Understanding and Helping the Struggling Learner - Part 1

It seems like I mentioned the DVD I bought called Understanding and Helping the Struggling Learner in another post. Dianne Craft presents this seminar on two 90 minute DVD's...I'm only half way through the first one and have so much to share already! If you have a bright child who has to work hard to learn, I encourage you to read on!

Ms. Craft talks quite a bit about ADD & ADHD in the beginning of this lecture. If you have children who are in these categories, I can't recommend this DVD enough! She also discusses Dyslexia and Dysgraphia and has tips and techniques on how to help children with all of these disorders. Also in the beginning, she asks why more boys have learning struggles than girls do. She said that boys have 3 times more Essential Fatty Acids deficiency than girls do. Some symptoms of this deficiency are: dry hair (you're always taking a wet comb to their head to get their hair to lay down), dry skin (a white trail is left on the skin after scratching), eczema, rashes, always thirsty, licks butter out of the tub. She also said that most, if not all, of hyperactive children have been helped by using oils in their diet. The white matter of the brain, where transmitters signal from the left to the right brain hemispheres, is 90% fat! Fats (good fats) are essential to kids! When I went to the Brain Balance lecture at the GHEA conference, Dr. Scire also said we MUST be giving our children fish oil supplements (and lots of antioxidants so their bodies can break down the oils), if we want them to have healthy brain development and function.

Sidenote here...since I mentioned the Brain Balance lecture, I thought I'd share a few tidbits.
1 in 4 kids has ADHD (up 2,000% in the last 20 years)
1 in 100 kids has Autism (15 years ago it was 1 in 10,000)
He mentioned the rise in diabetes and obesity in kids (I had no idea doctors are prescribing Lipitor to children for high cholesterol) and blames most of it on how sedentary kids are these days. The average child today spends 8 hours a day in front of a screen be it TV, movies, computer, video games, and texting.

Dr. Scire said (I have not confirmed this) that because we know so much more about the brain and how it functions, and what it needs for optimum learning and development, that the American Pediatric Association is now recommending NO television for children under 5. All other kids should receive no more than 30 minutes of screen time per day. Wow...I had to let that sink in. My kids only get 30 minutes per day, if any, on the computer. But we usually watch something as a family in the evenings. These days it's been 2 episodes of Little House on the Prairie, so 90 minutes. I guess I'm not really worried about them, because they do play outside and jump on the trampoline for hours a day (weather permitting). We got rid of our PS2 over a year ago, so video games aren't an issue anymore. If they're not outside, the boys are probably building Legos or playing a game and Abbi is probably reading or knitting as she listens to a book on CD.

Dr. Scire said two of the most important things kids need (for a healthy brain) are exercise and freeplay. And of course a healthy diet. Less carbs and gluten-based food. More protein (amino acids), essential fatty oils, antioxidants, fruits and vegetables. And NO SOY! Soy is full of estrogen and is proving to be detrimental to boys especially.

ANYWAY - I bought this DVD so I can learn more about Caleb, my youngest son (age 9), and how his brain works. For the past year or so, I've known that something wasn't quite right with him. Maybe you're in the same boat. Your friends tell you, 'he'll grow out of it,' but you just know something is wrong. Caleb is very bright, but there were little clues that he just wasn't 'getting' things. He still, to this day, writes his name caLeB. We've practiced and practiced his handwriting and we've gone over and over when we capitalize nouns, but he still doesn't get it when it comes to his name. My problem was that Caleb didn't really fit into the ADD or ADHD or Dylexia categories. I really didn't have much to go on, because I couldn't pinpoint exactly what the problem was. I just knew something wasn't right. And then I received an email from HSLDA last summer with an article called Homeschooling Your Struggling Learner. I read it with tears knowing I was beginning to get answers. If you think you may have a struggling learner, please look at the characteristics of the 4 learning gates. That's where I learned about Dianne Craft. She is all about brain integration and says if you can get the right and left brain hemispheres to work better as one unit, things become easier for the child. Interestingly, Dr. Scire from Brain Balance, said that teaching only to your child's learning style will worsen your child's brain imbalance. What?! One of the great things about homeschooling is that we can teach to our child's learning style, right? We can teach the way they learn...isn't that the best way? Dr. Scire says, 'no.' He said when you teach only to your child's learning style, the other part of the brain suffers. His advice is to teach as multi-sensory as you can. Involve both sides of the brain as much as possible for proper development.

Well, this ended up being much longer than I anticipated, so I'll close for now. I'm barely into my notes from the DVD...good stuff though, isn't it? What I've learned about Visual and Auditory processing is fascinating. I hope you'll stay tuned.