Enhanced Learning Skills for Kids » visual spatial

Will Art Therapy really help with Learning Disabilities?

colleen — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:17:35 +0000

When you have a child that has a learning disability, you’re always looking for ways to help them learn and overcome the problems. When you find something that works, you need to stick with that technique. You may run into a problem where the technique you use stops working and not know what to do.

Whether you’re in a situation where you’re trying to find something that works or you’re trying to find something new when what you tried stops working, you need all the help you can get. You may take suggestions from others, but what about research? Research is a good thing because you’ll see how it’s worked for others.

There was a study performed on special needs children that were from four to nine years of age. This study used art work as a form of therapy and the results may surprise you.

This study was done in Karachi which is in Pakistan. The number of children in this area that have problems is quite large, so it was the perfect place. There were 80 children between four and nine that were selected for this study.

Exercise sheets and flash cards were used for the study and each was geared toward the cognitive skills and colors, shapes, and craft activities were used. Several methods were used to administer the test and each child was graded based on those methods and how they did.

What the main outcome of the study determined is most of the children have problems with problem solving, understanding concepts, and processing information. Those problems are difficult to handle when it comes to every day life, which is the main reason why you need to get your child help early and as soon as it’s detected.

The main reason why art therapy works in children is due the relief it can give. Words can cause stress and overwhelm where art work doesn’t do that. It may be easier for a child to understand and grasp what they see in the pictures rather then words on a paper.

Another thing that was studied in this research is art work created by the children. When they have the ability to draw or paint what they want, they have a chance to express their feelings. It also shows they are more cheerful and they may feel better about their life.

When children have a sense of transformation and fulfillment, they’ll do better in their studies and they’ll try harder to overcome their disabilities. When they see what they do is good and people around them are happy with it, they’ll have more motivation and they’ll be healthier. Sound familiar parents? Don't we do the same? We all have an innate desire to achieve and avoid being a failure.

Children with learning disabilities struggle to learn in the same way as others. This makes it hard for them to be in a regular classroom setting, but most schools only have that option. With the recent budget cuts across the U.S., your child is potentially looking at an even bigger room of students to contend with in school.

Artwork and flash cards are two techniques you can use to help your child overcome learning disabilities. If you’re not currently using these options, you should give them a try. According to the study mentioned above, they work very well.

What I found very interesting about the article and why I chose to include this in this week's blog is because the supplemental pieces that I use in my programs combine artwork, visual and hands-on creative work. Not surprisingly, the children enjoy these activities and often will ask if they can work extra hard with me on their program to earn a little more time with the supplemental pieces.

The children are very proud of their artwork that they produce and will often run and show their parents in hopes the family will hang it up on the fridge or better yet frame it. The children often start out unable to draw successfully because of visual spatial challenges along with visual motor weaknesses. By the end of their 12 week program though, they are thrilled to take on the challenging exercises requiring pencil to paper sketching.

Why not help your child today? Take 30 minutes of your busy day and call me to talk about how we can work together to change your child's life for the better.

Learning Skills 101 – Visual Processing

colleen — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:00:53 +0000

To Review:

So far, we have been discussing what learning skills are and how they impact a student on a daily basis. If you recall, we stated that learning skills are the underlying mental skills formally known as attention, visual/auditory processing, memory, processing, word attack and auditory analysis. Most of our children experience these skills through reading, writing, spelling, paying attention, remembering, recalling and how quick we can respond to a request.

Over the last few weeks, we have been discussing our learning skills. Selective, Sustained and Divided Attention, and Working Memory, Processing Speed and included Visual and Auditory Processing. Without these cognitive skills as strengths, the student has great difficulty within the classroom and in his life. Last week we tried an exercise from Unlock the Einstein Inside: Applying New Brain Science to Wake Up the Smart In Your Child. Dr. Gibson is the creator of Processing and Cognitive Enhancement (PACE) and Master the Code (MTC).

This week we will discuss visual processing in a bit more detail. Visual processing relates to the brain’s processing to make sense of information taken in through the eyes. This is different from the mechanics of the eye that would lead to glasses. Visual Processing issues usually impact a child so they will find anything requiring spatial relations (keep in the lines, ordering the math problems on a paper within the space, not bumping into objects when they walk, etc.) a big challenge.

Reading and math are two subjects where accurate perception and understanding of visual processing is important. For example, spatial relationships are very important. Both Math and Reading rely heavily on the use of symbols I Most students I work with have this area impacted to a point. Some students are more severe than others. Visual processing issues will impact the child’s reading ability and thus academics. Math and Reading are the two subjects that are directly impacted.

Examples of how difficulty with visual processing could pose a challenge would be discerning between the many symbols within both subjects. Within reading, words must be perceived as separate units, directionality in reading left to right, similarly shaped letters of “b”, “d”, “q” and “p”. The importance of being able to perceive objects in relation to other objects is often seen in math problems. To be successful, the person must be able to associate that certain digits go together to make a single number (14), that others are single digit numbers, that the operational signs (+,x,=) are distinct from the numbers, but demonstrate a relationship between them. The only cues to such math problems are the spacing and order between the symbols (LD Online, 2008). Additionally, just being able to space and shape the flow of the equations to the space on the paper can be a challenge for students where they require graph paper to complete the work.

When you have visual processing difficulties, visual motor integration is often a spillover effect. This is the ability to use visual cues (sight) to guide the child's movements (LD Online, 2008). This refers to both gross motor and fine motor tasks. Often children with difficulty in this area have a tough time orienting themselves in space, especially in relation to other people and objects. These are the children who are often called "clumsy" because they bump into things, place things on the edges of tables or counters where they fall off, "miss" their seats when they sit down, etc. This can interfere with virtually all areas of the child's life: social, academic, athletic, pragmatic. Difficulty with fine motor integration effects a child's writing, organization on paper, and ability to transition between a worksheet or keyboard and other necessary information which is in a book, on a number line, graph, chart, or computer screen.

A funny story with visual processing weaknesses goes back to when I became certified and licensed in Processing and Cognitive Enhancement (PACE). First, I have to give you the background to the story. When I arrived in Colorado Springs for my week of training, I admit that I was probably the biggest doubting Thomas in the room. I came to Colorado because I wanted help for my children, especially Shannon who sustained cognitive injury from her autoimmune disorder. The Gibson Family, creators of PACE and MTC, picked up on my doubts. Perhaps it was because all I kept asking was “where’s the data?”, “Where’s the Research?” So, the family brought in their GURU .. Dr. Ken Gibson himself to speak to all of us that came to learn and get certified. Anyway, Dr. Gibson recognizes that a.k.a. Brain Training is still in its infancy relative to being mainstream intervention but its not in its infancy relative to research and proven results. So what’s the best way to prove something works? Yep … you guessed it! Dr. Gibson used the program on me! LOL. What happened was the best trainers for this program are the Gibson Family. They literally visit learning centers around the country to train/monitor the PACE/MTC trainers. So, I volunteered at this point, to get this over with. Let’s just say after the fact, I found out no one wanted to volunteer and they were happy I did so. Okay, next is the funny part.

I get up in front of the room of people and sit in the middle with the trainer. Then, I ‘m instructed to stand with the trainer and the metronome begins echoing in the room. I have not done anything at this point with a metronome. First, I’m instructed to not only catch the ball being thrown to me but do so on beat. Next, the trainer starts saying a sentence to me and we have to each say a word in the sentence within beat on each throw of the ball. Finally, I begin to stumble because I am using all my skills at once. My visual processing to visualize the sentence she spoke to me, my auditory to process what she said, my processing speed to hurry up and get the info into working memory, my working memory to hold onto all these directions and finally attention to make sure I am able to use all my attention skills and be successful. Whew! What a wake up call that was for me! Just doing that exercise alone woke up my mental skills and kept me alert for a while.

Another exercise the team used me for was learning the President’s forwards and backwards. I knew this was going to be tough because I couldn’t remember the name of the President who came after Washington. After they stopped giggling in good jest, of course, they worked with me and sure enough, they strengthened my skills within one session and I remembered the Presidents. You can’t imagine how proud I was to tell my husband, the history buff, that I could state all the President’s forwards and backwards. He said, If they got you to memorize the President’s, then I’m sold! He was sold and so was I because I personally felt the power of this training program. By the end of the week, I had renewed confidence in my own abilities! All the students that I work with feel the same way I did. More importantly, the goal of this one exercise is not to remember the President’s but to begin strengthening your cognitive skills. Learning the President’s is an added bonus. I hope you can "see" how visual processing and all the learning skills are so important for learning successfully.]"

Visual Processing: If visual manipulation or visual imagery is poor then those tasks that require seeing in your heard (math word problems, and comprehension, etc.) will suffer.

Your child may be experiencing similar difficulties while learning because one or more cognitive skills are weak. The best way to find this out is to have your child’s cognitive skills tested. The good news is after a student works with the Student Transformation System, they will have strengthened all of their cognitive skills. ADHD symptoms, that are cognitive based, disappear to the point the teachers and family take notice. Recognize that there is hope and a solution. Call today for more information on your choices! Call me at (908) 285-8352.

We will delve into Auditory Processing next week because it too is such a core skill that will impact across all subjects and environments (home/school).

Enhanced Learning Skills for Kids » visual spatial

Will Art Therapy really help with Learning Disabilities?

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Learning Skills 101 – Visual Processing

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