All students benefit from explicit training in the skills that support learning, i.e. understanding and remembering. If a student has a learning challenge, e.g. a reading difficulty or an Attention Deficit Disorder, the need to “learn how to learn” is even more important. Our teachers train students in the skills identified by research as critical to developing both understanding and memory. Also, we teach the students how to manage a variety of factors that affect learning such as time, life event scheduling, sleep deprivation, distractions such as technology, and conflicting priorities.

Effective learners know how to access information, create understanding, generate memories, and communicate or demonstrate what they have learned. Effective learners know when learning has occurred and when it has not. They are adept at organizing their efforts and their environments to facilitate learning. We teach them how to do these things through learning strategies. 

Techniques and program we use include:

• Systematic, explicit instruction of the Strategic Instructional Model (SIM)
• Develop specific strategies for learning with the student
• Model strategies for the student
• Implement strategies with the student
• Practice effective strategies
• Provide feedback
• Help students self-evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy