Tilt Parenting Podcast
Learning Disabilities
Slow Processing Speed: What You Need to Know
Slow Processing Speed: What You Need to Know
written by Kate Kelly, published on understood.org
When someone says something to you, how long does it take you to process the information and respond? You may have never even thought about it before. But that response time is the result of something called processing speed.
Everyone processes information at a different pace. Maybe you’ve seen your child standing silently for a few seconds before responding to someone, spending more time on homework than expected, or taking a long time to explain something. This could be related to processing speed.
Learn more about processing speed, and what happens when kids take a long time to process information.
I Hate Virtual Learning!
I Hate Virtual Learning!
Helping our children get through remote learning.
written by Dr. Liz Matheis/ published on Psychology Today, 3/1/2021
Never did I imagine that school would look like each of my three children sitting in front of a computer. Never did I imagine that teaching would take place via video, where the teacher is trying his or her best to re-create the classroom environment. Never did I imagine that a teacher would turn the camera to the board or share her screen as she attempted to present a lesson to students.
Virtual learning has been difficult for many of our children who need a multi-sensory learning environment in the presence of a teacher and other students. Never have I appreciated the physical school space where our children are able to enter into a building, walk through the halls, sit at a desk, and travel around the building to attend different subjects and classes.
Needless to say, it’s been a struggle for us, as parents, a struggle for our teachers, and a struggle for our children.
Continued Pandemic Parenting
Continued Pandemic Parenting
written by Dr. Liz Matheis, published on www.shieldhealthcare.com 1/25/21
The beginning of the new year usually brings hope, resolutions and plans. This January 2021, the new year feels different. More of the same. It’s been 10 months, almost one year of living through the COVID-19 pandemic. Our lives are the most isolated they have been given the dark, cold winter and a holiday season that was “okay” and pretty much unsatisfying.
As we continue to parent day by day with virtual learning, working from home, video meetings and chats and limited interactions with the outside world, our stress and exhaustion level is increasing.
What a Mess!
The struggles of parenting during this time have been immense. Think about how you and your family are coping. Are you, your significant other or children:
• Over eating?
• Under eating?
• Over sleeping?
• Under sleeping?
• Struggling to fall asleep?
• Feeling lethargic?
• Over exercising?
• Feeling anxious?
• OCD-like behaviors?
As we continue to not be able to identify an end in sight, we may be finding ways to cope that aren’t necessarily helpful. Take note of how you and your family are coping and discuss if your go-to ways of managing through this time are not bringing relief.
Many of us, as parents, and our children feel out of control, anxious, and our usual outlets are not available. Mom’s nights out, going to the spa, exercising at the gym or extracurricular activities, hanging with friends and other ways to have fun and decompress are no longer available to us, or are available with significant limitations.
When Should I Start to Worry about My Kids?
7 Strategies for Getting Through Virtual Learning During COVID-19
7 Strategies for Getting Through Virtual Learning During COVID-19
Written by Dr. Liz Matheis/ Published 1.18.2021 on www.shieldhealthcare.com
Virtual Learning. It’s become the bane of our existence.
As parents, we are watching our children struggle while we struggle with them. Our children are having a hard time paying attention, finding assignments, completing them, and turning them in via virtual learning. It requires additional skills such as typing, navigating email, portals such as the Google Classroom and grading portals. Prior to the pandemic, many of our children entered into the classroom, were supervised during each task, had the ability to ask questions, and were provided with handouts that they were able to complete and return without forgetting to click “Turn In.”
For middle school students and high school students, it is difficult for our children to sit for hours and complete written or online work. For example, if your child has ADHD, sitting at a desk or table for several hours will likely result in lost periods of time staring out the window, chatting with friends, or even staring at the riveting ceiling fan.
For younger students, it’s difficult to cover the multiple demands of being a student with little teacher assistance through a computer. Our young children are required to type some of their responses, or even essays. How many children in kindergarten do you know who are proficient typists? Not many. That leaves parents to type their children’s answers or incomplete assignments if parents are not available.
With teaching taking place via video screen, there is plenty of room and time for our children to log on to YouTube or watch videos while appearing to be present and attentive in class. For many adolescents and young adults, they are struggling to get started on assignments and end up having multiple missed assignments which is resulting in lower grades than in past years. Low motivation and anxiety and depression are also on the rise for many of our children. They miss seeing friends, walking to school, getting on and off the bus, participating in specials and playing on the playground.
Strategies To Get Through Virtual Learning During COVID
Strategies To Get Through Virtual Learning During COVID
Written by Dr. Liz Matheis
Featured in Psychology Today 1/18/2021
Virtual learning. It’s become the bane of our existence. As parents, we are watching our children struggle while we struggle with them. Our children are having a hard time paying attention, finding assignments, completing them, and turning them in. Virtual learning requires additional skills such as typing, navigating email, portals such as the Google Classroom, and grading portals. Prior to the pandemic, many of our children entered the classroom, were supervised during each task, had the ability to ask questions, and were provided with handouts that they were able to complete and return without forgetting to click “Turn In.”
Why is My Child Having Meltdowns During the Pandemic?
Why is My Child Having Meltdowns During the Pandemic?
Written by Dr. Liz
Featured in The Mighty, 1/3/21
Our children are feeling as overwhelmed as we are during the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic has created a sedentary lifestyle with little downtime, time outside of our homes, and little social interaction. Our usual routines of spontaneous social interactions, spur of the moment runs to the store, or last-minute planning of where to have dinner tonight all now require a ton of thought and planning about how we can stay safe and keep others safe from the COVID-19 virus. As parents, our tempers are shorter, we are overstimulated and overwhelmed. Home is now our office, our school building, our restaurant, and our place for rest and relaxation. We are spending a great number of hours together each day with little interaction with others. Our children are frustrated and so are we.
image posted by The Mighty
Provider Spotlight: Lauren Palianto
Provider Spotlight: Lauren Palianto
Our provider spotlight today focuses on the amazing work of our friend and colleague, Lauren Palianto of Decoded Learning Center in East Hanover, NJ. Lauren is a certified Orton-Gillingham Dyslexia Therapist with an M.A. in Reading Instruction & Assessment and extensive experience working as a Special Education Teacher. Decoded provides individualized instruction focusing on students of all ages and abilities with learning differences such as: Dyslexia, ADHD/ADD, language processing disorders, working memory deficits and executive functioning challenges. Be sure to check out her website below for more information.
Dyslexia and Specific Learning Difficulties in Adults
Dyslexia and Specific Learning Difficulties in Adults
Featured on writix.co.uk
Dyslexia is a hidden disability thought to affect around 10% of the population, 4% severely. It is the most common of the Specific Learning Difficulties, a family of related conditions with considerable overlap or co-occurrence. Together these are believed to affect around 15% of people to a lesser or greater extent.
Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLDs) affect the way information is learned and processed. They are neurological (rather than psychological), usually hereditary and occur independently of intelligence. They include:
- Dyslexia
- Dyspraxia or Development Co-ordination Disorder
- Dyscalculia
- Attention Deficit Disorder
COVID-19 Updates for Families of Students with Disabilities
Late last week, the U.S. Department of Education issued a Questions and Answers document to give guidance on how Districts should be providing services to students with disabilities as the school buildings begin to close.
This past weekend, they issued a Supplemental Fact Sheet wherein they made it clear that Districts may provide special education and related services through distance instruction, whether virtually, online, or telephonically.
The question we have most frequently received since school closure became a possibility is: Does the district still have to follow my child’s IEP? In short, the answer is YES, as long as they are providing educational opportunities to the general student population. Specifically, the DOE stated that “schools must ensure that, to the greatest extent possible, each student with a disability can be provided the special education and related services identified in the student’s IEP developed under IDEA, or a plan developed under Section 504.” However, with the onset of this national emergency, the United States Department of Education has urged that parents and school districts be flexible and collaborative in working within the confines of distance teaching and safety measures to provide disabled students with a free and appropriate public education. Thus, related services that require physical contact may not be feasible at this time, but other services/accommodations such as extensions of time for assignments, videos with accurate captioning or embedded sign language interpreting, accessible reading materials, and many speech or language services through video conferencing, may be able to be provided.
School districts will be required to assess on a case by case basis whether compensatory education services are required when school resumes.
We have had a few IEP meetings via google hangout and conference call within the past week. So far, they have gone more smoothly than anticipated. We are learning ways to make them more efficient (i.e., mute if you are not speaking, in order to eliminate background noise; if it is just an audio call, have speakers identify themselves). Please be patient with Districts as they work out the kinks in this new way of conducting meetings. If you have an IEP meeting coming up, or are due for an annual review meeting, we recommend you reach out to your child’s case manager to inquire how the meeting will be conducted. We have obtained the appropriate technology so that if your IEP team states that they are unable to handle a remote meeting, we can certainly “host” it for them.
Finally, we hope you are all staying safe, and isolated!
If you’d like to schedule a virtual meeting, please contact Melissa (admin@manesweinberg.com), and she will schedule something for you. You can also call our office (973) (376) (7733).
Manes & Weinberg | Special Needs Lawyers, LLC
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