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I know far too well that rote memorization is both boring and frustrating for many young learners.  Over the years, I have also witnessed many students that struggle to learn these foundational skills to resist the process, exhibit anxiety and begin to question their own intelligence.  This is why coming up with a new approach to teaching multiplication and division facts was one of my first priorities when I opened my educational therapy practice 20 years ago.  What are the 4 Secret Ingredients to Learning the Basic Multiplication and Division Facts?  Creating a multisensory  learning process :   In other words, how could I meet the learning needs of all of my students by conduct to a symphony of senses?  Tapping into visual, auditory, tactile and kinesthetic styles was primary, but I also wanted to make the process a highly organized sequence of steps that offered students the opportunity to verbalize, interact with others, and directly experience th...

Navigating and then overcoming the challenges that many individuals with dyslexia experience is a process that requires both time and patience. What's more, a vital approach that tames the turbulence is revealing and addressing inherent weaknesses while embracing the many gifts that come with this diagnosis. What are the Five Steps to Navigating Dyslexia? Thorough Screening and Assessment:  The first step is to complete a  free dyslexia screener , and, if needed, pursue a comprehensive psycho-educational assessment.  This will help to uncover the specific areas of difficulty that need to be addressed and it will also define each student's "genius" qualities that can be fully realized and utilized. In-Depth Understanding:  The second step is to have a comprehensive understanding of the unique strengths and weaknesses of each learner. By tapping into a student's strengths they can learn to develop compensatory learning strategies. With guidance and a scaffolding ...

When experiences tap into all our senses as well as a variety of ways that we can process and organize information, not only does it grab our attention, but it becomes extremely memorable. The term multisensory teaching has been around for some time, but the concept has matured and grown over time. What does multisensory mean? The term multisensory means that one is using more than one sense to perceive the world around them.  When applied to learning, this means that learners use more than one sense such as sight, hearing, and touch to learn academic content. What is a multisensory approach to learning ? A multisensory approach to learning,  multisensory teaching, or multisensory instruction, is a way of teaching that engages students by implementing lessons that activate more than one sense at a time.  This has been a successful method used in popular Orton Gillingham reading programs for many years as well as many popular math methods such as Touch Math...

Creating magical activities for struggling math students is one of my favorite things to do. Teaching fun memory strategies, hooking techniques, color coded steps, drawing strategies, and color implementation can be the secret weapon to igniting joy in the learning process. Over the years, I have found that many of my students have trouble with factoring and multiples. As a result, I have created a new publication to make the learning process both enjoyable and memorable for both the teachers and the students. Now, teachers have all the tools that they need to teach these concepts in a multisensory and effective way. Students can learn the concept once and continue to remember the process over time. What’s My Method? All of the following strategies are integrated into my publication Mathemagic Magical Math Instruction: Factoring and Multiples . Memory Strategies : Implementing memory strategies helps students encode the new material.  Hooking Techniques : Presenting hooking techn...

This week I wanted to tell you about my online store, Good Sensory Learning. I’m Dr. Erica Warren, and I established this site so I could share all the materials that I have created over the last 20+ years as a learning specialist and educational therapist. When I first began my private practice, Learning to Learn, I had great difficulty finding fun and multisensory materials for my students that were effective and engaging. So back in 2005, I made it my mission to design and distribute high-end, remedial products as well as memorable, motivating lessons that bring delight to learning. If you would like to try a free sampling of my activities , CLICK HERE . How Are the Products Organized at Good Sensory Learning? You can download my Free Printable Catalog or you can browse the site using the grey “search all products” bar in the top right of any page with keywords such as dyslexia, working memory, and executive functioning. What’s more, drop down menus in the red banner allow you to s...

Making lessons both memorable and fun brings the magic into any classroom. Instead of looking to a room of passive, bored faces, you can transform your learners into active engaged participants. I work with students one-on-one, and this is what makes my practice a success. I often tell my students, if you don’t love coming to our sessions, I’m not doing my job.   16 Strategies that Can Transform Your Classroom or One-to-One Sessions: Don't call home assignments, homework, but come up with a name that is more appealing and motivating such as home fun. Also, when introducing a new lesson or assignment, think like you are selling a product, and be sure to create fun and enticing names. For instance, I do not teach script or cursive, I teach roller-coaster letters! Furthermore, generate excitement for upcoming topics by showing your own enthusiasm. Bring the arts, music, and games into assignments.  Many students enjoy fine arts, acting, music, and making as well as playing games,...

Using melodies and beats can enhance learning and make memorization a veritable breeze.  I often use this strategy in my practice, but having to create all the content is time consuming.  This problem was solved by Nathan John!   Nathan John and Learn Thru Music In August 2016, I had the pleasure of interviewing Nathan John , a creative, ingenious, British entrepreneur with dyslexia that is helping struggling students learn to read and memorize academic content around the globe.  Nathan founded Rewise Learning in 2008 and specializes in providing fun and innovative educational solutions. Rewise Learning offers four distinct brands: LearnThruMusic Courses , LearnThruMusic , PhonicsThruMusic , and Sing-In Success .  Today we will be focusing on LearnThruMusic , a website that teaches core academic subjects using modern music genres, video, and interactive activities. These fun and effective learning resources were developed in consultation with teachers and studen...

Frixion pens , highlighters and markers are currently my favorite tool for making my sessions both fun and memorable.  From colorcoding, to erasing mishaps, to sending secret messages, these magical writing utensils will engage students of all ages. In fact, this past week, one of my students, that is a senior in high school, had a blast breaking down the steps required to complete mathematical logarithms (see the image above). What Are My Favorite Frixion Options? Most recently, I found a set of 24, different vibrant markers that can bring a rainbow of colors to assignments and projects.  Best of all, with the swipe of the attached rubber eraser, the ink disappears.  I’m also a fan of their highlighters , as it enables my students to erase their markings when they highlight too much information. Now correcting mishaps is somewhat miraculous. How Does the Frixion Technology Work? The markings become invisible when heated.   When rubbing the ink with the hard rubb...