Help With Learning One Company Excels in Treating Learning Disabilities
Many students struggle academically and often parents are not aware treatments are available that can change students’ lives. While these treatments are not always well known or available in every city, they do exist. Northern California has recently welcomed Clear Pathways Learning Services, a company that relocated to Redding from Oregon. Director Janel Nansenn shared with us a little bit about how they can help.
“One important underlying academic skill that is commonly left untreated as people are simply not aware of it, is the skill of auditory discrimination”, explained Janiel. “Auditory discrimination is defined as the ability to hear sounds and sound changes in syllables and words – such as hearing that /pip/ has three sounds, and that the first and third sound are the same. If a person has difficulty discriminating and then “mishears” sounds, issues with listening, reading and/or spelling often occur.”
According to Janel, this skill should be in place by kindergarten, and when it is not, many learning issues often ensue – especially as the subject matter becomes more difficult. Unfortunately, this issue is not typically outgrown so many high school students test at the elementary grade level in this area when they exhibit learning issues. It is not uncommon for a high school student to score at the second or third grade level in this area, and often, the parent will report that it was the same grade level is when the learning problems began. Treatments that retrain the brain to hear sounds and sound changes are necessary for students that exhibit this issue.
Comprehension is another area that is often incorrectly treated, and leaves many students struggling academically and socially for the rest of their lives, according to Janel. The key to treating comprehension skills is through visualization training as this is how the brain works to retain information long-term. Visualization refers to converting what is read and heard into pictures in the mind’s eye. Those that have strong comprehension and long-term memory skills tend to visualize well. When auditory discrimination and visualization skills are treated correctly, students often demonstrate improvements in a variety of communication and academic skill areas, even when those other areas weren’t directly treated. Some think of these skills as the foundation of the ‘academic house’ so to speak – necessary for students to become independent learners. When these skills are intact there is a solid base for learning and communicating; when they aren’t, students struggle in a variety of ways.
Many students that struggle academically also have poor interhemispheric communication; in other words, their left and right sides of their brain are not communicating well together. Both sides of the brain need to process information effectively and there needs to be cross communication so the brain can work together efficiently as a whole. When that communication does occur, academic tasks are completed more easily. Doing activities that enhance and create cross communication in the brain is important for many struggling learners.
Clear Pathways Learning Services in Redding, CA, offers highly effective results- driven treatments that address these, as well as other underlying issues that negatively impact learning. These types of issues must be addressed. If they are not, students tend to have difficulty for the rest of their lives. However, when correctly treated, academics, job performance and social skills can greatly improve which creates positive life-long learning. Clear Pathways has been an effective answer for many students.
Clear Pathways Learning Services www.Clear Pathways.org 530-768-1556
Clear Pathways Learning Testimonials
My daughter Madison struggled with reading, writing and spelling from the start. We home educate and I tried many programs only to find that she could not retain anything I taught and no program worked. We started working with Clear Pathways when she was 12 and she was 13 when she finished. She learned to read when she was 13. Madison would have had a very different life if we hadn’t found Clear Pathways. Now at age 16 she is thriving academically and has tested at the 85th percentile for reading and comprehension. I can’t stress enough how amazing this treatment is. It has changed one little girl’s life forever and I’m positive there are countless others. Yanah B.
Words cannot adequately express our great joy over what Clear Pathways Learning Services accomplished with our daughter who was 14 when she received services four years ago. The results were nothing short of miraculous. She was reading at a second grade level after two years of private tutoring and four years of special education help in the school district. After several months of treatment at Clear Pathways she was reading chapter books at the fourth grade level and enjoying them! Prior to treatment she was distant, forgot instructions, didn’t like sports, was socially isolated and had difficulty with academic/mental tasks. After treatment she made friends, participated in and enjoyed sports, spoke more fluently, was engaged in the world around her, completed multi-level tasks, responded much faster mentally, and improved significantly in regard to her school work. Her reading continued to improve and she is now on the verge of starting college which never would have been possible before treatment. Our experience at Clear Pathways has truly been life-changing. Kim W.
You have blessed us beyond amazing by opening Brooke’s eyes and heart to the joys of learning in second grade. I am so humbled by the gift of your attention and love. To hear her excitement as she speaks of school and what book she is reading is directly the result of your time and concern. Thank you for giving her the gift of confidence in her abilities. Suzi E.
