October is Learning Disabilities Awareness Month

October is Learning Disabilities Awareness month.

Interesting material on LD:

What do these people have in common:  http://www.businessinsider.com/ceo-learning-disabilities-2011-5?op=1

LD experience: http://www.ldexperience.ca/

What Unions have to say:  http://specialneedsproject.ca/en/about-us/news/latest-news/91-october-is-ld-awareness-month.html

Canadian Supreme Court Case on behalf of Jeffery Moore:  http://www.ldac-acta.ca/en/component/content/article/85.html

 LD Awareness month poster:  http://www.ldao.ca/

Please forward this information to all of your contacts.  Together we can make a difference.

CogMed Offered at LDAS

Learning Disabilities Association of Saskatchewan is now offering the CogMed Program.

Cogmed Working Memory Training is an evidence-based program for helping children, adolescents and adults sustainably improve attention by training their working memory.

The program is based on strong scientific research, is delivered under the supervision of a qualified Cogmed Coach, and can be done either in the convenience of the client's home or at a designated healthcare facility.

The complete program includes:

• Initial interview
• Start-up session
• Five weeks of training with weekly coach calls
• Wrap-up meeting
• Six month follow-up interview
• Access to the Cogmed Training Web
• Cogmed Extension Training (12 months)

Provided by a national network of attention specialists, all qualified by Cogmed.

Computer-based training, using a PC at home or at a designated healthcare facility.

Software adjusts complexity level for each exercise, in real time, for maximized training effect.

25 training sessions of 30 - 40 minutes each, done over 5 weeks.

Supported by a Cogmed Coach who leads the training, tracks results, and gives support and motivation.

User/family sets the training schedule with the Cogmed Coach, with plenty of flexibility.

Cogmed Training Web gives all users online access to their own training results and progress status.

Cogmed Extension Training allows the user to further sharpen the acquired capacity and to verify how the results hold over time.

Please contact us for further information at (306) 652-4114 ext 4

A Day in the Life

Try this game with your Grades 3 - 5 children

Photographer Rick Smolan has published a series of books called A Day in the Life....showing 24 hours in the life of an astronaut, a country, a state.  Now it's your child's turn to create a similar book.  Buy your child a disposable camera.  Show her/him one of the Smolan books and explain the concept.  Then talk about documenting one day in your child's life (or her pet's or sister's or friend's or whomever he/she wants).  Start the day by photographing your child asleep just before you wake him/her.  Then let him/her take a photo every hour of the entire day.  (Mom, a timer set to an hour will help you remember).  Finish by taking a last shot of him/her asleep.  When the photos come back from the developer, paste each one on construction paper.  Help your child write the details that explain each picture - why he/she picked the subject, why it is important of his/her day, and who was nearby buy not shown.  Make a title page by writing "A Day in the life of [your child]," with the date she photographed.  Punch three holes in the left margin and tie the pages together with yarn or dental floss.  Keep the book forever, and show it to everyone.  Talking about your child's ideas is a crucial part of writing.  It helps your reluctant writer capture those elusive details that sometimes scramble in his/her bran.

Rights and Responsibilities for Academic Accommodations

http://youth2youth.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=189&Itemid=234&lang=en

Please click on the link above to read all about your Rights and Responsibilities for Academic Accommodations.

Chores

Chores are also a part of every one's life. A child needs to know that she is a part of a whole and that everyone in the family has certain expectations. Make sure you are realistic with time, ability and age appropriateness. By doing this, a child sees that her contributions are valued and necessary. It also teaches her responsibility, a big academic success tool.

Keeping communication open between you and your child is essential to your child's academic success. This needs to be updated daily sometimes, as your child's life evolves and grows with each academic year. During dinner or before bed, ask every member of your household, one at a time, "What is the best thing that happened today?" "Nothing" is not an acceptable answer. You will be surprised at what you hear and what you learn from that one simple question. Parents participate as well!

Whatever the makeup of your family, mom, dad, child, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or cousin, academic success depends on everyone in our daily lives. Academic success isn't just tied to our child's classroom. While that should be a main focus during the academic year, it is also what our child learns outside the classroom, in their everyday life, that helps them to succeed.

Lead by example. Care. Be involved.

By: Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes (2011)

Activities

By:  Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes (2011)

While it is essential that your child focus on something else besides school work, it is just as important that he is not over-scheduled.  Discuss with him, at the beginning of the school year, what it is he would like to do after school for fun.  Let him pick one or two activities per semester.  Make sure he is doing it because he wants to, not because you want him to!

Do make sure that you can fit the chosen activities into your schedule, and if not, make other arrangements.  Activities might include drama, music, sports, art or volunteering at a local non-profit.  Having something else to focus on and include in his day helps to teach him time management, working with others, and leadership; all life-skills that spill over into academic success.

School/Homework

It is your child's "job" to go to school.  It is your job, as a parent, to work both inside and outside the home environment.  As with every job, there are certain expectations, and if they are not met, there are consequences.  Let your child know from the beginning what is expected of her.  Plan study times with a schedule and make sure you look ahead to see what is coming up.

Help organize your child's backpack the night before so that it is ready to go in the morning.  If you start with this simple task when she is young, by the time she is in the upper grades, she will be doing this on her own.  If your child takes a lunch to school everyday, perhaps making it the night before is easier than rushing in the morning to make it.

Make sure the space for homework has good lighting, is clutter free and comfortable.  Distractions should be avoided during this time, including loud music, television, telephones, text messaging, and electronic games.  Supervise her schoolwork.  Don't just take her word for it that it is done.  Look at it.  Give her positive feedback.

Finally, keep communication open with your child's teacher.  Encourage your child to talk to her teacher.  If your child needs help on how to ask something, rehearse it with her.  Enabling your child can be a powerful thing.  If this proves unsuccessful, make an appointment to talk to your child's teacher yourself.  Problem solve with your child.  This is a life-long skill that can be "taught" at a very young age.  Practice with your child.  All of these suggestions can be applied to every stage in a child's academic career.  They help her to become independent and self-confident.