by Patricia on August 24, 2009

Parents!Is your bright child underachieving in school? Do you want to know how you can help?
You have come to the right place.
Here you will discover why your child is struggling to learn and what you can do to provide the help he or she needs.

Patricia Porter, Ph.D.

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Book on how to develop your child’s language skills

by Patricia on March 11, 2010

This book is a classic and should be on every parent and every teacher’s bookshelf. It is into its umpteenth edition, that is how good it is, and I know parents who have worn out their first copy and bought a new one!

You can dip into it, but I bet that you want to read it all as soon as you get it.

If your child needs to develop their language skills (one of the most important learning skills) this is the book for you.

Enjoy it and let me know what part you liked best.
Click on the link to order.

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Is your child an underachiever?

March 11, 2010

This is a question looks simple enough to answer but is, in fact, quite difficult to answer. You need to know several things before you can answer it.
* What does it mean to underachieve?
Too often we think that children ‘could do better’ in school and get better marks, learn more, and achieve more [...]

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Quote of the week

March 10, 2010

‘Over 30 years’ research has proven beyond dispute the positive connection between parents’ involvement and student success. Effectively engaging families in the education of their children has the potential to be far more transformational than any other type of education reform.’
National Standards for PTA’s.
So now you know.

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Learning ‘what’ or learning ‘how’- which is the most important?

March 9, 2010

Have you heard the saying ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and you feed him for life’? I am sure that you have, but you may not have related it to your child’s learning.
I would like to change the saying to “Give a [...]

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Here’s a surefire way to help your child become a better learner.

February 12, 2010

I have spent many, many years helping children become better learners and succeed in school. I have been part of all the ‘new’ educational approaches that teachers have been encouraged, and in some cases, mandated, to use in their classrooms. I have tried them all, liked some, and dismissed others.
I was trained in [...]

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Is your child an orchid or a dandelion?

February 8, 2010

Some children are highly sensitive to stress and can quickly become fussy and irritated by loud noises or other stress factors. These hyper sensitive children have been called ‘orchid’ children because they can be hard to raise and need careful nurturing – just like orchids.
It seems that if they are stressed by their [...]

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Are you preventing your child from getting a life?

February 6, 2010

OK, time for me to ‘fess up. I really don’t understand ‘helicopter’ parents, or hyper parents, or whatever they are called. I don’t understand how intelligent parents cannot see the damage they are doing by hovering over their child, helping them with everything, preventing their children from getting a life of their own.
I [...]

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Are you the reason your child can’t do math?

February 3, 2010

Your child uses you as a model, he or she tries to be like you, to do what you do, and to think like you do. Girls tend to model themselves on their mothers, boys on their fathers. Young students also model their behavior on that of their teachers. There is nothing surprising or [...]

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Does learning style matter? How two different situations show that it does.

February 2, 2010

In the last couple of days I came across two totally different scenarios that confirmed my belief that style matters. You can try one for yourself, the other was a report on ways to help children learn.
OK – the research first.
Children who suffer from FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) have real problems learning because they have [...]

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Parents: A wasted resource.

January 27, 2010

I read a comment in a blog today that stated that educators need to mobilize resources outside the classroom to make up for the shortfall of resources within school systems.
I agree.
BUT
The next sentence made me angry – the writer suggested that educators (teachers?) can act as leaders, can tell others how to support [...]

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Parents rock!

January 25, 2010

The more I understand about how children learn the more I realize how important parents are in helping children succeed in school. At first I believed that teachers were the most important people in terms of a child’s learning. After all, they are trained in how to teach and how to help children [...]

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The right reason, but the wrong solution!

January 12, 2010

On January 7th California signed on to legislation that is supposed to give parents power to alter schools they think are not doing their job.
If parents are unhappy about their child’s education and 50% of them sign a petition stating this the school board must make significant changes to how the school is [...]

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One in six children struggle to talk.

January 5, 2010

A recent report from the UK found that one in five boys and one in seven girls aged one to seven experience problems talking and understanding speech. This is significant as the ability to talk, listen and understand is fundamental and underpins all learning and communication.
This result indicates that one in six children will [...]

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At last! Report cards get a bad rap. But is it enough to make a difference?

December 23, 2009

There is a backlash against giving out report cards in the fall. In fact, fall report cards deserve an F because teachers do not know a child well enough to be able to report back to parents in a meaningful way and the marks given may not represent a child’s ability. So it [...]

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The difference between success and failure.

December 21, 2009

I have taught many, many children during my 35 year teaching career. And, as any teacher will tell you, you can quickly tell which child will be successful and which will not.
I am not talking about how some children seem brighter than others but about the children, not matter what their level [...]

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A new concept in how to help your child become a better learner.

December 18, 2009

Perhaps it is not such a new concept after all, but it certainly is one that needs reviewing and updating. It is a simple idea really, but it has been overlooked and ignored for so long that it needs reintroducing and being given more importance.
What it it? It is the idea that [...]

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The ten most frequent questions I get asked about children’s education.

December 16, 2009

Parents ask me many questions about their child’s education. There are many things that they want to know. I decided that a list of the ten most asked questions might be a useful guide for you to look at.
1. How much homework should my child be getting each night?
2. [...]

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Do you make these common parenting mistakes?

December 14, 2009

Parenting is the most difficult job in the world, no one ever does it perfectly no matter how hard they try. However, in my work with parents I have found three things that parents do time and time again that lead to problems.
All parents want their children to do well in school, I have [...]

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The type of help children really need and hardly ever get.

December 9, 2009

Apart from a few years at the beginning of my teaching career I have always worked with children with learning difficulties. People would tell me that I must be a very patient and understanding person to have been able to do this. Just the opposite.
The reason I could do this work was because [...]

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Who is helping your child learn?

December 8, 2009

I have been hearing a lot recently about the type of skills people need in the 21st Century and how important it is that schools help children develop these skills. These 21st Century skills are the skills that will help a student get a good job and contribute to society.
There is a lot [...]

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