A Fresh Mindset for the New Year

by Christy Olsson, B.A., CALT, Director of New Student Development

“Some parents express concern about the pace at which their student progresses. I have found that often, just like we must establish new neural pathways in our students, we also have to establish new mindsets as parents and instructors.”

One primary concept to grasp, and it took me a while to see and believe this: Students with learning differences process reading and math in a completely different way. It is enough of a difference to be called a disability because 90% of humans process in roughly the same manner. The older a student is when beginning Structured Literacy Therapy, the longer it takes to break faulty processing patterns and establish new ones. (Your student may also have other underlying issues that make the process go a little slower.)

But, to address the processing issues. One key thing to remember: Your student learns to read the way a person learns to play piano. 90% of humans, once they learn to read, they have it forever.  When humans learn to play the piano, if they do not keep playing, they become rusty and can forget how to play.

That being said, my husband has been playing the guitar for 40 years. If he stopped playing for a couple of years, he might be a little rusty, but he would still be able to play fairly well. That’s because he has had it so ingrained. For some, the ingraining process takes longer than others. However, once the basics are ingrained, they will stay, especially for words and phrases that are used consistently in everyday life.

Structured Literacy Therapy is therapy, just like physical therapy. When engaged in physical therapy to correct an injury, precise movements and extreme consistency are required. It is exactly the same with Structured Literacy Therapy. We are retraining the brain’s processing centers. That requires precise training and consistent practice.

I know we all feel we want to give our learning different students a break; goodness knows we need one too, but taking breaks, especially during the early stages of brain training, leads to setbacks just the same as taking a break from practicing the piano or taking a break from physical therapy. Remember, we are trying to break old patterns of faulty processing and are creating neural pathways. So, even when you are on vacation, make sure to spend at least 10 minutes per regular learning days to practice. I suggest letting them know a break is doing only 10 minutes of practice instead of all morning! This way, we are more likely to hold our place and not get “rusty.”

Keep that growth mindset. Your student is making progress. It is a new year. We can start off fresh and with a renewed plan to account for vacations and helping your student have a different mindset about breaks-that breaks are not stopping, but only keeping ourselves “tuned-up” for 10 minutes per day!

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