Breakthrough Literacy – any child can use this simple skill

In minutes you will practice how to visualise words and switch the light bulb on in your brain for fluent reading and spelling. If you are struggling with spelling or reading at home, visualising words is fun and aids concentration, even if you are diagnosed dyslexic or ADHD. As 1 in 5 people experience difficulties, it is more than likely you will know someone this can help. All you need is to come along with an open mind, a post-it pad and a felt pen. Register in advance here and boost any home education you are planning.  Tuesday 28th July 12noon for 1 hour.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUrcOyvpj4qE9VascnSq_x4svJtkpTcKQ3X

Olive Hickmott
olive@empoweringlearning.co.uk
http://www.empoweringlearning.co.uk

You can read more about using visualisation techniques to enable learning and more case studies in the book The Elephants in The Classroom – uncovering every student’s natural power of mental imagery to enhance learning. Available here ,  and also from Amazon USA, Amazon UK.

#empoweringlearning #theelephantsintheclassroom #homeeducation #breakthroughliteracy

Home education for literacy made easy

Word recognition is necessary for fluent reading.  But with an emphasis on phonics ONLY, word recognition is left either left to chance or not being taught well in school.  One of the first words you can be expected to read or write is your name and the easy way to do that is through word recognition.

There are at least 7 ways that are poor strategies for developing word recognition, that can be improved, by the work done by Empowering Learning with the aid of neuroscience:

1. Being stressed –  when you are stressed it is very difficult to do anything and that includes reading and writing. Being asked to read aloud in school will ramp up a child’s stress levels. Grounding, breathing and being relaxed will improve this.
2. 3 positions for reading – try reading looking down at the desk, then with the book slightly tipped up then with the book right up in front of your eyes.  Which is the best position for you? Flat on the table is normally more difficult and if you have any visual stress with the letters moving around on the page, don’t look down it puts you into negative emotions or nasty self-talk.
3. Expecting that decoding words through phonics will lead to word recognition. This works for some but others drop into mild or severe learning difficulties. It is a poor strategy as neuroscience tells us that word recognition and decoding words work in different parts of the brain and it relies on luck to make this migration. Read on and see how this can be improved.
4. Techniques where you look at the word, cover it and then attempt to write it (Look, cover, write).  When students are looking down at a desk they are not in the best position for getting their brain to access their word form area that is part of their internal mental imagery.  When students look up they will have better access to mental imagery, vital for word recognition.  For example, think of a dog; looking up will give you the best picture, looking down will get you into your emotions (maybe frightened) and self-talk (thinking he will bite me). The series that works best is Lookup, capture the image, see the image and write it down (without looking down at the paper).
5. Focusing on high-frequency words does not encourage word recognition, most don’t have mental images.  Start with object words until the student is confident of visualising words.
6. Modelling plasticine is a useful technique but is slow and repetitive and it does not encourage the student to look up and see their own mental images
7. Nonsense words focus on phonics and we certainly don’t want students creating mental images of nonsense words.

Join our series of Changing Dyslexia for a new decade and find out do word recognition easily and effectively in minutes, whether or not you are Dyslexic.  This work is all based on how people who do word recognition successfully do it, it is just a skill to learn.

#homeeducation #homeschooling #dyslexia #wordrecognition #nonsensewords #highfrequencywords #lookcoverwrite #decoding #empoweringlearning #lookcoverwrite #phonics

Dispatch those reading gremlins

Reading for fun in 30 mins and 10 seconds is on the Active in Redbourn, facebook page this Thursday at 11am. Symon Vegro, a local author, is talking to Olive Hickmott about

*Motivation to read
*The simple and natural techniques to enable our creative and imaginative children to read in the way that works best for them – visually through whole word recognition.

To follow up, on Tuesday 28th July, I am running a special birthday treat for me – a free zoom called “Breakthrough literacy”. In minutes you will practice how to visualise words and switch the light bulb on in your brain for fluent reading and spelling. All you need is to come along with an open mind, a post-it pad and a felt pen. Register in advance here and boost any home education you are planning.  https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUrcOyvpj4qE9VascnSq_x4svJtkpTcKQ3X

Olive Hickmott
olive@empoweringlearning.co.uk
http://www.empoweringlearning.co.uk

You can read more about using visualisation techniques to enable learning and more case studies in the book The Elephants in The Classroom – uncovering every student’s natural power of mental imagery to enhance learning available here ,  and also from Amazon USA, Amazon UK.

#empoweringlearning #theelephantsintheclassroom #homeeducation #progressiveeducation #breakthroughliteracy

How is home schooling going?

Due to Covid-19 millions of parents have been attempting home schooling, without any preparation or training. Of course, they have been having a whole range of experiences from very good to deeply distressing for a number of reasons.

I have been looking into the whole range of home education options and learnt so much from the experts talking at the HGS2020 summit and grounding it back into a series of very practical explanations on the Progressive Education Group facebook page, that is full of knowledge and experiences.

I have learned so much, I must admit to being amazed as to just what has been going on and is offered in the big wide world. One of the original advocates of enabling children to learn rather than being taught to a strict curriculum was John Holt (dec). His book How Children Learn, taught me how to help our son to speak, when he had decided at 18 months old he did not like any attempt to help him. So we backed off and appeared to understand everything he said. The transformation back to fluent speaking took just 2 days. Something similar happened with reading later – It’s as if he said; I will read what I want (sports report in the newspaper, like dad), when I want and I don’t need any help. This was an extraordinary transformation. He now has a PHD and is a university professor.

For those who have had good experiences during the lock-down, many may now be considering home education. I would love to hear your views.

Olive Hickmott
olive@empoweringlearning.co.uk
http://www.empoweringlearning.co.uk

You can read more about using visualisation techniques to enable learning and more case studies in the book The Elephants in The Classroom – uncovering every student’s natural power of mental imagery to enhance learning available here ,  and also from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Kindle.

#empoweringlearning #theelephantsintheclassroom #homeeducation #HGS2020 #progressiveeducation

Neurodivergent Wednesday: Mental Health made easy

Access the short recording https://youtu.be/-46wEuXs0Uk

Mental health?

Have you ever been confused about someone saying this is a mental health condition? How does mental health develop and what tools can you learn to help. All of this and more will be covered in my discussion with ex-GP Mind Coach, Richard de Souza. We will also discuss how mental health relates to learning differences.

Olive Hickmott is a health and learning coach with a wealth of experience working with neurodivergent students. Let her and Richard help you connect the dots, so you can understand the connection to mental health.

Access the short recording https://youtu.be/-46wEuXs0Uk

Olive Hickmott
olive@empoweringlearning.co.uk
http://www.empoweringlearning.co.uk

You can read more about these visualisation techniques and more case studies in the book The Elephants in The Classroom – uncovering every student’s natural power of mental imagery to enhance learning available here ,  and also from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Kindle.

#Neurodivergent #empoweringlearning #theelephantsintheclassroom #mentalimagery #mentalhealth #learningdifferences

Catching up with visual learning is fun for all kids

A simple solution

During lock-down I have been creating short videos of the key visual skills to improve literacy and numeracy for visual creative students. There are only 4 vital topics: reducing anxiety, finding strengths, visualising words and numbers.

As I know that parents have very limited time, some are as short as 5 minutes some a bit longer. Download the attached single pages and choose which Youtubes best meet your needs. You can even let your child try them out for themselves – learning visually is fun and matches how many learn best. Students can change rapidly when they get the right strategy that matches their skills.

Here is a very brief summary of the material attached. This vital knowledge is not just for your child / student but for you too, to understand the key visual skills they have missed.

el-lockdown-chartDownload

literacy-and-numeracy-road-map-for-lockdownDownload

Watch the short summary recording on youtube: https://youtu.be/11BcOSVXp2s

Olive Hickmott
olive@empoweringlearning.co.uk
http://www.empoweringlearning.co.uk

You can read more about these visualisation techniques and more case studies in the book The Elephants in The Classroom – uncovering every student’s natural power of mental imagery to enhance learning available here ,  and also from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Kindle.

#Neurodivergent #empoweringlearning #theelephantsintheclassroom #mentalimagery #literacy #numeracy

Neurodivergent Wednesday: Weird symptoms of being ungrounded

Listen to the brief recording here

Are you feeling safe?

Do you or your child have these symptoms? Feeling unsafe, being deaf, not being able to wee/poo, can’t sleep, talking rapidly, wobbly, head banging, frantically running up and down the stairs, highly sensitive, hates clothes, clumsy, hyper-mobility, doesn’t get risk when crossing the road, no memory of bad behavior.

Being ungrounded can generate some really odd symptoms that you would not necessarily connect. In 10 minutes I will help you join the dots for you.

Olive Hickmott is a health and learning coach with a wealth of experience working with neurodivergent students, who are often ungrounded. Let her help you connect the dots, so you can understand the importance of grounding.

Listen to the brief recording here: https://youtu.be/MYKvvLCssCA

Olive Hickmott
olive@empoweringlearning.co.uk
http://www.empoweringlearning.co.uk

You can read more about these visualisation techniques and more case studies in the book The Elephants in The Classroom – uncovering every student’s natural power of mental imagery to enhance learning available here ,  and also from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Kindle.

#Neurodivergent #empoweringlearning #theelephantsintheclassroom #mentalimagery #grounding #memory #ungrounded #cantpoo #cantsleep #deaf #highlysensitive #hatesclothes #clumsy #hypermobility #nomemory

Neurodivergent Wednesday – Sleep – a Vital Skill for Well-being

Listen to the brief recording

Oh, to sleep like this

Sleeping is so often a challenge and maybe you have tried all the usual things for you and your child. But what do you know about sleep cycles, how to stay asleep all night and wake up feeling refreshed. What is your child’s behavior like after a disrupted night’s sleep? I learnt this the hard way. You can learn in just 10-15 minutes the essential knowledge.

This vital knowledge is not just for your child but for you too.

Listen to the brief recording here: https://youtu.be/bIuqHXagAro

Olive Hickmott
olive@empoweringlearning.co.uk
http://www.empoweringlearning.co.uk

You can read more about these visualisation techniques and more case studies in the book The Elephants in The Classroom – uncovering every student’s natural power of mental imagery to enhance learning available here ,  and also from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Kindle.

#Neurodivergent #empoweringlearning #theelephantsintheclassroom #mentalimagery #sleeping #sleep

Neurodivergent Wednesday: #2. Grounding and Learning

Listen to the brief recording here: https://youtu.be/IS3BtyW0RzA

Being ungrounded when trying to learn or remember anything, looks roughly like this: loads of windows open, no structure, unable to concentrate, a bit wobbly and mounting confusion. Sound familiar? Whether you are a parent, a teacher or a student understanding this connection will make so much sense; and why didn’t anyone tell you this before – few people know. People tell me that “grounding is possibly the most vital component of the whole Empowering Learning toolbox of skills, everyone should know about this”.

You can learn why grounding is so important for everyone’s learning, especially any neurodivergent students, who may come with a variety of diagnoses such as ADHD, ASD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, etc. You can learn the skills simply and easily for yourself, with just a bit of practice and no cost.

Listen to the brief recording here: https://youtu.be/IS3BtyW0RzA

Olive Hickmott
olive@empoweringlearning.co.uk
http://www.empoweringlearning.co.uk

You can read more about these visualisation techniques and more case studies in the book The Elephants in The Classroom – uncovering every student’s natural power of mental imagery to enhance learning available here ,  and also from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Kindle.

** BDA statistics

#Neurodivergent #empoweringlearning #theelephantsintheclassroom #mentalimagery #grounding #learning #memory #ASD #ADHD #Dyslexia #Dyspraxia

Neurodivergent Wednesday – Grounding – what is it, why is it so important and what’s the connection with Learning

Listen to the brief recording: https://youtu.be/TQ7xB8Mgn08

Grounding is something that many people don’t know about and why it is so important for learning and so much more. This session will explain what grounding is, in answer to those people who look at me somewhat surprised and think it is something to do with being sent to your bedroom for misbehaving.

With so much happening at the moment, at such a fast pace, it is difficult to remain grounded and not exhausted. So join us for a quick session on the importance of grounding, what grounding is and how to stay grounded when you want.

Listen to the brief recording here: https://youtu.be/TQ7xB8Mgn08

Olive Hickmott
olive@empoweringlearning.co.uk
http://www.empoweringlearning.co.uk

You can read more about these visualisation techniques and more case studies in the book The Elephants in The Classroom – uncovering every student’s natural power of mental imagery to enhance learning available here ,  and also from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Kindle.

#Neurodivergent #empoweringlearning #theelephantsintheclassroom #mentalimagery #grounding #learning