Thank you to our new show sponsors – Fusion Academy! To find out more about Fusion Academy and their revolutionary approach to school, visit www.fusionacademy.com 

You can catch the entire panel discussion from the fundraiser event here and find out more about our panelists in this episode.

Show Notes

Reading comprehension and language processing affects a child’s overall ability to learn. Knowing this, we wanted to focus on learning about reading strategies and restructuring the learning environment in this episode.

We’re joined by Adrian Ojeda, Director at the Palos Verdes and Long Beach Lindamood-Bell centers. Adrian joins us to discuss the importance of reading strategies and cognitive processes in schools in helping ensure children learn the best way according to their unique learning abilities. Adrian explains that learning to read can address potential underlying problems with academic issues and can help teachers and parents recognize gaps in cognitive processes. Helping a child learn how to read helps him/her succeed in other aspects of their academic and social lives.

Full transcript to this episode can be found on our site here. 

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

• Why is learning difficult for some children and not others?
• What are cognitive process and what do they have to do with the way children learn?
• How Lindamood-Bell tutors attempt to fix the problem behind academic issues
• How having basic reading comprehension skills can have an effect on the child’s whole perspective of the English language
• How language processing deficiencies can lead to deficiencies in peer interaction, athletic events and everyday functions
• How restructuring the learning environment around the child can help minimize or eliminate the need for constant remediation
• What are some strategies that teachers can use to help students with learning deficiencies? How can they help bridge that gap?
• What are some tools that may be helpful for teachers and parents in getting the student excited about reading?
• What is a Lexile level and how can you decode it to figure out where your child falls on the spectrum?
• What is the difference between fluency and stamina in relation to reading?
• Help your child identify their mistakes while reading, rather than giving them the answer

Resources Mentioned:

Lindamood-Bell in Palos Verdes and Long Beach

Contact Information:

[email protected] 

Thank you for listening!

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Learning the right strategies when it comes to reading comprehension and language processing can help your child succeed academically. Our guest shares some reading strategies parents and teachers can implement.

Thank you to our new show sponsors – Fusion Academy! To find out more about Fusion Academy and their revolutionary approach to school, visit www.fusionacademy.com  

In order to provide the help that students struggling with mental health issues so desperately need, it’s important to take a step back and explore where these mental health issues stem from and how various academic settings foster them. This is certainly a worthy topic and, along with our esteemed panel of mental health experts, we’re getting the conversation going in this episode.

We’re sharing with you the live recording of our panel discussion in its entirety from our Silent Auction fundraiser from several weeks ago. Our panel of esteemed speakers and mental health experts join us to shed light and share insight on how schools can better address the needs of students struggling with mental health issues.

To find out more about our panelists, be sure to listen to Episode 47

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Our panelists’ experiences in middle school
• What are the primary drivers of the declining state of mental health?
• What are the learning and academic expectations when they’re not necessarily aligned with a child’s development?
• What does child readiness look like?
• Is competition healthy or detrimental?
• How does a student’s mental health affect their school experience?
• The importance of understanding a child’s behaviors without judgment
• Are schools supporting students in their pursuit of success or are there issues?
• Are current disciplinary procedures helping or hurting students?
• What is the connection between school shootings and mental health?

More about our speakers:

Dr. Jeanette Morgan

Jeanette Morgan, L.E.P. is a Licensed Educational Psychologist with 15 years of special education experience, first as a Special Education Teacher and then as a School Psychologist. She has experience working with children with autism, developmental disabilities, emotional disturbances, hearing impairments, and learning disabilities. A B.A in Communicative Sciences and Disorders and her M.S. as an Education Specialist, along with her work experiences have provided a solid foundation for her assessment practices as an educational psychologist.

Dr. Koury

She shares how she started her career as a Special Education teacher following obtaining her Bachelor’s in speech therapy.

Her current work has her working with teens

The treatment that she provides is Cognitive behavioral therapy and she works closely with teens and their families.

Dr. Matthew Koury

Dr. Koury is the Founder and Director of the Mind Health Institute, Newport Beach. He is a Board certified Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychiatrist that seamlessly merges his impressive academic credentials with a warm and engaging demeanor. Dr. Koury is committed to educating his clients and families about their treatment in order to assist them in making the best decision regarding their ongoing care.

Dr. Grace Losada

Grace holds a BA in Literature and Writing from UCSD, an MA in Marital and Family Therapy from USD, and an EdD from USC in Educational Leadership with an emphasis in Educational Psychology.  She began her career with Fusion Academy when it was still in its humble beginnings. Grace has worked with diverse populations of students in various settings for over 20 years. Most recently, Grace opened the first replication of Fusion Academy in West Los Angeles and served as Head of School for four fantastic years. She is now focused on supporting Fusionites across the country in their quest to engage students in an excellent education.

Dr....

How can we begin to build a greater understanding of mental health issues and provide the necessary support in schools? Our panel of mental health experts share their thoughts in this live discussion.

Our 4th Annual Panel Discussion and Silent Auction was a huge success! We’re so thankful for all the attendees, panelists, volunteers, sponsors, and supporters! The topic of our panel discussion was Building the Bridge Between Mental Health, School, and Learning, and we featured 4 amazing speakers who joined us to share their insight and expertise on this topic.

In this episode, we’re spending some time getting to know our 4 panelists a bit more and hearing about their journeys to their current positions as mental health experts.  

Be sure to tune in for next week's episode where we're airing panel discussion in its entirety. 

Our featured panelists:

Dr. Jeanette Morgan

Jeanette Morgan, L.E.P. is a Licensed Educational Psychologist with 15 years of special education experience, first as a Special Education Teacher and then as a School Psychologist. She has experience working with children with autism, developmental disabilities, emotional disturbances, hearing impairments, and learning disabilities. A B.A in Communicative Sciences and Disorders and her M.S. as an Education Specialist, along with her work experiences have provided a solid foundation for her assessment practices as an educational psychologist.

Dr. Matthew Koury

Dr. Koury is the Founder and Director of the Mind Health Institute, Newport Beach. He is a Board certified Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychiatrist that seamlessly merges his impressive academic credentials with a warm and engaging demeanor. Dr. Koury is committed to educating his clients and families about their treatment in order to assist them in making the best decision regarding their ongoing care.

Dr. Grace Losada

Grace holds a BA in Literature and Writing from UCSD, an MA in Marital and Family Therapy from USD, and an EdD from USC in Educational Leadership with an emphasis in Educational Psychology.  She began her career with Fusion Academy when it was still in its humble beginnings. Grace has worked with diverse populations of students in various settings for over 20 years. Most recently, Grace opened the first replication of Fusion Academy in West Los Angeles and served as Head of School for four fantastic years. She is now focused on supporting Fusionites across the country in their quest to engage students in an excellent education.

Dr. Sabrina Shuck

Dr. Shuck is a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California at Irvine and the Executive Director, Child Development Center, Pediatrics School of Medicine.

Thank you for listening! Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode and believe in our message, then please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show in Apple Podcasts,

How did our fundraiser panelists become mental health experts? In this mashup episode, we find out a little bit more about our panelists and their amazing work in the mental health awareness space.

Teachers and education workers in the second largest school district in the country, Los Angeles Unified School District, just voted to authorize their first strike in almost 30 years. In this episode, we discuss the various reasons for this potential strike, how the strike could affect the students in the district, and what demands the teachers are making.

Full show transcript can be found here.

Join our private Facebook Group here. 

What We Discuss in This Episode:

• The reasons why the LAUSD teachers are striking
• Are the strikes simply regarding salaries or could classroom sizes be anther reason?
• What the district's budget is and why they’ve rejected the teacher union’s requests despite having the financial ability to potentially meet their requests
• What affect this will have on all of the students that will be displaced (especially given LAUSD is the second largest district in the nation)
• What have other districts across the country gone on strike for?
• What role the internet has played in this activism
• Who’s really affected by the districts’ unwillingness to provide funding?
• What affect did a teacher strike in West Virginia have?
• Whether you’re for or against unions, it’s undeniable that something needs to change so this might be an only option
• School districts have money; it’s how they allocate and distribute the money that’s the issue

Resources Mentioned:

Read more about the strike here and here. 

Read about Arizona's strike

Teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District recently voted to go on strike. What are their demands and can the district meet them in time?

Our fundraiser is this Thurs, Sept. 13, 2018! Be sure to purchase your ticket to our Panel Discussion and Silent Auction here. The topic of discussion for this fundraiser is Building the Bridge Between Mental Health, School, and Learning.

Join our private Facebook group here. 

Show Notes

A Colorado School District has decided to adopt a four-day school schedule due to budget concerns. This ultimately affects the students. But is there some benefit to implementing this change?

Along with discussing shorter school weeks, we also discuss Betsy DeVos’s plan to use federal funds to purchase guns for schools and whether or not that is the best use of federal funding.

Full show transcript found here. 

What We Discuss in This Episode:

• How this Colorado School District is changing its school week schedule
• What certain school districts do on snow days
• Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s plan to use federal funding to purchase guns for schools
• Should federal funds be used to purchase guns when there are other more pressing school concerns that require funding?
• School Safety Bill passed by Congress to educate students and teachers about warning signs for gun violence
• Focusing on improving the curriculum and providing technology is great but how are guns considered useful?
• What we can learn from other countries when it comes to increased gun presence

Resources Mentioned:

Article about Colorado's new changes. 

Article about DeVos's plan.  

 

What benefits are there (if any) to a shortened school week, like the one adopted by one Colorado school district? Also, should federal funding be used to purchase guns for schools? Listen in to find out.