Adults Computer Training

It’s Adult Learners Week! We are running sessions tomorrow at Indigo Dyslexia Centre Suffolk for adults looking to improve their computer literacy. We look forward to seeing you!

Come on,  you people who live locally, go and get yourself some computer training.  The staff at Indigo Centre are brilliant.  Go and give them a go!

22nd May 2013
Indigo Dyslexia Centre

Left and right: Anthea Turner suffered with dyslexia before she was voted off Dancing on Ice
Photo by PA

My struggles with dyslexia by Anthea: Dancing on Ice contestant reveals it meant  she mixed up left Left and right: Anthea Turner suffered with dyslexia before she was voted off Dancing onGiven that she struggles to tell left from  right, being the fourth contestant voted off a dance show isn’t at all  bad.And anyway, it seems Anthea Turner, who left  Dancing on Ice on Sunday night, was quite happy with another prize – her ‘skater’s bum’.

Before her exit Miss Turner, 52, had  described how she suffered with dyslexia, which meant she mixed up her left and  right during the routines.

She said: ‘I think my biggest problem has  been, and we’ve spoken about it, I am dyslexic and dyslexics never know their  right from their left.

‘And I’ve had terrible trouble and the  coaches are going bonkers at me going, “Do you know your right from your  left?”.’

As a result she faced criticism from the  judges for not spending enough time with her feet on the ice, as she found it  easier to learn the lifts.

But while the training may have been a  struggle, the former Blue Peter presenter was more than happy with its results.

She said it had given her a ‘skater’s bum’, adding: ‘I need to hold onto that. I haven’t had a bum as good as this  ever.’

As a result she faced criticism from the  judges for not spending enough time with her feet on the ice, as she found it  easier to learn the lifts.

But while the training may have been a  struggle, the former Blue Peter presenter was more than happy with its results.

She said it had given her a ‘skater’s bum’, adding: ‘I need to hold onto that. I haven’t had a bum as good as this  ever.’

She said it had not gone unnoticed by her  husband, Grant Bovey, 50. They have survived a rocky patch in their marriage,  something Miss Turner credits her involvement in Dancing on Ice with.

Miss Turner said: ‘Things are back on track,  our field has been given a re-turf. It takes two people, relationships go  through difficult times and I don’t know anyone who has a clean  run.

‘We lost each other for a while and things  went a bit off track but a very good friend of mine, from a very strong Indian  family, said, “if there are 20 chains that hold you together and you’ve a  problem with one of them, don’t destroy everything, just don’t destroy  everything”.’

Viewers will have noticed Miss Turner’s  shrinking figure – and outfits – as the show progressed  week-by-week.

Miss Turner left the ITV show after judges  chose to save Keith Chegwin following a ‘save me skate’.

By Laura Cox
Daily Mail Online
29 January 2013

The 18-year-old former Coedcae School pupil, who is hoping to qualify for  Team GB’s Junior Triathlon team, is urging youngsters to never give up on their  goals.

Liam, who was diagnosed with the learning difficulty at the age of nine, used  his love of triathlons and running to help him focus on his studies, and to  manage his dyslexia.

Thanks to his dedication, Liam went on to achieve good results in his GCSEs  and was made deputy head boy in his final year.

“I would encourage youngsters to get into sport, whatever it is you enjoy,  give it a go,” he said.

“It can make such a difference to children with dyslexia as it helps to build  confidence and character through the necessary commitment and simply by its  nature.

“I really hope I can continue to inspire young people to go for gold as I  continue to.”

4th May 2013
South Wales Evening Post
thisissouthwales.co.uk

How A Particular Type Of Drawing Is Associated With Reading Achievement In Kindergarton

Parents spend lots of time trying to ensure that their child is ready for kindergarten. Much of that effort is devoted to things we know are important – for example, reading. But it’s becoming accepted that fine motor skills are also a critical domain of development which intersects – in sometimes surprising ways – with cognitive development. And the results of an interesting study published in the journal Child Development hones in on one particular type of fine motor development – design copy or, more simply, copying shapes.

A group of researchers recruited over 200 3- and 4-year olds. They studied the kids prior to entry to kindergarten, testing them on a number of things, including a variety of fine motor skills. They then collected data on the kids’ reading performance throughout kindergarten.

What they found was that design copy was an especially good indicator of reading skill and progress through the kindergarten year. Kids who showed higher design copy skills – being able, for example, to copy shapes like a square or a circle – had elevated scores on a number of indicators of reading achievement, including phonological awareness, decoding, and reading comprehension. This association held after accounting for a number of other factors, leading the researchers to speculate that design copy plays a unique role in the development of literacy.

All this makes sense when you think of what kids are doing in kindergarten – part of their language development is to learn how to write (copy) letters. The researchers speculated that, in part, when kids have good design copy skills, they can focus their attention more on learning the sound and meaning of words (as opposed to having to focus more on using a pencil). That said, they also suggested that there are probably unique cognitive skills that come from developing fine motor skills in general, and design copy in particular.

So, in addition to having fun reading to your toddler, spend a little time encouraging them to copy shapes. That’s fun as well – and it’s a nice way to help them learn a skill that will serve them well in kindergarten.

by Richard Rende, PhD
Parents
12th September 2012

Image of adult and child drawing via Shutterstock.com

Fears of handwriting’s demise prompted North Carolina Congresswoman Pat Hurley to draft a bill, mandating that script be taught in all elementary schools in the state. It passed unanimously in the state House earlier this month.

But Jeffrey Reaser, associate professor of linguistics at North Carolina State University, says a sense of “nostalgia” is not enough reason to force students to learn something that’s “not crucial to their education”.

Meanwhile, some classrooms in the state have begun teaching students handwriting on iPads and iPods.

There is a Video attached to this page.

 BBC’s Matt Danzico
16 April 2013

Singing words made it easier for stroke patients to communicate – and could aid reading

Whilst this article is looking at people who have had strokes and how the brain re-wires itself.  The article specialists found that this also helped children to read.  Therefore, get them all singing I say.  There are hundreds of children’s songs but how often do you hear them sing?  Singing, helps the brain to accept words and sounds, but maybe more importantly ‘rhythm’, which enables reading easier.

You can read the article below, it is a bit lengthy, but if you or you child  have problems with reading, its worth it.

Dr Kraus has also discovered that musical training seems to enhance the ability to perform other tasks, such as reading.

She said that the insights into how the brain responds to music provided evidence that musical training was an important part of children’s education.

Teaching stroke patients to sing “rewires” their brains, helping them recover their speech, say scientists.

By singing, patients use a different area of the brain from the area involved in speech.

If a person’s “speech centre” is damaged by a stroke, they can learn to use their “singing centre” instead.

Researchers presented these findings at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in San Diego.

An ongoing clinical trial, they said, has shown how the brain responds to this “melodic intonation therapy”.

Gottfried Schlaug, a neurology professor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston, US, led the trial.

The therapy is already established as a medical technique. Researchers first used it when it was discovered that stroke patients with brain damage that left them unable to speak were still able to sing.

Professor Schlaug explained that his was the first study to combine this therapy with brain imaging – “to show what is actually going on in the brain” as patients learn to sing their words.

Making connections

Most of the connections between brain areas that control movement and those that control hearing are on the left side of the brain.

“But there’s a sort of corresponding hole on the right side,” said Professor Schlaug.

“For some reason, it’s not as endowed with these connections, so the left side is used much more in speech.

“If you damage the left side, the right side has trouble [fulfilling that role].”

But as patients learn to put their words to melodies, the crucial connections form on the right side of their brains.

Previous brain imaging studies have shown that this “singing centre” is overdeveloped in the brains of professional singers.

During the therapy sessions, patients are taught to put their words to simple melodies.

Professor Schlaug said that after a single session, a stroke patients who was are not able to form any intelligible words learned to say the phrase “I am thirsty” by combining each syllable with the note of a melody.

The patients are also encouraged to tap out each syllable with their hands. Professor Schlaug said that this seemed to act as an “internal pace-maker” which made the therapy even more effective.

“Music might be an alternative medium to engage parts of the brain that are otherwise not engaged,” he said.

Brain sounds

Dr Aniruddh Patel from the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, said the study was an example of the “explosion in research into music and the brain” over the last decade.

“People sometimes ask where in the brain music is processed and the answer is everywhere above the neck,” said Dr Patel.

“Music engages huge swathes of the brain – it’s not just lighting up a spot in the auditory cortex.”

Dr Nina Kraus, a neuroscientist from Northwestern University in Chicago, also studies the effects of music on the brain.

In her research, she records the brain’s response to music using electrodes on the scalp.

This work has enabled her to “play back” electrical activity from brain cells as they pick up sounds.

“Neurons work with electricity – so if you record the electricity from the brain you can play that back through speakers and hear how the brain deals with sounds,” she explained.

Dr Kraus has also discovered that musical training seems to enhance the ability to perform other tasks, such as reading.

She said that the insights into how the brain responds to music provided evidence that musical training was an important part of children’s education.

21st February 2013
Science reporter, BBC News,
San DiegoBy Victoria Gill

The smell of rosemary may enhance the ability to remember events and to remember to complete tasks at particular times

The smell of rosemary could boost your memory, researchers said.

Aroma of essential oil from the herb could improve memory in healthy adults, according to researchers from the University of Northumbria.

The smell may enhance the ability to remember events and to remember to complete tasks at particular times, they said.

A group of 66 people were given memory tests in either a rosemary-scented room or another room with no scent. Participants were tasked with various tests to assess their memory functions, including finding hidden objects and passing specified objects to researchers at a particular time.

The results, presented at the British Psychological Society’s annual conference in Harrogate, showed that participants in the rosemary-scented room performed better on the prospective memory tasks than those in the room with no smell.

“We wanted to build on our previous research that indicated rosemary aroma improved long-term memory and mental arithmetic,” said author Dr Mark Moss.

“In this study we focused on prospective memory, which involves the ability to remember events that will occur in the future and to remember to complete tasks at particular times. This is critical for everyday functioning. For example, when someone needs to remember to post a birthday card or to take medication at a particular time.”

Co-author Jemma McCready, added: “These findings may have implications for treating individuals with memory impairments.

“It supports our previous research indicating that the aroma of rosemary essential oil can enhance cognitive functioning in healthy adults, here extending to the ability to remember events and to complete tasks in the future.

“Remembering when and where to go and for what reasons underpins everything we do, and we all suffer minor failings that can be frustrating and sometimes dangerous. Further research is needed to investigate if this treatment is useful for older adults who have experienced memory decline.”

Press Association
 BT Yahoo News
9th April 2013

Max Irons – Max Irons Learns Full Scripts To Combat Dyslexia -Picture ‘Contact Music’

Dyslexic actor Max Irons memorises entire scripts before auditioning for film roles in a bid to avoid embarrassment if he’s asked to read for another part.

The Host star, son of veteran British actor Jeremy Irons, decided early on that learning lines for multiple characters at a time would be the best way to tackle his learning disability – and it hasn’t failed him yet.

He tells New York Post columnist Cindy Adams, “I‘ve wanted to be an actor since I was 16. At school in London, I did Neil LaBute’s play by learning everybody’s lines. I had to. I have dyslexia.

“I handle it because I learn everything beforehand. If evaluating me, (casting bosses) ask, ‘Can you read the scene?’ I say, ‘Absolutely,’ and that’s because I‘ve learned each person’s line ahead of time.”

11th April 2013
Contact Music.com
Picture: Max Irons – The Cinema Society and Jaeger-LeCoultre screening of Open Road Films’ ‘The Host’ at Tribeca Grand Hotel – New York, NY, United States…

How Brain Training Can Make You Significantly Smarter

Whilst the following article is mainly talking about middle age, brain training can help so much for the younger dyslexic, because once you start on one of these ‘games’, that find your weak parts, you can keep playing different ‘games’ to enable you to bring up the weak areas.  This company Lumosity, is absolutly brilliant.  Even if you don’t want to use it, try the games that are free and you can see if you like it.

As many people hit middle age, they often start to notice that their memory and mental clarity are not what they used to be.  We suddenly can’t remember where we put the keys just a moment ago, or an old acquaintance’s name, or the name of an old band we used to love.  As the brain fades, we euphemistically refer to these occurrences as “senior moments.”

While seemingly innocent, this loss of mental focus can potentially have a detrimental impact on our professional, social, and personal well-being.

It happens to most of us, but is it inevitable? 

Neuroscientists are increasingly showing that there’s actually a lot that can be done.  It turns that the brain needs exercise in much the same way our muscles do, and the right mental workouts can significantly improve our basic cognitive functions.  Thinking is essentially a process of making neural connections in the brain.  To a certain extent, our ability to excel in making the neural connections that drive intelligence is inherited.  However, because these connections are made through effort and practice, scientists believe that intelligence can expand and fluctuate according to mental effort.

Now, a new San Francisco Web-based company has taken it a step further and developed the first “brain training program” designed to actually help people improve and regain their mental sharpness.  Called Lumosity, it was designed by some of the leading experts in neuroscience and cognitive psychology from Stanford University.

Lumosity, is far more than an online place to exercise your mental skills.  That’s because they have integrated these exercises into a Web-based program that allows you to systematically improve your memory and attention skills.  The program keeps track of your progress and provides detailed feedback on your performance and improvement.  Most importantly, it constantly modifies and enhances the games you play to build on the strengths you are developing–much like an effective exercise routine requires you to increase resistance and vary your muscle use.

Does it work?

Apparently it does. In randomized, controlled clinical trials, Lumosity was shown to significantly improve basic cognitive functions. One study showed students improved their scores on math tests by 34 percent after using Lumosity for six weeks, significantly greater gains than those made by other students in the same class, who were not training with the Lumosity program.

The company says its users have reported clearer and quicker thinking, improved memory for names, numbers, directions, increased alertness and awareness, elevated mood, and better concentration at work or while driving.

While many of the games at Lumosity are free, a modest subscription fee is required to use the full program over the long term.

However, Lumosity is currently offering a free trial of their program to new users so that you can see how well it works before you decide to subscribe.  The trial is completely free (no credit card required) and the company believes the results will speak for themselves.

How Life Works
4th February 2013