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A collection of articles pertaining to Learning Differences.
Christiana Perakis, Director
Johns Hopkins University defines OM as “The practice that seeks to equate a child’s educational experiences to his or her abilities, demonstrated achievement, interests and motivations.” OM is not a canned, universal program. OM represents both a philosophy of education and the informed selection among an array of instructional practices to best meet the needs of individual children (i.e. individualized instruction, cooperative learning, in-class ability grouping, pull-out initiatives).
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Build Academic Skills Over Summer Vacation. Engage your ADHD child in summer learning to keep his academic skills sharp and help him succeed in school. By Karen Sunderhaf,ADDitude Magazine.
Students with LD have the common need for focused, intensive, and consistent instruction in more than one area of basic academic skill. In addition, many students with learning differences have a striking lack of general knowledge and curiosity. They are lively kids with IQ's in the normal range. Each student needs concepts to be repeated, vocabulary to be clarified, an extraordinary amount of focused practice and frequent help extracting what's important. Each student must put in 2-3 times the time and effort as their classmates to achieve an adequate level of performance.
In order to develop long-term coping skills, students with LD need "significant others" to show them enduring understanding and encouragement. As the demands of each grade level change over the years, students are posed with new obstacles and need to rely not only on hard won skills, but also a willingness to identify trouble spots, seek help, and use available supports, including compensations. They will need to understand themselves well, to make adequate progress. The setting of the classrooms profoundly affects how and whether students with LD will thrive. For this reason, it is important for parents, teachers, and school systems to gauge particular environments for particular students, remembering that needs shift with age and other developments.
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