Wednesday 20 January 2010

As we move towards a General Election Education becomes a topic for all. Cameron seems to think that getting suitably qualified people in the various subject areas is the key. In Primary school it is more important to be a communicator and motivator so children are not turned off learning. There are lots of good teachers around altready but despite all the input in aspects of teaching the results have not reflected the effort.
I work with brighter children as well as those struggling and I am astounded at the problems I pick up. A brighter child may achieve average but they should do better. A lot of children have excellent hearing but they cannot shut out extraneous noise which distracts or, distinguish clearly between the sounds in words. This impacts on reading, spelling and memory at the least. Retained reflexes mean the child is having to use compensatory strategies to overcome difficulties which requires lots more effort. The children need to be effective learners.
Having a good teacher alone is not enough. The child needs to be an effective learner to learn with ease and gain success from their efforts. We can do so much more to help them and early intervention is the key.

Wednesday 6 January 2010

Have been requested to submit recent studies to a journal on Music. I am now in process of converting studies to manuscript stlye requested by journal but should get it done by end of this week.
In academia they work from some minute part of the brain trying to understand how it works and to define difficulties. The teacher and developmental practitioner work from the child, where they have to work with brain and all senses together. Proof of the developmental work being effective comes from the changes in behaviour and improved academic progress. We are at a point where academia is still trying to define the problems but developmental practitioners have at least some of the answers and are effective.