Here is a teacher who knows how to use a test to maximize learning:

I was quite impressed by a certain science teacher in the Richmond School District. This science teacher teaches my client’s daughter who is in grade 8.

Why am I impressed? Well, whereas most teachers would just use a test to see how much a student has learned, this science teacher goes beyond that. Mr. Smart* actually asks his students to take the marked tests home, correct the mistakes, and then bring the corrected tests back for an “upgrade”— that is, if done right, the teacher would move the grade one notch up. If, for example, a student got a “C+” and he/she dutifully corrected all the mistakes and brought the test back to the teacher, the final grade for the test would be “B+” instead of the original “C+.”

This is very clever. By dangling a carrot before he students – promising to revise the marks for a properly corrected test— the students who didn’t do well the first time will be highly motivated to look carefully at their mistakes and to find out what the correct answer should be.

To me, that is getting maximum value from a test!

* The science teacher’s name has been changed to protect my client’s privacy.

Today’s special education students are blessed to have so many Apple products available to support their learning. For the dyslexic student who cannot read fluently, if he/she has a Mac that can do text to speech, then the obstacle to learning becomes less daunting. And for those students with working memory problems and cannot correctly copy from the board, an iPod Touch with a camera or an iPhone can do the trick — one click and the image of whatever needs to be copied can be captured.

The world has lost a brilliant star. We will miss Steve Jobs.

One of the nicest and most original comments I have received recently from a Chinese client was this: she said, “You offer your services with the fluidity of water and the smoothness of silk.”

Somewhat surprised and puzzled, I asked her to elaborate on what she meant by that.

She then explained, “Well, through your consulting and strategic planning, you help us go around obstacles – just like water. Nothing can stop water; it has a way of getting through somehow. That is what you do best!”

“What about the silk part?” I asked.

My client answered, “You always smooth things out, whether it is through “diplomacy” or “networking” – you achieve goals without ruffling feathers. The process is as smooth as silk – it feels good to have problems solved discretely, without creating too much extra work for us, the parents. That is important for busy folks like ourselves.”

Needless to say, I was walking on air for the next few days, thanks to the kind words of my grateful client. I am very happy that what I tried so hard to achieve in my work can be “felt” and appreciated by my client.

The goal that I set for myself in managing our clients’ cases has always been the same: aim for excellence. We have expertise in learning disabilities in our organization; we have a “network of excellence” to draw from when it comes to finding suitable subject tutors; and we are efficient in solving the student’s learning problems. We help struggling learners reach their targets in a timely way!

Incidentally, the analogy of “water” and “silk” is very Chinese – “fluidity” has a sort of gentle dynamics to it while “smoothness” denotes grace and diplomacy.These are highly valued qualities in the Chinese culture.

Admittedly, our fees are comparable to those of lawyers and Chartered Accountants — we are an exclusive consultancy service catering to a very sophisticated clientele. These clients are looking for service that is beyond “standard” Orton-Gillingham tutoring, and they are definitely not part of the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) crowd. Our clients are usually busy business people or professionals who appreciate the value of expertise and are willing to pay for it. After all, these folks became successful by doing what they do best, and in the same way that they are well-rewarded financially, they understand that they have to pay for professional expertise and high-quality service.

That said, I have to say that my greatest reward is not from my fees; it is from the children who are transformed by our work with them!

Last October, I sent one of our clients’ children (with both reading and arithmetic disability from an ESL background) to the psychologist — a gentleman whom I blogged about earlier because he is an icon in our field, one who is marked by high professional standards and integrity. The Ed-Psyche report that came back was not good. I have never seen such low scores. The term used to describe our client’s child was “slow learner.” Very discouraging indeed!

What followed after the official Ed-Psyche report was a great deal of work: observation sessions, designing intervention, recruiting tutors, training tutors, managing the client-tutor relationship, going to the school for meetings, and very intense monitoring and reviewing to ensure a high level of “seamless” service delivery. Of course, from time to time, we also had to deal with the psycho-emotional aspects of the child’s struggle; it is not unusual for LD children to exhibit problematic behavior. With a “damaged” self-esteem from being a chronic low achiever in school, LD children often resort to very unhealthy coping mechanisms in order to “survive.”

Fast-forward to a year later. I am happy to report that our “slow learner” who didn’t have friends now has self-confidence, popularity amongs peers, and good grades (all As and Bs with the exceptions of a C in English and a C+ in Science). The parents of the child are thrilled, of course, and they are very appreciative. But my greatest reward came in the form of a “thank you” note.

Let me tell you the significance of this “thank you” note. For someone with a reading/writing disability, writing a note is equivalent to, well, going to the dentist to have one’s tooth extracted. This child had painstakingly written a note to thank me! I was so overcome with joy that I was walking on air the rest of the day. See the “thank you” note? I am so proud and happy for this child.

Because of cases like this one, I want to emphasize that when we look at a child’s Ed-Psyche report, we should always keep in mind the words of our psychologist who assessed this child: he wrote, “the overall results of this assessment should be seen as only providing an estimate of the child’s intellectual abilities at this point in time. His/Her true intellectual abilities may be higher.”

The socially inept “slow learner” of last year is today’s athletic, popular, and successful student!

We hope these talks will help parents to better understand what the factors for achieving academic success are for students who are English learners (ESL) and are new to the country. It is estimated that five percent of these ESL student have a language-based learning disability of some sort–the same percentage as in the mainstream population. It is only through public education and making parents and educators aware of the existence of this problem that the affected ESL students will receive appropriate intervention.

The deadline for purchasing tickets to the talks is quickly approaching. Call our office at 604-222-1688 and my wonderful assistant, Annie, will be able to help you.

See the Chinese talk prelim outline copy.

It was a very cozy and pleasant gathering. We had the talk (without the slide projector due to technical difficulties!) and a very stimulating discussion afterwards. Of course, there was the delicious Black Forrest cake and pastries and tea too. In short, we all enjoyed ourselves very much. Even my co-workers felt the same way despite of the huge amount of planning and work that went into putting on an event like this. We really do wish that more educators could join us for tea and “shop talk” at Hycroft. It was just so much fun! However, we do know that this is a tense time in our public education system and teachers are overworked and they really do not have that much time to spare. For this reason, we felt really honored to have the number of guests that we had.

So, here is the slide show that was actually not shown on the day of the talk. Yes, “yours truly” (me) brought the wrong projector for the occasion and my guests had to listen to me speak without the slides. In fact, I was so flustered about the absence of the slide projector that I must have been incoherent when I spoke! So, I hope the slides will make up for my performance that evening.

(Please click “HERE“ for the slides.)

The message we want to get across is simply this: LD children do not necessarily have to be in a special school where all the students have LD. With proper support, they can do very well in a regular school setting. The school-based team, working together with an intermediary special education service such as us, can produce some very encouraging results.

Summer is a good time to jump-start LD intervention. Teachers should encourage parents to take advantage of this time to help their children move ahead!

We are having Tea & Talk @ Hycroft for Chinese-speaking parents on May 26^th, 2010. Chinese-speaking parents who find it hard to access special education services due to language barriers should make it a priority to attend this event!

Email us @: events@Learn2ManageLD.com to RSVP.

Dr. Winnifred Tang & Associates Learning Management Inc. is organizing a talk for Chinese-speaking parents which will take place on Wednesday, May 26^th, 2010, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Hycroft, home of The University Womens’ Club of Vancouver. There will be a tea reception afterwards so parents will have a chance to chat with all of us from the office of Dr. Winnifred Tang.

Tea & Talk @ Hycroft for Chinese-Speaking parents is intended to be a cozy and leisurely event. We want parents to feel comfortable talking to us about their children’s learning problems. The beautiful setting at Hycroft, hopefully, will help us to achieve this purpose!

Interested parents should contact us as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. All the information is on the flyer.

We have opened an account at HSBC specifically for Tea & Talk @ Hycroft. Parents can go to HSBC directly and make a payment for their tickets. Before they do so, they should email us at events@Learn2ManageLD.com to ensure that the seats are still available. We will send out the HSBC account information upon confirming seat availability.

The registration procedures were designed to reduce unnecessary paper work and communication. We hope you will find this method of registering simple and convenient.

See you at Tea & Talk @ Hycroft on May 26^th at 7:00 p.m.!

The creation of CHARD is indeed a step forward by the British Columbia Medical Association, the Ministry of Health Services and HealthLink BC. For the longest time, one of the major challenges facing GPs and other health providers in the province has been a lack of information when it comes to referring patients to the right professionals to get timely and appropriate intervention for children with learning disabilities. Learning disabilities are learning problems related to academic learning; the most common ones are reading disability (dyslexia) and arithmetic disability (dyscalculia).

Many times, I have sighed and shaken my head at the fragmented service delivery for those with learning disabilities. For example, we have clients coming into our office with assessments from medical professionals such as pediatricians or psychiatrists; when we look at the date of these reports, we cannot help wondering why there is such a big time lapse from the time the client was suspected to have learning issues to the time they finally found their way to our office on their own. There is no intermediary service linking the diagnosis to appropriate special educational services. Medical professionals and special education professionals must work more closely to bridge the gaps in service delivery so client’s interests are best served.

Hopefully, with CHARD, gone are the days of parents having to rely on the “grapevine” for information when it comes to finding appropriate special education services for their children with learning disabilities! Sometimes it just takes too long for clients to find their way to our office and precious time is lost.

And so I say, “Bravo to BCMA, Ministry of Health Services and HealthLink BC!!!” It is high time medical professionals and special education professionals join together to serve patients more effectively. There has to be a way for parents to access evidence-based interventions for their children that are founded on sound scientific research.

Let’s drink to the CHARD initiative which is enabling the formation of this very desirable and productive union between the medical profession and the special education profession!

Happy New Year!!!

A few months ago, one of these “gung-ho” moms came to my office for help. Over the years, she has channeled a great deal of financial resources and time investment into her only son, a grade 6 boy who speaks Mandarin as his first language. The problem: the investment does not match the return.

Apparently, this boy has a language-based learning disability and is already “maxed-out” in terms of his efforts. He is already doing his best and is getting a “C” grade in school. This, unfortunately, is not good enough for his “gung-ho” mom. To her credit, she suspected something was wrong with her son and she came to us. We told her the truth: her son has a language-based learning disability and unless he has appropriate intervention, he will continue to stay up until 1a.m. each day to do his homework and still get a “C”.

Then guess what? The “gung-ho” mom exhibited a classic denial response. “No, my son is only lazy. “ was the defensive remark made. Now don’t forget this mother came to us suspecting something was amiss, and she wanted us to find her the answer!

Both my associate and I shook our heads as we said a little silent prayer for the “gung-ho” mom and son duo as they left our office. The boy will have a difficult time ahead of him. He is already showing signs of rebellion and emotional distress.

To our dear colleagues in the school system, we support you and empathize with you. Remember to take a deep breath and put on a smile as you hear out these “gung-ho” moms at your next Teacher-Parent Meeting.