Why Your Kids Will Benefit from Learning the Guitar.

Why Your Kids Will Benefit from Learning the Guitar. Learning the Guitar Helps Children Develop and Reach Milestones. ChaptersGuitar Classes - an Extracurricular ActivityThe Intellectual and Moral Benefits of Learning GuitarThe Physical Benefits of Playing GuitarAs a general rule, children should be at least 7 or 8 years old before they begin playing guitar - any younger and they lack the physical maturity to play. Their hands are too small and their fingers too chubby to place them properly on the strings and frets! They can't really get their hands around the fretboard at all, in fact.So before you enroll them at a music conservatoire, a slow introduction to the world of music might be more appropriate. They can approach different styles and instruments with all of their curiosity at a young age, and choose the instrument that suits them best once they’re older.This is a great way to get them in the musical mindset of a guitar player before they got onto learning guitar chords, the major scale, and guitar solos. Musical knowledge will be a great advantage before they start their guitar lesson; i t will set a solid foundation for when they sit down to actually learn how to play guitarLearning to play guitar can be a great advantage for children, but before you sign them up for classes with a music teacher, there are a few things you should know. Starting with beginner guitar is a really good thing for a child to do   - so get them on that guitar course!We imagine Ryan looks better than he plays.Once they’re 8 years old, children have the physical and mental maturity to be able to concentrate for at least 15-20 minutes, and they can then take suitable first guitar classes.Physically, their fingers will be long enough and strong enough to be able to play the strings, so they can sit down with a new guitar and try to learn and play songs.There are also guitars specially made for different age ranges - there are half guitars for 7-8 year olds, 3/4 guitars for 10 and 11 year olds, and full-size guitars for adolescents and adults. PeterGuitar Teacher £12/h1st lesson free!Discov er all our tutors EdgarGuitar Teacher 5.00 (8) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors PaulGuitar Teacher 5.00 (12) £18/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors DanielGuitar Teacher 5.00 (3) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ToddGuitar Teacher 4.75 (4) £35/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors SamueleGuitar Teacher 5.00 (5) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors KurtGuitar Teacher 5.00 (3) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors RyanGuitar Teacher £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutorsGuitar Classes - an Extracurricular ActivityGuitar lessons for beginners are often considered the perfect extracurricular activity for children, because of the benefits they offer. Beginner guitar lessons are a wonderfully social experience - and the educational method of the best guitar teachers will help your children develop way beyond just guitar practice.Let the Guitar Open their MindFirst of all, children can quickly learn how to play small pieces of music. This helps them explore new horizons and discover new cultures through styles of music like rock, blues, reggae, country, funk, and jazz.Each musical style has its own unique history which can greatly enrich your child’s appreciation for the music, and a good teacher should be able to explain them to your child during lessons.So, a good mix of jazz guitar, blues guitar, classical guitar, and rock guitar can help your kid develop in a much broader way - as such a mix can be intellectually stimulating as much as fun.Meet New FriendsAnother advantage of guitar as an extracurricular activity is that it allows children who wouldn’t normally meet at school or in the course of their daily routines to form new friendships. In addition to learning how to play the pentatonic scale and power chords, perhaps your child will encounter children from different social classes and backgrounds to their own at guitar class.This is one of the best parts of the guitar. It is a social instr ument. Only classical guitarists really play solo - so, your children will certainly be making friends whilst practicing their barre chords, guitar tricks, and favorite songs.The Intellectual and Moral Benefits of Learning GuitarWhether you’re a child, adolescent, or an adult, music can give you many benefits. You may not always realise the side-benefits of becoming a guitarist, but we promise you, they’re there.Learning to Play the Guitar takes ConcentrationConcentration is often one of the first skills that children must master when they’re learning how to play the guitar.Learning this instrument takes all of our mental and intellectual capacity to execute precise actions - getting our fingers on the right fret, nailing an accurate fingerstyle, and getting to grips with chord shapes.Even learning the basic chords might be a challenge when your child first starts guitar classes. One they've learned the fundamentals,  they will progress to putting together a series of chords, learning a specific technique like picking, or developing increased flexibility in their  right hand.By learning to concentrate, children have to develop their determination and their will power - they learn to focus their thoughts, and stay focused.Some guitar lessons will help your child increase their concentration. This skill will help them in other areas of their life, for example, in solving math problems at school, playing chess, or even studying for a test.Support your child through their musicIn a world where we are constantly buffeted by sounds (telephone rings, TV, video games, and other background noise), as well as vibrations and electronic notifications, playing music can be a refuge into your own peaceful world.In your personal sanctuary, with an acoustic or electric guitar in your hands, all of your senses are engaged - while your eyes read notes and guitar tabs, your ears are listening for any wrong notes, the muscles in your hands and arms are working hard to strum the strings, and your brain is monitoring all of these different actions.Guitar Classes Help to Improve MemoryChildren, by definition, are quite young, and at a  young age they function like sponges and absorb a large quantity of information.As kids grow older their tastes begin to develop and form little by little.Learning guitar isn’t so complicated on its own - once they  learn the major and minor chords, and maybe even arpeggios and blues scales, learn how to place their hands on the neck of the guitar and strum the  strings with either their fingers or a pick, they can already hear and play a number of songs in whatever style they choose.Children have the ability to literally drink in information, and learning guitar will help them to structure their memory and improve this skill.Guitar Lessons Help to Teach DisciplineGuitar lessons will also help improve children’s self discipline. In order to play their instrument well, they will have to spend many hours practicing their chords, riffs, and solos.Playing guitar won’t just happen with a wave of a magic wand.Just like any profession or sport, musicians and apprentice guitarists will need to repeatedly practice the same chord progressions and piece of music over and over again if they want to get it right. They will need to study their tablature, learn to tune their guitar, and work on their licks and frets.By persevering in their practice sessions and keeping on with music theory  when they're frustrated, children will then be able to apply that same dedication to school and to life in general.The frequency of their guitar classes will also help to reinforce to children the importance  of discipline.Listen to Others Playing the GuitarWhether you’re learning guitar and taking classes with a private music teacher  or in a group with other students, you will learn to refine your sense of hearing.Children will learn to recognise the different sounds of their guitar, as well appreciate the pauses, and understand the styles of different pieces of music.Children will also learn how to listen to other guitar players, especially if they're learning in a group. They will learn to hear the emotion represented in the melodies of the music, and by hearing the errors made by others when they accidentally place their fingers incorrectly for a chord, they will learn to recognise their own.Music is something to share, and by listening to others, children will also learn about themselves.Socialization and Patience - Responsible Guitar PlayingTo sum up all the points we’ve made earlier, we know without a doubt that practicing guitar, especially in a group, will allow children to improve their socialisation and develop their patience.Taking guitar classes teaches responsibility - each student must start and stop at a specific moment, and not do more or less than they’re meant to. They must practice constantly and regularly in order to achieve results, and learn to be on time for class.All o f these rules will help them to develop their character, patience, self motivation, and respect for others.One of the benefits of playing guitar is the ability to play by yourself, while also being able to easily accompany other guitarists and instruments.Children will learn to correct themselves and to accept their differences and mistakes.Learning an instrument is truly a class in sharing and patience.Learning Guitar Increases Creativity and Critical ThinkingBy learning guitar from a young age, children will learn to develop their critical thinking. They will not only correct their own errors, but will respond to the inevitable wrong notes of others as well.By building up a relationship with their guitar teacher, children can increase their knowledge of music and the guitar and learn new styles and techniques.When they read sheet music or guitar tabs, they will learn to analyse and deconstruct a piece of music by examining its structure, and this analytical ability will benefit th em in other parts of their life.Finally, by learning different pieces of music in different styles, children will engage their artistic sensibilities and creativity. They will grow to appreciate the general culture of music and begin to identify their own preferences.Maybe this one's too young to play the guitar!The ability to learn, practice, create, discuss with their teacher and exchange ideas with their fellow students will help your child express themselves and indulge their imagination.Of course, there may not be a guitar teacher near you - but your child can still take online  guitar lessons - through Skype, for example.Expressing Emotions by Playing GuitarMusic is a universal language - you often hear that it’s a channel to express the soul of the musician, and it’s definitely a way to explore your emotions.Playing the guitar is a different language that doesn't need words to be understood.By playing the guitar, children will explore new dimensions of their personality, give voice to what is in their hearts, and make artistic choices. Jamming with their friends and playing solos can be as therapeutic as it is noisy!The Physical Benefits of Playing GuitarOf course, taking guitar lessons will also help children develop physically, and also strengthen the links between physical and mental action. As they learn to place their fingers on the neck of the guitar, coordinate their hands, play a simple rhythm, and pick out strings with a pick in their right hand, children will improve their coordination and learn to use their hands independent of one another.Learn how to play the guitar correctly - and feel the benefits!To play an entire piece and concentrate on the music, you also need to be in excellent physical condition. Learning guitar will help improve your child’s general control of their body, and they will learn how to master their breathing and vocals while also holding their body properly.If they’ve done all that, they’ll be able to play th e guitar and sing at the same time, and will be rivaling Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan in no time at all.

The Top 10 Skills for a Successful 21st Century Worker - Introvert Whisperer

Introvert Whisperer / The Top 10 Skills for a Successful 21st Century Worker - Introvert Whisperer The Top 10 Skills for a Successful 21st Century Worker Abstract Are you trying to make a mark in your professional life but despite all your efforts are not able to get the desirable results? Read on to find out which skills are necessary for you to have a thriving career! Content The competition has become tougher than before in the job market thanks to the increasing population and depleting resources. Another factor is the advancement of technology that has undoubtedly taken a lot of burden from the human beings but because of it, many human skills have now become unnecessary and obsolete. To be at the top in the 21st century, one needs to be better than the rest and possess such a set of skills and talent that increase his overall worth. The University of Phoenix has presented an interesting compilation of skills which are remarked as being essential both for successful workers and successful learners. These skills are:

An introverts guide to preparing for a meeting - Introvert Whisperer

Introvert Whisperer / An introvert’s guide to preparing for a meeting - Introvert Whisperer An introvert’s guide to preparing for a meeting Oh no, another meeting?! Your colleagues may be the loveliest people, but as an introvert the idea of rounding them all up at once for a group chat probably feels both unpleasant and unproductive. You do your best work on your own or one-on-one; a meeting is just a chance to get your ideas drowned out by more persistent voices and waste precious minutes away from your desk. Right? It needn’t be that way. Maybe you’ll never fall in love with the meeting process, but so long as meetings remain a part of office life you may as well learn how to get the most from them â€" even if your skill set is better matched to more intimate scenarios. The key, as an introvert, is that you can turn your research and preparation skills to your advantage while your friends and rivals wait for the chance to put their quick wit and overbearing voices into action. Get hold of the agenda a couple of days in advance and look deeper into any aspects that you feel need further research. Print and annotate the agenda with your thoughts to use as a cue in the meeting. Knowing the ins and outs of the subject in advance not only gives you a chance to respond on your own terms (as the meeting room can be a bit busy to think) but also to speak confidently in the awareness you’ve got the facts at your fingertips. On the day, avoid caffeine â€" which may actually over-stimulate your mind â€" and concentrate on relaxing instead. Roll up early to the conference room, since chatting with colleagues face to face before the meeting starts can make it easier to speak up once all eyes are on you. Feeling better-equipped? This new infographic from On Stride Financial contains full instructions on what to do once that meeting begins â€" and how your personal post-meeting debrief can help you move ahead to future meetings with assurance.

3 Fun Rhythm Guitar Patterns So You Can Learn to Sing and Play

3 Fun Rhythm Guitar Patterns So You Can Learn to Sing and Play Megan L. Mastering a few basic rhythm guitar patterns is key to learning how to sing and play guitar at the same time. Follow this guide from guitar teacher Andy T.  and youll be strumming like a boss in no time Singing and playing guitar at the same time is one of the most challenging things that  a musician can do. It’s like patting your head and rubbing your stomach, only ten times more  difficult. Today, we are going to look at three easy and hip rhythm guitar patterns that you can use  to get started. For the purposes of this article, we are going to use a guitar as the example instrument.  However, with a little creativity, these rhythmic patterns can be converted to piano, ukulele,  banjo, or any other chordal instrument. Each rhythm guitar pattern is notated using slash notation  and is accompanied by an audio clip. Above each beat, you will see either of these two symbols: a downstroke or an upstroke . These symbols refer to downstrokes and  upstrokes, respectively. Don’t forget to play the rests! In other words, any time you see a rest,  go ahead and move your strumming hand over the strings like you’re strumming, but don’t  actually touch the strings. This will keep your hand in sync so that you are strumming down on  downbeats and up on upbeats. You’ll also notice that each pattern has two versions. The only difference between two  versions of the same pattern is where the change in chord takes place. By altering where the  chord change takes place, you can significantly change the feel of each pattern. Pattern #1 This is one of the most common types of strumming patterns and is a good start to getting a  song under your fingers. The trick to nailing this progression is remembering to start the  second group of notes on an upstroke, so that you can smoothly land the downstroke on the  downbeat of the next measure. Strumming Pattern 1A: document.createElement('audio'); /blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/StrummingPattern1A.mp3 Strumming Pattern 1B: /blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/StrummingPattern1B1.mp3 Pattern #2 Take note that this pattern is swung by observing this notation: This means that all  upbeats are shifted from perfectly in between each downbeat, to about 2/3 after each  downbeat (or 1/3 before each downbeat, depending on your perspective). While difficult to  explain in words, hearing and feeling a swing rhythm is much easier. Just imagine the sound  of a train clunking along the tracks, or your car’s tires as you drive over a bridge, or a pair of  boots or high heels walking around on a hard surface. You’ll notice this kind of strumming  when listening to artists like Jack Johnson. Strumming Pattern 2A: /blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/StrummingPattern2A.mp3 Strumming Pattern 2B: /blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/StrummingPattern2B.mp3 Pattern #3 This is one of my favorite patterns, especially the second version with the quicker chord  changes. That’s because the chord change happens on the last beat of the second measure,  as opposed to the first beat of the third. It’s that unexpected (and early) change that makes  this so groovy. This pattern and its variations are frequently used by artists like John  Mayer. Strumming Pattern 3A: /blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/StrummingPattern3A.mp3 Strumming Pattern 3B: /blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/StrummingPattern3B.mp3 Practicing These are three fun, easy strumming patterns to get you started. Before you go, let’s talk a  little bit about the best way to practice these: Slowly. Start by playing much more slowly than  you think you need to. Make sure that you have the pattern looped smoothly before increasing  the tempo. Despite popular logic and opinion, it is much harder to play slow than fast. Which  brings me to my next (and last) point: Use a metronome. A good place to start is typically 60  bpm. See if you can loop a chord progression for at least three minutes (the radio ­standard  length for a song) before increasing the tempo. Good luck, and have fun! Get more guitar guidance by studying with a private music teacher. Guitar teachers are available to work with you online via Skype or in-person depending on location and availability. Search for your guitar teacher now! Andy T. teaches in-person guitar, performance and songwriting lessons in Austin, TX. He has a degree in education from the University of Texas at Austin and has been teaching private guitar lessons for 6 years. Learn more about Andy here! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo by  Mathias Miranda

4 Rules for Improving Academic Performance

4 Rules for Improving Academic Performance Improving Academic Performance Based on our work with students every day and in our review of the research on academic performance (and really, any type of performance), we’d encourage anyone wrestling with doing better in school, preparing for a standardized test, obtaining admission to college, graduate school, or business school, to follow four simple rules. This article will describe these four rules, and also provide links to easy-to-read books that explore each in much more detail. At the end of the article, we’ll offer a brief summary of how these rules work together to improve academic performance. Rule #1: Adopt a growth oriented, ownership mindset It turns out that what we believe about the nature of intelligence, ability, or even personality traits can literally determine how successful we’ll be in a variety of areas. Why? Because, some beliefs dramatically increase your ability to learn, improve, and take ownership over your education, while others prevent you from even trying to learn new or difficult things, let alone actually learning enough to excel at them. A belief that you can improve, that you “own” your education, leads to extremely high levels of “grit” and the drive to persist when you are struggling. So, your mindset matters â€" a lot. Adopting the growth mindset is critical. It’s a foundational concept and the absolute key to improving and excelling at anything. It unlocks your ability and your willingness to follow the rules we’ll be discussing next. The growth mindset theory was developed by Dr. Carol Dweck, a Stanford Psychologist who, for years, has been studying the impact of mindset on performance and success in a wide range of age groups. She identified two basic mindsets: fixed and growth. People with a fixed mindset tend to think their abilities, personalities, and intelligence is given at birth, and can’t be changed. They may tend to avoid activities at which they fear they’ll fail, since this will expose a lack of ability which of course, can’t be changed. People with a growth mindset believe that abilities and talents are built up over time through hard work, persistence, and feedback.They believe, accurately, that the brain is a muscle that can be improved and built to “grow” through exercises that make it strain, but ultimately get bigger and better. To learn more about rule #1, consider reading these books: Rule #2: Build the right skills deliberately It turns out that words and concepts such as natural intelligence, talent, and ability, don’t really mean what many of us tend to think they mean. Instead of having, say, mostly to do with your DNA and “natural gifts,” they arise from intense, highly focused, and high quantities of practice. But, that practice must be performed in specific ways that build skill. This literally means that Mozart and Albert Einstein may not have had fundamentally different mental capacities than your or me -they just completed far more deliberate practice in their areas of expertise. So, you might have a growth mindset, and you might have a lot of grit. But, you may not build academic skills all that efficiently or effectively if you aren’t studying in very specific, scientifically proven ways. Rule #2 is all about an incredibly powerful concept called deliberate practice, which research suggests is the key determinate of whether someone can become an expert at something or achieve high levels of performance. It requires intense practice for reasonable (not that long) periods of time, with high levels of focus and lots of mistakes with immediate feedback. If you are practicing deliberately, you are focusing on the building blocks of the skills you are trying to build, pushing yourself beyond your limits, and ultimately creating new mental pathways in your brain that build skill over time. This rule also requires that you are employing a strategy, and that you’ve determined what skills you need to build in the first place (see rule #4). In other words, when it comes to practicing or studying, both the quantity and quality matter. The more deliberate your study or practice habits, the higher the quality. To learn more, read these books â€" Rule #3 Fuel your body and mind Athletes pay close attention to their bodies, but the rest of us, and even those involved in highly academic or intellectual tasks that require lots of brain function, tend not to. Rule #3 is about recognizing and adopting some powerful but very simple rules about nutrition, exercise, sleep, and stress. Studies repeatedly show positive correlations between eating right, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep and academic performance. It’s easy to roll your eyes a bit at this, as it seems obvious. But, the problem is that many of us don’t actually come very close to eating right, exercising regularly, or getting enough sleep! We just don’t. Here’s what it would mean to follow this rule: Eat right â€" 5-6 smaller meals a day, balanced mix of carbs, lean protein, and fats with every meal, basically no refined sugar, and very little to no saturated fat Exercise regularly - 30 minutes of some sort of physical activity every day (brisk walking), with at least 2-3 days of moderate physical activity that includes some amount of resistance training Get enough sleep â€" ~ 8 hours for kids, and at least 6 hours for adults And, there’s one other element of rule #3 that we need to address: having a healthy mind. Just because you have no major or minor diagnosed mental health disorder, doesn’t mean you have a completely healthy mind. If school, sports, or social situations tend to make you nervous and highly stressed, your performance suffers. You’ve probably heard that the right amount of stress is a good thing, but too little or too much stress is a bad thing. The idea is that if you are too care free, you may let important tasks fall through the cracks, and end up dropping the ball on that big school project. At the same time, if you are extremely nervous about performing poorly and get really worked up before a big test, you might find yourself having a lot of trouble concentrating or thinking clearly. Too little stress or too much stress is bad, but the right amount of “stress” can lead to clear thinking, appropriate focus, and an extremely helpful sense of calm and confidence that allows you to execute on test day or deliver a great presentation in school or at work. How do you go about improving the health of your mind? One painfully obvious way to do this is to prepare in advance. So many students are stressed out before big tests, but a large proportion of those students also didn’t practice or prepare as much as they could have. On test day, not only do you know less of the material because you haven’t practiced, but your confidence level is lower, and your stress level is higher. It’s a vicious cycle. So, practicing and preparation not only build knowledge and skills, but they naturally increase confidence and reduce stress. But, the more interesting, and less well known, approach to reducing stress is to practice something called mindfulness. What’s mindfulness? Practicing mindfulness is new to most people. The following is borrowed from Joshua David O’Brien, founder of the Mindfulness Community of Central Pennsylvania. “Mindfulness Meditation is a practice of being fully and attentively present in the moment…in formal practice we use the breath as an object of awareness. We follow the physical sensations of the breath as it flows in and out of the body…one of the first things we learn when we try to do this practice is how easily distracted the mind can be. All sorts of thoughts, ideas, feelings, and sensations call for our attention and we find we’ve forgotten all about the breath. When we realize we’ve been distracted, the appropriate response is to simply return to awareness of the breath with kindness, gentleness, patience, and a little dose of curiosity about ourselves…as with any new skill, this becomes a little easier each time and develops best if we set aside any self-conscious judgments or expectations about how our meditation is developing. The practice is to simply relax and wake up to the awareness of what is happening in the present.” One particular University of London study showed that chronic stress negatively impacts your memory, problem solving abilities, ability to concentrate, and in general, your ability to learn new things. Luckily, over 250 studies have shown that mindfulness effectively reduces stress and anxiety. In some cases, it’s as effective as prescription medications. For an easy to read, practical guide to being more mindful to reduce stress, read â€" Rule #4: Develop and employ specific strategies To truly achieve high levels of performance in general, you should actively apply all or most of the above rules. However, rule #4 is critical to achieve specific results in any given area. It may seem obvious, but if you don’t set specific goals, understand exactly what is required to reach them, and develop clear plans for what you will and will not do to achieve the goal, you’ll be much less successful than people that do these things. Setting goals, researching what is required to reach those goals, and developing specific plans that lay out what you will or will not do, is the essenece of developing a strategy. As we’ve learned before, research shows that successful people aren’t smarter, or harder workers. They tend to focus on the ability to improve (growth mindset), which makes them grittier, and when they practice, the do so deliberately. However, what they also tend to do is think more strategically about what they’re doing in school, business, and life. They set goals, focus on the process of improving, and think positively, but realistically, about being successful, so that they can uncover and address roadblocks. What do all of these statements mean for a student? A student functioning strategically would, for example, start thinking about college early in high school. He would make choices about classes and activities that result in the type of resume required for admission into his desired colleges. In any specific class, he’d carefully read the syllabus, understand how the final grade was to be determined, and take advantage of extra credit, participation, or office hours to maximize his point total and grade. These steps aren’t rocket science, but they do require planning and foresight. To learn more about being strategic to be more successful, read â€" Quick Summary As you may have already guessed, many of these rules are linked, and complementary. To use a business term, there are synergies to following all of the rules at once. In other words, I suspect you’ll get more out of each of the rules by following them all, i.e., 1+1+1+1 = 5 or 6, not 4, when it comes to these rules. But, let’s assume not all of this resonates with you. You just don’t believe each of the four rules really matters. Of course, I'd encourage you to do some research, because there really is a lot of evidence to support everything written above. And, I'd encourage you to pick and choose what does resonate with you, and try to build a system for improving performance that works for you. After all, the fixed mindset student with poor eating, exercise, and sleep habits who rarely studies will be more successful if he follows specific strategies!

Talking to Your Childs New Teacher About ADHD

Talking to Your Child’s New Teacher About ADHD Open ongoing communication between parents and teachers is essential for kids with ADHD. In fact, the most effective non-medication interventions for kids with ADHD involve regular communication between parents and teachers as a key treatment component. At the start of a new school year parents have the opportunity to set the stage for productive ongoing collaboration with their childs teacher. Follow these guidelines to get things started off on the right foot: Initiate the first meeting. Teachers have 25-30 new students in their classroom at the start of the school year, and will probably not have an opportunity to reach out to each parent individually. So, take the first step by emailing or calling the teacher to schedule an initial 15-20-minute meeting at the beginning of the school year. It may seem like you will need more than 15 minutes to discuss your childs ADHD, but longer meetings will be more difficult to schedule, and may provide more information than your childs teacher can digest during this jam-packed time of year. Remember that this is just an initial meeting. There will be opportunities for ongoing communication throughout the school year. Approach the meeting with an open mind. Every parent walks into teacher meetings with mixed emotions at the start of the school year. If you have struggled to get your childs needs met in the past, or had a challenging relationship with last years teacher, then it will be tempting to carry these negative experiences forward with you into the current school year. Even if you and your child have had positive experiences previously, you may worry that this years teacher will not live up to the high bar set by the wonderful teachers your child has had in the past. Regardless of your past experiences, try to view the new teacher and school year as an opportunity for a fresh start. Approach your childs new teacher as a collaborator and partner. You are both invested in ensuring that your child has a great school year, and you both have important roles to play in making this happen. Make most of your brief meeting time. Make the most of the time that you have scheduled by thinking through the key points that you want to discuss in advance. Make notes about these points, and bring the notes with you to the meeting. Throughout the meeting, communicate in a manner that is brief and specific. Too much detail and too many tangential stories will make it difficult for the teacher to focus on the important information that you are sharing. When considering which topics to cover, aim to focus on these 4 important meeting goals: Share essential information about your childs ADHD. How does ADHD affect your child academically, socially, behaviorally, and emotionally? What was your childs greatest struggle last year? What is your childs biggest strength? What are some interventions or accommodations, including those in IEPs and 504 plans, that have previously helped your child manage his or her ADHD? Learn about your childs teachers prior experience with ADHD. How many students with ADHD have they had over the course of their career? What are some strategies that they have used to help students with ADHD? What are their preferences when it comes to partnering with parents to help students with ADHD succeed? Learn about the teachers impressions of your child so far. What have they noticed about your child during the first few days of school? Having observed your child, and having heard the information that youve shared earlier in this meeting, what do they anticipate some of the greatest challenges may be for your child during this school year? Discuss next steps. What is at least one action that you can take at home and the teacher can take in the classroom this week to help your child? How will you and the teacher have regular communication going forward? When should a follow-up meeting be held? Initiating collaborative communication with your childs teacher at the start of the school year will lay the foundation for a positive partnership that will help your child get the support that he or she needs throughout the year at school and at home. ABOUT DR. MARY ROONEY Mary Rooney, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco. Dr Rooney is a researcher and clinician specializing in the evaluation and treatment of ADHD and co-occurring behavioral, anxiety, and mood disorders. A strong advocate for those with attention and behavior problems, Dr. Rooney is committed to developing and providing comprehensive, cutting edge treatments tailored to meet the unique needs of each child and adolescent. Dr. Rooney's clinical interventions and research avenues emphasize working closely with parents and teachers to create supportive, structured home and school environments that enable children and adolescents to reach their full potential. In addition, Dr. Rooney serves as a consultant and ADHD expert to Huntington Learning Centers. ABOUT HUNTINGTON Huntington Learning Center is the tutoring and test prep leader. Its certified tutors provide individualized instruction in reading, phonics, writing, study skills, elementary and middle school math, Algebra through Calculus, Chemistry, and other sciences. It preps for the SAT and ACT, as well as state and standardized exams. Huntington programs develop the skills, confidence, and motivation to help students of all levels succeed and meet the needs of Common Core State Standards. Founded in 1977, Huntington's mission is to give every student the best education possible. Call us today at 1.800.CAN LEARN to discuss how Huntington can help your child. For franchise opportunities please visit www.huntingtonfranchise.com. This website does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The material on this site is provided for educational purposes only.

italki World Cup Language Challenge Week 2 Goal

italki World Cup Language Challenge Week 2 Goal Lindsaydoeslanguages is blogging about her World Cup Language Challenge and were reposting here to share with the entire italki Community. This blog post originally was posted on Lindsaydoeslanguages.com website. Week 2 of the World Cup Language Challenge is almost over! Time flies when you’re having fun, hey? 7 lessons in now and already, I’m feeling much more confident with my spoken Portuguese. I’ve had a great selection of teachers so far. Be sure to check them out if you’re interested in learning Portuguese! Not only am I beginning to identify the differences between Portuguese and Spanish, but I’m also picking up the slight differences between Brazilian and European Portuguese. This week’s video is more football related, mainly because the World Cup actually started yesterday, partly because I want to get my football vocabulary in early before week 6 when I’ll be commentating some football â€" in Portuguese! Eek! I decided that instead of a news story, I would read an extract from the Portuguese Wikipedia entry about the World Cup, sorry, Copa do Mondo. I didn’t even look at it before filming the video, which was a conscious decision to highlight the things I need to work on. One thing I wasn’t not too sure about was numbers â€" especially years! It also made it clear that there’ll be some football lingo such as ‘nil’ that I’ll have to learn. Have a look at the video right here: Do you think there’s an improvement from last week’s video? If you have any Portuguese football vocab you think would be useful, let me know in the comments! italki World Cup Language Challenge Week 2 Goal Lindsaydoeslanguages is blogging about her World Cup Language Challenge and were reposting here to share with the entire italki Community. This blog post originally was posted on Lindsaydoeslanguages.com website. Week 2 of the World Cup Language Challenge is almost over! Time flies when you’re having fun, hey? 7 lessons in now and already, I’m feeling much more confident with my spoken Portuguese. I’ve had a great selection of teachers so far. Be sure to check them out if you’re interested in learning Portuguese! Not only am I beginning to identify the differences between Portuguese and Spanish, but I’m also picking up the slight differences between Brazilian and European Portuguese. This week’s video is more football related, mainly because the World Cup actually started yesterday, partly because I want to get my football vocabulary in early before week 6 when I’ll be commentating some football â€" in Portuguese! Eek! I decided that instead of a news story, I would read an extract from the Portuguese Wikipedia entry about the World Cup, sorry, Copa do Mondo. I didn’t even look at it before filming the video, which was a conscious decision to highlight the things I need to work on. One thing I wasn’t not too sure about was numbers â€" especially years! It also made it clear that there’ll be some football lingo such as ‘nil’ that I’ll have to learn. Have a look at the video right here: Do you think there’s an improvement from last week’s video? If you have any Portuguese football vocab you think would be useful, let me know in the comments!