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Cracking Creativity
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Had a great interview with Kevin Chung on Cracking Creativity
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Improving reading ability in a fifth grade girl whose case perplexed the teachers
As 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.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
" Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension" especially if you have ADHD
Mainly developed in Israel and the USA I offer a story of a boy , Dov , who read his first complete book at age 17 in the chapter The Alchemist in the previous post.
This is an interview about the research behind and a synopsis of " Improve Reading Speed and Comprehension" This is not speed reading.
The interview is with Miss ADD Justine Ruotolo
Monday, July 27, 2015
An Israeli boy reads his first book ever at age 18. The case of the alchemist.
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”.
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
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
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.https://sites.google.com/site/betterreadingcomprehension/
https://sites.google.com/site/israelmemoir/
Friday, June 26, 2015
Israel memoir called insightful and has lessons for today.
MAKE IT HAPPEN
My memoir about living in Israel was just called "insightful". Seeking an objective view of my experiences in Israel I must say that is what the memoir was meant to be. There are things in the book from 2010 when it was published that are as real for today as then. I am planning to continue with the memoir and re- release a newer version of 10 years after my return from Israel. What has happened and how did my life in Israel mold and effect my life in the USA today. The Good , the Bad , and the Ugly and the Beautiful. I just did a reading from the book to a group of authors from Connecticut in Groton by the sea. I got a standing ovation for the reading. Well Israel is here in us if we make it happen.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Rand Paul and financial aid to Israel- my opinion.
Rand Paul in article below says -
“I think they’re an important ally, but I also think that their per capita income is greater than probably three-fourths of the rest of the world,” Paul said, also in 2011. “Should we be giving free money or welfare to a wealthy nation? I don’t think so.”
Well my own position on American aid to Israel has been. The USA should have Israel better the lives of American's who chose to live in Israel. WHY- because it is their and their family's taxes that helps pay for this aid ---- not Jews from other countries. Now I would not suggest stopping aid to Israel , but I would demand that American's living in Israel get some of it. This especially that since moving to Israel puts you at a disadvantage in working in Israel at a higher salary when you were not educated in the schools, or military of that country . Especially since in Israel many monies come from jobs in the government , schools, and military and these might be hard for American immigrants to Israel to find equality. PS . I have never heard even one Israeli suggest this and this is outrageous . I would request that Rand Pauld not stop aid , but make sure the aid is in true American interest.
Rand Paul says he never proposed ending aid to Israel — even though he did
Paul proposed a budget in 2011 to cut off aid to all foreign nations.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., waits to speak at the annual Fancy Farm picnic in Fancy Farm, Ky., Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014. A fundraiser for a small Roman Catholic church in western Kentucky, the two-day picnic in the tiny town of Fancy Farm is a throwback to the days before television, when stump speeches were the candidates' main vehicle to reach voters. (AP Photo/Stephen Lance Dennee)
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on Monday denied that he once supported ending federal aid to Israel — an idea he proposed as recently as 2011.
“I haven’t really proposed that in the past,” Paul told Yahoo News when asked if he still thought the U.S. should phase out aid to Israel, which has been battling Hamas in Gaza for weeks. “We’ve never had a legislative proposal to do that. You can mistake my position, but then I’ll answer the question. That has not been a position — a legislative position — we have introduced to phase out or get rid of Israel’s aid. That’s the answer to that question. Israel has always been a strong ally of ours and I appreciate that. I voted just this week to give money — more money — to the Iron Dome, so don’t mischaracterize my position on Israel.”
Paul, who was in Omaha campaigning for Nebraska Senate candidate Ben Sasse before a three-day tour of neighboring Iowa, may not like it when reporters bring up his proposal from three years ago to end all U.S. foreign aid — including to Israel. But that was in fact his position.
In 2011, the newly elected Paul proposed a budget that would have cut $500 billion from the federal budget in part by cutting off foreign aid to all countries, including financial grants to Israel. The United States provides about $3 billion to Israel annually, and last week the Senate approved $225 million to help support Israel’s Iron Dome technology, which blocks rocket fire from Gaza. (Paul supported the measure.)
Paul, in his first months in office, however, defended phasing out aid by saying that the U.S. could no longer afford to give cash to other countries.
“I’m not singling out Israel. I support Israel. I want to be known as a friend of Israel, but not with money you don’t have,” Paul said in 2011 during an interview with ABC News. “We can’t just borrow from our kids’ future and give it to countries, even if they are our friends.”
He even pointed to Israel as an example of a nation that doesn’t need foreign aid because of its own wealth.
“I think they’re an important ally, but I also think that their per capita income is greater than probably three-fourths of the rest of the world,” Paul said, also in 2011. “Should we be giving free money or welfare to a wealthy nation? I don’t think so.”
Paul, a possible 2016 presidential contender whom some in the GOP regard as insufficiently pro-Israel, has recently changed his tune on foreign aid to the Jewish state. His budget proposals since 2001 have included aid to Israel.
It’s one thing for a politician to admit that his views have changed on an issue and an entirely other thing to say that he never held the position at all.
This article has been updated.
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Popular ADHD self help workbook BEING IN CONTROL made in Israel is now with KINDLE
Now with Kindle
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
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