Show # 99- Elaine Weitzman, Hanen Centre

In this episode, I talk with Elaine Weitzman from the Hanen Centre. The Hanen Centre is an international organization focused on helping parents and educators enhance the language and literacy skills of young children. The programs they have been developed are research-based and the information they offer parents is practical, easy, every day things we can do to truly enhance how our children learn.

The Hanen centre has come out with a yearly calendar that gives parents and teachers a month by month, week by week resource of how to specifically help build critical language skills for young children. This is a straight-forward, easy to use guide to doing simple things that can have a big, long term impact on your child's education and literacy.

To give you some perspective on how important this is, a recent show entitled "Going Big" on This American Life by Ira Glass featured a segment regarding the Harlem Children's Zone, an ambitious program focused on helping parents help their children in the same way the Hanen Centre does- and it's working miracles in terms of improving children's scholastic outcomes.

It's simple things, like reading to your child, asking them questions, talking about emotions, answering those endles "Why?" questions that help spark your child's curiosity about the world and encourage them to develop these critical skills necessary for later literacy and academic success.

Please contact the Hanen Centre through their website at www.hanen.org. The calendar for 2009 is now available, and sample months are available on their website.

Click here to listen to Elaine Weitzman, Hanen Center- Developing Early Language Skills with your kids

Show # 55 Conversation with Anne Ford and John Richard Thompson Part II- Helicopter Parenting, Families and Siblings

In this show, I continue my conversation with Anne Ford and John Richard Thompson. Their new book, On Their Own: Creating an Independent Futrue for Your Adult Child with Learning Disabilities and ADHD has just been published by New Market Press. We talk about how hard it is to let your child succeed or fail on their own accord, and how our involvement with our children with disabilities effects other members of the family as well.

Congratualtions to our winners so far - Kim Mansk, Tracey Bowes, Sue Penicka and Shelly Head! Your books on on their way!

We still have a few books to give away- Please send an email to ldpodcast@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at (206) 666-2343 to win!

I have also recently added a chapter from my book-in-progress, in PDF format, if you are interested. If you click on this link, or the home page link to your left, you'll see it listed as How Learning Works- It's about the basics of brain and cognitive development in kids, presented in a "Bill Nye The Science Guy" way for parents. For me at least, it always has been helpful to know what part of a child's issues might be developmental (They'll get better over time as they get older) and which parts are hard-wired (this is something in their basic makeup and unlikely to change much). I am eager to hear what you think- if you do read it, please send you feedback to me at ldpodcast@gmail.com. Any and all feedback, positive, negative, indifferent- it's all very helpful to me- think of yourselves as editors!

Click here to download Show #55: Conversation with Anne Ford and John Richard Thompson Part II: Helicopter Parenting and Siblings

Dale Brown, Part II

In the second part of my conversation with Dale Brown from LD Online, we talk about using professional coaches for ADHD and other learning disabilities, when positive reinforcement works best, and the latest goings on at LD Online.
Dale knows from personal experience what it was like growing up with learning disabilities, and how hard it is to get the help you need. As parents, we need to know how to help our kids learn these self-advocacy skills, because they need to take charge of their learning issues. And there's no one better to learn from than Dale, who has not only advocated for herself, but has been instrumental in helping others learn to advocate for themselves in the workplace.

Click here to listen to Show #39: Conversation with Dale Brown, Part II