Coaching As I See It
I remember a time when I was between jobs and wasn’t working outside the home. At a cocktail party I was asked the defining question, “So, what do you do?” In all seriousness, I reached for some business cards my husband had printed for me which stated, “Domestic Goddess.” You can imagine the lively conversation which followed. Now my business card says, “Learning Coach” and it promotes conversation as well, because most people don’t quite know what that means.
Simply put, I work with clients on a 1 to 1 basis with the aim of ultimately helping them improve their professional, scholastic or personal life. Some clients need help with changing some behaviors, improving self-perception and/or increasing achievement by learning some new skills.
A good coach helps the client to identify areas which need working on and then set goals for himself. We also discuss former roadblocks to progress and barriers to his learning. This is important because the last thing a coach wants to do is present the client with the same strategies which obviously didn’t work in the past.
A Learning Coach must design a plan for the client to help him achieve better results in such a way which compliments him. Every client or student doesn’t learn in the same way so identifying the learning style of the client and basing strategies from that vantage point, gives you the greatest chance of maximizing his learning potential.
In the case of a client wanting to improve upon or learn a new skill, I approach it from a “Constructivist” point of view. Constructivism applied to learning theory states that learners learn best when they construct knowledge for themselves. As a coach, I guide and facilitate the process by providing the client with activities to participate in. He is no longer a passive recipient of information but a creative explorer. The client engages in hands on learning where he can test his ideas and draw his own conclusions.
Taking a Constructivist approach taps into the client’s natural curiosity and helps to keep him engaged and motivated. In the end what I’ve really done is help the client learn how to learn.
Showing posts with label Dyslexia Treatment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dyslexia Treatment. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
RESEARCH AND TREATMENT OF DYSLEXIA
Brain Scans Shed Light On Dyslexia
New brain scans reveal more about how the minds of people with Dyslexia work. The key problem seems to be a mismatch between seeing the letter and connecting it to the sound it represents and vice-versa, said researchers from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands.
Previous studies have shown differences in the way the brains of dyslexic individuals are “wired,” as compared with the brains of “normal” people. In particular, past research has shown a “disconnect” between being able to identify the sounds within a word and matching them with letters.
The University of Maastricht study involved 13 dyslexic readers and 13 non-impaired readers. The study subjects were shown visual letters and listened to auditory speech sounds corresponding to single letters. The researchers conducted functional MRI while the participants performed a series of these experiments.
Dyslexic participants had less activation of the superior temporal cortex region of the brain which, among other things, is involved with processing sound.
Researchers looked at what happens when people with and without dyslexia try to integrate visual representations with sound representations, and even though that’s been thought to be one of the areas that’s a problem, this is novel, because they have used brain imaging technology to show it,” said Guinevere Eden, director of the center for the study of Learning at Georgetown University. A typical person has an augmented response in this part of the brain, and in dyslexics, they’re not seeing that augmentation, suggesting that there does not seem to be a system in place to show that there’s an association (between visual and sound) that’s going on. This is an important step, and it raises the potential for exploring the effects of clinical interventions and for investigating different subtypes of reading challenges.
Ron Davis, the co-founder of the Reading Research Council in Burlingame, California says that dyslexics have visual, multidimensional minds which are less predisposed to word-based thinking. “This causes dyslexics to not easily recognize printed symbols such as letters of the alphabet and written words, and have difficulty with teaching approaches, which emphasize phonics only.”
Mr. Davis said if control be gained over perceptual disorientation by using simple mental processes, and language skills taught with methods adapted to picture thinkers, then dyslexics would be able to read and write without problems.
Mr. Davis speaks from personal experience as a dyslexic and can attest to helping thousands of adults and children with dyslexia see their way of learning as a talent and to enhance their natural creative ability. www.davisdyslexia.com
New brain scans reveal more about how the minds of people with Dyslexia work. The key problem seems to be a mismatch between seeing the letter and connecting it to the sound it represents and vice-versa, said researchers from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands.
Previous studies have shown differences in the way the brains of dyslexic individuals are “wired,” as compared with the brains of “normal” people. In particular, past research has shown a “disconnect” between being able to identify the sounds within a word and matching them with letters.
The University of Maastricht study involved 13 dyslexic readers and 13 non-impaired readers. The study subjects were shown visual letters and listened to auditory speech sounds corresponding to single letters. The researchers conducted functional MRI while the participants performed a series of these experiments.
Dyslexic participants had less activation of the superior temporal cortex region of the brain which, among other things, is involved with processing sound.
Researchers looked at what happens when people with and without dyslexia try to integrate visual representations with sound representations, and even though that’s been thought to be one of the areas that’s a problem, this is novel, because they have used brain imaging technology to show it,” said Guinevere Eden, director of the center for the study of Learning at Georgetown University. A typical person has an augmented response in this part of the brain, and in dyslexics, they’re not seeing that augmentation, suggesting that there does not seem to be a system in place to show that there’s an association (between visual and sound) that’s going on. This is an important step, and it raises the potential for exploring the effects of clinical interventions and for investigating different subtypes of reading challenges.
Ron Davis, the co-founder of the Reading Research Council in Burlingame, California says that dyslexics have visual, multidimensional minds which are less predisposed to word-based thinking. “This causes dyslexics to not easily recognize printed symbols such as letters of the alphabet and written words, and have difficulty with teaching approaches, which emphasize phonics only.”
Mr. Davis said if control be gained over perceptual disorientation by using simple mental processes, and language skills taught with methods adapted to picture thinkers, then dyslexics would be able to read and write without problems.
Mr. Davis speaks from personal experience as a dyslexic and can attest to helping thousands of adults and children with dyslexia see their way of learning as a talent and to enhance their natural creative ability. www.davisdyslexia.com
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