succeed and some don’t and how the notion of character comes into that equation — things like self control (remember the allure of the marshmallow in the delayed gratification studies?), passion and task persistence. The author quotes professor Angela Duckworth: “…learning is hard. True, learning is fun, exhilarating and gratifying — but it is also often daunting, exhausting and sometimes discouraging. . . . To help chronically low-performing but intelligent students, educators and parents must first recognize that character is at least as important as intellect.”
Still speaking of Duckworth, he goes on to say, “People who accomplished great things, she noticed, often combined a passion for a single mission with an unswerving dedication to achieve that mission, whatever the obstacles and however long it might take. She decided she needed to name this quality, and she chose the word ‘grit.’” Duckworth even developed a “Grit Scale” index — a quick self-assessment that could predict success.
Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck has spent most of her career studying what she calls Mindset and has written a book by that title. As the Mindset website explains,
“In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. They’re wrong.
“In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities.”
Interestingly, Dweck draws a fine point on the hazards of “praising brains and talent” and emphasizes the importance of a growth mindset “based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts.” Her curriculum, called Brainology®, puts the growth mindset philosophy to work.
I’m going to talk more about praising effort/grit instead of brains/talent in another post, but here are a couple of examples. Parents can often be heard saying something like, “You’re so smart!” or “You must be really talented to be able to do that!” Instead, more character-building praise would be, “Good job! You worked really hard on that!” or “Wow! I can see that you put a whole lot of effort into that picture. It was worth it!” or “I like how you continued working until you finished the job. It would have been easier to just quit and go play games, but you stuck to it and worked hard.” In these examples, the child is being praised for effort — praise that helps the child see his or her own contribution to success — instead of for something that the child is “born with.”
Carol Dweck says, “When children have a growth mindset they believe in effort.” Effort, like “grit,” is just another name for task persistence. Duckworth’s studies, Dweck’s research and the Brainology curriculum are completely consistent with what we do here at Lexercise. We believe that with the right attitude (growth mindset, task persistence) and the right tools (Lexercise), children who struggle to read, write and spell can overcome their challenges and take their place alongside their peers.
If your child has difficulty reading, writing or spelling, I invite you to have a look at our Online Dyslexia Testing and Treatment page or to contact me directly at AskSandie@Lexercise.com or 1-888-603-1788.
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