How to use this website...

Parents

Please read below and see the Summary Table.

• When it becomes apparent that your child is experiencing difficulty there can be lengthy delays in obtaining an appointment with a professional qualified to make an assessment.
• Meanwhile, your child is still having the same problems so, this can be a good start point to look at the resources LADDER OF LEARNING makes available in this website.
• Once an assessment has been obtained, depending on the results, and because we are all unique, there may still not be a clear help or remediation route for either the Parent or Teaching and Support Staff. LADDER OF LEARNING’s experience has shown there is no one route to fit everyone, even within a particular diagnosis.
• That is when the detective work begins – aided again by the growing range of materials available through this web site.
• Below is a series of suggested Steps to both view the website contents and consider what would be the most appropriate way to progress. We always suggest you should talk to your child’s Teacher or Learning Support Teacher or SENCO about what you are learning and the approaches you are starting to use to improve brain function. A concerted course of action benefits everyone – especially your child.

STEP 1: Getting a better understanding

• What ever the diagnosis, if there is one, the key is to identify the specific areas of the curriculum your child is having difficulty with. Then, the required sub-skills causing problems.
• The set of child development videos – “The Child Development Video Set” is a good place to start. Informative and packed with detail about brain function and sub-skills, the underlying areas of difficulty can often be clarified. The video set covers from birth to starting school so if you do not wish to invest in the whole set at this stage, our recommendation is to buy at least the 5th video in the set – The Importance of Being Four. You can always buy earlier ages to help fill in the gaps later.
  Follow this link for more information about these videos.

STEP 2: Choose books

Choose books to add more background and introduce some useful approaches. Click on the book title to be transferred to the appropriate section of the website. Further informative websites are also linked into some of the book descriptions.

• Smart Moves: why learning is not all in your head by Carla Hannaford PhD
• Awakening the Child Heart by Carla Hannaford PhD
• Tomorrow's Children by Margaret Sasse
• When Listening Comes Alive by Paul Madaule.

 

STEP 3: Getting started

The books in STEP 2 will already have given some ideas.

• If your child is in Nursery or Primary the Movement & Learning CDs and songbooks by Brendan O’Hara are proving a popular start point for getting actively involved.
  Follow this link to learn more about and choose from the Movement & Learning Series
• Brain Gym® is also now being widely introduced to schools because pupils, Teachers, Support Staff and Parents see it making a difference.
  What Parents have said about Brain Gym and their children:-
  • “Calms them down.”
  • “Gives the kids a chance to relax and think.”
  • “He has made big gains in his writing and reading.”
  • “Helped my son control his emotions & positively influenced his self esteem.”
  Some Brain Gym books:
  • Brain Gym® Teacher’s Revised Edition
  • Hands On – How to Use Brain Gym® in the Classroom by Cohen & Goldsmith
  • I Am the Child by Cecilia Freeman – for children with Special Needs.
  Follow this link to learn more about Brain Gym and choose.

STEP 4: What next?

• Doing some training courses to learn more about the application of the resources.
  For example: follow this link to find courses on Brain Gym.
• Perhaps taking an active role in reading and writing remediation – experience shows that when a learner has had difficulties in the first two years of Primary they may need a second chance to fill in any gaps in their knowledge of basics such as letter blends and number bonds.
  That is why LADDER OF LEARNING gives links to published Literacy and Numeracy programmes we have found useful.
  Note: Speak to your child’s Teacher – what scheme is the school using?
• Consider an auditory / listening input. See When Listening Comes Alive by Paul Madaule.
• Watch this website for further resources – some already in the pipeline.