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