Do we all have “attention deficits”? Or is there something else going on? Let’s try this little experiment, conceived by Simons and Chabris for their classic study on sustained inattentional blindness (1999).
Reading Support
Dyslexia: Failure is Not an Option
I wish I would have known what was going on when my eldest daughter, Madeline, started learning to read. She hated it. She loved all of her other subjects but reading was painful. She used to hide under the table to avoid it. The most frustrating thing about this was that the school kept telling me that Madeline was fine.
Interesting Literacy and Learning Links
Ted Talk: Nancy Kanwisher: A Neural Portrait of the Human Mind. Brain imaging pioneer Nancy Kanwisher, who uses fMRI scans to see activity in brain regions (often her own), shares what she and her colleagues have learned: The brain is made up of both highly specialized components and general-purpose “machinery.” Another surprise: There’s so much left to learn
Interesting Literacy and Learning Links Round-Up
Brain Teaser:
This one has caused a lot of debate! What do you think?
Take a new test aimed at the world’s English Language Learners. Wondering how your English skills stack up? Try the sample questions at the end of the article on testing ELL students and see how you would fare. Do you agree or disagree with the answers?
10 Great Books to Read Aloud with Young Children
Our Building Blocks coordinator, Brenda Buzzell, has compiled a list of books that are not only fun to read with young children, but also helpful in promoting the three focus areas of the Building Blocks program: Shared Book Reading, Phonological Awareness and the Speech-to-Print connection.
10 Reasons to Keep Reading Aloud to Your Toddlers Even When They Prefer to Climb on Your Head
Do you get frustrated while reading aloud with your toddler? You pick out the perfect book. You get your child all comfortable on your lap. After one, maybe two, pages your little one tries to eat the book, hops off your lap and starts playing with a different toy, starts climbing all over you and in general seems completely uninterested in the story you are reading?