‘ADHD’ Blog Posts
5 Thanksgiving Activities for the Family
November 15th, 2024 2024-11-15T16:36:43-08:00 2024-11-15T04:00:50-08:00Thanksgiving is the perfect time to spend time with your family. I’ll be with my kids, grandkids, and husband. This year we’ll be celebrating at our house. My children and 3 new grandchildren will be here. I’m so excited! We are getting ready with some simple Thanksgiving activities that will get both the kids and adults engaged in a great time. That makes for a happy mom and grandmom!
Tips for Writing Sentences (and Stories!) with Your Spelling Words
October 20th, 2021 2021-10-21T13:44:11-07:00 2021-10-20T14:26:48-07:00Most teachers assign spelling words homework at some point. The assignment may be to use their spelling words in sentences or to write a story using their spelling words. Both of these assignments can be daunting for a lot of kids. Read to find out what you can do to make these assignments easier.
ADHD Sleep Problems and Learning
March 5th, 2019 2020-03-10T10:20:01-07:00 2019-03-05T12:05:33-08:00Whether you have inattentive type ADHD, hyperactive type ADHD, or the combination type ADHD, sleep problems often impact you. In fact, studies show that 50% of those with ADHD have signs of sleep deprivation at least a few nights a week.
Reading Activities Help Dyslexic and ADHD Kids Love Reading
January 16th, 2019 2020-04-29T07:51:13-07:00 2019-01-16T15:55:49-08:00Reading activities and games are a great way to help your kids improve both their reading skills and their love of reading. When learning becomes fun, in a relaxed atmosphere kids do better and their skills improve. Learning is a lot more fun when you are playing a game.
Visual Discrimination and Reading Fluency
November 13th, 2018 2019-08-28T16:43:45-07:00 2018-11-13T03:43:30-08:00Visual discrimination is directly connected to reading fluency. Visual discrimination is the ability to discern subtle similarities and differences visually. This is the process of seeing details. What is the same? What is different? Shapes, sizes, and colors are details to be looked at. An additional part of visual discrimination is ‘form constancy.’
Activities to Improve Executive Function Skills
February 26th, 2018 2018-11-13T18:18:42-08:00 2018-02-26T21:37:59-08:00Before we can get into executive function activities, it is important to understand what executive function is. So, what Is Executive Function? Executive function is the term used to describe a set of mental processes that helps us connect past experience with present action. We use executive function when we perform such activities as planning, organizing, strategizing and paying attention to and remembering details.
11 Auditory Processing Activities You Can Do Without Spending a Dime!
December 4th, 2017 2020-04-23T11:49:05-07:00 2017-12-04T11:10:21-08:00Auditory processing is a critical component to reading success. We work on a variety of auditory processing areas every time we do activities from the Reading Pack: Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills, Making Spelling Sense, Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills, and The Comprehension Zone. For example, The Comprehension Zone is a game where we play for both auditory memory, auditory comprehension, and reading comprehension. Making Spelling Sense is where we work on auditory discrimination, auditory closure, and auditory memory.
How Homework Can Help Build Self-Esteem and Confidence
September 25th, 2017 2017-09-30T19:12:49-07:00 2017-09-25T12:00:12-07:00Kids need to feel like they belong, can contribute, and are needed. They also need to feel confident, have a sense of achievement, respect of self and others. Completing and turning in homework gives that sense of accomplishment. It improves one’s self-esteem.
Executive Function Skills and An Argument for Homework
September 18th, 2017 2017-09-19T01:48:10-07:00 2017-09-18T12:55:27-07:00Developing executive function is a key benefit of homework. Kids can and do learn these skills with short 15 minute assignments. They don’t get burned out or hate school if the total homework only takes 15 minutes. The detriment of homework comes in when daily homework is longer than that.
Learning Disabilities Help
August 28th, 2017 2017-08-31T19:44:37-07:00 2017-08-28T09:22:51-07:00Learning disabilities and ADHD impact between 15% to 20% of the population. That is 9 to 16 people on a street with 20 homes. That being said, according to the CDC, less that 1 in 3 children with ADHD receives both medication and behavioral therapy. And, students with learning disabilities earn lower grades and experience higher rates of course failure. Listen to find out what you can do to help learning disabilities kids improve their skills.
5 Steps to Improve Reading Comprehension with Family Field Trips
August 15th, 2017 2017-08-02T02:49:11-07:00 2017-08-15T12:00:08-07:00By having a framework or structure to your family fields trips, you can drastically improve memory skills. If you do not have a bit of a structure to your trips, your kids are not as likely to remember the great things you have done as a family together. With these family field trips, you can improve your vocabulary, memory and factual knowledge base.
Back to School Supplies for Dyslexia and ADHD Kids
August 8th, 2017 2017-08-01T18:38:56-07:00 2017-08-08T12:30:39-07:00Can back to school supplies really help with school success? School success depends on a number of characteristics: willingness to learn, attending classes regularly, asking questions, being attentive, doing and turning in assignments. One thing that strikes me here is the doing and turning in assignments characteristic. Studies have shown that students tend to do well in school when they have the tools they need handy. So, what are some of those ‘must have’ tools? Are there any ‘secret weapons’ so to speak that will really help your child succeed?
6 Back to School Tips for Dyslexia and ADHD Kids
August 1st, 2017 2017-08-01T18:31:20-07:00 2017-08-01T12:00:49-07:00Back to school tips: There are specific things you can do to make learning easier for your child with dyslexia or ADHD. Start off by letting your child know that you do remember some struggles from last year. What can you do differently this year?
As Summer Break is Winding Down, Get in a Few Family Activities
July 24th, 2017 2018-09-01T00:04:59-07:00 2017-07-24T22:17:43-07:00Summer break is winding down, but there is still time to have fun and bring your child’s skills up. There is nothing like taking the last few weeks of the summer and infusing in some extra fun while gearing your kids up for the new school year. This is especially important if your kids have any learning problems, dyslexia, or ADHD. Giving your kids the best start you can is one of the most important things you can do as a parent.
5 Signs of ADHD
March 14th, 2017 2018-02-20T22:22:17-08:00 2017-03-14T12:00:12-07:00There are 5 hallmark signs of ADHD. These must be present early on and present for at least 6 months. You don’t develop ADHD suddenly in 3rd, 5th or 8th grades.
Attention and ADHD
March 7th, 2017 2017-03-08T02:05:59-08:00 2017-03-07T12:00:56-08:00Attention and ADHD are interconnected. Your ability to attend and stay focused on any activity is directly impacted by ADHD. That being said, ADHD is not a learning disability. ADHD often co-occurs with learning disabilities or dyslexia (about 60% of the time). Those with ADHD, LD, and dyslexia can be successful.
Teaching Kids Decision Making: Raising Thoughtful Voters
November 1st, 2016 2018-10-31T20:21:54-07:00 2016-11-01T16:17:33-07:00Election day is just around the corner. Many people have already started voting by absentee ballot. The debates, surveys, projections seem to be everywhere. That being said, how do we teach someone or as a student learn to be a thoughtful voter?
Whether we realize it or not, we actually vote on ‘stuff’ every day. A vote for something is a decision or choice about something. For example, if you are thirsty and you get a drink of water, the act of drinking water rather than juice, coffee, tea, or a soft drink is an ‘act’ of voting or choosing water.
ADHD Symptoms? Suspect ADHD? Diagnosed with ADHD?
September 27th, 2016 2022-02-09T18:34:38-08:00 2016-09-27T12:10:46-07:00In order to be diagnosed with ADHD by a professional, the ADHD symptoms must have persisted for at least six months and have been present before the age of 12 years according to the DSM-5. The symptoms must also be severe enough to disrupt school, as well as home life.
Learning Disabilities Help for Your Child
August 29th, 2016 2018-12-12T16:02:49-08:00 2016-08-29T06:03:38-07:00Learning disabilities and ADHD impact between 15% to 20% of the population. That is 9 to 16 people on a street with 20 homes. That being said, according to the CDC, less that 1 in 3 children with ADHD receives both medication and behavioral therapy. And, students with learning disabilities earn lower grades and experience higher rates of course failure. Listen to find out what you can do to help your learning disabilities kids improve their skills.
Holiday Activities Reduce Stress Over the Holidays for Dyslexia and ADHD
December 5th, 2015 2015-12-05T02:29:05-08:00 2015-12-05T01:40:36-08:00Holiday Activities: Keeping my children engaged over the holidays can be daunting or it can be fun. I don’t like being stressed so I always think of a plan to keep everyone engaged in a variety of activities that can be done without a ton of running around. To that end, I have created the following list of family holiday activities. Each activity builds family comradery as well as learning skills.
Reduce Holiday Stress…with 7 Holiday Activities for Dyslexia and ADHD Kids
November 25th, 2015 2016-02-02T23:12:57-08:00 2015-11-25T01:56:11-08:00ADHD Inattentive Type
July 14th, 2015 2020-04-29T07:47:42-07:00 2015-07-14T00:21:48-07:00ADHD inattentive Type: When your child ‘forgets’ to do things, you might want to try…or when your child ‘forgets’ to do things, you might want to try…or when your child is disorganized with their possessions, you might want to try… Read to find the solutions.
ADHD Symptoms and Dyslexia Symptoms
May 19th, 2015 2024-10-09T15:19:43-07:00 2015-05-19T00:57:57-07:00ADHD and Dyslexia share some characteristics so ADHD is sometimes misdiagnosed. Additionally, those with ADHD often also have dyslexia or or learning problems. When you look at the list of ADHD symptoms, you will notice that short attention span and distractibility are on the list. Then look at the list of Dyslexia Symptoms. You will notice symptoms like does your child take too long to do their assigned work and poor listening comprehension. Think about it, if you have a short attention span, it will take you longer to do your work and if you are distractible you will have poor listening comprehension. So we do need to dig a bit further to discern what is really going on.
Bonnie Terry Named International Go To Pro for Special Needs
March 17th, 2015 2015-03-25T23:29:51-07:00 2015-03-17T20:15:23-07:00“When your student is struggling, we already know they aren’t reading, writing, or doing math at grade level. The key to improving skills is to determine why the problem exists,” states Terry. “For example, ninety-five percent of reading problems are related to visual processing problems, which are not tested for in most schools. There are specific activities and exercises you can do to improve areas that are problematic.”
Terry, a 40-year Learning Disability Specialist and Board Certified Educational Therapist, uses a three-pronged integrative approach to help students improve reading scores in just 20 minutes a day. She shares these helpful steps with parents…Read more