Let’s talk about confusion. Confusion lasts a second for some, and all is well when asking a clarifying question.  However, for others, minor confusion can quickly lead to disorientation, which is typical for people with dyslexia. When words or concepts don’t have a clear meaning to the person, minor confusions start compounding, and attempts to clarify may not help because the person is disorientated. They can’t get refocused to make sense of what is going on.

You have seen symptoms of this: a kid who you think is listening goes onto the field and does something completely different. Or they have a lost look on their faces and are watching others to see what they should be doing to try to imitate them.

When one is disoriented, the brain doesn’t receive information correctly. Thus, one has to be in a clear mental state or focused (aligned/balanced/oriented) to absorb new information accurately.

But how do you get out of disorientation and get focused? It is different for different people. As a Davis Methods provider, I teach my students specific self-regulation techniques to help with this. One is quick and easy and can be done in seconds (check out Davis Methods by clicking on the link). Others might get focused with “concentration,” but that typically doesn’t work well with a person with dyslexia. Knowing how to focus can be a challenge.

Here are some practical ways to ground or focus yourself:

• Deep Breathing: Practice slow, controlled breaths, focusing on the rhythm. Try the 4-7-8 technique (inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7, exhale for 8).
• 5-4-3-2-1 Technique: Identify five things you see, four you feel, three you hear, two you smell, and one you taste to anchor yourself in the present moment.
• Physical Movement: To reconnect with your body, engage in light physical activity like stretching, walking, or shaking out tension.
• Mindful Touch: Hold a textured object (like a rock or stress ball), focusing on its feel, temperature, and weight to bring awareness to your senses.
• Mantras or Affirmations: Repeat a grounding phrase, such as “I am here, I am safe,” to center your mind and diminish distracting thoughts.

Some of these methods can take time.….

What can the athlete do that works well for them quickly and easily? Help them find this and know when to use it.

I particularly like having a focus point to think about, which can be really helpful for athletes; a sports focus has one standing up straight. To do this, try balancing on one foot as you imagine a string holding you straight upright from the sky, almost like a marionette.  Then, simply imagine placing a dot at the top of your head right in the center, about a foot or so above your head.  Think of that dot each time you want to focus or imagine the marionette strings holding you upright.  Try balancing; if you are balanced, you are focused.

The post Athletics and Dyslexia:  Getting focused appeared first on Learning Tools.

As the fall sports season ends and the winter sports season starts, my phone gets busy with calls from concerned parents and sometimes coaches. “What should I do? How do I help this kid? I see their potential and can tell they are passionate about the sport, but communication can be perplexing.”   

The first thing I say is that you need to understand that dyslexia is a specific way of thinking that requires being able to visualize the meaning of a word to understand it fully and to think or perform with that word.  Without a clear picture, a dyslexic individual might have only a fuzzy idea of the word or concept, which causes confusion and doubt.

Helping the dyslexic athlete

Dyslexic athletes must begin their season with a thorough, visual understanding of the sport’s specific vocabulary. Even experienced athletes may need clarification about some concepts. Coaches should ensure these athletes understand the sport-specific words they might use, spending some of the first practice explaining or demonstrating the concepts if needed.

Coaches should also ensure they include words used differently in their sport, such as direction and position.  Words like “up” and “post” can have very different meanings in different sports:

• In hockey, you move the puck up the ice toward the offensive zone, while in baseball, a player is next up.
• In basketball, a post refers to specific areas on the court, while in football, a post relates to a route a receiver might run, and in soccer, a post is the upright bars of the goal.
• In gymnastics, splits are positions with one leg forward and one back, while in swimming, splits are the times of individual legs of a long swim.

Each of these uses reflects the sport’s unique context and gameplay mechanics, illustrating the versatility of terms and the confusion a dyslexic athlete might experience (especially when playing multiple sports).

For older athletes who have been doing their sport longer, a word like “up” or “post” is known from their years of interest in their sport and most likely isn’t causing much of a problem. The processing of  However, these words can slow their processing for younger athletes as they try to decipher what they are expected to do.

Dyslexic athletes have unique challenges. They do not understand if they do not have a picture of a word or concept in their mind. The fix for this is to ensure the image in their mind is accurate to the vocabulary being used.

Looking for additional help for your child?

The Davis Dyslexia program is a fantastic program for children or adults. It helps them learn how they best learn, gives them self-regulation tools, and clears up 218 common trigger words that cause disorientation (many are directional). See the rest of my website for more information.

The post Athletics and Dyslexia:  Why vocabulary matters. appeared first on Learning Tools.

When we are able to predict what will happen in the future, we are able to plan and prepare for it.  This can help us feel more in control and less anxious.  However, when we are not able to predict what will happen, we may feel helpless and powerless.

One of the main reasons why people may not be able to predict the future is due to uncertainty.  If you are neurodivergent and you have missed key life concepts or lessons when you were young (due to being unfocused/disoriented/dreamy/inattentive) you might really struggle with prediction. That predictive ability and skill come into account daily in the choices we make.

Imagine your life without this ability, little decisions we make every day can affect how we feel throughout the day. Do I need a coat? If I go into that classroom what will happen to me? Is that person dangerous?  Why is there so much noise, will it ever stop? When will I eat again?

Learning Tools can help with prediction and thus anxiety.

In a number of the Davis Programs provided here at Learning Tools, we master the core concepts that are needed to predict.  The Davis Programs are brilliant in their simplicity and ability to get at the root cause of an issue.  The concept of consequence (something happening as a result of something else) is pivotal in one’s ability to predict.

Understanding the concept of consequence allows one to understand the potential outcomes of a particular action or decision. This understanding can then be used to make predictions about future events or situations, as one can anticipate how different actions or decisions may lead to different consequences.

For example, if a person knows that a particular decision is likely to lead to a negative effect, they can predict that this outcome will occur if that decision is made.  In this way, understanding the concept of consequence can help one make better predictions about future events, as it allows one to anticipate the potential outcome of different actions or decisions.

Consequence inherently contains the concepts of change, cause, effect, before and after; these concepts clarify the meaning of consequence.   These concepts are core to problem-solving and predicting.  The better you understand them, the easier it is to create the change (cause) that you want to take place (effect).

Predicting requires an educated guess of what will happen. Life experiences provide learning for us, but if the concept of consequence and all those it includes are not clear the learning hasn’t been able to provide an experience that can be decoded and remembered for the future.  People often feel they are victims and have no control.

Learning core developmental concepts gets at the root cause of many executive function activities and can address the issues of anxiety around confusion or not knowing how to predict.

The Davis Concepts for Life and Davis Autism Approach programs both go even further into root concepts providing 40 concepts that also look address motivation, responsibilities, and relationships.   If you want to learn more, I encourage you to give me a call or visit https://www.rdautismfoundation.org/.

The post The Power of Prediction in Relieveing Anxiety. appeared first on Learning Tools.

by Jenny Wise

According to Understood.org, one in five children has a learning disability, and if they don’t get the right support, they are three times as likely to drop out of high school and twice as likely to be jobless as adults than kids who don’t. These sobering statistics show that involving these children in engaging activities outside of schoolwork is essential for their intellectual and emotional development, and the answer may be the arts.

“Involving children with learning differences (at Learning Tools, we prefer difference to disability) in the arts can have several benefits, including improved motor skills, concentration and focus, creative expression, and self-esteem. Learning Tools outlines some arts to consider introducing to your child.

Music

For a child with learning disabilities, music works the areas of the brain that are tied to speech, reading, comprehension, problem-solving, focus, and more. Singing and playing an instrument have especially remarkable benefits for children with learning disabilities, but even the act of listening to music can have a wonderful impact.

Health benefits of singing
How to get child interested in playing a musical instrument
How to set up music room at home
If you have a music background and you’ve considered making some money on the side, consider using ZenBusiness to start your own business and teach other kids, perhaps specializing in instructing children with learning disabilities.

Photograph

It takes a steady hand, concentration, and focus to take a good photograph, not to mention the ability to compose a scene before you snap the shutter. Children with learning disabilities can learn photography to develop these same skills and so many more.

Benefits of photography for kids
It’s not all about camera phones; teach kids to use a DSLR camera
Photography-focused activities kids can do

Painting and Drawing

It doesn’t matter if the child uses colored pencils, markers, crayons, or watercolors; the act of moving something colorful across a blank canvas is a creative way to express emotions. At the same time, it can help a child develop patience, concentration, and problem-solving skills.

Different drawing styles kids can try
12 free online painting and drawing lessons for kids
Benefits of painting for children
Teach children about famous paintings

Regardless of the art form your child pursues, make sure there’s always some fun injected into it. Also be sure to help the child realize every day that the fun he or she is having will boost their focus, improve their schoolwork, and greatly enhance their self-confidence.

About the Author: Jenny Wise created Special Home Educator as a forum for sharing her adventures in homeschooling and connecting with other homeschooling families. She has been homeschooling her four children for many years now, including her youngest daughter Anna who is on the autism spectrum.

Learning Tools assists adults and children attain skills, confidence, and motivation needed to achieve their goals. Our programs are offered for learning and correcting multiple struggles of neurodivergent learners. Reach out to us today! 206-451-7102

Photo Credit: Pixabay.com

The post Involving Your Child with Learning Challenges in the Arts appeared first on Learning Tools.

I was recently asked by a parent, “why should I pay for a program for my son?”

She said she made it through school and in life without such a program and she believes she is dyslexic.  She knows grades are not everything….  she knows how smart her child is and that is all that matters.

Here was my answer to her.

1. If your son wants help and wants to improve

   If your son wants help and wants to improve, a program can offer him concrete ways to do that.

2. Helps with self-esteem

   For me, my son’s self-esteem was why I looked into doing a program.  It broke my heart to hear him call himself “stupid” and to see him compare himself with other kids. After the program, this rarely happened.  My son began to see his strengths and was proud of those, this is also what the majority of parents tell me when we do follow-up after the program.

3. Allows your child to be in control of his learning

   Being in control of your own learning so powerful! Students learn and are able to recognize when they are disoriented or confused and need to focus.

   Often students I work with are very good at concentrating, but heavy concentration without the mind focused just causes more confusion, more work, and can be painful. Dyslexics need to ensure they understand the difference of focus and concentration, when they know how to focus and stop just tyring to concentrate hard, learning becomes easier.

4. Possibilities

   When I see a student really embrace what they have learned and learn how their brain works, they get excited by all the possibilities available to them. Some might get excited about acknowledging their creative sides, or that their ability to see things from a different perspective and how this can help solve problems in the world.  They love that their imagination allows them to discover things that others don’t necessarily see and stop seeing themselves as dumb, slow, or challenged.

5. A faster result

   A Davis® program is working with thelearni ng and thinking style of the individual and teaching them to use this style to their advantage.

   With tutoring, often they are just being “retaught” material with the same methods used in school but at a slower pace.  These methods are for those who think with verbal conceptualization and taught with a lot of repetition, drill, and rote memorization.

   When tutors do teach with other methods and use multi-sensory learning it can be positive but also can often take a long time which makes for very slow progress and they end up having years and years of tutoring which ends up costing them close to the same amount or even more than having done the Davis program.

The post Why a Program and not Tutoring appeared first on Learning Tools.

Below is Jamie’s account of the day:

• Start off the morning with a check-in, how we are feeling about being there, did we sleep well, do we need a snack or to do some stretching – make sure we are set up to be successful for the day.
• Then we take time to check and make sure our focusing tools is where it needs to be and do any fine tuning if need be. This is as easy as 1,2,3, balance.
• Then we play around with koosh balls (a type of rubbery stringy ball).   From there we are really focused and ready to do some reading.
• We only read for 5-10 minutes depending on how one is feeling. When we work on reading comprehension it might be longer and a good discussion of “the movie” that we have visualized while reading.
• Next, we would do clay work to master words. We talk about the “trigger words”, look it up in a dictionary (it is amazing to see how many different meaning one of these words can have), make all kinds of sentences until that word is really clear to us, then we get to create a model of the word in clay. Creativity is welcome here, but simple models work great. So for the word “on”, while Sophia modeled a child who rode “on” the camel, I modeled a boy flew “on” the plane. This was a bit more challenging then I had thought it would be – but I was happy with the model in the end. {“on” definition used “used as a function word to indicate means of transport“}
• Then we take a break, maybe a 10 minutes break, maybe 15 – just depends on what we together think is needed. “I love how I get to help make the decisions, ‘it is your program, after all, Sophia says’.
• We end our break with koosh balls or start our work session, however, you prefer to think of it. Koosh balls help to ensure we are focused and ready for the next task at hand.
• When we get back to work, we often do another reading exercise. If not reading, we work on spelling words; we tackle another spelling word that has given me trouble in the past. Using the tools, making the word in clay, and then mastering has me spelling the word in no time! The best part is, I remember the word.
• We continue the day in this pattern. The day goes by fast actually, and while it is work, it doesn’t feel like work. The best part was each day I felt proud of the models I did and surprised by how much working with the word helped me, I don’t have problems with these words anymore when I am reading or trying to write and spell them – weird but true.

Spelling word “apologize” learned during the Dyslexia Reading Program.

Clay model showing the meaning of “always” (at all times) done during the Dyslexia Correction Program.

The post A Typical Day with My Dyslexia Tutor appeared first on Learning Tools.

My son is now in 8^th grade: he is doing very well in language arts, he writes beautifully, he reads well with excellent comprehension and in math, he has been getting high marks.  His math teacher even said to me that my son has a great mind for math; he just needs to believe in himself a little more.

Math Story Words Can Create Trouble

I thought he was on a great academic path and then last weeks’ homework happened. As he was doing homework, he asked his older brother some questions and his brother answered the questions with other questions to try and get him to think through the problem. I was having a proud mama moment; my older son was truly trying to help.

Then all of a sudden, I hear a loud, forceful voice say, “I already told you”.  I gently asked if he was using his tools, which was returned with a glare of an irate teenager full of disgust. Okay, I see that mom needs to stay out of it! I tried, I truly did, but as he was reading the story problem question back to his brother and telling him what equation he made out of it, it was obvious to me that the confusion was due to trigger words, so naturally I had to butt in.

He ended up working through the problems with me making sure he had a clear picture of what the meaning of each of the words were and to be sure he knew what was being asked for in each question. Then I told him we could fix his frustrations by modeling in clay the words that were causing confusion, just like we used to. He was up to it and we spent the weekend playing with clay and cutting up circles of clay into fractions.

Learn the Meaning of Words Through Pictures

Do you know “by” in math can mean to multiply, but it can also mean divide?   During the homework fiasco, it was clear that my son didn’t know the second meaning of “by” meaning divide, which was needed to get the equation correct. The other word that was causing confusion was “of” when working with fractions.

I hadn’t seen him break down into this “self-hate” in a long time; he kept saying how stupid he was under his breath. He could do the math, but translating words into a math problem requires one to have a clear meaning/picture of each word. That is what the symbol mastery does, it gives meaning to words.   So learning the meaning of words that don’t produce a mental picture is extremely important to picture thinkers.

Math has a language of its own, but it is more than just numerals and function symbols, the words we use for math to describe functions are just as important.  By using clay to mold and create the meaning of the word, we get to understand, know and master a word at a very deep level. After doing this work, that word no longer causes a problem.

“by” in math can mean divide

“of” in math can mean a portion or fraction taken from

The post The Importance of Symbol Mastery and Learning the Meaning of Words appeared first on Learning Tools.

The definition of focus when used as a verb means to direct one’s attention or efforts.  

How do you feel when you are unable to focus?

Have you ever felt that you were:

• all “in your head” or so fuzzy and dizzy you just were not able to say what you wanted to say?
• or maybe you just want to concentrate and read the book that you had in front of you because you were exhausted from a busy day? But there’s so much going on that you couldn’t read, instead you heard the birds outside and then the train passed and then kids are playing and screaming and your dog got upset and started barking so there was just no way you could read?
• or how about you have an important paper to write and you know the information but you just couldn’t write what you wanted to write?

Each additional noise, or distraction increases the inability to focus and concentrate. Being able to focus is a skill; a skill that most of us take for granted.

Dyslexics have a low threshold for confusion, so they have a more difficult time focusing. To add to this low threshold of confusion thy have a unique ability of perception that allows them to see and experience things that aren’t common for those who use verbal conceptualization or “words” as their main means of thinking. A dyslexic’s perceptual ability actually creates what we call disorientation as in the senses are not aligned. When in disorientation, the ability to focus can feel unobtainable and usually takes removing oneself from the situation to refocus again.

For me, before I was given specific tools to get myself into a focused state, I needed to feel grounded and then I could focus, but without the feeling of being grounded, my ability to focus was severely handicapped. I would try to focus and remember my mind racing in class to find the words or answers I needed. I would make errors or be confused or was unsure of what I read and the harder I would try, the more frustrated and stupid I felt.

Without specific tools to get focused, one might have to get up and walk away from what they are doing, take a walk, try meditating, or listening to music.   It just depends on the person, but when they are a kid in school, they have to try to concentrate harder, which is exhausting and often doesn’t work. If they look out the window or start doodling on their page, they are given all sorts of labels, like lazy, unmotivated, or ADD/ADHD.

Not being able to focus means not being able to learn. So I believe good focusing tools are the key to success. The Davis® methods do a fabulous job of giving students a quick and easy way to focus. The intensive program is the perfect way to be in a safe place with a facilitator who is an expert on detecting disorientation. The facilitator can point out and help guide the student to times they need to use their focusing tool so they master their ability to focus quickly, easily, and at will.

The post The Importance Of Focus appeared first on Learning Tools.

I have often referred to my clients and dyslexics as picture thinkers. But what exactly is a picture thinker? A picture thinker is someone who thinks primarily in pictures instead of the sound of words (verbal conceptualization). In the US it is estimated that 20% of the population think primarily in pictures (non-verbal conceptualization). Those with dyslexia, auditory processing, attentions issues like ADD/ADHD are people who are picture thinkers. Picture thinking is evolutionary, meaning it grows as the thought process adds more concepts. It is subliminal, and it is extremely fast, possibly thousands of times faster than verbal conceptualization.

For someone who is a picture thinker and has difficulty with reading, the challenge they face is that the word they are trying to read doesn’t have a natural picture for them, words such as: of, else, it’s, how, and sure. The picture thinker draws a blank and can’t “think” with that word. We call the words with no pictures “trigger words” and there are 217 common to dyslexics.

In this sentence: “The brown llama has gone over the stone fence and left the pasture.” The following words don’t have pictures that come to mind for most dyslexics: the, has, gone, over, and left. What they are then left with is brown, llama, stone, fence, and pasture. Using only these words, the meaning of the sentence is not clear.

With time, the dyslexic might learn how to read the word but the comprehension can become quite difficult. As they continue in school coping methods evolve where the dyslexic can pick up the gist of the meaning, but often really important information is lost. These coping methods might include: guessing or making something up, reading someone’s face and body language if they are reading with them, imagining by looking at the pictures, continuing reading to help with their guess, or giving up reading altogethLet’s

Lets take an example of how a picture thinker who struggles more with auditory processing might have challenges. These are those people who have a really difficult time following directions. Let’s say a mom is with her dyslexic son is at her office and he wants to help her out. She tells her son “Billy, please go get me the tape I was using earlier, it is on the desk in the other room down the hall. He hears: Billy please tape using desk room hall. There are a number of things that he could have thought she meant, but he heads off and comes back a few minutes later looking confused saying “mom, there is no desk in the hall.” He has completely forgotten he was looking for tape and instead searched for a desk in the hall.

As you can imagine, the best way to work with someone who is having a hard time following directions is to ensure you have “painted a picture” for them when asking for directions. But when it comes to reading and I mean reading for comprehension, another approach is needed. The dyslexic needs to first be focused and then they need start coming up with creative pictures for each of the words they do not know. In Davis® dyslexia programs the student “masters” words & symbols” by creating them with clay to make the words clear.

The post What is a Picture Thinker? appeared first on Learning Tools.