Mindspark

Join me tomorrow for the UCSC Silicon Valley Extension Educational Therapy info session. Learn about our courses and how they can help you on your journey to becoming an educational therapist and be more effective in meeting the needs of all your students. As bonus content, we will have a smidge about the why and how of gamification with a few easy, no prep games you can begin using immediately. Sign up today or share with anyone you know who wants to work with neurodivergent kids!

Educational Therapy Program Info Session Transform learning

A meme has been going around claiming that eliminating processed food from a child's diet can reduce ADHD symptoms by half. Not surprisingly, the meme has no reference or link to a source for this claim. What does the science say?

"For a small group of children, dietary changes may help improve some behavioral symptoms if an underlying food intolerance or allergy is involved. But for most children and teens with ADHD, restrictive or elimination diets are unlikely to significantly improve ADHD symptoms. These diets cannot make ADHD “go away” or cause someone to “lose” their ADHD symptoms, regardless of what popular memes or social media posts claim."

Before You Believe the Meme: What ADHD Experts Want You to Know - CHADD ADHD NEWSSTAND FOR PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS   contents Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD)CHADD does not endorse products, services, publications, medications, or treatments, including those advertised in any CHADD publications, webinars or podcasts. LOGOUT LOGI...

New research from Daniel et al that is not surprising but is troubling: "Whether a child gets identified with specific learning difficulties—an umbrella term for conditions involving difficulties with reading and mathematics—depends not just on how they perform academically, but on the school they go to, their gender, their family's income, their first language, and even the average ability of their classmates.”

Why some children with learning difficulties get identified – and others don’t Boys were twice as likely as girls to be identified with specific learning difficulties

My Structured Literacy I class with UCSC Silicon Valley Extension starts tomorrow! I am very excited. 10 weeks, all online. One of the best parts is getting to know the students and seeing them learn so much, as well as build a community together. Still time to enroll! Please share with anyone you think would be interested!

Here are a few real-life responses to the end of class survey (not to brag ;-)

• Diana taught a huge amount of content that allowed me to strengthen my understanding and skills in structured literacy. Diana did a nice job balancing the theory/brain science and the practical aspects of structured literacy.

• Diana was extremely engaged with and passionate about helping us learn. She was very responsive to responses and discussions and had a wealth of information to impart.

Educational Therapy: Structured Literacy I Skills you will gain Neurobiology of Literacy Learning: Understand how the brain processes both oral and written language. Structured Literacy Instruction: Implement evidence-based practices to teach reading and writing effectively. Speech to Print Strategies: Create spelling interventions and evalu...