Gemm Seminars

From time to time, as a community service, Gemm Learning has provided seminars, mainly around providing reading help for children, or learning support in some manner.

2010 Parenting Seminars

Benefits Of Reading
A roundtable discussion on the benefits of reading and the alarming literacy statistics in the United States, was followed by a demonstration of Gemm Learning's programs for reading.

Parenting From The Inside Out
April 12 at our Weaver Street center in Scarsdale by Karen Gold Sherman. In a workshop format, using neuroscience principles, this seminar helps parents learn to be a mirror for their children -- to help them connect their own dots -- in large part by understanding their biases and life's experiences and how these are impacting their parenting style.

Previous Seminars

Learn How Food Directly Affects your Child's Learning & Behavior

A balanced, nutritious diet is very important for children and it's also been shown that food intake has a direct effect on learning and behavior. Poor eating habits established during early childhood and into teenage years may be maintained into adulthood.

Studies found that children who ate a diet high in processed foods, salt, fat and sugar at age three made less progress in school between the ages of 6 and 12 compared to the children who had eaten more healthier.

Learn about the toxins in our foods that can affect one's learning and behavior as well as simple steps to incorporate to offer your family a healthy food regime.

When:
Monday, March 8, 2010, 10-11AM.

Where:
Gemm Learning center in Greenwich, CT.
1380 East Putnam Avenue, Old Greenwich, CT 06870.

Presented by Nancy Guberti, M.S., C.N., Certified Holistic Nutritionist. For more on Nancy go to her website at www.CoachForHealthyLiving.com.

The 2009 Series

The January seminar topic was “Organizational Skills for Your Child”   by Regina Cornelio, founder of Dynamic Life Skills, Life Coaching for Kids.  She explained how our new understanding of the brain has lead to new ideas on how to help your child be more organized at home and at school, and to improved study strategies.  Ms. Cornelio is a certified teacher, a behavioral therapist and has completed the Casey Life Skills program. 

The February seminars were by Dr. Mark Goldenberg, the Director of Pathways to Learning Center in Norwalk, who discussed current research and brain-based, drug-free approaches to helping children with attention deficits and learning challenges.

March seminars by nutritionist, Nancy Guberti, covered how food can heal or be perceived as toxic, the role of vitamin supplementation, lab testing and more...so that making a lifestyle change is an easy transition for you and your family.  Biomedical research suggests that food and supplements may affect a child with sensory issues, learning disabilities, attention issues, social withdrawal and eye-contact avoidance behaviors.   Increasingly, research suggests that toxic exposure, the inability to digest certain food proteins and compromised immune systems affect neurodevelopment.

The April seminar examined undiagnosed auditory and visual processing and their impact on learning, presented by Dr. Russo-Mayer, audiologist and Dr. Wolman, developmental optometrist. Dr. Wolman described the difference between visual focus and visual processing skills. Learning related vision difficulties, including programs for reading and visual motor integration deficiencies will be addressed, as well as the treatment options for these deficiencies. Dr. Russo-Mayer discussed the difference between hearing and auditory processing needed for efficient reading and general learning skills in the classroom. She also addressed the technology that is available to improve auditory access for children with and without hearing loss.

The May seminar featured Dr. Elisa Mambrino, Ph.D., a Greenwich, CT based neurospsychologist exploring the complex cognitive process of expository writing in young adults, using an approach that examines linguistic ability and neurocognitive factors, including working memory, metacognitive skills, associated long-term memory and social-cognitive perspective taking.  She applies theory and methodology from both cognitive and social psychology, while acknowledging writing-related perspectives found in anthropology, classical rhetoric, cognitive developmental psychology, and psycholinguistics.

The June seminar by Dr. Susan Panes, a board certified pediatric and adult allergist and clinical immunologist, looked at allergies and how they can undermine learning skills. She has a practice in White Plains.