Seven Steps To School Success
By Lisa Harp, Sat Dec 10th

Ok, so your kid's not doing well in school - maybe bringinghome C'S, and some D's and F's. Yet, you know he's a bright kid!His vocabulary is astounding and when you talk about theuniverse - the stars, the galaxie, comets, and the generalrelationship between man and his world, his understanding isremarkable. All along you thought this kid was gifted. Yet, youcan't read his writing. Capitals, periods? Unheard of. Thecontent of his written work is phenomenal if you can muddlethrough it. Math? A struggle at best. Reading? A nightmare tolisten to out loud, yet he seems to understand what he'sreading. Of course, he hates to read. I know this child, becauseI had one. (He's now an honor roll student). I also work withsimilar children daily in my private practice. I know they arebright. I know they are creative. Yet the schools don't seem torecognize the brilliance within these children. So, what shoulda parent do? 1. Don't allow your child to be labeled. LD, ADD,dyslexia - these all give him an excuse not to live up to hisfull potential. The labels allow him to feel different, not asgood as the other kids, and believe me, he does not feel"special" when he goes to special education. Also, most schoolsjust water down the curriculum, lower the expectations, don'tactually treat the problem at hand, just the symptoms, andcollect their money for a special education student. The actualprocessing issues at hand are not addressed. 2. Work on theprocess, not the symptoms. Schools and most learning centerstreat and mask the symptoms. They don't actually deal with theprocessing issues at hand. There are numerous programs,activities, and exercises available to correct learningproblems. The most common learning issues I deal with are eyemuscle issues where the muscles of the eye turn in and aweakness in visual memory, which is where the student is unableto keep a picture in his mind for very

long. This usuallyexplains why reading, spelling, and memorizing math facts are sodifficult for this bright child. These are correctable learningissues. 3. Understand that some days the school work is trulytoo difficult and that on other days it is easily accomplished.Just because he understood it yesterday doesn't mean he willremember it today, especially if his visual memory skills areweak. One exercise that helps a lot is to give the student apaper and pencil. Draw a combination of about four figures,letters, shapes, or numbers, such as D#9>. Show it to thestudent for about 5 to 10 seconds and then take it away. Nowhave the student write the combination on his piece of paper.Check to see if he copied the shapes correctly and discuss. Igive points for correct anwers and make a game of this. 4. Keepthe student involved in what he is good at - baseball, soccer,gymnastics, tennis - whatever motivates him. I often encounterparents who take away these activities because the student'sgrades are poor. This only adds to an already poor self esteem.A great activity to help a struggling learner is martial arts,not only for the focusing and discipline involved, but alsobecause the student is constanly crossing his vertical midline,and this helps to coordinate the left side of the brain with theright side. I have noticed that most kids who stick with martialarts long term have reasonably good grades. 5. Don't do marathonnights with homework. Most districts have guidelines about howmany minutes of homework a child should have. If your child isin the 5th grade and is spending three hours a night onhomework, then this is too much. Contact the teacher andprincipal if neccessary and have the work load decreased. I amconstantly amazed that so many parents don't know this and feelthey have to work for hours on end every evening on homeworkthat usually isn't even worthwhile. 6. Regularly work on simpleeye exercises. 80% of what we take in is through our eyes. Iconsistently find strain on the visual system of kids whostruggle in school. No, they usually do not need glasses. Whatthey need is to strengthen their eye muscles. One way to do thisis to purchase an eye patch. Put the patch on the child's eye.Move a pen or pencil in front of the unpatched eye. Move itslowly back and forth, diagonally, and in a circular pattern.Next, patch the other eye and repeat the procedure. 7. Turn offthe television. Unplug the video games. Limit computer time.Play board games and cards. Get those kids outside andexercising. Children sitting in front of media are not activelylearning. This is passive learning, and it will only hinderschool learning. Too many parents think that if they plug in aneducational game or movie that learning is taking place. Yes,that is true, but kids today are inundated with technology,causing their brains to become lazy in a sense. Without evengetting into the current problem with childhood obesity, pleaseunderstand that the body and the brain are connected, and thosekids need exercise and interactive learning in order for theirbrains to work properly. There are many more things that you cando to help your child succeed in school. There are numerouslearning programs available. Anything done is better thannothing. So, you are on the right track to start getting helpfor your child.

About the author:About the author: Lisa Harp, a teacher and educationaltherapist, offers a line of learning products designed to helpthe struggling learner in a quick, effective, and affordablesetting. http://www.learning-aids.com