kp-website

5 IEP Myths Parents Should Stop Believing

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 18:27:44 GMT

If your child has an Individualized Education Program (IEP), you may have heard a lot of “rules” about what schools can and cannot do.

Maybe someone told you that you can only meet with the IEP team once a year. Or that there is a maximum number of goals your child can have. Or testing your child can only take place every 3 years.

The problem? Many of these commonly repeated statements are myths.

At Keeping Pace Learning Center, we believe parents are most effective advocates for their children when they understand their rights and know what questions to ask. Let’s clear up five of the most common IEP misconceptions.

A note for parents: This article provides general educational information about the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). State requirements and individual circumstances can affect the IEP process, so families should consult their school district and applicable state regulations for guidance specific to their child.

Myth #1: “You can only meet with the IEP team once a year.”

Reality: An IEP is not a once-a-year conversation.

Federal law requires an IEP to be reviewed at least annually, but that does not mean parents are limited to one IEP team meeting per year.

In fact, the U.S. Department of Education specifically explains that parents of children with disabilities have the right to request an IEP team meeting when they believe a meeting is necessary. If the school refuses the request, it must provide written notice explaining why it determined that a meeting was not necessary to ensure the provision of a free appropriate public education (FAPE).

Why might a parent request another meeting?

Perhaps your child isn't making the progress you expected. Maybe their needs have changed. Perhaps a new evaluation provides information the team needs to consider. Or maybe the services currently listed in the IEP don't appear to be meeting your child's needs.

You don't necessarily have to wait until the annual meeting to bring these concerns to the team.

The IEP is supposed to be responsive to a child's changing needs, not simply a document that gets updated once a year.

Myth #2: “There is a limit to how many IEP goals a child can have.”

Reality: There isn't a magic number of goals that every student is allowed to have.

You may hear things like, “The school only allows five goals,” or “You can't have more than eight goals on an IEP.” But IDEA does not establish a universal maximum number of annual goals.

Instead, IEP goals are supposed to address the individual educational needs that result from a child's disability. Federal law requires measurable annual goals, including academic and functional goals, designed to help the child make progress in the general education curriculum and address other educational needs resulting from the disability.

That doesn't mean that more goals are always better.

A long list of poorly designed goals isn't necessarily more helpful than a smaller number of meaningful, measurable goals. The important question is: What skills does this particular student need to develop, and what goals will meaningfully address those needs?

Parents should focus less on the number of goals and more on whether the goals accurately reflect their child's needs, are measurable, and are connected to meaningful educational progress.

Myth #3: “There is a limit to how many hours of specialized academic instruction a school can provide.”

Reality: IDEA does not establish a one-size-fits-all maximum number of service hours.

This is one of the most important misconceptions for parents to understand.

A child's IEP should identify the special education and related services, supplementary aids and services, program modifications, and supports the child needs in order to make progress toward their goals and participate in the general education curriculum.

There isn't a federal rule that says, for example, “A student can receive no more than X hours of specialized academic instruction per week.”

Instead, the services and supports in an IEP should be based on the individual needs of the student. That doesn't mean a parent can simply request unlimited services and the school is required to agree. The IEP team must consider the student's needs and determine an appropriate educational program.

But if someone tells you, “The school isn't allowed to provide that many hours,” it's reasonable to ask: “Can you show me where that limitation comes from?” The conversation should ultimately be about your child's educational needs—not an arbitrary number.

Myth #4: “Once an IEP is written, the school has to wait until the next annual meeting to change it.”

Reality: IEPs can be reviewed and revised when circumstances call for it.

An IEP is intended to be a living document.

Federal regulations require the IEP team to review the IEP periodically and revise it as appropriate when, among other things, a child isn't making expected progress, new evaluation information becomes available, the child's anticipated needs change, or other relevant circumstances arise.

Changes can also be made through an amendment to the IEP in certain circumstances, rather than requiring the entire document to be rewritten.

This is important because children don't develop on a perfectly predictable 12-month schedule. A student might make significant progress in one area while struggling in another. A new evaluation might reveal a previously unidentified need. A change in classroom expectations might expose a gap that wasn't apparent earlier in the year.

Parents shouldn't feel like they have to wait months for the next annual meeting simply because the calendar says it's not time yet.

If your child's needs have changed, it's worth communicating those concerns to the school and asking whether the IEP should be reviewed.

Myth #5: “If my child isn't making progress, we just need to give it more time.”

Reality: Lack of expected progress is a reason to look at the IEP—not simply a reason to wait.

One of the most important pieces of an IEP is progress monitoring.

An IEP must include measurable annual goals and describe how progress toward those goals will be measured and when progress reports will be provided. If your child isn't making the progress the team expected, that information matters.

If you are concerned about your child’s progress, ask your IEP team for monthly progress notes or reports regarding your child’s special education services and goals.

Federal regulations specifically identify a lack of expected progress toward annual goals and, when appropriate, in the general education curriculum as a reason the IEP team should consider revising the IEP. This doesn't necessarily mean the school has failed or that the IEP is automatically inappropriate.

It does mean the team should be asking questions:

Is the goal appropriate?
Is the student receiving the services listed in the IEP?
Is the instructional approach effective?
Does the student need additional supports?
Does the student need a different type or intensity of service?
Is additional assessment needed?
Are there other factors affecting the student's progress?

Data should drive the conversation.

Instead of simply asking, “Is my child getting better?” parents can ask, “What does the progress-monitoring data show, and what does that tell us about whether the current IEP is working?”

The Most Important IEP Myth of All

Perhaps the biggest misconception is that parents are simply observers in the IEP process. You aren't.

Parents are members of the IEP team, and your knowledge of your child is valuable. You see things at home that teachers and specialists may not see at school. You may notice changes in homework, frustration, confidence, independence, organization, or behavior that provide important information about how your child is functioning.

The goal isn't to walk into an IEP meeting prepared to argue. The goal is to walk in prepared to participate.

Bring questions. Bring information. Review the data. Ask for clarification when something doesn't make sense. And don't be afraid to ask, “What is the reason for this recommendation?” or “What data are we using to make that decision?”

At Keeping Pace Learning Center, we work with families to help students strengthen academic skills, build confidence, and make meaningful progress. We also believe that informed parents are powerful advocates for their children.

Know the process. Ask questions. Look at the data. Work to understand the nature and root of your child’s academic difficulties. And remember: your child's IEP should be individualized to your child's needs—not built around a one-size-fits-all rule.

If you're unsure whether your child's current IEP is addressing their needs, consider starting with a simple question: “Is my child making the progress we expected, and if not, what should we change?” Sometimes, that question is where the most important conversation begins.

What is Keeping Pace Learning Center?

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 21:56:49 GMT

If your child is struggling in school, it can be difficult to know what kind of help they actually need. Is it tutoring? Reading support? An evaluation? Help with attention or memory? Or is there something deeper affecting the way they process and learn information?

At Keeping Pace Learning Center & Reading Clinic, we work with students who are struggling with reading, processing, attention, memory, executive function, and other learning challenges. Our approach goes beyond simply helping a student complete schoolwork. We use cognitive and academic assessments to better understand why a student is struggling and then create individualized, one-on-one intervention based on their specific needs.

We receive many questions from parents before they get started. Here are some of the questions we hear most often:

What does Keeping Pace do?

Keeping Pace specializes in individualized programs for children with processing disorders and other learning difficulties, including dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, ADHD and executive-function challenges, auditory and sensory processing difficulties, memory issues, and receptive or expressive language challenges.

Our first step is understanding how your child learns. Through a comprehensive cognitive and academic assessment, we look at your child's strengths, weaknesses, and underlying skills. This helps us determine which areas are getting in the way of efficient learning and which of our intervention methods are likely to be most beneficial.

From there, students work one-on-one with a trainer in an individualized program designed around their needs. Our goal isn't simply to make schoolwork easier for the moment. We want to strengthen the underlying skills that allow students to become more confident, capable, and independent learners.

Is Keeping Pace a tutoring center?

Not exactly.

While we can provide assistance with homework when appropriate, homework help is not our primary focus.

Our primary service is one-on-one intervention through specialized programs. Our programs are cognitive-based, with academic skills incorporated into the intervention. That distinction is important. Traditional tutoring often focuses on the academic content a student is currently struggling with. At Keeping Pace, we also look at the underlying processing and cognitive skills that may be making that academic work difficult in the first place.

For some students, strengthening skills such as attention, memory, processing speed, auditory processing, phonemic awareness, visual processing, sequencing, or executive function can make learning more efficient.

What if my child is bright but still struggling?

A child does not have to lack ability to have difficulty learning.In fact, many of the students we see are bright, capable children who are working much harder than they should have to in order to keep up.

A student may understand a concept when it is explained one-on-one but struggle to remember it later. They may know how to read certain words but have difficulty reading fluently. They may understand what they hear but struggle to follow multi-step directions. They may work for hours on homework that seems like it should take much less time.

These patterns can sometimes point to underlying processing, attention, memory, or executive-function difficulties.

The important question isn't simply whether a child can learn. It's whether they have the underlying skills they need to learn efficiently and independently.

How do you know which program my child needs?

Every student is different, which is why we don't take a one-size-fits-all approach.

We begin with cognitive and academic assessment to get a more complete picture of your child's learning profile. We look at both academic skills and the underlying cognitive and processing skills that support learning.

The results help us identify your child's strengths and areas of weakness and determine where intervention should begin. The idea is to identify the level at which a student can work successfully while also addressing underlying weaknesses that may be holding them back.

How many days or hours per week will my child need?

The recommended schedule depends on what we learn from your child's assessment and what their individual needs are.

In general, we typically recommend 3-4.5 hours per week, usually divided into two or three 90-minute sessions.

Because every student is different, the appropriate schedule may vary. Our goal is to provide enough consistent intervention to support meaningful progress without giving a student more than they can effectively handle.

Who will work with my child?

Your student will be assigned a personal trainer who will work with them each week.

One-on-one instruction allows the trainer to adjust the pace, activities, and level of instruction specifically for your child. Students receive immediate feedback and can move forward when they are ready, rather than having to keep up with a group or classroom pace.

Just as importantly, the consistent relationship between a student and their trainer can help children feel comfortable, understood, and successful as they work through areas that may have been frustrating for them in the past.

How does scheduling work?

Because your child works one-on-one with their personal trainer, scheduling can be flexible.

Days and times are arranged based on your family's availability and the trainer's schedule. If you need to reschedule a session or arrange a makeup, those details can be coordinated directly with your child's trainer. We understand that families have busy schedules, and we do our best to accommodate them whenever possible.

Do you offer homework help?

We can help with homework, but homework is not the main purpose of our program.

If a student needs help understanding an assignment or completing schoolwork, that can be incorporated when appropriate. However, our primary goal is to identify and address the skills that are making learning difficult.

In other words, we're not just asking, "How can we help your child finish this assignment?"

We're also asking, "Why is this assignment difficult for your child in the first place, and what skills can we strengthen to make learning easier?" That distinction is at the heart of the Keeping Pace approach.

Do you work with students with dyslexia?

Yes. Dyslexia is one of the learning difficulties we commonly support.

Our approach can include structured reading intervention as well as work on underlying processing and cognitive skills. Keeping Pace currently offers programs including Foundations in Sound and Barton Reading Systems for students who need targeted reading support.

Reading difficulties can look different from one child to another. Some students struggle with decoding, phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension, or remembering what they have read. That's why assessment is an important part of determining where intervention should begin.

Why isn't traditional tutoring always enough?

This is one of the most important questions parents ask.

For some students, traditional tutoring is exactly what they need. But when a child has an underlying processing or cognitive weakness, simply spending more time practicing the same academic skill may not address the reason they're struggling.

At Keeping Pace, we look at the broader learning picture. Our Learning Continuum includes foundational skills such as sensory and motor development, processing and cognitive skills such as attention and memory, executive-function skills, and academic skills such as reading, writing, language, and math.

The goal is to find the point where a student can benefit from intervention and build upward from there.

Still Have Questions?

We know that deciding what kind of support your child needs can feel overwhelming. You may know that something isn't quite right, but you may not know whether your child needs tutoring, an assessment, reading intervention, or something else entirely.

That's where we can help.

At Keeping Pace, we start by getting to know your child and understanding how they learn . From there, we can identify the areas that may be getting in the way and develop an individualized plan to help them move forward.

If you're concerned about your child's learning, reading, attention, memory, or academic progress, we'd love to talk with you about your concerns and help you determine what the next step should be.

Reach us at (866) 979-5706 or email anna@keepingpacelearningcenter.com.

Why Does My Child Skip Words When Reading?

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 19:44:36 GMT

The pattern almost every parent notices, what it actually means, and what helps.

“She rushes when she reads and skips over words.” We hear a version of this from almost every parent we sit down with, usually somewhere in the first few minutes of our first conversation, usually said a little apologetically, as if it's a habit their child just needs to slow down and fix.

Here's the direct answer, in case that's what brought you here: skipping words while reading is one of the most common patterns in children with dyslexia and related reading difficulties, and it isn't carelessness. It's what a brain does when decoding, the skill of matching letters to sounds, hasn't become automatic yet. Rather than sound out every word in a sentence, a child under that kind of load will often guess at a word from its shape, skip a small word entirely, or rush toward the end of a sentence just to be done with it. None of that is a discipline problem. It's a visible sign of real, measurable effort happening underneath the surface.

Most parents try the obvious fix first. Slow down. Take your time. Read it again. And for a little while, it can look like it's working, because a child who is asked to slow down usually will, for a sentence or two. Then the rushing comes right back, and it starts to feel less like a habit and more like something the child can't fully control, no matter how many times it's pointed out.

That's usually the moment a parent starts to worry they're doing something wrong. Maybe homework time has gotten tense. Maybe a teacher has mentioned it at conferences, framed as a focus issue rather than a reading one. Maybe the child themselves has started saying “I'm just bad at reading,” which is its own kind of heartbreak to hear from a seven or eight year old.

In our sessions at Keeping Pace, this is one of the patterns we sit with most often, and it's rarely the whole story a parent expects. Skipping words isn't usually about attention at all. It's about what's happening in the half-second before a child's eyes land on the next word, and whether that half-second is effortless or expensive.

The Effort Nobody Sees

Reading fluently depends on decoding, matching letters to their sounds quickly enough that the process becomes invisible, freeing up the child's attention for understanding the story rather than the mechanics of the words themselves. For a child with dyslexia, that matching process hasn't automated the way it has for a typically developing reader, so it draws on effort and attention that would otherwise go toward comprehension.

This is the reframe we return to in nearly every intake conversation at Keeping Pace, and the one we want every parent to leave with: skipping a word isn't a shortcut a child is taking because reading feels easy enough to cut corners on. It's closer to the opposite. It's evidence of how much a child is already paying, word by word, just to get through the sentence, and the skip is the brain's way of managing a cost that's too high to pay in full every single time.

Think of it like a toll that most readers stop noticing they're paying. For a fluent reader, decoding became automatic years ago, so the toll dropped to nearly nothing. For a child with dyslexia, that toll never dropped on its own. Every word is still a small transaction, and by the third or fourth word in a sentence, the brain starts looking for ways to get through without paying full price on every single one. Guessing at a word's shape, skipping a short connector word, rushing toward a stopping point, these are all ways of managing that ongoing cost. None of it means a child isn't capable, and none of it means they aren't trying. It means the mechanics of reading are asking more of them than they're asking of a same-age peer, and that gap is exactly what targeted intervention is built to close.

What Actually Closes the Gap

At Keeping Pace, our one-on-one intervention is built around this exact idea: the toll only drops with direct, structured, and repeated practice connecting letters to sounds until that connection stops requiring conscious effort. We don't ask a child to simply try harder or read more. We build the underlying skill in a systematic order, with enough repetition that it becomes automatic.

What that tends to look like in practice is focused sessions on specific sound-letter patterns, direct feedback in the moment a guess happens (rather than after the fact) and a steady increase in text complexity only once the easier layer has become close to automatic. It's slower than it sounds like it should be, and that's by design. Skill built this way tends to hold. Skill built by pushing a child to read faster before the underlying decoding is automatic tends to fall apart under pressure, which is often exactly the moment a parent needed it to hold.

Key Takeaways

Skipping words while reading is a documented pattern in children with dyslexia, not a sign of carelessness or inattention.
Research shows children with dyslexia make significantly more “guessing errors,” substituting a word with one that looks similar, than typically developing readers.
The pattern comes from how much effort decoding takes when it hasn't become automatic; the brain looks for a faster route through.
Structured, systematic phonics-based intervention is the evidence-based path to building automatic decoding, and it works at any age.
Small at-home shifts, like naming the pattern gently instead of correcting it, can change how a child experiences reading long before intervention finishes closing the gap.

What You Can Do at Home This Week

You don't have to wait for formal intervention to change how reading feels in your house. A few small, specific shifts can help right now.

Name the pattern instead of correcting the word. Try, “I noticed you moved through that one fast, want to go back and take your time on it?” This turns the moment into a shared skill you're building together, rather than a mistake being caught.
Read the sentence back together with your child after they skip. Hearing it with the skipped word restored, without being told they were wrong, helps a child notice the pattern themselves over time.
Slow down your own pace when reading aloud together. Children often mirror the rhythm of the adult reading with them, and a slower model can quietly reset the pace of a rushed reader.
Keep a running list of the words your child tends to guess at. Patterns usually emerge, short connector words, similarly shaped words, and that list becomes useful information for whoever is supporting your child's intervention.
Praise the attempt to sound a word out, even when it's slow. A child who is guessing has usually learned that guessing is faster and gets less negative attention than a slow, effortful sound-out. Reversing that association matters.
Protect reading time from becoming a battleground. If a session is falling apart, it's more useful to stop and return later than to push through frustration on both sides.
Talk to your child's teacher about what you're seeing at home. A teacher who understands this is a decoding pattern, not a focus issue, can adjust how they respond to it in the classroom too.

If you've read this far because your own child skips words when reading, I want you to leave with one thing above all else: this is not a discipline problem, and it isn't a reflection of how hard your child is trying. It's a visible sign of a toll being paid on nearly every word, and the goal isn't to make your child pay more attention. It's to bring that toll down until it disappears the way it already has for every fluent reader around them.

Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions you may have about what you're seeing at home!

Why Does My Bright Child Struggle?

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 20:38:56 GMT

Weak underlying processing skills can cause even very bright students to have to work harder or longer than expected. These skills are not usually addressed at school, but they are essential to reading and learning.

When a child is working harder than he/she should, it’s time to look at why and what can be done so that the child can become the most confident, efficient, and independent learner possible.

An estimated 30% of students in school have some difficulty with auditory processing; 20% are dyslexic and 50% of those who are ADHD are said to have hidden auditory processing challenges. Students who struggle, including those diagnosed with specific learning disabilities, dyslexia, and ADHD, can strengthen these underlying processing skills. This requires specific therapeutic approaches.

Intervention – Not Tutoring

Traditional tutors and schools approach learning at a curriculum and content level. While this approach works for select students with above average processing skills, it does not solve the difficulties of the percentages mentioned above. Those students need an approach that strengthens the underlying skills that enable them to become comfortable, independent learners.

When underlying processes are working together, students who have previously struggled can read and learn easily and efficiently.

What makes a good reader?

Strong readers don’t have to think about reading. They have good auditory and visual processing skills, and a memory system that supports decoding and reading. These foundational cognitive skills come naturally for good readers, however, poor readers must explicitly be taught these skills.

Skills like auditory and visual processing, and working memory are not directly taught in classroom settings or traditional tutoring centers. However, these are the skills that SUPPORT a good reader. Without them, reading will always be a struggle.

This is why intervention - not tutoring - is necessary to solve these processing inefficiencies and develop a strong reader.

“They’ll catch up by 3rd grade” Myth

Many parents are told not to worry about their child in Kinder, 1st, or 2nd who is struggling in reading. Maybe they are told their child is a “late bloomer.” However, by 3rd grade decoding skills are no longer taught in the classroom and many kids began to struggle in other topics due to their struggle with reading. Additionally, kids start comparing themselves and self-esteem plummets. Teachers may call it lack of focus or attention, when in reality, it’s frustration and fear. Students begin to dislike reading even more and the desire to read lessens.

As a parent, if your gut says something is wrong, don’t wait. Seek early intervention K-2 and don’t rely on the school’s timeline.

Five IEP Red Flags

Thu, 21 May 2026 18:47:16 GMT

Are you unhappy with your child’s IEP, but not sure what you can do to improve your child’s goals and progress?Or maybe you’re new to the IEP world and need some guidance on how to advocate for an IEP that serves your child and their educational needs.

We want to make parents feel comfortable and confident in an IEP meeting and give them the knowledge needed to advocate appropriately. Below are 5 red flags to look out for in the IEP process and documentation that if addressed, can substantially benefit your child’s special education experience.

Red Flag #1: Baseline levels are from old testing data.

The school should be evaluating your child’s current skills frequently. If goals are being written based on 2-year old test results of your child’s skills, then the goals are not accurate or relevant. A full re-evaluation does not have to be completed in order to get updated present levels. Pay attention to baseline information listed on your child's goals and ask your IEP team when this information was collected.

Red Flag #2: Goals are not measurable.

IEP goals are required to be specific, individualized, and measurable.

A goal that states, “John will improve his ability to read by next year,” is unable to be measured, lacks specificity, and does not uniquely relate to the student’s personal weakness in reading.

A measurable goal says, “By May 2027, when given a third grade expository text, John will be able to read the text orally at 70 wcpm with 80% accuracy in 4 out of 5 trials as measured by teacher charted data or assessments.”

A goal like this allows you to see if your child is progressing, falling behind, or not improving through very clear guidelines and recorded data. Your child’s goals should also be time specific and able to be completed within the IEP term. Check to see if your child's goals are individualized, measurable, and time specific.

Red Flag #3: Goals do not describe how they will be measured.

Not only do IEP goals need to be measurable, but they need to note how they will be measured. This could be stated as a particular assessment (ei. GORT or DIBELS) or listed as teacher charted records, assessments, work samples, or classroom assignments.

We recommend never having goals measured by teacher observation. When goals are measured via observation, there is no physical evidence or record of the student’s performance. If you see this written into your child’s IEP goal, you can request to change the way in which the goal is measured. Try asking for work samples instead.

Red Flag #4: The school does not provide evaluation reports or proposed goals prior to meetings.

Your IEP coordinator is legally required to provide access to psycho-educational reports, other assessment or work samples, and IEP drafts when requested without delay. In order for you to be an active participant in your child’s IEP, you need access to the same information the school has received. Write an email to your IEP team and request this information be sent to you 1 week prior to the meeting.

Red Flag #5: The IEP does not list when you will receive progress reports for your child.

Ask your IEP team how often progress will be measured and how often you will receive reports of progress and current skill levels. Your child’s classroom teacher should be monitoring progress on a regular basis and this information should be sent to you at regular intervals. This progress information should be specifically related to how your child is improving in relation to their IEP goals.

As a rule of thumb, if you catch one of these red flags, start by asking questions. Asking questions is a non-confrontational method that has the highest success rate of making change and keeping good rapport amongst the IEP team.

For questions about this blog post, email anna@keepingpacelearningcenter.com

Kinesthetic Processing

Mon, 11 May 2026 10:28:37 GMT

So far, we've discussed how visual and auditory processing difficulties can impact a child's life and education. How our brains interpret and perceive what we see and hear heavily impact how we can function in our daily lives let alone a classroom or academic setting. As we've noted already, difficulties with perceiving are characterized in numerous ways and not all children with a learning disability will experience the same struggles.

Kinesthetic processing, while some may argue to be less critical to the academic experience, is actually crucial in a child's development, most specifically as it interacts with our visual and auditory systems. Without all three of these perceptual functions working together, a child cannot learn easily and effectively.

What is kinesthetic processing?

Kinesthetic Processing relates to our sense of touch and movement. In a learning environment, kinesthetics might be involved through manipulatives like blocks to teach counting and addition or letter tiles to help early learners understand a letter's physical form.

There are two kinds of kinesthetic processing: gross motor and fine motor.

Gross motor movements are large movements, like walking, running, or tossing a ball. Fine motor movements are small movements. They include writing, typing, knitting, sketching, stringing beads, and performing laser surgery.

Students with gross motor problems have trouble processing body movements throughout space. Certain movements, even after repeated trials, like skipping, dancing, swinging a bat, or even walking may feel awkward and unnatural. These students may frequently bump into objects because they don’t have a strong sense of the distance between their body and the objects. They may get lost in the mall, drop the ball at a crucial moment in the game or frequently trip. Students with severe gross motor problems tend to break bones, sprain muscles and bruise and scrape themselves more often than others.

Students with fine motor problems often have trouble learning to write. Gripping the pencil, even after repeated practice, may feel uncomfortable and awkward. Forming the letters and connecting them into words may cause problems. These students don’t seem to develop muscle memory for handwriting movements.

Written assignments often take longer for these students to complete, even when they know all the answers. These students may take pains to write slowly and carefully, yet all they get for their efforts is a sloppy piece of work turned in late. Or they may be able to write neatly, but at the expense of speed. If students cannot write legibly and fluently at the same time, they will have problems, particularly when they must finish class work within a time limit.

Long assignments, like book reports or term papers, can pose so much of a challenge that some students would rather settle for a low grade than experience the irritation and frustration that comes with writing the assignment. A low grade is less punishing.

Some students have trouble copying work from the board. They cannot seem to translate what they see and think into the proper handwriting movements. The students often test poorly on short answer and essay tests, even though they know the answers.

All of these difficulties derive from an under functioning kinesthetic system. What may look like laziness, avoidance, or a lack of understanding may actually be something much more basic.

In our posts we’ve walked through how a learning disability is defined (a perceptual and/or memory disorder that interferes with children’s ability to interpret and store what they see, hear, or sense through movement) and we’ve broken down how learning disabilities present in relation to auditory, visual, and kinesthetic processing. We’ve seen how these perceptual struggles greatly impact not only academics and school performance, but a child’s daily life.

It is important to make the distinction that learning disabilities are perceptual problems, NOT intellectual ones. Students with learning disabilities have average to above average intelligence. They think well, but have difficulties learning in spite of good intelligence.

If the signs we’ve discussed sound like they apply to your child, seek intervention services now. Stop waiting in the hope that they’ll catch up in a year. Stop labeling them as a “late bloomer.” These are signs that there is something more happening underneath the surface, and with the proper support, your child could flourish and enjoy learning, not merely struggle to get by.

Auditory Processing

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 17:29:15 GMT

Mo st children with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) are not really aware that they are having trouble processing information; parents are often not aware either. What the kids do know is that they are not getting the right reactions - approval, feeling of accomplishment, or acceptance.

In the simplest terms, Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is a difficulty in processing sound. Because we learn a great deal by listening to others, problems processing what we hear can have far-reaching and devastating effects. Here are some common auditory processing problems:

Auditory Sequencing

Some students cannot remember the order in which they hear information. Following verbal directions is often hard for them. They may also have trouble remembering a phone number that someone just told them, or the steps for completing an assignment or math computation.

Auditory Discrimination or Sound Awareness

To understand what others are saying, one must perceive the subtle differences among word sounds. Many words sound similar. Some examples are: “tab-tap,” “Paul-ball,” “are-our,” “half-have,” “ladder-latter,” and “pin-pen.”

For some students, perceiving these subtle differences is hard. This can make learning phonics difficult. Many students with auditory discrimination problems alos mispronounce fairly common words. They don’t process all teh syllables they hear and, as a result, mispronounce them. For instance, “installation” may come out as “instigation.”

Verbal Concepts

Difficulty understanding abstract ideas can severely limit students’ understanding of what they hear. Some students tend to think concretely. They understand ideas they can see, hear or feel or ideas that have obvious application to daily life. They have trouble, though, making sense of abstract ideas. These students may do well on test questions about factual information, but have trouble with those requiring inferential reasoning or critical thinking.

Auditory Memory

Some students understand what they hear – they simply can’t remember it. Like visual emory, auditory memory can be short-term or long-term. Some students have poor short-term memory. A short-term memory stores information for a few moments only. For instance, when you hear a phone number, you need to remember it long enough to either write it or dial it. When someone calls out a word spelling, you need to retain it long enough to spell it yourself. Students with weak short-term memories find these routine tasks hard.

These students often have trouble with long-term memory because the information doesn’t get registered to begin with. Other students may have good short-term memories, but have trouble storing information long-term. These students may do well on pop quizzes that measure how well one listens in class that day and do poorly on the same information that’s tested two weeks later.

Processing Speed

Some students understand what they hear if the information is presented at a pace they can keep up with. If they listen to too much information too quickly, however, they lose it. They cannot absorb, connect, and remember condensed information. They need time to process and review information, yet often don’t get to or take this time.

Visual Processing

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 01:00:33 GMT

Last week in our post, "Understanding the Nature of Learning Disabilities," we discussed common signs your child could be struggling with a learning disability, what is classified as a learning disability according to the federal government, and how learning disabilities are inefficiencies in the way or the speed at which our brains process and/or remember information. This information can be visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. This post will cover common difficulties as they relate to visual processing.

Below are some ways students can have trouble learning information they see.

Visual Sequencing

Some students have trouble perceiving and/or remembering the correct order in which they see something. For instance, a student learning to spell may write “kicthen” instead of “kitchen.” She remembers most of the letters in the word, but not the order of their arrangement. Another student may understand the teacher as she demonstrates the sequence for a long division problem, yet not remember this sequence long enough to do one independently.

Other students may accurately perceive and remember the order of information they see, but at a slower pace than their classmates. They may work well at their own speed, yet make numerous careless errors when they feel rushed.

Visual Discrimination and Pattern Recognition

Some students have problems perceiving the distinguishing features between two words, shapes or other configurations that look similar. They may have trouble perceiving the differences between such words as “what-want,” “three-the re,” and “on-no.” Learning certain letters can present problems for these students. These letters, for example, look very similar - “b-d-p,” “m-n,” “w-v-y.”

Some students have trouble recognizing the common visual patterns found on maps and graphs, such as key maps, the north-south-east-west directions and the configurations of specific countries. As a result, they study the map or graph by moving their eyes over them in a haphazard manner instead of in a planned sequence. They gain little information.

Other students have problems recognizing math computations for what they are. In spite of previous exposure to the skill, they fail to recognize an arrangement of math numbers and signs as being a long division problem, so they don’t know how to divide the numbers. Or they fail to recognize another pattern as adding fractions with unlike denominators, even though they just completed ten of those problems for yesterday’s assignment.

Visual Tracking

To read fluently, students must learn to move their eyes from left to right and from top to bottom. For many math exercises, they must move their eyes from right to left and from top to bottom. Some students have difficulty tracking their work. Their eyes may skip around the page or miss an entire line of text. They might read the first two syllables of a word and miss half of the third syllable. They might skip the next step in a math computation because their eyes lose the visual sequence.

Visual Detail

Paying attention to such visual details as commas, apostrophes, positive and negative numbers, accent marks and word endings is difficult for some students with visual processing problems. Their eyes don’t seem to lock onto these small symbols that are often tucked between other letters, numbers, and signs. These students may be able to recite their capital and punctuation rules well, but forget to use them when writing. They might know how to solve an algebra problem, yet inadvertently use a positive sign instead of a negative one.

Students who have difficulty processing visual details often lose points on tests and homework grades for what appear to be careless errors. These students may translate a sentence in a foreign language correctly, but lose five points because they didn't write the accent marks. On their research paper, they might get a B for their content grade and a D for writing mechanics, because they omitted commas, capitals, and word endings like “ing,” “es,” and “ed.”

Visual Concepts

Some students have trouble visualizing two and three-dimensional objects. They may understand a geometric theorem about congruent angles, but have difficulty mentally picturing this concept when asked to complete a proof.

Students who have trouble picturing objects and angles most often rely solely on their memory of theorems, postulates, and rules to get through geometry. While it's entirely possible to pass geometry this way, it requires more work.

Other students may be able to tell you how to get from Point A to Point B, but have difficulty drawing you a map with roads, landmarks, and distances in relative proportion. They can process verbal directions but not visual ones.

Visual Memory

Some students have trouble remembering certain types of information they see. They may be able to picture a person’s eye color and what they wore a month ago, but cannot picture the looks of words for a spelling test or word spellings when they write paragraphs and essays. This difficulty visualizing words interrupts their thought processes repeatedly because they must stop what they’re doing and spell.

Some students cannot picture math facts. With enough practice, most students can mentally picture 7 x 9 = 63. They don’t have to think the fact – they simply recall what their minds see. Whenever they think or hear the fact 7 x 9, they also picture the answer 63. Other students can look at the fact, write it several times, but lose their mental image of it when they look up. They have poor short-term memory for visual symbols like numbers.

These students often have trouble copying notes, math problems and sentences from the board. They look up at a math exercise, look down to copy it and forget what they just saw. This forces them to look from the board to the paper many times to copy one item. In spite of their efforts, they may still miscopy the information.

Difficulties in visual processing effect they way children learn and perform basic academic skills. These difficulties make learning hard and only proper cognitive intervention can solve these struggles. If you've seen these struggles in your student, fill out an intake form on our website today, and stay tuned next week for ways auditory processing effects learning and how these difficulties manifest in daily life!

Understanding the Nature of Learning Disabilities

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 23:01:16 GMT

Sometimes students have school problems in spite of their efforts to do well. Many situational factors can interfere with students’ abilities to learn. A death in the family, divorce, extended illness, moving, and unemployment are a few situations that can cause enough anxiety to make learning difficult. Given enough support and time to adjust, however, many students get over these hurdles and back on track.

Some students have learning problems that are not temporary, but long-term. These students may have learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, borderline intelligence, emotional and behavioral problems, or, for other reasons, be caught in a cycle of underachievement.

The following briefly summarizes some long-term learning problems.

Characteristics of Students with Learning Disabilities

While most everyone experiences minor learning problems from time to time, students with learning disabilities experience them much of the time, especially during their school years. Depending on how one defines a learning disability, which can vary from state to state, estimates of the prevalence of learning disorders range from 2-10%. About 5% of students in the United States public schools are certified as having a learning disorder.

There are some problems students with learning disabilities experience. Because there’s a wide range of variation among this population, no one student may experience all of these difficulties all the time. He or she may experience any combination of them at different times.

Difficulty learning basic reading, writing, spelling, math, and/or language skills despite average to superior intelligence
Problems pronouncing words
Difficulty gripping the pencil and writing neatly
Difficulty generalizing information and transferring it from one situation to the next
Inflexibility and rigidity
Problems learning to tell time
Problems managing time
Trouble finishing homework and following directions
Short attention span
Confusion with left and right
Clumsiness
Impulsivity
Distractibility
Disorganization
Social immaturity
Over-reacting, heightened sensitivity
Low frustration tolerance

The federal government defines a specific learning disability as:

…a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brian injury, minimal brian dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include children who have learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing or motor handicaps, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage (DOE, 1995).

Part of this means that, in spite of their average to above average intelligence, students with learning disabilities aren’t learning at a rate that's suggested by their intellectual potential. There’s a significant discrepancy between their potential and their actual achievement. These learning problems aren’t due to such factors as a visual or hearing impairment, mental retardation, or emotional problems.

For instance, let’s say a student has an intelligence quotient, or I.Q., of 100. Since this is in the average range of intelligence, we expect her to handle grade level work fairly well. What if she doesn’t, though? What if she’s in fifth grade and reading on a third grade level and spelling on a second grade level? If she doesn’t have visual or hearing impairment, or a severe emotion, psychological or environmental problem, why isn’t she performing grade level work? What’s the reason for this discrepancy between her ability and her actual achievement?

While no one is completely sure of the exact causes of learning disabilities, we do know that students with learning disabilities have trouble in one or more of these areas – interpreting what they perceive, developing receptive and expressive language, remembering what they learn, and paying attention.

Learning disabilities are often called perceptual disabilities. More specifically, a perceptual difficulty is a difficulty in processing what one sees, hears, and/or feels. A student with learning disabilities may have good eyesight, acute hearing, and good use of his muscles; however, his brain doesn’t efficiently process or interpret the information received from his senses.

A learning disability can include memory problems. Some people accurately perceive and interpret what they see, hear, or feel, but they don’t remember it. Determining if a student has a memory or perceptual problem can be challenging. Students who don’t accurately perceive and interpret information will obviously have problems remembering it. The information doesn’t make sense to begin with.

Some students, however, accurately perceive the information. They might understand most everything their teachers tell them, but they can’t remember it. Memory problems are often specific. Some students can’t easily remember the letters and numbers they read and write, but can easily remember a room design, a person’s eye color, or a location on a map.

Learning disabilities range in severity. Some students have mild disabilities where their ability to learn is only slightly impaired. Others have moderate to severe disabilities. These students, without proper treatment and support, can experience significant learning handicaps.

We perceive, interpret, and remember information through our five senses – sight, hearing, touch/movement, taste, and smell. The three senses that have the greatest impact on school success are sight, hearing, and touch/movement. Our sight is our visual sense, hearing is our auditory sense, and touch and movement are our kinesthetic sense.

To better understand how learning disabilities can interfere with learning, over the next few weeks, we will take a closer look at the problems some students have in perceiving, interpreting, and/or remembering information from their visual, auditory, and kinesthetic modalities, and how these problems practically impact learning.

Secret Power of Sudoku

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 23:39:53 GMT

J ust like physical exercise, your mind needs some exercise too. Playing sudoku actually exercises your brain extensively. This is why we incorporate these number puzzles into our brain intervention training at Keeping Pace!

Sudoku is a logic puzzle played on a 9×9 grid where the goal is to fill in the missing numbers so that each row, each column, and each 3×3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9 exactly once. The puzzle starts with some numbers already filled in, and players use reasoning and logic, rather than guessing, to determine where the remaining numbers belong.

Playing sudoku with the guidance of a trainer or parent that understands the techniques to make sudoku an aid in cognitive intervention can be a fun way to improve so many important skills for your student.

Below are some profound benefits of playing sudoku:

Improves your memory

Memory and logic work side-by-side when you are playing sudoku. We use our memory to memorize numbers and use logic to figure out the next blank. Working memory is built as well when you use the note taking method. Taking notes in the corners of each box on possible numbers for that blank, allows you to go back and easily update your notes, figuring out the answer to the blank through a process of elimination. Having to go back to old information using new information is an example of working memory being targeted.

Stimulates multiple areas of the brain

Sudoku keeps you practicing your logical thinking process with visual information when you are solving a puzzle, but it can also be turned into an auditory exercise with the help of a parent or trainer. A parent can ask questions along the way such as, “Can a 1 go here? Why or why not?” Allowing sudoku to become an auditory exercise as well as visual and forcing these two systems to work simultaneously. This practice of auditory and visual systems working together is crucial for improving how we learn.

Improve executive function

Does your student constantly forget to write down the agenda, is unable to follow multi-step directions, or always has a disorganized backpack? Maybe you find it hard to multitask yourself or accurately time manage. These are signs of poor executive functioning skills. Sudoku helps improve mental organization and sense of time. When completing the puzzle, make sure to always verbalize all thoughts and steps you are taking. This improves your mental monologue which is needed for good organization, memory, and time management skills.

Increases concentration

Sudoku requires players to think strategically and solve problems creatively. Once you fill in one blank or area of the puzzle, you have to start again with a new blank or section. This means you are starting the whole thinking process over again, which helps develop concentration power and re-focus skills. Both of these skills are needed for learning, especially in a classroom setting.

Improves skills needed for math

When completing a sudoku puzzle by putting notes in certain boxes, as mentioned before, the student is forced to do things in sequential order, no matter what. Long multiplication and long division are just a couple examples of following strict sequential order. Practice following steps in sequential order and applying logic and reasoning is exactly what is needed in a multitude of math concepts and problems.

Feel Happy

Solving a sudoku puzzle gives you a sense of accomplishment, especially if the puzzle is a difficult one. When a student figures out an answer to a blank, that equates to success, confidence, and ultimately increased happiness and self-esteem!

Sudoku is for everyone, not just struggling students. It sharpens the mind and gives everyone the much needed exercise our brains crave each day. You can purchase sudoku books through amazon, a dollar store, or pharmacy. Try giving them to your student during a car ride to pass the time or as a refocusing activity before starting homework. Try out a sudoku puzzle for yourself as a morning mind-sharpening activity or while listening to music/watching television.

It is important to note that there are many online avenues for sudoku or IOS apps to download which may seem easier or more accessible. However, completing a digital sudoku fails to incorporate a kinesthetic aspect that only writing with pen or pencil can train. Practicing fine motor skills in unison with the other skills previously mentioned is crucial.

Try a sudoku puzzle with your student today and see the sense of accomplishment puzzle solving can bring! In a few weeks, watch them grow and start to apply these skills to their academics and daily life.

For questions about this blog post contact anna@keepingpacelearningcenter.com

3 Exercises for the Struggling Reader

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 01:12:53 GMT

Does your child avoid reading by stalling, taking bathroom breaks, fidgeting, or emotional breakdowns? Do they flip words like “saw/was” or maybe skip small words like “the” and “and” when reading aloud? If so, it's not because they’re lazy or don’t care. These are signs your child is struggling.

When a student is struggling with literacy, they often feel like they are constantly failing as others around them succeed. Self-esteem decreases and avoidance or over-focusing becomes the only option available to them. Oftentimes these students develop ADHD-like symptoms due to the difficulty of learning and so teachers easily blame the student’s struggles on attention. The problem is, this fundamentally misses the root of the issue: the inefficiency of learning and more specifically decoding.

There are 4 common areas of weakness that impact a student’s ability to learn to decode.

Weak phonological skills - phonemic analysis skills that interfere with decoding
Rapid naming skills - a processing speed issue
Short term visual and/or auditory memory difficulties
Visual perceptual weakness

These areas of weakness are cognitive in nature and impact a child’s academic skill to decode. Therefore, we must take a cognitive approach when working with schoolwork and homework to target these areas and improve decoding skills. There are 3 activities struggling readers can use to improve these areas of weakness and can be applied to any reading material whether it be schoolwork, a library book, or the back of a cereal box. These are: Echo Tap, Spell Read, and Neurological Impress Read.

As a disclaimer , these three procedures alone will not cure a learning disability and should be used to support intervention or classroom/homework material. If your child struggles with reading, please seek intervention now. Progress becomes harder after 3rd grade. Don’t hesitate. These activities are something you can start doing now to set them up for success.

Echo Tap: Helps students process syllables they hear and remember the words at the same time.

1. Parent reads a sentence and taps the syllables simultaneously. (Some words will require more than one tap due to being a multiple syllable word).

2. Parent should double tap for any punctuation.

3. Student then repeats the sentence read by the parent; tapping for each syllable (and double tapping for punctuation) as she/he reads.

4. If the student makes any mistake, repeat and tap only the mistake made.

If the student is sensitive to noise or does not like the feeling of tapping on a table. You may have the student tap a pillow on their lap or tap 1-2 fingers on the table to reduce sound. The student may also wish to clap instead of tap which is an appropriate alternative.

Spell Read: Helps develop an instantaneous, visual word recognition system which non-dyslexics acquire naturally.

1. Student puts her/his finger under the word and spells each letter, then reads the word.

2. The parent can tell them what the word is if the student does not know it. And/or the parent and student can spell and read the word together if additional help is needed.

3. Spell Read should only be practiced for 3 to 6 minutes at a time - just enough time to exercise and reinforce the important neural pathways they build.

Neurological Impress Read (NIR): Develops a flow and rhythm to reading, an understanding of punctuation, comprehension through intonation and inflection, a pleasure/desire for reading, and enhances word recognition and sight word vocabulary.

1. Teacher (or parent) as a guide sets reading pace - slow and even.

2. Guide has finger above the word - student places finger (or marker) underneath the word.

3. Guide and student move fingers together in synchrony with each word they are reading.

4. Student is to stay with guide - not reading ahead or decoding words behind.

5. Eyes are at the same place as their finger - not in front or behind.

6. Both guide and student tap twice - in synchrony - for all punctuation - comma, dashes, periods, question marks, etc.

7. Eventually the guide subvocalizes - whispers and allows the student's voice to become dominant.

8. (Done 10 minutes a day with any reading material at home or given by a teacher.)

NIR reduces the stress, fear, and pressure of trying to read (decode and pronounce) a word. The student knows that the word will be read and that they will be successful. It models efficient reading skills while at the same time exposing the student to new vocabulary and giving the students practice in pronouncing the word.

These 3 reading exercises are practical strategies you can take to turn reading time into a cognitive-based activity that exercises important areas of the brain needed for strong decoding, fluency, and comprehension. Try these at home or suggest these activities to your child’s teacher and see how reading becomes more approachable!

For questions about this post, contact anna@keepingpacelearningcenter.com.

A Letter to a Hesitant Parent

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 22:42:23 GMT

Dear Hesitant Parent,

You asked me to help explain why one should consider Keeping Pace Learning Center over the various other options available. I am going to give you some background information and then on the last pages tell you “why” Keeping Pace Learning Center is the best fit for Adam.

Since you were able to watch the whole assessment, you understand that when learning, behaving and/or paying attention is difficult there is at least one underlying developmental system that has not matured or integrated enough for things to be easier. For optimal learning, these many systems must work together automatically. Weakness in any of these systems cause a learner to have to expand a great deal of energy on forcing the eyes to work the way they should, the ears to take in information as they should and body to maintain its posture and attention effortlessly. They then have no reserves for the active participation that is necessary to learn and behave. The kids with these weakness just wear out, shut down or misbehave.

The three developmental systems that are the foundation for learning and behaving are:

Visual system – This includes what the eyes do to see and the part of the brain that processes visual information that has been “seen.”

Auditory system – this system includes what the ear receives as well as the parts of the brain that process this auditory information.

Vestibular system - is the precise internal guidance system of the body for maintaining a sense of balance and organization of the body.

Here are some basics about these systems that will be helpful to understand prior to making a final decision as to when and where to start interventions and when or where to consider medication.

All three systems are designed to mature together and work together. When one of the systems is not working correctly, maturity and development of the other systems can be negatively impacted. In a great majority of kids, if two systems are intact and working correctly it allows for the third system to be “pulled along” and maturity of the third system can happen in time. The kid really does mature. This has not been the case with Adam and left alone, these systems will stay delayed and un-integrated.

Who primarily “treats” these difficulties?

Most O c cupational Therapists ( OT’s) that work in schools focus only on getting a child to write something that is read-able and not on the vestibular system. Most occupational therapist that work with children through the medical model work on children until age 3 or 4 and really just work on the things that a child must do to “survive in the world” – such as button, zip, tie shoes, use a fork and knife. They are not afforded the luxuries of fixing the system.

Most Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP’s) work on the child’s ability to say the words they need to say (articulation). They sometimes work in language processing – how to talk in complete sentences using the correct grammar. School based SLP’s do not work on auditory processing. Some even believe that there is not much you can do if your child does not process information well. They consider it a permanent learning disability with no possible means of remediation.

Most Developmental Optometrists work on ways to get a child’s eyes to track (saccadic movement), follow (smooth pursuit) and process near and far information. It is difficult to find a developmental optometrist and the interventions normal require multiple days per week.

Most “tutoring” centers focus only on academic skills such as reading, writing and spelling and math without regard to the developmental systems that are not yet in place. They just provide a different curriculum and more targeted practice of the skills the students should have received at school if the child was ready to learn it when it was presented. Since Adam is just at the beginning of his academics, you have yet to see the difficulties that will arise if the appropriate intervention is not put in place.

About Adam:

Adam has some significant difficulties in each of these three systems. His visual system does not function efficiently, so he has to work extra hard to get correct visual information. His auditory system does not take in correct information, and he has to work extra hard to process. Listening is just HARD work for him.

His vestibular system is so unregulated thus he has to move, look all over the place, squirm, flap his hands and lick his lips and wipe his face just to stay in his body to be present and gather information to feel like he has some sense of control and safety. He at times can’t even participate unless he is fidgeting with something. When he just can’t do it anymore, he shuts down, melts down, refuses to do something, strikes out in frustration or has to take a nap.

We find that if you were to watch a student (like Adam) they might look like a student whose primary difficulty was attention. These symptoms of inattentiveness are just that - symptoms. Parents often ask what you are asking: If we medicated the child would the underlying cause of the difficulties in behavior/learning mature and the symptoms subside? When the answer to the question is NO - then medication is not the answer. Adam's handwriting and pencil grip would not be better because it is related the delayed primitive reflexes and the visual and auditory systems not working together. His ability to process auditory information would not be better because of the medication. The ability to regulate his system and learn to manage his own attention and emotions would not improve.

Remember that with Adam, these are delayed developmental systems. Some say that medication might allow the system to be able to potentially begin to mature. Medication does not do anything to specifically target each system and give the system what it needs to CATCH up and close the gap that is present. That is why we see kids on medication for many, many years. The minute the medication is stopped, the symptoms reappear.

Why Keeping Pace Learning Center?

1. Our procedures and programs sequentially integrate the three systems simultaneously - not just one isolated system at a time. This is why we can see dramatic changes in just a few short months.

When we are working on one system the procedures are designed to pull the other systems in also. As an example, when we are working on visual (smooth pursuit) by tossing the weighted bean bag he would be on a balance board thus placing demands of the vestibular system at same time. Since he has to follow verbal information while doing the practice, it involves the auditory system also.

2. Precise parent involvement and training combined with home practice. The more a parent truly understands, the greater the parent participation and the faster the response to intervention. We know that Adam has had a lot of interventions but typically a parent has not been trained by the SLP or OT and involved in daily practice - thus no dramatic response.

3. Academic and IEP/ school-based support. We know how to interpret school-based assessments such as Ed-Psych reports and know when the school should be assessing for further understanding of what the child needs. We can help determine if the services at the school are quality services or a waste of time and energy for the child.

I hope this answers some of your questions and gives you the background you need. Feel free to call anytime.

Sincerely,

Keeping Pace Learning Center