Learning Challenges

Childhood Disorders

Mind Discovery believes individuals diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia, speech disorders, and other learning challenges can be successfully treated, self-esteem increased, and a new found confidence is gained. This is our promise to you.
Our commitment comes with a promise that those who struggle will see success in ways that they never thought possible. Students will leave our program with new confidence, focusing and listening skills, and significant academic gains.
We know that when a family commits to our program, they are putting their trust and faith in us. In return, we are committed to being worthy of that trust.

What is ADHD?

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a highly-debated medical condition that often goes unrecognized and undiagnosed in children and adults. It is often mistaken for a visual processing disorder, but it’s actually a neurological disorder caused by long-term chemical imbalances in the areas of the brain responsible for impulse control, regulation of emotions, and decision making. People with ADHD often exhibit excessive levels of activity and impulsivity, difficulty focusing on tasks or projects, difficulty controlling emotions, lack of organization skills, and often seem unmotivated to complete tasks. To treat this condition, doctors often recommend therapy to develop coping skills that help improve self-regulation and management.

What is Apraxia of Speech?

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a rare disorder that affects a child's ability to control their lips, jaws, and tongue when speaking. This is caused by difficulties in the brain's planning for speech movements, leading to improper movement direction for the speech muscles. Despite the muscles not being weak, they do not form words correctly. In order to speak properly, the brain must create plans that guide the movements of the lips, jaw, and tongue. Normally, these movements result in accurate sounds and words spoken at the appropriate pace and rhythm.

What is Auditory Processing Disorder?

Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder of the auditory system that affects a person’s ability to process auditory information. People with APD can experience difficulty understanding spoken language, sound localization, and they often have dyslexia. They may struggle to pay attention in noisy environments or have difficulty understanding complex discussions and conversations. Common signs of APD include frequently asking people to repeat themselves or having difficulty remembering instructions. It is important to note that APD should not be confused with hearing loss; individuals with APD typically hear sounds but struggle to make sense of them. Diagnosis and treatment of this disorder vary depending on the severity of symptoms and are often provided by specialized professionals.

What is Autism? (Right Brained Structural Imbalance)

Autism, a growingly acknowledged neurodevelopmental disorder, is characterized by a triad of challenges. These challenges include impaired social interaction, difficulties in both verbal and non-verbal communication, and a tendency towards strict adherence to routines and restricted interests. One distinguishing factor of children with autism is their unique perception of the world compared to their peers.
Autism, a condition characterized by speech impairments, social challenges, and emotional disorders, does not have a single identifiable cause. Instead, a combination of environmental, behavioral, and genetic factors can contribute to its development in children.

What is Dyscalculia?

Dyscalculia is a learning disability that specifically affects a person's ability to perform basic arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. With a prevalence rate of 1 in 10 individuals, dyscalculia poses significant challenges in mathematical learning. Similar to dyslexia, which hinders reading and writing skills, dyscalculia impacts the region of the brain responsible for numerical comprehension and math-related abilities. To better comprehend the difference between dyslexia and dyscalculia, think of dyslexia as affecting language processing skills, while dyscalculia influences numerical processing skills. Students with dyscalculia require alternative approaches to learn mathematics, such as employing real-life examples and hands-on manipulative activities, which promote better understanding and retention of mathematical concepts and information.

What is Dysgraphia?

Dysgraphia is a specific neurological disorder that affects writing ability and fine motor skills. It is a learning disability that impacts both children and adults, hindering various aspects of the writing process. Individuals with dysgraphia may struggle with spelling, spacing and sizing of letters and words, legibility, and expressing ideas in writing. Writing for those with dysgraphia requires a substantial amount of energy, stamina, and time. Overall, writing is a complex process that involves organization, memory, attention, motor skills, and language abilities. When faced with the challenge of dysgraphia, the act of holding a pencil and forming each letter requires significant effort, leaving less brain power available for other writing components.

What is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. It is the most common learning disability in children and adults alike; dyslexia differs from person to person with some experiencing mild symptoms, while for others dyslexia can cause more difficulty with processing information. Generally dyslexia does not affect intellect or IQ scores; however it does impact an individual's capacity to develop effective oral and written language skills. Although dyslexia can pose certain obstacles to educational success and advancement at work, there are many resources available for those with dyslexia to strengthen their skills and maximize their potential. Fortunately, dyslexia can be effectively treated by combining various therapies such as tutoring and support systems — helping dyslexic individuals lead successful lives.

What is Dyspraxia? (Left Brain Structural Imbalance)

Dyspraxia, also known as Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), is a chronic condition that begins in childhood that causes difficulties with motor (movement) skills and coordination. Dyspraxia, a condition often overlooked, is a common issue among children. It hinders their ability to coordinate physical movements, leading to difficulties in maintaining posture and balance. The cause of this condition remains unknown, as it is believed to be a result of individual differences in the development of nerve cells controlling muscle movement.
Dyspraxia can cause a wide range of issues with movement and coordination. Some of these may be noticeable at an early age, while others may only become obvious as your child gets older. Dyspraxia can make riding a bicycle or playing sports difficult. It can also affect their fine motor skills, such as writing or fastening buttons.

What is a Language Disorder?

Language Disorder is a communication disorder that impacts children. It affects their ability to understand and articulate language, both in written and spoken form. Children with language disorder often struggle with sentence construction, word order, and frequently use filler words like "um." These challenges can have negative impacts on their daily life, including interactions at home, school, and with peers. It is important to note that language disorder is distinct from speech sound disorder, where the child struggles with producing sounds. In language disorder, the child can make sounds, but encounters difficulties in using them effectively for communication.

What is Visual Processing Disorder?

Visual Processing Disorder (VPD) affects a person’s ability to efficiently and accurately process visual information in the brain in order to perform more complex higher-level cognitive functions. Those affected by VPD often have difficulty in learning, literacy, reading and writing which can lead to emotional, social, and behavioral difficulties as well. VPD symptoms often mimic those with ADHD and many children are improperly diagnosed, further complicating those who have a VPD. These children usually also have a very hard time staying focused and sitting still due to their sporadic eye muscle movement. Common VPD symptoms include letter reversals, eye-teaming issues, poor reading fluency, skilled movement impairments, difficulty with dimensional concepts and difficulty with acuity processing particularly with challenging tasks or fast paced activities such as playing sports. Treatment for VPD involves Vision Therapy which is a direct one on one intervention that uses specialized equipment and procedures designed to help the patient better understand visual information.

Auditory Processing Disorder

According to the National Institutes of Health, around 43% of children referred for learning difficulties have Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). The research states that 70% of people with dyslexia also have an underlying auditory processing disorder. Surprisingly, 25% of all children tested for learning disabilities were found to have both APD and dyslexia. This research sheds light on the connection between these two conditions, emphasizing the importance of understanding and addressing auditory processing issues in individuals with dyslexia.
Auditory Processing Disorder is an abnormality in the processing of sound in the central auditory nervous system. This causes a breakdown in the brain’s ability to accurately and efficiently process sounds and language. This can make it hard to distinguish small sound differences within words, remember what was heard, and keep up with ongoing speech, especially when there is background noise or when more than one person is talking. Children with APD also tend to say “what?’ or “huh” frequently even when they seem to be paying attention. Asking for repetition of what was heard does not have anything to do with reading or spelling but it is a big red flag that the child is having difficulty processing spoken language.
Research using brain imaging studies has documented impairments in the process of encoding sounds, such as pitch and timing differences in speech sounds, which contribute to the poor phonological skills seen in children with reading difficulties.
Auditory temporal processing, the skill to perceive the fast-paced changes in speech sounds, is often impaired in children with auditory processing disorder, dyslexia, and language delays. This weakness in distinguishing subtle variations in speech sounds can significantly hinder reading ability and impede language development.
Struggling readers often have auditory neurons that don't fire quickly enough to process speech sounds effectively. This leads to difficulties in hearing the initial part of a sound and interpreting the changing aspects of speech. As a result, the child's ability to understand a sequence of sounds and discern subtle timing cues is impacted. In essence, if a child cannot hear the first milliseconds of a speech sound, many sounds will appear indistinguishable to them.
The child may struggle with distinguishing the rapid sounds in speech, such as identifying the differences between voiced and voiceless sounds in words like "cat" and "bat," or subtle variations in the placement of sounds in words like "dig" and "big." They may find it challenging to determine when one sound ends and another begins.
The Fast ForWord program is specifically designed to target and address neurological processing issues in the brain. By stimulating the brain to reorganize itself and create new neural connections, it helps improve overall cognitive functioning. This is achieved through the concept of neuroplasticity, where certain parts of the brain can change and adapt in response to sensory input and intensive training. In the Fast ForWord Foundations/Literacy program, the games utilize acoustically altered speech sounds, words, and sentences to enhance the recognition and processing of the rapidly changing phonetic elements found in natural speech.

Sensory Processing Disorder

For individuals with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), the world can present a complex jumble of stimuli. This neurological condition affects how people process sensory information, ranging from vision and sound to texture and smell. While it often results in heightened responses - meaning louder noises or brighter lights cause distress - SPD can contribute to defensiveness against everyday inputs too, requiring increased stimulation for those affected by it.
While SPD is traditionally associated with children, its effects can extend to adulthood. For many adults who suffer from it, their sensitivities have been present since childhood and learned avoidance strategies that may be used for dealing with the heightened sensitivity or to conceal the disorder from others.
Healthcare professionals have conflicting opinions on Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). Some believe it is a manifestation of existing conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety. Others assert that SPD is its own distinct entity independent from any other diagnosis - either due to heightened sensitivity or inability to handle sensory stimuli optimally. For the time being, however, no medical consensus has been reached and SPD does not hold an official diagnostic label in the medical community.

Symptoms of Sensory Processing Disorder

Children with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) may struggle to deal with sensory input, whether it's in the form of sound or clothing textures. In some cases, this can lead them to seek out more intense forms of stimulation such as thrill-seeking activities like jumping from high places and swinging too hard on playground equipment. It is also possible for children affected by SPD to be both oversensitive and undersensitive when dealing with senses simultaneously - a unique challenge that must be addressed professional.
Children may be oversensitive if they:● Think clothing feels too scratchy or itchy.● Think lights seem too bright.● Think sounds seem too loud.● Think soft touches feel too hard.● Experience food textures that make them gag.● Have poor balance or seem clumsy.● Are afraid to play on the swings.● React poorly to sudden movements, touches, loud noises, or bright lights.● Have behavior problems.
Many children may demonstrate signs of sensitivity, ranging from discomfort with rough textures to a fear of loud noises and swinging. This can lead to balance issues or even behavioral problems. Parents should pay careful attention to any indications that their child is struggling in such ways so they can act quickly and provide the necessary support.

Visual Processing Disorder

VISION VS. EYESIGHT

What are visual skills?For success in school, children must have other equally important visual skills besides their sharpness of sight, or visual acuity. They must be able to coordinate their eye movements as a team and follow a line of print without losing their place. They must also be able to maintain clear focus as they read or make quick focusing changes when looking up to the board and back to their desks. Overall they must be able to interpret and accurately process what they are seeing.
What is visual acuity?Visual acuity is usually measured with a Snellen chart that displays letters of progressively smaller size. “Normal” vision is 20/20…20/40 visions mean that the test subject sees at 20 feet what a person with normal vision sees at 40 feet. Unfortunately, eye charts measure only visual acuity, which is just one component of good vision. They cannot determine if your eyes are "working overtime" (needing to focus more than normal, which can lead to headaches and eye strain) nor can they determine if your eyes work properly as a team for clear, comfortable binocular vision and accurate depth perception.
How do vision based learning problems affect students?A vision based learning problem directly affects how we process information, read or sustain close work. Students with eye teaming, tracking, focusing, visual motor integration, and visual perception problems have weak visual skills, which undermine the learning process and can cause such problems as difficulty reading, double vision, headaches, eyestrain, and short attention spans. For these students, vision therapy can improve their visual skills so they can function normally in the classroom.
Students with crossed, turned, wandering, or lazy eyes only see with one eye at a time. Their brains suppress or “turn off” their weak eye. Therapy is designed to straighten the eye and teach the student to use both eyes together for normal visual function.
Don’t they check for that in school?Remember that school screenings and pediatricians only check children’s distance vision using the eye chart. They can’t run the specialized tests required to determine if a child has all the required visual skills needed to succeed in school. A developmental optometrist must do special near-point tests to identify and diagnose potential visual problems that have significant impact on learning.
Why should I get my child’s vision checked?If your child is struggling to read or finding it difficult to remain on task, the cause may be an undetected vision problem even if your child’s eyesight is 20/20, and he or she has passed the school’s vision screening or a routine eye exam.
Visual Problems That Can Have Significant Impact on Learning:● eye tracking skills – eyes following a line of print● eye teaming skills – two eyes working together as a synchronized team● binocular vision – simultaneously blending the images from both eyes into one image● accommodation – eye focusing visual-motor integration and eye hand coordination● visual perception – visual memory, visual form perception, and visualization.

Dyslexia

A Neurological Approach to Reading

Dyslexia is a complex neurological disorder that affects individuals' ability to read, write, and spell, despite having normal intelligence. The underlying cause of dyslexia lies in the way the brain processes information. Through continued research, a better understanding of the dyslexic brain is emerging, shedding light on the unique cognitive processes involved in dyslexia.
New research findings highlight the distinct brain patterns observed in individuals with dyslexia when compared to those without the condition. The use of brain imaging has made it evident that individuals with dyslexia experience inefficiencies in their brain activity during reading tasks. For instance, children with dyslexia may exhibit lower activity levels in specific brain regions or encounter issues with neurotransmitter communication. These discrepancies are further substantiated by imaging tests, which reveal that the left side of the brain responsible for language processing may be inactive or not functioning properly in individuals with dyslexia.
Recent research on the dyslexic brain has revealed interesting insights into how it functions. Scientists have observed that there is increased activity in the frontal lobe, which plays a crucial role in our body's functions. However, they also found reduced activity in the parietal and occipital areas, which are responsible for our hearing and vision respectively.
Teaching reading to individuals with dyslexia requires a comprehensive approach. Dyslexia remediation shall begin by improving visual, auditory, and motor skills to maximize their success. Thankfully, by utilizing effective tools and instructional strategies, most dyslexic individuals can successfully learn how to read.
In the process of brain integration, children acquire reading skills by understanding the connection between speech sounds and words (phonemic awareness). They then learn to associate these sounds with corresponding alphabet letters (phonics). As they continue to develop, they become capable of combining these sounds to form words and eventually, effortlessly recognize familiar words.
Structured literacy (SL) teaching is the proven strategy for students who struggle with reading and spelling. This approach encompasses both the content and instructional methods that are effective for effective reading skills. We take pride in exclusively utilizing therapeutic programs based in scientific research by offering the Orton-Gillingham methodology, which is the gold-standard of Structured Literacy.
Fortunately, dyslexia can be effectively treated by combining cognitive ability training andstructured literacy — helping dyslexic individuals lead successful lives. The Mind DiscoveryMethod is founded on years of scientific research and data and delivers proven, lasting results.As is the case with any child with a disability, knowledge is the key to unlocking learningpotential.
Signs and Symptoms:● Speech Delay● Trouble following multiple-step directions● Struggles to sequence events● Confuses similar letters● Avoids reading● Reads slowly● Poor spelling● Writing is difficult

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Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities.

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Dysgraphia

Dysgraphia is the inability to write coherently, as a symptom of a neurological condition or as an aspect of a learning disability.

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Dyscalculia

Dyscalculia is a learning difficulty that affects an individual's ability to do basic arithmetic such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.​

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ADHD

ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood. It is usually first diagnosed in childhood and often lasts into adulthood. Children with ADHD may have trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviors or be overly active.

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Executive Function

Executive dysfunction is a term used to describe faults or weaknesses in the cognitive process that organizes thoughts and activities, prioritizes tasks, manages time efficiently, and makes decisions.

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Autism

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain. Some people with ASD have a known difference, such as a genetic condition. Other causes are not yet known.

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Visual Processing Disorder

A visual processing, or perceptual, disorder refers to a hindered ability to make sense of information taken in through the eyes. This is different from problems involving sight or sharpness of vision. Difficulties with visual processing affect how visual information is interpreted or processed by the brain.

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Auditory Processing Disorder

Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is a disorder of the auditory (hearing) system that causes a disruption in the way that an individual’s brain understands what they are hearing. It is not a form of hearing loss, despite showing difficulty with hearing-related tasks.

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Sensory Processing Disorder

Sensory Processing Disorder is a neurological condition that affects how people process sensory information, ranging from vision and sound to texture and smell. It often results in heightened responses, meaning noises are louder and lights are brighter, causing sensory overload.

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