Kate Gladstone and Jason Alster talk about handwriting

http://bit.ly/1GyoBVr

Kate Gladstone Meet The Author

Donald Trump said it again " I read a lot". To be successful today - you need to read faster and better.

In today's world of information overload you need to read about 400 words a minute and understand what you read!


Donald  Trump  has said many  times  “I read a lot”! I wonder how fast he can read? 

The reason I published a video on improving reading speed and comprehension is because I was a slow reader , but over the years I have helped many students I tutored to become better readers. 

Notice that the titile is not " SPEED READING" because that is like skimming and has a bad reputation in some circles. 

Experience has shown that with the methods I used for improving reading speed and comprehension a person can increase his or her's reading ability and speed  anywhere  between  10% to 100%,in many cases even 200%.  This will depend on how fast you read and comprehend to begin with.

So let’s do the math.

If I read just one hour a day from age 15 to age 70, I will have read for 55 years. Let’s say I read just one hour a day for 6 days a week with a day of rest for the seventh.  

So 6 days a year equals 312 days in a year in which multiplied by 55 years gives 17, 160 days.

Now, if I read just ONE hour a day, then I will have  read  for 1,716 hours in that 55 years.

Now, if your reading speed and comprehension increases by just 10%,  then  that is 1,716 hours in 55 years divided by 24 hours in a day and that gives 71.5 days in total or 2.38  months in a 55 years reading lifetime of just reading one hour a day.

However, if you improved your reading speed by 100% then that is 17,160 hours in the 55 years which divided by 24 hours in a day gives 715 days of savings, or 23.83 months in a lifetime.

That is the conservative estimate because if I read more than one hour a day to let’s say just 2 hours then we are talking a savings anywhere from 5 months to almost 2 years in a lifetime by just learning to read a little faster and better.

Now certain people that are avid readers will even save more as well as people in certain fields of expertise who need to read a lot for their studies or careers as doctors , lawyers, authors, actors,  journalists, teachers, college professors , scientists, publishers and editors just to name a few.

So check out “Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension” get a copy for yourself. It could be the real fountain of youth.

https://sites.google.com/site/betterreadingcomprehension/

Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension

Do you skip lines while reading then go back to re-read?

Do you forget what you just read?
Are you a slow reader?
Do you get stuck on hard words?
Do you have ADHD and concentration problems?
Do you have problems completing an article or book?

Then this video will help you learn to read faster and better. 
Based on 25 years experience with helping students with ADHD and learning challenges, Jason Mark Alster M.Sc shares his experiences in helping anyone read faster and better and increase comprehension for what they are reading. Done in a step by step fashion, the lessons are presented in a fun and easy way.

CreateSpace eStore: 
https://www.createspace.com/442605

SAT scores dropping?

That is because the department of education is not listening. I regularly help students get higher grades. If you want higher grades check out my videos
1) Being In Control : Natural Solutions for ADHD Dyslexia and Test Anxiety
2) Anyone Can Improve Their Own Handwriting
3) Day to Day Memory Enhancement Techniques for Adults and Senior Citizens
4) Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension.
These videos alone will give you enough tools to increase scores on most tests from grade school to university including the SAT.

Donald Trump says " I Read A Lot" !

Donald  Trump  has said many  times  “I read a lot”!

Experience has shown that with the methods I used for improving reading speed and comprehension a person can increase his or her's   reading ability and speed  anywhere  between  10% to 100%,in many cases even 200%.  This will depend on how fast you read and comprehend to begin with.

So let’s do the math.

If I read just one hour a day from age 15 to age 70, I will have read for 55 years. Let’s say I read just one hour a day for 6 days a week with a day of rest for the seventh.  

So 6 days a year equals 312 days in a year in which multiplied by 55 years gives 17, 160 days.

Now, if I read just ONE hour a day, then I will have  read  for 1,716 hours in that 55 years.

Now, if your reading speed and comprehension increases by just 10%,  then  that is 1,716 hours in 55 years divided by 24 hours in a day and that gives 71.5 days in total or 2.38  months in a 55 years reading lifetime of just reading one hour a day.

However, if you improved your reading speed by 100% then that is 17,160 hours in the 55 years which divided by 24 hours in a day gives 715 days of savings, or 23.83 months in a lifetime.

That is the conservative estimate because if I read more than one hour a day to let’s say just 2 hours then we are talking a savings anywhere from 5 months to almost 2 years in a lifetime by just learning to read a little faster and better.

Now certain people that are avid readers will even save more as well as people in certain fields of expertise who need to read a lot for their studies or careers as doctors , lawyers, authors, actors,  journalists, teachers, college professors , scientists, publishers and editors just to name a few.

So check out “Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension” get a copy for yourself. It could be the real fountain of youth.

https://sites.google.com/site/betterreadingcomprehension/

Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension

Do you skip lines while reading then go back to re-read?

Do you forget what you just read?
Are you a slow reader?
Do you get stuck on hard words?
Do you have ADHD and concentration problems?
Do you have problems completing an article or book?

Then this video will help you learn to read faster and better. 
Based on 25 years experience with helping students with ADHD and learning challenges, Jason Mark Alster M.Sc shares his experiences in helping anyone read faster and better and increase comprehension for what they are reading. Done in a step by step fashion, the lessons are presented in a fun and easy way.

CreateSpace eStore: 
https://www.createspace.com/442605

Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension

Had a great intevview with Kevin Chung on cracking creativity

http://marketingtrw.com/blog/cracking-creativity-episode-16-jason-alster-merging-science-art-solving-mysteries-getting-tv-show/#more-1078

cracking creativity

Is it dyslexia or what?

s a history to the development of the video " Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension " (https://sites.google.com/site/betterreadingcomprehension/ ) I offer this chapter from the book " Leaving Home Going Home Returning Home : A Hebrew American's Sojourn in The Land of Israel".    The case of the fifth grader who whispered When I think back on the many children that completed my Being in Control program, three clients and the challenges they faced stick out in my mind as key examples that reflect the power of my program. The first student, Channa, came from an ultra-orthodox Jewish girl’s school and was in 5th grade. Her father, an official in the school, was a great person who made his child’s education paramount, and he helped see to it that there was no lack of remedial help for his child within the school. Despite all this support, Channa’s problem with learning perplexed the teachers, and so her special case made it to my clinic. Channa was a quiet and sweet-looking young girl, but very bashful. Immediately, I became aware that Channa only speaks in quiet whispers. Her father told me that her psychological evaluations did not show that she had ADD, yet he suspected there was something wrong with her concentration. Even though she was a good student, he felt Channa did not reach her potential in some of her courses. This turned out to be a common complaint of parents that sought out my help: the child was studious, attentive, and bright, but “did not reach their potential” – a code phrase for not having the grades their parents thought their children deserved or could achieve. When I first met her, Channa barely talked to me and did not answer any of my questions. Instead, she spoke through her father. Being ultra-orthodox, she probably did not have much, if any, opportunity to speak to men Leaving Home, Going Home, Returning Home outside her family. Partly from this experience, I found that using a slightly passive approach in biofeedback via graphic and video programs was necessary where practitioner-client interaction was lacking. For Channa, I went through relaxation and concentration exercises for a couple of sessions, talking very little and letting the programs show the way. Soon, Channa brought one of her teachers with her to observe, and the teacher told me there was already a marked improvement in Channa’s general class participation since she began working with me. Then, in the following session, Channa brought her sister, whom I let experience the program together with Channa – a practice that I maintain whenever siblings pay a visit. I couldn’t help but notice then that when Channa talked to her sister, she didn’t whisper. These sessions, in turn, served as evidence that as a student’s general well-being improves, that student will feel better about him or herself. Building this self-confidence led to increased class participation. After these early sessions, I began to instruct Channa in building accelerated learning skills and study strategies. When starting speed-reading and reading retention skills, I had Channa bring one of her favorite books to me to read from. I wanted to check both how many words per minute Channa read and how much she could comprehend from that text. Channa chose a siddur, or Jewish ritual prayer book, with her. The Orthodox Jews pray three times a day, so it comes as no surprise that the prayers become ingrained in their children from a very early age. She read the prayers aloud just fine. Good! I then wanted Channa to read from a children’s fairy tale book, which was something she was less familiar with. Suddenly, she began to whisper again, so much so that I could hardly hear her. Her dad, present for each session, intervened and asked Channa to speak up louder. She read the passage again, and to my chagrin, she could not read the words correctly. I had Channa pick up the siddur again and read from it, this time letter by letter. Much to our wonder, she made several errors again, even though we just heard her recite the same prayers so beautifully just moments ago! What was wrong with this picture, I wondered? Then it came to me. I asked her father if he was aware that Channa had difficulty reading. He answered an emphatic “NO!” How could this be? Previously, she read the prayers well enough, but when asked to decode the prayer word for word, letter by letter, she could barely read the first sentence. She must not have read the words the first time around, I surmised, but rather she had remembered the prayers by heart. What Channa was doing was relying on her memory to compensate for her not being able to read well. She did not appear to struggle to the point of potentially having dyslexia, but perhaps she just might have had some concentration problems when she was acquiring reading skills in the earlier grades and at some point started to lag behind. To make up for this shortcoming, she used her memory to get by so her teachers and parents would not notice. As Channa progressed into the older grades, however, she hit a dead end with this strategy as her reading skills were now being tested. That is why Channa was whispering. Her mumbling was her attempt to camouflage her weakness. As a result, no one suspected that she did not know how to read, but instead were left wondering why Channa did not speak up in class. Her teachers and her parents readily identified problematic symptoms of Channa’s behavior, yet they masked the true obstacle in Channa’s ability to learn. Children are, and perhaps always have been, under growing pressure from their parents and school to excel and succeed. Anything less is construed as an embarrassment. Channa was anything but dumb, though – after all, who would ever think that a young fifth grader like her could have everyone fooled, and for so long? In Channa’s case, I recalled well-known set videos in Israel that taught reading skills and the alphabet from scratch. I had her father get Channa a set to bring Channa back to the basics and with enough practice and guidance, Channa soon learned how to read just as well as her peers.

Interview with Miss ADD about reading faster , better, if you have ADHD.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/missadd/2015/08/09/improve-reading-speed-and-comprehension

Do you forget what you just read?

Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension RainbowCloud (Studio) List Price: $27.00 45 minutes, NTSC UPC: 889290179265 Do you skip lines while reading then go back to re-read? Do you forget what you just read? Are you a slow reader? Do you get stuck on hard words? Do you have ADHD and concentration problems? Do you have problems completing an article or book? Then this video will help you learn to read faster and better. Based on 25 years experience with helping students with ADHD and learning challenges , Jason Mark Alster M.Sc shares his experiences in helping anyone read faster and better and increase comprehension for what they are reading. Done in a step by step fashion , the lessons are presented in a fun and easy way. CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/442605

Do you have problems completing a whole book?

Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension RainbowCloud (Studio) List Price: $27.00 45 minutes, NTSC UPC: 889290179265 Do you skip lines while reading then go back to re-read? Do you forget what you just read? Are you a slow reader? Do you get stuck on hard words? Do you have ADHD and concentration problems? Do you have problems completing an article or book? Then this video will help you learn to read faster and better. Based on 25 years experience with helping students with ADHD and learning challenges , Jason Mark Alster M.Sc shares his experiences in helping anyone read faster and better and increase comprehension for what they are reading. Done in a step by step fashion , the lessons are presented in a fun and easy way. CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/442605

Are you a slow reader?

Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension RainbowCloud (Studio) List Price: $27.00 45 minutes, NTSC UPC: 889290179265 Do you skip lines while reading then go back to re-read? Do you forget what you just read? Are you a slow reader? Do you get stuck on hard words? Do you have ADHD and concentration problem's? Do you have problems completing an article or book? Then this video will help you learn to read faster and better. Based on 25 years experience with helping students with ADHD and learning challenges , Jason Mark Alster M.Sc shares his experiences in helping anyone read faster and better and increase comprehension for what they are reading. Done in a step by step fashion , the lessons are presented in a fun and easy way. CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/442605

Boy age 18 reads book for first time

https://sites.google.com/site/betterreadingcomprehension/

The case of the alchemist

A  chapter from the memoir “Leaving Home , Going Home , Returning Home : A Hebrew American’s Sojourn in the Land of Israel” tells the story of how Dov learned to read his first book at the age of 18 years. With this success and inspiration from hundreds of students like Dov I produced the video “ Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension”.

https://sites.google.com/site/israelmemoir/

Dov was an attractive, tall and blue-eyed 17-year-old Sabra with

gingi (reddish) hair who could have easily been a male model if he

wanted to. He approached me with what seemed like a simple question:

“Can I go to college next year?” An American guidance counselor

he was working with had told him that there were now colleges

in the USA that catered to students with learning disabilities. Dov

would otherwise not have considered attending college. If there ever

was someone who did not look like they had a learning disability, it

was Dov (proof that looks don’t really tell). I asked Dov why didn’t

he just try applying to college in Israel, and he told me that he had

not lived in Israel for many years, but instead actually grew up in

Africa. English was as much his language as Hebrew. His father had

a business there since Dov was young and had only recently returned

to Israel. His mother, who once came to a session with Dov, wore

the most beautiful African blue diamond you could ever expect to

set eyes upon. Business must have been good. “Then what’s the

problem, Dov? Why wouldn’t you succeed in college?” He raises his

head and says, “I never read a whole book in my life and no one can

tell me why!”

I stare at Dov in disbelief. I never met a student who said anything like that before. Dov wondered aloud if he could still make it to college

or if it would be a waste of time. He then asked me if I could

solve his reading problem, keeping in mind that college starts in the

USA after the summer. I saw myself in Dov’s earnest eyes when he

made this plea. Both of us were immigrants at one time or another;

Dov immigrated to Africa, and I to Israel. I couldn’t help but reflect

then on how moving effects schooling. In my case, I had to take college

level classes where the language spoken was not my native tongue.

One of my other clients told me how he had moved from location

to location as many as seven times before even completing high school.

Unfortunately for him, his father couldn’t comprehend how these

constant moves might have an impact on his son’s success in school.

I asked Dov to read for me while checking his psycho-physiological

parameters for stress and relaxed concentration. Interestingly enough,

Dov showed no signs of being under psycho-physiological stress when

he attempted to read, unlike what I would expect in clients with test

anxiety, ADHD, dyslexia, and the like. Conversely, Dov would fixate

on a word, sub-vocalize, and repeatedly skip back to where he began

reading. I recognized this behavior as regression, which in fact is a

common error to make for those who struggle with reading. In this

case, regression occurs following each time the subject spends an inordinate

amount of time struggling with a challenging word. After

focusing on that single word for so long, the subject ends up losing

his or her place on the page, sometimes falling back whole sentences.

No wonder why Dov never finished a book in his life to date!

Fortunately, Dov found about my work. I assured him that adjusting

his problems with reading would be possible, even if he had

to begin college in just a few months. All he had to do was learn

some techniques in speed reading, build up his vocabulary, and use

biofeedback to relax and improve his overall ability to concentrate.

Building a stronger personal vocabulary was particularly essential for

Dov, for it was apparent that as he was fixating on individual words

and struggling with interpreting them in the context of a passage.

He was expending all kinds of energy in understanding the words

he saw and that yielded little or no lasting reward because his vocabulary

memory bank was low. Instead, if he recognized the word

quickly, he would absorb it and spend as little time needed to read it

or regress on the word. With speed reading techniques, Dov learned

to differentiate important words to a subject matter from the less

important words and bypass them. Like throwing wheat into the air

and have the chaff blown away. This in turn reduces increases reading

speed as you have fewer words to read. By the fifteenth session,

Dov had a surprise for me. He completed his first book ever: The

Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Behold, a young lad who had just read his

first book ever at age seventeen! After this success, Dov felt like he

was ready for college. I could not have been happier to have had the

opportunity to help him make it all happen.

Following his completion of our sessions, I couldn’t help but

wonder about his book of choice. Why The Alchemist, I had to ask?

Why not something popular like The Hobbit or Harry Potter? He

merely replied that it was interesting and that I should give it a try

someday. I was intrigued. While I wish he had told me more, having

him give a book report after reading just his first book ever was

probably a little too much to ask. Four years after helping Dov, I

started to write this very book, and I still could not help but wonder

why he chose The Alchemist out of the million books there are out

there in the world. I looked it up on Amazon.com and found a video

of the author himself, Paulo Coelho, thanking his readers for twenty

years of support for making his book a success all around the world.

If he only knew what I knew about Dov, I thought. After reading

the reviews, it dawned on me why Dov chose to read this book first.

For The Alchemist is about a boy leaving Spain to follow his dream and

see the world, even though the boy fully understands that his journey

will entail some suffering. The book is about self-empowerment and

finding treasure within, turning negatives into positives along your

journey to find your true self. The book is full of adventure, comic

charm, wisdom, and it reads like a fairy tale all in just 167 pages.

To this day, I sometimes wonder if Dov ever wrote Mr. Coelho

a letter telling him how much The Alchemist made a difference in

his life.

Senior Citizen memory improvement request number one

DAY TO DAY MEMORY ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES FOR ADULTS AND SENIOR CITIZENS (DVD VIDEO) 

Do you need to remember a name, a face, a date , a birthday, a pass code, a telephone number, a grocery list, a favorite recipe, or even where you parked your car? What if you lost your phone and have to contact a family member in an emergency? Would you remember their phone number? After giving many workshops on improving memory for senior citizens at senior centers , senior living, and universities, I produced an interactive video of memory enhancement techniques directed at seniors. PS did you know the number one request seniors have is to improve their ability to remember names? Do you know why? One senior at a workshop needed help in remembering his grandchildren's names. Another senior asked for a way to remember his mom's secret recipe' for meatballs. I use the techniques myself in the video just to remember where I park my car. Another senior needed help in remembering what her password was. I use a a real example of when I ran out of money and had to remember my credit card pin number that I had not used in a year . Another member in a workshop said he was walking with his best friend of years and when they met another old time college buddy, well he said this is my best friend UHhhm - I forgot his name. His best friend was not too happy after that. One of the secrets I use to remember the names of people I met came from a minister. Think of it, if the minister could not remember the names of the people in his parish. Well , it seems that retired seniors now have a lifestyle change that includes meeting more people and new people at workshops in senior centers and senior homes. Their number one request to me at the memory enhancement workshops I provide is to improve their memory for names. This is different from a younger student whose main request might be to remember dates and numbers for an exam. Do you need to remember a name, a face, a date , a birthday, a pass code, a telephone number, a grocery list, a favorite recipe, or even where you parked your car? The video is in two parts. The first dealing with memory techniques and the second part has a meditation for relaxed concentration. The author Jason Mark Alster MSc, has been working with tutoring , learning strategies, study skills , allied health technology since 1979. After offering memory enhancement workshops at senior homes, adult education, Jason decided to offer this video which would be little different than what would be used for students needing to pass an exam or study for homework. Release date, June 1st 2014. A 46 minute cd or dvd format of day to day memory enhancement techniques for improving memory. This video is especially geared for working adults , senior citizens, and people with memory problems

https://www.sites.google.com/site/daytodaymemory/

or through Createspace an Amazon.com company.


https://tsw.createspace.com/title/405098




Day to Day Memory . link to video at Createspace. 

https://www.sites.google.com/site/daytodaymemory/

Press link to order a video or request a workshop. 

Handwriting Expert Kate Gladstone talks messy handwriting , remediation , dysgraphia on Meet The Author

Kate Gladstone on Meet The Author with Jason Alster talk handwriting history , instruction, and remediation. www.jasonalster.com

Do you need to read faster and comprehend more?

Project Summary

 Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension

Improve Reading Speed

 RainbowCloud (Studio) List Price: $27.00 45 minutes, NTSC UPC: 889290179265 Do you skip lines while reading then go back to re-read? Do you forget what you just read? Are you a slow reader? Do you get stuck on hard words? Do you have ADHD and concentration problem's? Do you have problems completing an article or book? Then this video will help you learn to read faster and better. Based on 25 years experience with helping students with ADHD and learning challenges , Jason Mark Alster M.Sc shares his experiences in helping anyone read faster and better and increase comprehension for what they are reading. Done in a step by step fashion , the lessons are presented in a fun and easy way. CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/442605

Do you have messy handwriting due to ADHD , dysgraphia, or that English is not your first language. I would love to hear how you were able to improve your handwriting?

This is a one time post about a video I produced " Anyone Can Improve Their Own Handwriting" which can be obtained as a hard copy or streaming download. Even though I was born and raised in the USA , I went to Hebrew school and thus learned another language with a different style of handwriting. In Hebrew you write from right to left , the opposite of English. My Hebrew handwriting was not bad and actually looked good. But my English handwriting looked bad. By the time I went to college - just before the days of the word processor - you could hand write a report or type it. I did not know how to type so hand wrote it. The English teacher ( Johns Hopkins no less) held my paper up high in the class and said this paper got a B but looked like the ink dropped and a chicken walked over it. ( years later I understood he meant the chicken scratch joke). To my chagrin he then handed the paper to me. I was humiliated. I also felt lost as to how do I improve my handwriting. Wasn't I " born with poor handwriting abilities". At the same time I wanted to learn to paint. I did well with color but could not draw to save my life. My paintings seemed to float in the air and thus looked impressionistic. At least people did not know I could not draw and liked the paintings though. Well , to make the story shorter. Over the years I continued my art, but also entered the health field of neuro diagnostics and behavioral psychology and began to help students with ADHD through biofeedback and then learning skills and strategies. Well , I noticed the ADHD students also had poor handwriting complaints . So I entered upon a quest to correct my own handwriting and my clients too. Well , these combinations helped me. One - relaxed concentration techniques taught me to go easier with the pencil. Two -Seeing like an artist helped me "See" how my individual shapes of the letters were suppose to look. Three - working in science helped me pay attention to details and be neater. So I put this all together and at the age of 40 I was able to change my own handwriting and help literally over 100 students with learning challenges and ADHD correct theirs. In the end I put these findings as resources in a book and video. The book " Creative Painting for the Young Artist " is probably the first book to help a youngster " see like an artist" especially if they have dysgraphia or ADHD. Then I produced the video " Anyone Can Improve Their Handwriting" and improved upon it a few years after that with a newer video editing skills into "Anyone Can Improve Their Own Handwriting". I have since shown the video at local handwriting improvement workshops so know it really helps many kinds of handwriting issues. I made the video in a self help manner, and also what is special about this technique is that it lets you analyse yourself what is wrong with your handwriting. Now this effort is not part of the cursive / Italic debate and does not teach handwriting as do many other books and products do. What is special about this video is that it helps correct messy handwriting in people with ADHD, dysgraphia, or just learned more than one language and let that interfere with their handwriting.

How can I improve my messy handwriting

I produced the video " Anyone Can Improve Their Own Handwriting" in about the year 2000, and improved upon it a few years ago. It still passes the test of time. This video was based upon working with ADHD students who came for natural methods to help them with their ADHD. I was in Israel at this time, and was performing a multi - modality biofeedback course for theses kids. However, I began to add accelerated learning strategies as well as writing correction to the improve relaxed concentration exercises. Well , how did I get involved with improving  handwriting and offering this service to biofeedback clients.  Well , first of all, I myself  had messy handwriting in English , although not so much in Hebrew. Yet English is my native language. Only till i reached age 40 was I able to correct my own handwriting. Thus I understood that if you do not get it corrected it will not correct on its own. I also am amazed by how many people offer advice to those having poor handwriting by saying " practice, practice ,practice". it is just not true. How I came to correct my own handwriting and the handwriting in hundreds of others was by developing an artistic more of seeing. I myself being an artist , improved my own art drawing , painting and drawing after I read the book
"Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" as well as some techniques from others. However, what I was able to develop that I did not see others use was a special way of correcting poor handwriting where the student can understand what is wrong and break down the problem. I also noticed that many people with messy handwriting actually had an ability to write individual words nicely, However, putting it all together - a mess. For different reasons, writing above or below the line, making letters unequal heights and distances, writing very small, writing off the margin and not sitting in good positions while writing. So putting it all together I produced the video " Anyone Can Improve Their Own Handwriting" . It can be downloaded from Amazon.com or purchased as a disc.
http://www.amazon.com/Anyone-Can-Improve-Their-Handwriting/dp/B004RF9PNC/

Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension - new DVD by RainbowCloud

Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension After 25 years of working in Israel and the USA in improving reading abilities in people with learning challenges I put my experiences into a video. I have seen students of all ages, even 90 years old increase their reading speed and comprehension from 10% to over 100%. Do you skip lines while reading then go back to re-read? Do you forget what you just read? Are you a slow reader? Do you get stuck on hard words? Do you have ADHD and concentration problems? Do you have problems completing an article or book? Then this video will help you learn to read faster and better. Based on 25 years experience with helping students with ADHD and learning challenges , Jason Mark Alster M.Sc shares his experiences in helping anyone read faster and better and increase comprehension for what they are reading. Done in a step by step fashion, the lessons are presented in a fun and easy way. CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/442605 From the memoir " Leaving Home , Going Home , Returning Home", I share my experiences working with multimodality biofeedback and learning strategies to help students with reading challenges , possibly ADHD and anxiety too. Here are two chapters The case of the fifth grader who whispered When I think back on the many children that completed my Being in Control program, three clients and the challenges they faced stick out in my mind as key examples that reflect the power of my program. The first student, Channa, came from an ultra-orthodox Jewish girl’s school and was in 5th grade. Her father, an official in the school, was a great person who made his child’s education paramount, and he helped see to it that there was no lack of remedial help for his child within the school. Despite all this support, Channa’s problem with learning perplexed the teachers, and so her special case made it to my clinic. Channa was a quiet and sweet-looking young girl, but very bashful. Immediately, I became aware that Channa only speaks in quiet whispers. Her father told me that her psychological evaluations did not show that she had ADD, yet he suspected there was something wrong with her concentration. Even though she was a good student, he felt Channa did not reach her potential in some of her courses. This turned out to be a common complaint of parents that sought out my help: the child was studious, attentive, and bright, but “did not reach their potential” – a code phrase for not having the grades their parents thought their children deserved or could achieve. When I first met her, Channa barely talked to me and did not answer any of my questions. Instead, she spoke through her father. Being ultra-orthodox, she probably did not have much, if any, opportunity to speak to men   Leaving Home, Going Home, Returning Home outside her family. Partly from this experience, I found that using a slightly passive approach in biofeedback via graphic and video programs was necessary where practitioner-client interaction was lacking. For Channa, I went through relaxation and concentration exercises for a couple of sessions, talking very little and letting the programs show the way. Soon, Channa brought one of her teachers with her to observe, and the teacher told me there was already a marked improvement in Channa’s general class participation since she began working with me. Then, in the following session, Channa brought her sister, whom I let experience the program together with Channa – a practice that I maintain whenever siblings pay a visit. I couldn’t help but notice then that when Channa talked to her sister, she didn’t whisper. These sessions, in turn, served as evidence that as a student’s general well-being improves, that student will feel better about him or herself. Building this self-confidence led to increased class participation. After these early sessions, I began to instruct Channa in building accelerated learning skills and study strategies. When starting speed-reading and reading retention skills, I had Channa bring one of her favorite books to me to read from. I wanted to check both how many words per minute Channa read and how much she could comprehend from that text. Channa chose a siddur, or Jewish ritual prayer book, with her. The Orthodox Jews pray three times a day, so it comes as no surprise that the prayers become ingrained in their children from a very early age. She read the prayers aloud just fine. Good! I then wanted Channa to read from a children’s fairy tale book, which was something she was less familiar with. Suddenly, she began to whisper again, so much so that I could hardly hear her. Her dad, present for each session, intervened and asked Channa to speak up louder. She read the passage again, and to my chagrin, she could not read the words correctly. I had Channa pick up the siddur again and read from it, this time letter by letter. Much to our wonder, she made several errors again, even though we just heard her recite the same prayers so beautifully just moments ago! The case of the fifth grader who whispered What was wrong with this picture, I wondered? Then it came to me. I asked her father if he was aware that Channa had difficulty reading. He answered an emphatic “NO!” How could this be? Previously, she read the prayers well enough, but when asked to decode the prayer word for word, letter by letter, she could barely read the first sentence. She must not have read the words the first time around, I surmised, but rather she had remembered the prayers by heart. What Channa was doing was relying on her memory to compensate for her not being able to read well. She did not appear to struggle to the point of potentially having dyslexia, but perhaps she just might have had some concentration problems when she was acquiring reading skills in the earlier grades and at some point started to lag behind. To make up for this shortcoming, she used her memory to get by so her teachers and parents would not notice. As Channa progressed into the older grades, however, she hit a dead end with this strategy as her reading skills were now being tested. That is why Channa was whispering. Her mumbling was her attempt to camouflage her weakness. As a result, no one suspected that she did not know how to read, but instead were left wondering why Channa did not speak up in class. Her teachers and her parents readily identified problematic symptoms of Channa’s behavior, yet they masked the true obstacle in Channa’s ability to learn. Children are, and perhaps always have been, under growing pressure from their parents and school to excel and succeed. Anything less is construed as an embarrassment. Channa was anything but dumb, though – after all, who would ever think that a young fifth grader like her could have everyone fooled, and for so long? In Channa’s case, I recalled well-known set videos in Israel that taught reading skills and the alphabet from scratch. I had her father get Channa a set to bring Channa back to the basics and with enough practice and guidance, Channa soon learned how to read just as well as her peers. The case of the alchemist Dov was an attractive, tall and blue-eyed 17-year-old Sabra with gingi (reddish) hair who could have easily been a male model if he wanted to. He approached me with what seemed like a simple question: “Can I go to college next year?” An American guidance counselor he was working with had told him that there were now colleges in the USA that catered to students with learning disabilities. Dov would otherwise not have considered attending college. If there ever was someone who did not look like they had a learning disability, it was Dov (proof that looks don’t really tell). I asked Dov why didn’t he just try applying to college in Israel, and he told me that he had not lived in Israel for many years, but instead actually grew up in Africa. English was as much his language as Hebrew. His father had a business there since Dov was young and had only recently returned to Israel. His mother, who once came to a session with Dov, wore the most beautiful African blue diamond you could ever expect to set eyes upon. Business must have been good. “Then what’s the problem, Dov? Why wouldn’t you succeed in college?” He raises his head and says, “I never read a whole book in my life and no one can tell me why!” I stare at Dov in disbelief. I never met a student who said anything like that before. Dov wondered aloud if he could still make it to college or if it would be a waste of time. He then asked me if I could solve his reading problem, keeping in mind that college starts in the USA after the summer. I saw myself in Dov’s earnest eyes when he     Leaving Home, Going Home, Returning Home: A Hebrew American’s Sojourn in the Land of Israel Authored by Jason Alster List Price: $18.99 6" x 9" (15.24 x 22.86 cm) Black & White on White paper 308 pages ISBN-13: 978-1439258750 (CreateSpace-Assigned) ISBN-10: 1439258759 LCCN: 2009911178 BISAC: Travel / Middle East / Israel Whether you dream of moving across the country or to another continent, or you are returning home after a prolonged absence, Jason Alster’s Leaving Home, Going Home, Returning Home is an illuminating and inspiring read. Alster paints a picture of his move to Israel, his palette of words reflecting the tones and hues of this Mediterranean nation, but the message he conveys could be applied to any move, to any change from one place to another. Why? Because this book is about the courage to change, to take risks, and to trust oneself regarding that place we wish to call home. How does one adjust to a new language, to a culture decidedly different from the one left behind? What new lessons must we learn? Is there a sense of isolation and longing, or is it possible to become part of that new place and create a sense of community and belonging? According to the author, the answer is a definite yes! Page after page, readers will discover the keys—and occasionally the secrets—to fitting in. CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/1000252310

Memory Enhancement Techniques Workshop this Monday.

Memory Enhancement  Techniques Workshop this Monday , May 18th 6:30 PM to 9:00PM at Glastonbury Adult Education. By Jason Mark Alster MSc. See link for details.
http://www.glastonburyus.org/adulted

New memory technique for remembering names.

I just added a new memory technique for remembering names since I produced the video
 " Day to Day Memory Enhancement Techniques for Adults and Senior Citizens".

When you meet someone new: you must say "Hi , My name is so and so. what is your's. " then after they repeat their name , you must repeat it  yourself.  As in Hi ,Jim." Then you can look at some feature about that person that will remind you of their name. for instance if the person was name Mona Lisa ( the painting) - well she looks like she is moaning - as in Mona.

Till here - that is pretty much standard memory technique for memory for names. Now here is the new addition I developed while running my workshops. Ask them if they have a way of remembering their names. for instance in one of my workshops there was a person named Roy. well he said people remember him as Roy Rogers because he actually had a horse named Trigger. .



Day to Day Memory Enhancement Techniques for Adults and Senior Citizens

RainbowCloud (Producer) With amazon.com or createspace. 

List Price: $20.00

46 minutes, NTSC

UPC: 887936921636

Easy to use memory enhancement techniques. Based on years of experience working in study strategies, memory enhancement workshops, and brain mind research. The live demo techniques will help you remember items, names, faces, numbers, dates, pass codes, recipes, lists, birthdays. By Jason Mark Alster MSc author of Being In Control : Natural Solutions for ADHD, Dyslexia , and Test Anxiety. A RainbowCloud Production.

CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/405098

                                                          

Put on a Happy Face

Now from the book "Being In Control" you may spread the cheer with a Put On A happy Face emblem on you T shirt , Mug, almost anything. http://www.cafepress.com/rainbowcloudlearningstrategies

Being In Control - Natural techniques for ADHD Dyslexia and Test Anxiety is now with Kindle too.

Now with KindleBEING IN CONTROL

Being In Control: Natural Techniques for Increasing Your Potential and Creativity for Success in School [Kindle Edition]

A conceptual book with colorful pages full of natural seated yoga and easy focusing techniques for students with learning challenges , ADHD , Dyslexia, and Test Anxiety. There are also accelerated learning tips for improving handwriting , test taking strategies, creativity , speed reading , memory improvement , time management , and social interaction.

http://www.amazon.com/Being-Control-Techniques-Increasing-Creativity-ebook/dp/B00RZTS0ZQ/ref