Available on Amazon (Kindle format)
Ages: 5-18
Vision is the primary tool through which traditional learning takes place, and many times a child’s problems in vision will limit success in the classroom. Sight is the ability to see, but true vision is the result of the ability to interpret and understand the information that comes through ones’ eyes. Only when a child has efficient interpretive skills, does he/she then possess the foundations or prerequisites needed to fully benefit from classroom instruction and work.
The purpose of CVA-2 is to assist a teacher, therapist or parent by providing suggestions for classroom activities designed to enhance a student’s visual skills. Once visual skill difficulties have been identified, the adult can be a powerful initiator of change regarding the child’s visual skills. Ideally, the student will enhance visual interpretation strategies through the development of more efficient near to far focusing and smoother eye movements.
The CVA-2 tasks may be used with almost any age group. For younger students, make the activities more game-like and use analogies. For example, if you are asking the student to put a smaller straw within a larger one, instead of saying “pierce the straw”, you might say “dock your rocket ship”. For older students, the adult may use more sophisticated and sports-related language.
CVA-2 presents a wide variety of activities which cover skills such as general muscle movement, specific muscle movement, pursuits, scanning, locating/saccades, near/far shifts (aligning), and visually guided movements. A chart identified the specific skills each activity covers.
A foundation in visual efficiency is critical. It enables students to develop a greater efficiency of work habits and skill development. While vision assistance will not treat dyslexia or other learning issues, this assistance will remove a barrier which could interfere with appropriate learning.
Available on Amazon
The following forward was written by Rick Lavoie.
Did you ever have a job where there was one solitary task that you abhorred or dreaded? Perhaps it was a monthly accounting report or an annual inventory project. You constantly dreaded the day that your superior entered your office to announce that it was time to approach this distasteful and fear-filled activity. You were anxious, frightened and disheartened. This is the way that Eli Richards, and every child who struggles with dysgraphia, felt each time he heard a teacher say the dreaded words, “Everyone take out a piece of paper. I want you to write a composition!”
Eli is a bright student with an extensive repertoire of interests and talents. He has a rich and vibrant vocabulary and an impressive fund of background information and facts. He is wonderfully creative and has earned the respect and affection of all who know him because of his innovative view of life. But he couldn’t write. Every aspect of the writing process -- handwriting, note taking, spelling, syntax, semantics, word choice, etc., was a mystery for him. His fluency and fluidity with language came to a frightening and screeching halt whenever he sat in front of a blank piece of paper with a pen in hand. As he progressed through the grades, composition skills became increasingly important --and increasingly frustrating and frightening.
But Eli’s story is not merely a tale of failure and struggle. It is also a story of support, faith and small victories. Eli’s school life had many detractors, but he also had defenders and champions. Going through Eli’s struggles, reminds me, as in the fairy tales, there is one caring, devoted adult that can save the life of a child.
Dysgraphia is among the least understood aspects of learning disorders. This complex problem has a confusing collection of symptoms and manifestations. These children wrestle daily with a knot of attention problems, memory difficulties, language deficiencies and idiosyncratic thought processes. Often, the professionals in the child’s life will deal with the individual symptoms of Dysgraphia, but they fail to understand (or remediate) the disorder in its entirety. They try to assist with the symptoms without confronting the problem in any way. As a result, their interventions are often unsuccessful, and the child’s frustrations become more profound.
Eli, The Boy Who Couldn’t Write puts a human face on this puzzling disorder. In a charming and insightful narrative, Eli tells of his daily frustrations and his creative attempts to avoid, and later, self-remediate, his writing problems. You feel as if you are sitting next to Eli in the classroom as he faces his daily challenges. Eli’s story of fear, frustration and failure enables the reader to gain a genuine understanding or the problems that Eli confronted daily.
But this book is not only about struggles. It also offers solutions. At the conclusion of Eli’s narrative, the calvary arrives -- offering practical advice for how we can assist the dysgraphic child in the classroom and at home.
Eli’s mother, Regina, has come to be recognized as one of the nation’s foremost experts on this puzzling disorder. She provides a detailed but understandable list of dysgraphia’s symptoms and etiology. As you read her outline, you will come to recognize the dysgraphic students in your own classroom. Beyond merely identifying the disorder, Regina offers field-tested strategies and approaches to use with the child. By combining her unparalleled experiences as a teacher, consultant and researcher with her experiences as Eli’s Mom, she is able to approach this task with the mind of a professional and the heart of a parent. An unbeatable combination.
As you read Eli’s story, allow his compelling words to solidify your commitment to the children in your life who fight the “writing dragon” daily.
With every good wish, Richard D Lavoie, M.A.,M.Ed. Visiting Lecturer, Harvard University Author, It’s So Much work to Be Your Friend: Helping the Child with Learning Disabilities Find Social Success, and The Motivation Breakthrough: 6 Secrets to Turning On the Tuned-Out Child.
Available on Amazon
Do your children/students easily learn jingles or commercials? Many children do. These children also easily hook into mnemonics sentences and can use mnemonics for strategies. LEARN (Learning Efficiently and Remembering mNemonics) is a book of strategies to enhance a student’s learning through use of playful, yet effective, multisensory teaching techniques. The introduction includes information on different theories, such as brain hemispheres, brain-based learning, and multiple intelligences. Then, there are chapters on daily living skills, reading comprehension, written expression (letter form, writing mechanics and content), and general mnemonics. The general mnemonics section includes strategies for general recall, time management, listening strategies, comprehension strategies, writing skills, math strategies, finger multiplication, and strategies for science and social science. These strategies are appropriate for a variety of school age students and can be used by teachers, tutors, or parents. LEARN is an acronym for Learning Efficiently And Remembering mNemonics. The benefits of mnemonics are numerous.
MFR present visual mnemonic strategies to help students learn sound/symbol relationships quickly and easily. It provides an alternative approach for students who struggle to remember these relationships. Mnemonics are valuable because they provide students with a "hook" on which to hang the information they are working to remember. Once the hook is established, students are then able to work on developing a greater understanding of when and how to use the various sound/symbol correspondences. The MFR visual mnemonic system can be adapted to a variety of reading programs and is useful for parents to use at home or for teachers to use within a classroom group. Older students may only need to work on some of the sounds, usually in sets 2 and 3. Included are 44 8.5x11 pictures with sound/symbol relationships in three areas * Set I includes the basic sounds (such as Apple Ed is on umbrella for the 5 short vowel sounds) * Set II includes the common letters that have multiple sounds (such as saw rose for the letter s) * Set III includes common sounds that have multiple spellings (such as the sound /k/, which can be spelled c, k, ck, or ch as in Christopher Cat kisses duck). Purchasing multiple books allows students to each have their own copy for coloring and practice.
Available on Amazon and Pro-Ed
Ages: 5-Adult
Grades: K-Adult
Get comprehensive information on identifying, understanding, and diagnosing students with dyslexia and dysgraphia along with hands-on strategies and techniques for intervention.
The author begins by dispelling 16 myths about dyslexia and setting a goal of helping the reader understand the struggles experienced by students with dyslexia and dysgraphia. Then discusses:
Sound/symbol correspondence following a mnemonic teaching system called Memory Foundations For Reading (MFR).
Available on Pro-Ed
Ages: 6-18
Grades: 1-Adult
Find hundreds of workable solutions for improving memory and learning for students with special needs with this Source.
Backed by years of practice and study, this book is built on the premise that every student can learn. You'll learn how memory works, how to best work with it, and the practical measures that can prime and maximize memory capacity.
Use this book to learn:
Extra helps include:
Available on Amazon and Academic Therapy Publications
Individual Administration
Norm-Referenced
Ages 5-14
Testing time: 10-15 minutes
VSA-2 is an easy way to screen for common visual skill difficulties that can impact academic performance.
Description
The VSA provides an easy way to screen for common visual skill difficulties that can impact academic performance and participation, including reading and writing tasks by way of five items that assess binocular, ocular-motility, and visual-motor skills. The VSA requires minimal equipment and can be administered as part of a school’s annual vision screening program or with students who present with visual skill concerns to determine need for further optometric evaluation.
VSA-2 Items:
The VSA-2 was standardized on a nationally representative sample of 1,000 individuals ages 5.0 through 14.11.
Administration and Scoring
The VSA-2 can be administered in 10-15 minutes and scored in 5. Detailed examples are provided in the manual to assist with scoring the Design Completion items. Raw scores are converted to an Overall standard score and percentile rank. Individual items and time scores can be further analyzed using frequency tables.
Reliability and Validity
Validity studies demonstrated that the VSA-2 is able to identify visual skills challenges in children with specific learning disability, dyslexia, and autism spectrum disorder, and is able to differentiate typically developing children from those with a known visual efficiency disorder.
Available on Amazon in Kindle format
This short booklet defines and outlines the stages of writing and explains dysgraphic symptoms. Guidelines are provided to identify dysgraphic students and specific helps and compensations are recommended. Specific chapter include: