As a parent or caregiver, have you ever wished that you could get to the core reasons why your child is challenged with time, organization, or emotional control?
Do you KNOW your child is bright and capable, and yet disorganized notebooks, lost assignments, and anxiety surrounding tests get in the way of success?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could discern the difference between WON’T and CAN’T when it comes to attitude and behavior?
Did you know that what you see as defiance may actually be decreased motivation and mounted frustration that are greatly impacting a child’s perception of success?
Sign up today for this resource-packed 4 week webinar series and get to the ROOT CAUSES of your child’s challenges.
Help children achieve success by learning how to establish routines and develop strategies to eliminate endless cycles of frustration and failure. Discover how to ensure these strategies stick!!
Within this series, you will discover lots of EASY, IMMEDIATELY USABLE strategies to help kids with organizing space, materials and time. Learning what is behind these struggles is the key to making lasting change!
Enhance your parenting by implementing simple changes in communication styles that lead to independence eliminating frustration and improving motivation.
This workshop series, designed specifically to meet the need of busy parents and caregivers, cuts quickly to the core areas of need for children with Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, Auditory and Sensory Processing Disorders, and many other areas of extra need.
The flexible, weekly webinar format allows for multiple flexibility. Register for one, or better yet, attend them all for maximum learning and a discounted price! The webinar format allows for busy schedules and the ever-present need for parents to be flexible, so if one time doesn’t work you can catch it at a later time! Lori Benson Adams, M.Ed., an Educational Intervention Specialist, national presenter, and parent of a child with learning differences, provides over 6 hours of action-packed ideas and advice for a fraction of the cost of one:one educational consultation. Join us to gain strategies for creating a calmer home and more successful child!
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Lori Benson Adams, M.Ed., has over 30 years of experience working with children with a wide range of learning and attention challenges. Her background includes over a decade as a special education teacher, early intervention specialist, independent consultant, and public speaker. She is the owner of Breakthrough Learning Solutions, a company directed at sharing the most cutting-edge information with parents and educators. She is the parent of a child with learning challenges, and has experienced first-hand the need for a positive, strengths-based approach to helping our children reach success!
A few weeks ago, my husband and I went to see the movie “The Imitation Game.” It is the story of Alan Turing, a British scientist, cryptanalyst, and computing pioneer, and his development of a system to crack Nazi codes in order to significantly shorten World War II. It was both fascinating and brilliantly acted. Benedict Cumberbatch’s Turing breathtakingly transports viewers to another place and time.
As we processed through the movie over dinner, my husband (an engineer himself), said ,” He was a pretty quirky guy, wasn’t he?” I shared my hunch that Turing’s portrayal was indicative of someone with Asperger’s Syndrome, reviewing the nuances that led me to that conclusion.
I became intrigued if my intuition was correct. I spent the evening diving into blogs, websites, and eventually Autism activist sites, hoping to find the opinions of others. Although the term Asperger’s was not around during Turing’s life, I found there is great debate in the Autism community about the pros and cons of posthumous diagnostics. Many were passionate about the danger of applying labels to someone who is not alive to interview or participate in the diagnostic process. Others were equally vehement about the societal advantages of adding brilliant, world-altering people into the category of those living successfully with some form of autism. Before I knew it, I’d spent several hours drawn into to the debate and reading link after link, comment after comment.
I stopped dead in my tracks. DID it really matter if Turing is considered to have been on the autism spectrum? Of course not. A posthumous diagnosis does not change who he was, the impact he had on our every day lives in terms of computer science, or his undeniable shortening of World War II.
So why had I spent hours digging, researching, reading? Yes, it was out of curiosity, diligence, and an interest in the opinions of activists within the autism community, but I have to admit, ashamedly, that is was also part of my need to make sense of a highly unusual man. It was my need to put things neatly in a box, tied with a bow. I was disappointed in myself, quite honestly. I try diligently to spend my days helping teachers, parents, children look outside of the box, to celebrate their uniqueness, to be empowered to find their own way, and yet here I was, trying to fit someone nicely and neatly into a corner, giving a label some kind of power.
Shame on me. I should know better. Honestly, we all should.
It doesn’t matter. Diagnosis don’t matter. Yes, yes, they do help us answer questions, they can certainly help us obtain services, and quite often they can help us guide interventions. But when it comes to understanding, TRULY understanding, a person, his or her traits, his qualities, her heart, a diagnostic label is a grossly insufficient way to tie things up.
Brilliant, funny, loving, tender, energetic….these are the words that matter.
Child. Father. Brother. Sister. Uncle. Son. These are the words that matter.
In the midst of our diagnosis-laden, therapy-heavy world, sometimes we need to stop, take a deep breath, and really focus on was DOES matter. It is the true heart and soul of each individual, the rare and unmatched gifts and talents we all bring to the table, that determine who we are in this world.
What a month August has been! I have had the humbling opportunity to quite literally meet with teachers, parents and administrators across the country! From a large district in Cheyenne, Wyoming to a private school is Washington, D.C., teachers and administrators have been busily preparing for a fresh year of learning. From a small adobe school in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to a school for unique learners in Tulsa, Oklahoma, bulletin boards are going up, pencils are being sharpened, and fresh books are being placed on desks in anticipation of students. From a district in Lexington, Kentucky, where teachers came during their own summer days to learn about children with learning challenges to a group of motivated and profoundly dedicated home school parents in Atlanta, Georgia, the 2015-2016 school year is underway.
OUR KIDS ARE IN GOOD HANDS!
My work affords me the unique ability to view education in every form in every state. It is a rare and sacred experience for someone like me, who has never dreamed of being anything other than a teacher.
What I know is this: Our kids are in good hands!
I am blessed to spend my days with teachers: Classroom teachers, home school teachers, public school teachers and private school teachers. Teachers who wake up every morning, pushing through the fatigue and haze of sleepiness to quickly grab materials together to create the lesson that came to them in their sleep. Teachers who have gone out and developed schools to meet the needs of other children who have challenges similar to their child’s. Teachers who have given up their own careers or person goals to stay home and educate their own children, even though it means seldom having a break or a second for themselves.
Teachers are a forced with which to be reckoned!!!
Aside from a mother’s ferocious love for her children, I know of few other earthly forces as powerful as the Teaching Heart. Thousands upon thousands of men and women face every day, ready to love, nurture and educate our children. Against increasing and ceaseless odds, they demonstrate dedication, energy, creativity, passion, compassion, mastery and curiosity. They spend their own time, their own limited income, and their own emotional resources to keep children engaged, loved and moving forward. They teach our children how to read, how to add, and how to share. They teach that art is essential, music is magical, and who you are on the playground is as important as how you do in the classroom.
So let me share the good news: Our kids are in good hands!
Our diverse, expansive and often tumultuous nation is brimming over with people dedicated to the art of teaching. Nurture your child’s teachers. Be present. Be available. Ask them what they need, and then help out. Encourage and support them. When you see your child’s teacher dragging at the end of a long day, smile and say thank you. Take the time to ask you neighbor why she has chosen to home school her children, and watch as her eyes light up. Almost every teacher will tell you it’s never the children that cause them to leave the profession. It’s never their lack of love or dedication, but rather a sense of unsurmountable expectations that don’t seem to go noticed or appreciated. Show your support and appreciation. Let’s keep the good ones around.
There is life-changing power in the Teaching Heart. It is the power to move mountains, the power to love children, the power to change the world. Think about it. Pray about it. Then go nurture it.
The 4 of July. Just the thought of this holiday floods my heart and brain with precious childhood memories. I can close my eyes and instantly be transported back in time. I am a little girl in pristine Madeira, Ohio, holding my dad’s hand while we stood on the sidewalk outside the Daisy Chain gift shop and watched the parade go by. I look up at my dad, a veteran of the Korean War, as tears stream down his cheeks and his free hand is either placed over his heart or is saluting other vets marching by. I am equal parts embarrassed and impressed as his voice seems to be the loudest, boldest one singing God Bless America as the high school marching band plays. The parade is followed by a huge 20-family cookout in the cul-de-sac, complete with decorate-your-bike contests, endless hours of Kick the Can, and of course hundreds of sparklers. My memories are of what July 4 should be….a country-wide birthday party for America.
Today I still look upon the 4 of July as our nation’s birthday party, but I find myself focusing more on the concept of independence and freedom. I realize now, from the vantage of age ( and I hope wisdom), the sacrifices that went in to our ability to march in parades and watch fireworks. Though my dad never spoke of his war days, I have learned more about what he likely experienced, and the tears have a more powerful message to me. Now I am married to a veteran, and this 4 I have a nephew who is deployed. While I cherish the day to join the country in an American birthday celebration, I also am humbled and overwhelmed with the ability to pull back the curtain and see what cost this freedom and independence has been for so many.
How brave those men were 239 years ago, signing a declaration of independence from tyranny and an over-reaching government, not knowing what was ahead, but knowing with faith and conviction they could move forward. This July 4, as we enjoy grilling out and spending time with family and friends, let’s not forget the cost of freedom, and take inspiration from the visionaries that came before us!
Thank you so much to those of you who have contacted me after speaking engagements, conferences, and meetings, asking if there is a way of sharing information and updates in an ongoing manner.
I have always been a bit intimidated about the whole “blogosphere” thing, but I agree with you….there are too many cutting edge research articles, books to review, and new products that can help our kids to not get information out on a more regular basis.
SO….here it is! I will use this space to interview professionals, review products and books, and to share insights and ideas. My hope is that this will become an interactive forum where we can all share ideas and encouragement, and new ways to reach children who struggle!
Stay tuned, the first “real” blog entry is soon to follow. I look forward to visiting with you soon!
Depending on your part of the country, the new school year is only a matter of days or weeks away.
It’s the season of new action-hero backpacks, freshly sharpened pencils, the aroma of fresh crayons, and the bustling commotion back-to-school open houses.
Parents and students eagerly fill the halls, crowding around the lists hung neatly on the walls to see which class, which friends, which teachers will be part of creating the year ahead.
And also a bit terrifying. As much as hope factors into a new, unseen adventure, so does fear, especially if you are the parent of a child who learns or behaves in a slightly (or obviously) different way. For these parents, it’s often less about seeing if their son’s best friend is in the class as it is about if their son will MAKE a friend in this class. It’s less about did we get the teacher the moms at the grocery store said was the best, and more about will the teacher “get” my daughter, will she be able to see her creativity beneath her blurting out, will she understand that that IS my son’s best work, even if it appears to be hurried and scribbled.
As a parent of a struggling student myself, I know that feeling oh-too-well. As a professional who has had the privilege of ushering in new school years with hundreds of families of unique kids, I’ve shared this crazy mix of hope and caution over many tables and cups of coffee.
Without exception, what almost always happens, is we realize we are holding our breaths. We are almost afraid to dream of all the remarkable possibilities in case they don’t manifest. We are preparing for battles that most of us will never even have to fight. We are holding our breath as we armor up for the unknown.
There is a reason that breathing is a critical part of the labor and birth process. It is through the deep, focused, measured breaths that we move forward into the unknown. It prepares our brains and bodies for what is to come. It slows our heart rates and clears our minds. It allows us to be present in the moment, without interference from past or future.
You’ve got this! We’ve got this! We will take it one step at a time. Together we’ll rejoice over surprising victories, deal with frustration, and probably shed a tear or two. You won’t be doing it alone. Let’s not bring forward events of the past, and let’s not anticipate so many things that likely won’t happen.
Let’s JUST breathe! Take it one breath at a time. You’ve got this!