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Who We Help – Learning Issues We Address
Learning Glitch – or Learning Problem That Needs Attention?
Most children have glitches in their learning journey. Sometimes, though, cognitive skill gaps won’t resolve on their own. And so the question is, how to tell if a delay is just a blip, and when to take action.
If your child is within a year of grade level, making reasonable progress, and engaged in learning, that’s approximately “on track.” Use a tutor to address glitches or academic blind spots. However, tutoring won’t be enough if your child:
- Is 2+ years behind grade level in reading or has consistently poor grades,
- Is <2 years behind, but is not progressing, or
- Is <2 years behind, but homework is stressful and/or your child is emotional and resistant to reading and school
There are three major hurdles in a child’s learning: (1) reading fluency in K-2, (2) reading comprehension in grades 3-5, and (3) organization in middle school.
If your child struggles with one of these transitions, progress can slow suddenly and dramatically. Or you may notice changes in emotions related to learning as your child senses they have a problem. An emotional response is a cry for help.
If you are not sure where your child sits, take our free learning screening of symptoms and risk factors. We will send you a summary of our findings.
“I couldn’t be more excited to see the how my son is learning and improving, not only in school but also at home as well. I’m glad to have you guys on his life. He is getting more responsible and yet having fun. Thank you for making our lives much easier with your teaching program.”
Learning Problems & Our Solutions
You have tried tutoring, adjusted your child’s diet, even had her tested for hearing loss – but nothing has helped? Our cognitive training and reading interventions target deep-seated cognitive and language issues, using multiple learning mechanisms to create profound, lasting change.
Reading & Comprehension
There are major hurdles and scenarios we see almost every day:
- A slow start to reading, culminating in labored reading and a lack of fluency. These difficulties amount to humiliations for children, often leading to a self-defeating resistance to reading.
- Able to decode somewhat fluently, but in 3rd or 4th grade, reading comprehension becomes an issue. This presents as not understanding what was just read and/or slow reading and often needing to re-read pages.
What’s Going On: In 85% of cases, the issue is a language processing delay. Severe delays hinder phonics and early reading. Milder delays become a problem in later grades when reading needs to be automatic, so the brain can focus on comprehension.
Dyslexia
When reading difficulties become severe, they are often diagnosed as dyslexia. Many students come to Gemm Learning for help with their dyslexia, and those students are among the most dramatic successes.
Our reading programs for dyslexia
Our dyslexia program for adult learners – addressing reading speed, poor comprehension, and test-taking stamina.
Reading Concerns – Next Steps
If you are unsure of your child’s reading skills, request a free online reading assessment. We will send a link to the test, then provide a reading grade level and breakdown by reading skill.
Language-Based Learning Problems
Auditory Processing Delays
Auditory processing delays are the most common pervasive learning disability most people have never heard of. The most common sign of an auditory processing delay is difficulty with background noise, but it also impacts basic listening and keeping up with conversation. Auditory processing influences how well we learn language – vocabulary and syntax – and how well we pick up letter sounds in words for reading.
What’s Going On: If your child had speech delays, physical hearing issues, or ear infections when younger, they may be at risk for an auditory processing delay that can hold back learning. Processing skills mature around age 7. If your child is well behind earlier than 7 or processing does not click for them around that age, there’s reason for concern.
How Gemm Helps: Gemm Learning provides Fast ForWord software, the most popular clinical treatment for APD worldwide, at home with oversight.
Our auditory processing delay treatment
Inattentive ADHD
ADHD is a description of symptoms, namely inattentiveness or hyperactivity. The causes of those symptoms are many. Gemm Learning helps with ADHD symptoms related to language – listening in class, reading, reasoning, and writing.
Persistent inattentiveness that is diagnosed as ADHD that f your child is constantly unsure of homework assignments and/or unfamiliar with the content, he/she is likely not engaged in class. You can often confirm this by asking your child’s teacher.
What’s Going On: There are two main sources of inattentiveness: exhaustion from trying to keep up, or a lack of engagement because they can’t retain what they hear or read. If your child cannot process efficiently, it’s hard to keep up with the teacher – meaning material is missed – or listening is exhausting, so the tendency is to tune out.
How Gemm Helps: We have two programs for ADHD: Fast ForWord software strengthens processing speed and related language and cognitive skills. Cogmed strengthens working memory in visual and language formats.
Language Delays or Does Not Participate in Conversations
Vocabulary: Delayed use of multisyllabic words and/or intangibles are symptoms of vocabulary difficulties, as is mispronouncing of words, e.g., mazagine for magazine. This often coincides with an inability to form more complex sentences that use words like because or after to join ideas. Conversation. While some children are quiet by nature, participation is an important aspect of learning that is affected by a lack of confidence in language skills.
What’s Going On: Weak auditory processing makes it difficult to process words clearly enough to feel confident using them in conversation. Processing deficits also create listening inefficiency, making it hard to absorb language structure and nuances through listening. Furthermore, if a child cannot process language at a natural speed, they miss a lot in conversation, leading to reluctance to participate. For outgoing children, the challenge is different: the conversation moves on before they have time to respond.
How Gemm Helps: Our programs help participation by improving processing efficiency and slowing the world down for your child. More involvement in class and in conversation are amongst the early signs of change we hear from our clients.
Speech and language intervention at home
Cannot Follow Multi-Step Instructions – Working Memory Deficit
Taking in and retaining directions or instructions is a common learning difficulty for children that affects classroom productivity and homework efficiency. Sometimes, this is just “5-year-old-itis,” but more often, it indicates a processing or memory deficit that should be treated. Another common working memory-related symptom is reading comprehension issues where decoding is fluent.
What’s Going On: Difficulty following directions can stem from an auditory processing gap or limited working memory, making it hard to retain information and then think about it.
How Gemm Helps: We provide Fast ForWord for language-processing-related working memory deficits and Cogmed for broader working memory delays to help with listening in class, multistep instructions, and comprehension.
“I am incredibly pleased with our experience with Gemm Learning and would absolutely recommend the program. Ethan’s progress has exceeded my expectations. His Iowa test scores left me in awe. Ethan went from a grade equivalent of 5.5 to 8.1 in just one year. Seeing that kind of measurable academic growth has been remarkable. Moreover, the staff was outstanding, kind, caring, and supportive throughout the process.”
APDReading
Georgia
Age: 11
Location: California
Diagnosis: APD
Results
Georgia’s reading progressed significantly, from leveled readers to chapter books. She now participates comfortably in conversations with adults and her friends.
“My son was really struggling to read. He made great gains while saying the program. He is now more confident and enjoys reading! The staff was helpful and caring and genuinely seemed to care about helping my son become successful. So thankful and highly recommend!!”
How We Help with Problems at School
Slow or Stressful Homework Routines
Is homework stress taking the joy out of parenting? If your child spends more than an hour on middle school homework or two hours on high school homework, chances are there is a study-skills glitch. You can confirm this by checking with the school.
What’s Going On: Homework independence is a major source of learning difficulties for middle- and high-school students. It requires accurate listening in class (to understand the material and the assignment), strong executive functioning skills to stay organized, good reading and writing skills, and attention stamina.
How Gemm Helps: Better reading skills almost always support homework skills. In addition, we can train specific executive functioning skills to help your child become a more efficient, independent learner.
Our executive function programs for children and teens
Disappointing Grades
Your child knows the material, but disappoints on the test. We hear it all the time, and it’s another outcome parents often mention from Gemm Learning: much better grades.
What’s Going On: Test-taking, even multiple-choice, requires mastery of core skills, most notably fast and accurate reading and sound working memory – being able to consider answers while holding the question in mind. Being organized, including being flexible in responding to surprising questions, also helps test scores.
How Gemm Helps: We provide Fast ForWord and Cogmed to boost learning efficiency, reading accuracy, attention, and executive function.
How our test-taking programs work
Eroding Self-Esteem or Social Withdrawal
A lack of confidence or low self-esteem can make your child fragile; for example, they might shut down if corrected or act out at school over minor issues. Healthy learning involves being open to new information and ideas, even when you know you may not understand them at first; i.e., healthy learners are risk-takers. Taking a chance requires the confidence and self-esteem to take failure in stride.
What’s Going On: There are a lot of factors that go into confidence and self-esteem — most relate to learning, some not. While most children start life brimming with confidence in learning, failure takes its toll. It can lead to fear of failure and risk aversion in learning. It also has social impacts, as peers seem to find learning easier.
How Gemm Helps: Self-esteem and confidence are deep-down feelings that only real change can affect, not cheerleading and encouragement. When a child starts to feel learning is doable, they will start to lean in. Our programs are interventions designed to build the learning efficiency needed to create that kind of profound impact.
Other Learning Help
Autism Spectrum Disorder. We help with the processing delays at the heart of the autism diagnosis. Learning programs for individuals with autism
Homeschooling. Slow reading growth, learning inefficiency? Reading programs for homeschoolers
Traumatic Brain Injury. Chemobrain, accident victims, strokes. Programs to help TBI recovery
Math Difficulty. For many children, math difficulty is the first real sign of a learning issue. Math is abstract, and it requires accurate listening comprehension. Our math programs combine exercises that build the cognitive skills needed for math, a comprehensive curriculum, and math fact exercises to help your child catch up and get ahead. Our math programs
Test-taking Skills. Gains in cognitive, language, and reading skills feed directly into better test scores. More on cognitive training for test-taking
Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities. More on non-verbal learning disabilities here
Specific Learning Disabilities. Advice on navigating an IEP classification for SLD here
Gemm Learning has provided cognitive training and reading interventions at home since 2006, using the amazing Fast ForWord software series and a supporting cast of programs. Fast ForWord builds essential language processing and pre-reading skills, and then reading comprehension
“My son started kindergarten and the first 3 months we were receiving messages from his teacher. He was behind and not grasping new concepts. We started Gemm Learning and within a month and a half we were no longer getting concerning messages from his teacher and he also has gotten a couple of awards for how well he is doing. Gemm learning has worked miracles!”