Lindamood-Bell Partners with the University of Alabama at Birmingham for Autism Study

Lindamood-Bell has partnered with the Autism Brain Imaging Research Laboratory (ABIRL) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham to conduct research of brain functioning among individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Students taking part in the study will undergo functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans before and after receiving instruction in Lindamood-Bell’s Visualizing and Verbalizing® (V/V®) program.

Current medical research indicates that there are distinct neurological differences between individuals who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders and those who have not. Different regions of the brain are utilized in reading and understanding language, and these areas must connect reliably in order to effectively process language. Brain scans of individuals on the autism spectrum evidence lower levels of connectivity between various regions in the brain.

The Visualizing and Verbalizing® program has shown significant results in improving language-processing skills for individuals with wide ranges of ability. The joint Lindamood-Bell-ABIRL study, with its combination of state-of-the-art medical technology and cutting-edge educational techniques, may yield new insight into the working of the brain. Evidence of improved brain connectivity following V/V® instruction would provide further scientific validation of the role of imagery in cognition, a central tenet of Lindamood-Bell’s educational framework. This could lead to improvement in the lives of countless students with autism spectrum disorders.

Fourth Graders Make Achievement Test Gains with Lindamood-Bell

As a leader in literacy instruction, Lindamood-Bell played a critical role in helping El Centro Elementary School District fourth graders, to significantly improve student achievement.   Seventy-three percent of the fourth grade students who received Lindamood-Bell^® instruction in decoding, comprehension, or both, increased at least one proficiency category on their 2011 California Standards Test (CST).  These fourth graders also improved on other assessments, including receptive vocabulary, where the average student gained 4.8 standard score points.

In 2010, only 33 percent of these students scored proficient or advanced on the CST.  In 2011, that number increased to 61 percent.  The data were collected from those fourth grade students throughout the district whose 2010 and 2011 CST scores were available and who received Lindamood-Bell^® instruction during the 2010-2011 school year.  “Lindamood-Bell has been instrumental in the development of our Response to Intervention (RtI) model, especially in Tiers 2 and 3, and has helped us make significant improvements with our most at-risk students,” says Renato Montano, Assistant Superintendent of El Centro Elementary School District.

This year marks the 4th year of a partnership with the El Centro Elementary School district and Lindamood-Bell.  Last year, Lindamood-Bell certified 9 district staff members as Instructional Leaders in its Professional Learning Community (PLC) Model.  Teachers provide intensive remedial and developmental support in small groups, as well as classroom instruction.    The focus this 2011-2012 school year will be on support for those teachers who have been certified as Lindamood-Bell^® Instructional Leaders and those staff members who are in the certification process.

Supporting Troops Serving Overseas with 2nd Annual Thank-A-Thon

Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes is holding their 2nd annual Thank-A-Thon to support soldiers serving overseas at its 49 Learning Centers throughout the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. At any time during regular business hours on November 17th, the public is welcome to come to one of the Learning Centers and create a thank you card to be sent to deployed troops and wounded soldiers. Lindamood-Bell will provide refreshments and the supplies for making the cards. The cards will be collected by Lindamood-Bell and sent directly to Operation Gratitude.

To learn more about Lindamood-Bell’s Thank-A-Thon, or to create a card to send to Operation Gratitude, contact your local Lindamood-Bell Learning Center, or visit their “Community” webpage at www.lindamoodbell.com/our-community.

About Operation Gratitude

Operation Gratitude annually sends 100,000 care packages filled with snacks, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation addressed to individually named U.S. Service members deployed in hostile regions, to their children left behind and to wounded soldiers recuperating in Transitions Units. Of all the items included in these packages, the most cherished are the personal letters of appreciation. It is a simple and meaningful way to show appreciation to those who are serving in the armed forces.

About Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes

Lindamood-Bell’s Learning Centers specialize in one-to-one instruction based on the individual’s learning needs. Through a learning ability evaluation, specific strengths and weaknesses can be identified and effectively remediated. Lindamood-Bell also collaborates with hundreds of schools to provide innovative instructional programs, professional development, and consulting. Lindamood-Bell has received national recognition from the U.S. Department of Education, CNN, Newsweek, Time, US News and World Report, Neuron, and NeuroImage, and has been featured in the PBS special, The Secret Life of the Brain and in the HBO special I Can’t Do This, But I Can Do That. More information on Lindamood-Bell is available online at www.lindamood-bell.com.

Contact: Steve Rossi, Director of Outreach, 805-541-3836

Summer Academy Success

The new school year is underway, and I’d like to share with you exciting news about one of our 2011 Summer Academies. Lindamood-Bell partnered with Macon County Schools in Macon County, North Carolina, to implement our Summer Academy model. This model focuses on intensive professional development for teachers and intensive intervention for students. Teachers first attended our week-long in-service, introducing them to the Seeing Stars® and Visualizing and Verbalizing® programs, and to our Response to Intervention (RtI) framework.

For 4 weeks, they provided intensive intervention to at-risk students, 4 hours per day, 5 days per week. Students had been identified in the Spring of 2011 and administered learning ability assessments to determine grouping and to differentiate instruction.

The intensity of this model allowed teachers to receive daily coaching and support, as well as ongoing professional development and lesson planning. Students received up to 70 hours of instruction during this 4-week period, an amount typically encompassing an entire school year given the challenges of scheduling, resources, and other course requirements.

At the conclusion of the summer session, we were honored to have Dr. Robert Pasternack, the former Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitation Services at the U.S. Department of Education, visit and discuss his observations of the program. The benefits to teachers and students alike were remarkable.
Click here to read the article on his visit.
Click here to see a video on Macon Summer School reading program.

We are very excited about the progress in Macon County, and look forward to extending the model further in the district.

Sincerely,
Tom Mendoza
Director of School Partnerships

New Study Shows Reading Intervention Changes Gray Matter Volume

A new article released by the journal NeuroImage features the results of a study that examined changes in reading behavior and gray matter volume (GMV) in children with dyslexia. These children received intensive reading instruction using Lindamood-Bell’s Seeing Stars® Symbol Imagery program to develop literacy skills. The study, conducted by researchers from the Center for the Study of Learning, Georgetown University Medical Center, and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, found that “(1) training-induced changes in GMV can be observed in a pediatric sample, and (2) reading improvements induced by intervention are accompanied by GMV changes.”

Behavioral tests and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were performed before the Seeing Stars® instruction, after the Seeing Stars® instruction, and after a period of time where no instruction was administered.  Reading behaviors significantly improved, and for the first time, the results of the study indicate that GMV increases in the left anterior fusiform gyrus/hippocampus, left precuneus, right hippocampus, and right anterior cerebellum occur as well. These are areas of the brain that have been shown previously to play a part in learning and visual imagery.

For many years we have noted significant improvement in decoding and reading comprehension when we focus instruction on mental imagery as applied to language and literacy skills. The results of this MRI study not only validate that our instruction in imagery results in improved reading behaviors, but also results in important and lasting changes in the brain. This is a very important step forward in the field of reading.

An educational video presentation by one of the co-authors of the study, Dr. Lynn Flowers, formerly of Wake Forest University, can be viewed along with a full online version of the published study on Lindamood-Bell’s website.

Lindamood-Bell is an internationally recognized leader in the research and development of programs for reading and comprehension. Their Learning Centers specialize in instruction that addresses the underlying causes of learning difficulties.  Lindamood-Bell collaborates with schools throughout the United States to provide innovative instructional programs, professional development, and consulting.  The company has received recognition from CNN, Newsweek, Time, US News and World Report, and Neuron, and was featured in the PBS special The Secret Life of the Brain.

Lindamood-Bell Joins Education Consortium Funded by W.K. Kellogg Foundation Grant

Lindamood-Bell has partnered with the Atlanta Life Skills Organization (ALSO), a group of educators and community leaders in the Atlanta, Michigan community, to address the profound educational and economic needs of the region. The initiative will promote 1) family literacy and life skills and 2) technical education and training. Partners in the group include Alpena Community College (ACC), Atlanta Community Schools PreK-12 (ACS), and over a dozen other community organizations. The initiative is being funded through a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, with in-kind contributions from all partners.

The population of this predominantly rural community is severely economically disadvantaged, with fifty percent of families below the poverty line. Poor literacy skills are both a cause and by-product of the poverty cycle. Many students come to school nearly 3 years behind the state benchmark averages. A primary goal is to create a high standard of teaching and learning, with high expectations for all students, and new and innovative teaching strategies based on best practices.

In 2009-10, Atlanta Community Schools (ACS) piloted Lindamood-Bell’s literacy programs in the district. Students made dramatic increases in reading skills, and based on this success, ACS Superintendent Teresa Stauffer committed to a vision to expand literacy development throughout the community and into family literacy and technical training. She, along with Dr. Mark A. Curtis, Vice President for Instruction at ACC, developed the consortium to implement this vision. “We are thrilled to partner with Lindamood-Bell because they are grounded in research, they follow best practices, and they are, by far the program that best meets our students’ needs,” said Stauffer.

Through this project, Lindamood-Bell will provide extensive professional development and program management to implement its comprehensive Professional Learning Community (PLC) model district-wide in ACS. It will be integrated into the existing PreK Great Start program, focusing on early childhood development, with professional development for the PreK staff.

Community based, family and adult education clinics will also be established, with Lindamood-Bell providing workshops in its reading practices for community volunteers. Volunteers will provide tutoring and life skills for community members of all ages. “Family literacy has always been a goal and dream of mine in our mission to make a large scale difference for those in need,” says Nanci Bell, co-founder and CEO of Lindamood-Bell.

To address adult educational needs, technical education and training will be offered and delivered in conjunction with other industrial and business partners. Alpena Community College will offer college-level courses that can be taken by dual-enrolled high school students and adult-age community members. The initiative will begin in August 2011 and continue through August 2014.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, established in 1930, supports children, families and communities as they strengthen and create conditions that propel vulnerable children to achieve success as individuals and as contributors to the larger community and society. Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and southern Africa. For further information on the foundation, please visit www.wkkf.org.

Lindamood-Bell is an internationally recognized leader in the research and development of programs for reading instruction and remediation. The organization partners extensively with school districts to offer innovative literacy solutions and professional development. Its comprehensive school improvement model was research-validated in the American Educational Research Journal for its success in Colorado Schools. Based on this success, Lindamood-Bell is an approved professional development provider in the states of Colorado, Tennessee, Ohio, and Arizona, with emphasis in the areas of school turnaround/transformation and Race to the Top initiatives.

More information on Lindamood-Bell is available online at http://www.lindamoodbell.com.

Lindamood-Bell’s 17th Annual International Research Conference

Join us to experience the Magic of Learning at our International Education Research Conference.

Lindamood-Bell’s 17^th Annual International Research Conference—Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel® & Spa in Anaheim, California—March 10-12, 2011.

As we celebrate our 25^th year we take pride in offering you a conference that has attracted researchers who are the preeminent minds in our field.  Attend, and you’ll have the opportunity to hear the latest information in brain research, cognition, genetics, decoding, language comprehension, memory, dyslexia, and autism–as well as information on leadership and federal/state policy to increase student achievement.  Find out more about the range of research presentations at Lindamood-Bell’s education research conference link.

We also offer workshops in our Lindamood-Bell® programs.  This is one of the few educational conferences that combine both research presentations and workshops.  You can take more than sound bites back to your classroom.  Find out more about our workshops at Lindamood-Bell’s research conference link.

Below is a list of incredible speakers that will be presenting at this year’s exciting education research conference.  I hope you will join us in our efforts to deliver the Magic of Learning to more and more children and adults.

We can do this.  You can do this.

Sincerely,

Nanci Bell

Director

http://www.lindamoodbell.com/International-Conference-on-Learning.Aspx

Keynote, Day 1

Nanci Bell, M.A., Co-founder of Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes, Author of “Visualizing and Verbalizing for Language Comprehension and Thinking®”

Imagery is a sensory-cognitive function underlying the component parts of reading—including reading comprehension and decoding.  Symbol imagery— the ability to create mental representations for sounds and letters within words—is foundational to both phonological and orthographic processing.

Linnea Ehri, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor at the Graduate Center of the

City University of New York

Children learn to read words by forming connections between letters and sounds in memory. This process helps them spell words and learn new vocabulary words.

Ricki Robinson, M.D., M.P.H., Descanso Medical Center for Development

& Learning

Children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are now known to have many co-morbid medical disorders.  This presentation will review these major medical complications and explore whether they might be the cause or result of having an autism spectrum disorder.

Mark Sadoski, Ph.D., Professor and Distinguished Research Fellow,

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture, Texas A&M University

Basic principles of Dual Coding Theory are introduced and explained.

New research in decoding in reading and using mental imagery in medical education are introduced.

Jeannette Taylor, Associate Professor, Director of Clinical Training, Florida State University, Department of Psychology

Recent findings will be presented suggesting that genetic influence on reading constructs in the early grades may be moderated by the environment.

Gina Gallegos, Principal of Heritage Elementary School in Pueblo, CO

& Paul Worthington, Co-Director of Professional Development,

Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes

Pueblo City Schools and Lindamood-Bell will outline a longitudinal effort culminating a cost effective nationally recognized professional development and school reform model that led to unprecedented student achievement.

Keynote, Day 2

Allan Paivio, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Western Ontario, Author of the Dual Coding Theory

Dr. Paivio will discuss aspects of Dual Coding Theory (DCT) and the

Visualizing and Verbalizing® (V/V®) practice that are crucial to intellectual functioning but are absent from traditional psychometric (IQ) theories and tests of intelligence.  Recent brain-based theory of general intelligence that is more fully compatible with DCT and V/V® will also be discussed.

Jane M. Healy, Ph.D., Educational Psychologist, Internationally Acclaimed

Author of “Endangered Minds” and “Different Learners”

Home and school experiences alter brains and genes and today’s lifestyles jeopardize healthy learning. Successful case studies of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral learning problems illustrate effective intervention.

Nancy J. Minshew, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry & Neurology, University

of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; Director, University of Pittsburgh’s NIH Autism Center of Excellence (ACE)

Autism research has linked cognitive and social behavior to cortical under- development.  Novel new behavioral and neurobiological interventions demonstrate the power of mechanism discovery to lead to improved interventions for individuals with ASD.

Richard Olson, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, P.I. of the Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center and of the Colorado Longitudinal Twin Study

Studies of identical and fraternal twins and their siblings have revealed substantial genetic influences on reading disabilities and individual differences across the normal range. This presentation will outline the basic method of twin studies, their major results for reading and related skills such as language and attention, and their implications for the remediation of reading disabilities and for improving reading in the general population.

Robert Hendren, Ph.D., Professor and Vice Chair of Psychiatry, UC

San Francisco; Former Executive Director MIND Institute; UC Davis

Our models for understanding and treating autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are growing, leading to an at times bewildering array of assessment and treatment options. This presentation will review the anecdotal to strong scientific evidence for potential assessments and treatments for ASD including behavioral, medical, pharmacologic and biomedical treatments. Parents and practitioners will hopefully then have the necessary information to select the options that are right for their child with autism.

Bob Pletka, Superintendent of El Centro, California Elementary District,

Award Winning Author of “My So Called Digital Life” and “Educating the

NetGeneration” & Paul Worthington, Co-Director of Professional Development, Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes

State efforts to win approval within the Race to the Top and other federal initiatives have not materialized for California as it has for other states.  This presentation will feature the initial findings of a high poverty, high minority district’s efforts to reverse the failing trends associated with a district with these demographics, and to close the achievement gap.

Keynote, Day 3

The Honorable Robert Pasternack, Ph.D., Former Assistant Secretary,

US Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services

Current data on the incidence/prevalence rates for students with learning disabilities will be shared, as well as information on the fiscal, programmatic, policy, and instructional impact of Response to Intervention (RtI) on schools across the country.  In this fiscal climate, the Return on Investment (RoI) for implementing RtI will be explored.

John D.E. Gabrieli, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Psychology and

Neuroscience Program, and by courtesy, Department of Radiology, Stanford University

The ability to learn grows from childhood through adulthood. Neuroimaging reveals that different aspects of learning depend upon distinct neural systems with variable developmental trajectories.

Kenneth Pugh, President and Director of Research, Senior Scientist, Haskins

Laboratories; Professor, Dept. of Psychology, University of Connecticut

In a large developmental study of children at different ages and reading level brain/behavior analyses revealed that the development of reading fluency is strongly associated with the development of the left hemisphere posterior reading system. A recently completed intervention study examined the influence of intensive phonological remediation in reading disabled children, revealing substantial gains in both reading performance and a corresponding development of the left hemisphere posterior reading system for children afforded this treatment. We also consider how these neurobiological techniques might be used in helping us to identify those children, at earlier stages of development, at high risk for later reading difficulties.

Dr. Elena L. Grigorenko, Associate Professor, Child Study Center, Department of Psychology, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale University

Dr. Grigorenko will share her thoughts and experiences regarding the Yale

Academic Skills Clinic’s implementation of IDEA 2004 in the “RtI-only” state

of Connecticut.

Dr. Fred Morrison, Research Professor, the Center for Human Growth and

Development; Professor of Psychology and Professor of Education, Combined Program in Education and Psychology at the University of Michigan

Studies have revealed that the most effective instruction depends on the initial skill levels of children.  These results imply that individualizing instruction based on children’s skill levels would be highly effective. Further, the closer the instruction delivered matched recommended levels, the greater were children’s gains. Implications for understanding literacy growth and its improvement will be explored.

Lori Cooper, Assistant Superintendent of Center School District in Center, CO & Paul Worthington, Co-Director of Professional Development,

Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes

Federal and state driven initiatives to turn around chronically low performing schools is well under way.  This presentation will feature the initial findings of a district in rural Colorado to immediately address the Race to the Top initiative.

Keynote and lunch research presentations are open for all attendees of the research strands and the workshop strands.

Registration, credit information, and research conference schedule information for Lindamood-Bell’s International Research Conference available here.



Lauren Tupper, of Lindamood-Bell in Atla

Lauren Tupper, of Lindamood-Bell in Atlanta, in a new HBO documentary on learning differences. Premieres Tuesday, 10/26 http://ow.ly/2ZcSh

Learning Center Specials for Reading and Comprehension

For the months of October and November, take advantage of our Fall Special at our participating Learning Centers.

Only $295 for a Full Diagnostic Learning Evaluation—More then 50% off a $645 value!  Offer expires November 30th, 2010.

Accurate Diagnostic Learning Evaluations are the first step in teaching individuals to learn to their potential for reading, spelling, comprehension, and math.

Contact your local Learning Center for more information and to sign-up!

Learning Center locations:

Atlanta, GA, Berkeley, CA, Birmingham, AL, Boston-Arlington, MA, Charlotte, NC, Chicago, IL, Dallas, TX, Darien, CT, Deerfield, IL, Denver, CO, Gwinnett County, GA, Indianapolis, IN, Las Vegas, NV, Long Island, NY, Marin, CA, Memphis, TN, Menlo Park, CA, Miami, FL, Mobile, AL, Monterey, CA, Morristown, NJ, New York, NY, Newport Beach, CA, Palos Verdes, CA, Pasadena, CA, Philadelphia-Bryn Mawr, PA , Sacramento, CA, San Diego, CA, San Francisco, CA, Santa Barbara, CA, Saratoga, CA, Scottsdale, AZ, Seattle-Bellevue, WA, San Luis Obispo, CA, South Shore, MA, Tampa, FL, Twin Cities, MN, Walnut Creek, CA, Washington, DC, Weston, FL, and Westood, CA.

Smart Kids with LD starts a new campaign

Smart Kids with LD starts a new campaign effort with the Smart Kids Read-A-Thon. Students from all over the country can join in! http://ow.ly/2FRNP