Interviewing Dr. Levy, an educational expert, business owner, public speaker and author that specialized learning needs in grades Pre-K to 12, you will sure be inspired by this short interview.

Coming from a family of educators, she finds her calling at her young age and started her teaching journey since 1993 as a speaker of an event hosted by Ministry of Education.

We journey with her on her 31 years of teaching journey to become the founder of her own education business in 2004 helping kid and young teens learn better using research based multi-sensory techniques, and here is her story.

The post Dr. Emily Levy: Founder of EBL Coaching & Expert in Student Success appeared first on EBL Coaching.

EBL Coaching Offers Specialized ADHD Tutoring To Help!

Does your child with ADHD have difficulties at school? Do they struggle with time management, organization, task initiation, note taking, or planning? If so, your child may benefit from specialized ADHD tutoring to help build these critical skills. ADHD tutoring can help your child thrive with the strategies detailed below.

Time Management

Students with ADHD often struggle to effectively manage their time. They may over or under estimate how long they think a task may take to complete. They might start working on their homework later in the day, only to find that they aren’t able to finish it or must stay up very late in order to do so. They may be tardy in turning in their homework assignments or might forget to turn them in entirely. ADHD tutoring can help your child build stronger time management skills. One strategy that may help them is the ET/AT strategy, where students are taught to predict how long they think a task might take to complete (and write down the ET, or estimated time), then compare it to the actual time it takes to complete (and write down the AT, or actual time). Students who struggle with time management typically find that there is a big discrepancy between these times when they start using this strategy but the more they practice this strategy during ADHD tutoring sessions and on their own, the more these times will start to merge.

Create a Study Space 

Students with ADHD often lose their belongings and can’t always find the supplies they need in order to complete their homework. They might sit down to start an assignment, only to find that they don’t have the necessary materials at hand and spend ample time wondering around looking for pens, pencils, paper, or highlighters. ADHD tutoring can help your child create a study space that has all of the supplies they may need to complete their homework. This space should include their computer, writing tools, paper, scissors, and so on. If you notice your child’s supplies are running low, encourage them to refill the supplies or help them do so, so they always have the supplies they need in their study space.

Prioritization 

Prioritizing tasks can be a challenge for students with ADHD. They may start a less important assignment only to find that they run out of time and aren’t able to complete a more important assignment or study for a critical upcoming test. ADHD tutoring can help your child evaluate all upcoming assignments and tests and come up with a plan for completing them, prioritizing the more important tasks first, followed by the less important ones. ADHD tutoring can also integrate the ET/AT strategy for deciding which tasks to prioritize, building time management skills along with prioritization.

Note Taking

Students with ADHD often have trouble taking effective notes. They may lose focus during a lesson and miss key elements that they needed to take down, or they might scribble down disorganized notes that they may not be able to read or understand later. ADHD tutoring can help your child develop more effective note taking skills. One strategy they may learn from ADHD tutoring is the column style method, where students learn to write the topic of the lesson on the top of their page (like “World War 1”), then divide their page into two columns: one for main ideas on the left side and one for notes on the right side. In school, they should only take notes on the right side of their page, in the notes section. Then when they get home and look at their notes, they should categorize their notes into  main ideas and write those main ideas in the left column, like “Causes of World War 1”, “Battles of World War 1”, and so on. Students can learn to effectively use this strategy with ADHD tutoring to help them become more effective note takers. 

Hire a tutor

ADHD tutoring can help your child tremendously with developing these key skills. Building stronger time management, studying, note taking, and prioritization skills with ADHD tutoring can help your child excel in school.

The post Can Tutoring Help Your Child with ADHD? appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Date published: 7/28/23

Listen to the full podcast here

In this podcast, Dr. Levy discusses nonverbal learning disabilities and strategies that can help students with NVLD thrive in school. 

Individuals with nonverbal learning disabilities typically have many strengths but also exhibit academic challenges. For instance, they may have difficulty with reading comprehension, especially inferencing, and understanding abstract language. They often have trouble breaking down and solving math word problems, and may struggle with executive functioning skills, such as planning, time management, task initiation, and prioritization. Learning strategies for developing these areas of weakness can help students with nonverbal learning disabilities perform well in school.

To build their reading comprehension skills, it is helpful to teach students with nonverbal learning disabilities to be active, rather than passive readers. For instance, instead of asking them to simply read a passage and answer reading comprehension questions, it may be helpful to teach them a highlighting strategy for active reading. To do so, explain to them that when we read, there are three elements to look for: the topic, which is one, two, or three words describing the passage; the main idea, which is what the author is saying about the topic; and the important details, or salient information describing the main idea. They should highlight the topic in blue, the main idea in green, and the important details in yellow. Explain that they should read the passage in full one time, then go back through the passage and highlight the topic, main idea, and important details using the corresponding colors. We teach students this strategy and many others in our special education tutoring programs.

To develop their math word problem solving skills, students with nonverbal learning disabilities may benefit from the COINS strategy, which teaches them to move from language to arithmetic and back to language. To use this strategy, they should read the word problem, then circle the relevant information (C), identify the operations(s) to use (O), write down the relevant information (I), create a number sentence (N), and then write the solution as a full sentence in their own words (S).

For executive functioning, students with nonverbal learning disabilities may benefit from concrete strategies and executive functioning coaching to build their organization, planning, time management, task initiation, and similar skills – along with how to apply these strategies to their relevant schoolwork. Read more about building stronger executive functioning skills at How to Build Executive Functioning Skills With Homework – EBL Coaching.

Students with nonverbal learning disabilities have the potential to do very well in school. With these strategies for building their reading comprehension, math word problem solving, and executive functioning skills, they will be well on their way to academic success. 

Read more at Nonverbal Learning Disorder | Psychology Today.

The post Dr. Emily Levy on the Jennifer Purcell Interview Podcast: Strategies for Students with Nonverbal Learning Disabilities appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Date published: 2/15/23

Listen to the full podcast here

In this podcast, Dr. Levy discusses ways parents can advocate for their special education child to help them thrive in school.

Special education students often have many gifts, but they also have unique and individual needs. Some thrive in math but struggle with reading and writing. Others have strong academic skills but have difficulty with their executive functioning skills, including organization, planning, prioritizing, and time management. Students might have autism, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, ADHD, or a combination of diagnoses. As a parent, it is important that you consistently advocate for your child, year after year.

Many different services and accommodations are available to special education students based on their needs, as defined by their IEP or 504 plan. Students may qualify for extra time, preferential seating, a scribe, speech therapy, occupational therapy, pull-out special education tutoring, or other related services. You might find that your child is thriving in school one year with a certain set of services and accommodations only to find that the following year – or even partially through the current school year – their performance begins to sink. 

As a parent, you should always be advocating for your child. At the beginning of the school year, schedule a meeting with your child’s teacher and any other service providers. Tell them about your child and what has or hasn’t worked in the past and try to make sure they read your child’s evaluation reports, IEPs, or 504 plans if available. Then stay in touch with them throughout the school year. Schedule periodic calls or meetings; don’t wait until the end of the school year to find out about any struggles or challenges. Be active in constantly evaluating and reevaluating the services and support your child is receiving to make sure they are consistently getting what they need. Learn more about strategies for helping your special education child at Strategies For Your Child with a Learning Disability or ADHD – EBL Coaching.

With the right support, students with special education needs have the potential to thrive academically.

Read more at Navigating the special education process | LD OnLine.

The post Dr. Emily Levy on the My Child Will Thrive Podcast: Tips for Advocating for Your Special Needs Child appeared first on EBL Coaching.

With demands at schools increasing rapidly, many kids are receiving more complex and challenging assignments and projects. It can be tempting to immediately jump right in and help your child tackle this work, without giving her the opportunity to try it on her own. Yet homework can offer a multitude of benefits when your child completes it alone: it can help her become more self-sufficient and independent, and can give her the the extra practice needed to fully grasp new material. Encourage your child to become more independent and complete her homework on her own with the ideas detailed below.

Set up a distraction-free study space

‎When kids come home from school and sit down to begin their homework, they are often overwhelmed with distractions. There are tablets, computers, and phones; background noises; a kitchen filled with snacks; and so many other temptations. Help your child avoid these distractions and better focus on school work by setting up a well-lit, distraction-free work area. Your child might prefer to work on a desk in his room, on a table in the dining room, or in another quiet space of his choosing. Just make sure you designate that area as his “homework space” and load it with all the supplies he may need – pens, pencils, looseleaf paper, scissors, highlighters, and so on, so he doesn’t need to rummage for supplies when he needs it. Also encourage him to have a snack before he begins his homework so stomach rumbles don’t distract him from the task at hand. Additionally, you should make sure there is ample light, technological devices are powered off unless needed for homework, and the area is as quiet as possible.

Teach her study skills

Some students naturally develop effective study skills. They figure out how to take notes, complete their homework in an organized fashion, and ‎manage their time, all on their own. Other students, however, need guidance for developing stronger study skills. Teach your child to open her assignment book as soon as she is ready to begin her homework. She should make sure ALL assignments are written down; if they are not, she should immediately call a friend or check her school’s online portal (if her school has one) to determine which assignments are due, in both the near and far term. If she has any long-term assignments or projects to complete, teach her to break each one down into steps, and write each step into her planner. If she has a test to study for, she should do the same – break the studying into smaller steps (complete a study guide, create note cards, re-read book chapters, etc.) and put each one of those steps in her planner. You can also teach her to prioritize the tasks she has due. If she has five assignments to complete, for instance, she may want to work on the harder, more arduous ones first (and label them 1, 2, etc.), then move on to the shorter, less taxing ones, and so on. Teaching your child time management, prioritization, and homework management skills will help her become a more effective and efficient student.

Help him get started

Many students are perfectly capable of completing their homework on their own but simply have trouble getting started. Say your child has an essay to write on why he does or does not like winter. He may be stuck on where to begin. If so, help him start by brainstorming. He can draw a circle in the center of a page and write the word “winter” in it. Then he can branch out on the top side of the bubble with smaller bubbles detailing why he DOES like winter‎ (skiing, snowboarding, sledding, etc.), then branch out with additional small bubbles below the middle bubble containing reasons why he does NOT like winter (cold, short days, stuck inside, etc.). He can then decide which reasons (top or bottom) are more powerful, choose a stance, and begin to write his essay from there – on his own. Sometimes getting started is the most challenging part of assignments!

Give her praise!

If your child completes even a small assignment on her own, without your help, give her praise! Make sure your praise is specific to the task at hand, like, “I’m so proud of you for completing that reading comprehension assignment. You did it all on your own, and you should feel very proud of yourself.” Even a small victory like that, and just a touch of praise, can build her self-confidence and encourage her to try tackling more assignments on her own. You can also try integrating rewards. If she completes ten assignments on her own without your help, for instance, she might earn a trip to the movies or ice cream store. Help make homework a postive, self-fulfilling experience and your child will be more inclined to try completing her work on her own.

As students move through school, they will inevitably receive an increasing amount of homework. By teaching your child to complete assignments on his own at a young age, you will help him become an independent, self-sufficient, and successful student.

The post When Do You Let Your Kids Do Homework on Their Own? appeared first on EBL Coaching.