harplearninginstitute

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Moving Locations

Hi eveyone! A few months ago, I switched my website to wordpress, which affects how blogs are set up. At any rate, I’m told that I need to close this blog and use the one attached to my site! So, in a week, I’ll be closing this blog forever and moving it to http://www.harpinstitute.com. You can also get reading help and hints at my new site, which is under construction, but the blog still is…

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Mountain Climbing for Handwriting

Mountain Climbing for Handwriting

Does your child or student struggle with handwriting?  Poor penmanship is common in kids with learning differences. Unfortunately, most people just have the struggling writer practice with more worksheets, which can help, but in order for real miracles to happen, you must deal with gross motor skills first.  You see, there’s a hierarchy to learning, and the same goes with handwriting.  You have…

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Five Ways to Strengthen Visual Motor Integration Skills...and Smile While Your Child Writes Like a Champ!!

Five Ways to Strengthen Visual Motor Integration Skills…and Smile While Your Child Writes Like a Champ!!

Have you ever heard of visual motor integration?  It’s a mouth full, for sure!  Visual motor integration is the ability to coordinate your eyes and hands with your brain, and is usually thought to mainly affect handwriting skills.  However, it is one of our most important foundational skills, and it affects reading, math, and even how we think! If a child’s visual motor integration skills are…

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#creatingwriters #helpchildrenlearn #helpforwriting #helplearningdisabilities #helpvisualmotorintegration #skillsforwriters #visualmotorintegration #help for writing #visual motor integration #visual motor integration and writing

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Six Ways to Help Your Child Transition into the New School Year

Six Ways to Help Your Child Transition into the New School Year

Going back to school is an exciting time for children.  School clothes shopping, picking out school supplies, and a new teacher can be almost as wondrous as Christmas.But sometimes, going back to school can be frightful.  Anxiety, stress, and fear mount. “Will the teacher be nice or will he yell?  Will I have friends?  Where will I sit?  What if I don’t understand something?  What if…” Back to…

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#backtoschool #backtoschooltips #helpkidsbacktoschool #tipsforbacktoschool #back to school tips #help for back to school #Help your child transition back to school #tame the back to school blues

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Those Pesky Reversals!

Have you stood by and watched your child or student reverse a letter, word, or number?   Do you gently remind him/her of it, but it seems to do no good?Reversals are common.  Years ago, the rule of thumb was that if a student still portrayed reversals by the third grade, then dyslexia was suspected.  New guidelines reveal that if a child has had one year of instruction and still reverses…

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#dyslexia tips #helpfordyslexia #helpforreversals #reversaalshelp #reversals #reversalskids #activities for dyslexia #dyslexia #dyslexia help #help for dyslexia #Help for Reversals #reversals help

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Six Tips for Calming Test-Taking Jitters

Six Tips for Calming Test-Taking Jitters

My adult daughter recently switched jobs and had to take a hairy test on something I can’t begin to understand.  She hadn’t studied a bit when she was asked to take the test.  The problem?  If she failed, it would cost her employer $800.  She was stressed but went through with it anyway. She called me a couple days later, excited that she passed.  I wasn’t surprised.  She’s always been a good…

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#helpfortestanxiety #helpfortests #helpkidstaketests #kidstakingtests #testanxiety #testtaking #testtakingskills #help for test taking skills #help kids take tests #test anxiety #test taking anxiety #test taking pointers

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5 Ways to Keep Students from "Overthinking" Assignments

5 Ways to Keep Students from “Overthinking” Assignments

I hate to shop. So much that I am often accused of having an online shopping addiction. So when I was out of groceries earlier this week, the dread started. I made a list like always, but the thought of going to a food store literally turned my stomach. By the time the day ended, I had myself worked up into a real tizzy….over shopping for food. My back hurt, I reasoned. I needed so many things…

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#helpingkidsfinishwork #helpkidshomework #homeworkhelp #5waystohelpkids #help your child finish assignments

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Battling Tricky Transitions Doesn't Have to be Difficult!

Battling Tricky Transitions Doesn’t Have to be Difficult!

Kids with learning disabilities like routines. It gives them a sense of predictability in a world that can be scary, unnerving, and uncertain. Because of this, transitions can often become a problem. So…what are transitions? Transitions are when a child or student goes from one activity or project to another. Often, these kids will lock into the activity they were already performing and not be…

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#behaviorhelp #classroombehaviorhelp #helpchildtransition #helpfortransitions #schoolbehaviorhelp #transitions #help child transition #help for transitions #help kids transition #moving from one thing to the next #transition

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War, Heartbeats, and Grades

War, Heartbeats, and Grades

I’ve been crying this morning. It’s okay.  They’re tears of joy and relief.  And a lot more.  You see, I finally heard from my Ukrainian friend, Kateryna (I changed her name – you’ll soon seen why).  I haven’t heard a word from her since January 27, and I was getting frantic. Kateryna and her family live(d) in Ternopil, which is about two hours from the capital of Ukraine where the bulk of the…

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#fleeingcountry #helpukrainians #helpwar #learningandwar #russianukrainewar #ukrainianwar #ukranianwar #warandlearning #Help Ukrainians #Surviving #Ukrainian War #War #war and learning #War Heartbeats and Learning

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To Retain...or Not to Retain...

To Retain…or Not to Retain…

Last night I was reading a wonderful novel and came upon this quote:“She had to repeat the second grade because she wrote her letters backward.  Doing the second grade over didn’t help.  She still writes her name backward.”  -This I Know by Eldonna Edwards   I don’t know if this author is just uniquely wise or if she’s an educator with years of experience.  But she’s right.  Holding a child…

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#flunking #holdingbackchild #holdingbackstudent #retainchild #retainingstudents #shouldchildflunk #hold back child #holding back child #retaining your child #should I retain my child

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A Fantastic Learning Game!

A Fantastic Learning Game!

One of my favorite games for unique learners is Spot-It. This fun, fast-paced game is especially helpful for kids with language and visual processing issues. If you have a child in speech therapy, this game can really help! And boy, was I excited to see that they’ve come out with new versions of this game. I found ABC’s and numbers for younger learners. There are also themed sets, such as…

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#agameforspeech #easygameforlearning #funlearninggame #gameforlearning #helpwithspeech #languagegame #visualgame #A Fun Game Learning Game #Fun language game #fun visual game

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Five Easy Ways to Help with Auditory Processing

Five Easy Ways to Help with Auditory Processing

Does your child or student struggle to understand and comprehend auditory information?  Do you sometimes think you’re talking to a wall? Are you met with a blank stare when asking a question or trying to communicate with this child?  Does she have temper problems or retreat when things get tough? When you give your child a simple set of directions, does he forget them or skedaddle away without…

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#auditory processing #auditory processing issues #auditory processing problems #auditoryhelp #auditoryprocessing #auditoryprocessingproblems #childcan&039;tlisten #helpforauditory #Help for Auditory Processing #Help your child process auditory information

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Taylor Swift's Song and Auditory Memory

Taylor Swift’s Song and Auditory Memory

My daughters and I love Taylor Swift’s music. We were so excited when she recently released a remake of her “Red” album. As I was listening to the music one day, I noticed one of the songs was exceptionally long. “All Too Well” was a delightful ten minutes! Taylor even directed a short film that goes with the song. Well…what does this have to do with learning, you might ask. A lot. Did you…

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#auditorylearning #auditorymemory #auditorymemorylearning #helpforauditory #learningandmusic #learningauditory #songlenghtlearning #taylorswiftauditorymemory #auditory memory and music #Music and Auditory Memory #Taylor Swift and Auditory Memory

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When Orange is Blue

When Orange is Blue

Several years ago, I received a call. You know, the kind that sets your heart dropping into the bottom of your chest. It was my mom, and she’d just been diagnosed with a brain tumor. At the time, we didn’t know if it was malignant or not. Fortunately, it wasn’t, and she endured major brain surgery. After a long recuperation, I got my mother back. You see, the brain tumor was causing a ruckus…

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#compassiontipslearning #learningdisabilities #learninghelp #tipsforlearning #dyslexia #help for dyslexia #Help for Learning #learning success #six tips to help with learning disorders

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Alzheimer's Disease, Brain Tumor, or Laziness?

Alzheimer’s Disease, Brain Tumor, or Laziness?

I was sure I had Alzheimer’s Disease…or maybe a brain tumor. The brain tumor wasn’t that far of a stretch. Five years ago, my mom was diagnosed with a non-malignant brain tumor near her occipital nerve, which resulted in brain surgery. This plucky eighty-year-old is doing awesome now, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t have inherited her brain physiology. What was causing me to think this way? I…

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#memoryandtechnology #technologyandkids #technologyandmemory #technologyhelp #thebrainandmemory #tipsfortechnologyuse #technology use #tips for technology

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Seven Ways to Help the Dyslexic Reader

Seven Ways to Help the Dyslexic Reader

Did you know that one if five people have dyslexia?  And that most of them don’t receive services or get specific help for this frustrating reading disorder? I cringe every time I hear a parent or teacher say that the child just needs to “practice reading”.  Traditional methodologies don’t work with the dyslexic reader. Gulp. I used to say this myself when I was a classroom teacher.  After all,…

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#dyslexiaandreading #dyslexiahelp #dyslexiareadingtips #dyslexiatips #helpdyslexia #dyslexia reading tips #help child dyslexia #help for dyslexia

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Five Ways to Help Your Child Strengthen Visual Discrimination "Muscle"

Five Ways to Help Your Child Strengthen Visual Discrimination “Muscle”

Visual discrimination is an important skill for learning. It is defined as the capacity to differentiate forms, patterns, hidden shapes, or other pictures from similar items which vary from each other in subtle ways. This can be such a difficult skill for unique learners, especially those with dyslexia. It’s common for these kids to perceive letters or numbers that look alike as the same or…

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#helpformath #helpforreading #helpforwriting #tipsforvisualdiscrimination #visualdiscrimination #Help for Visual Discrimination