Summer break has us dreaming of turning off alarm clocks, lazy pool days, and possible fun family trips. It’s the time of year where longer days mean more sun and fun, and in Florida, there’s no shortage of amazing activities. But, did you know that the typical child loses 30% of what they learn during the school year over their summer break? With the exit of expectations from school also comes no exposure to grade level material and homework.

For a child on level, this isn’t such a big issue in the fall, but for a struggling reader, this creates a gap to fall even further behind. Summer is the best time to close those gaps.

Early intervention is key for smart but struggling readers. According to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, “When intervention is delayed, it takes four times as long to intervene in fourth grade as it does in late kindergarten because of brain development and because of the increase in content for students to learn as they grow older.”

Learning Lab is excited to announce details for our two summer programs! With the 2020 SMART Summer Literacy Program and the 2020 FLEX Summer Program, we’ve got you covered no matter where and how it fits in your schedule.

Learning Lab’s FLEX Summer Program

This program is designed to be more – you guessed it – flexible! Pick a minimum of 3 weeks over the 10-week summer break (any 3 weeks that work with your schedule!) and from 1 p.m.-4 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, we’ll work on:

• Maintaining academic momentum over the summer
• Math, writing, reading comprehension, and reading fluency

This program is helpful for and designed around students who:

• Need extra support maintaining academic momentum over the summer
• Need practice in any of the following areas: math, writing, reading comprehension, and reading fluency

This program is tailored to each individual child’s summer schedule and specific academic goals. A subject area placement screening is required to assess the appropriate level and assign the right program to meet each child’s needs. This placement screening is also used to create baseline data that is used to drive instruction.

Learning Lab’s SMART Summer Literacy Program

The Learning Lab’s SMART Summer Literacy Program is a six-week intensive literacy program designed for smart students who are a year or more behind in reading and/or writing.

This program is helpful for students who are:

• At risk for or diagnosed with Dyslexia
• Diagnosed with a Specific Learning Disability (SLD) or a disability is suspected
• Diagnosed with a Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)/Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)
• Significantly struggling with phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency
• Significantly struggling with reading comprehension, working memory, and critical thinking
• Significantly struggling with grammar, sentence structure, and essay writing

We use the SMART Goals System to ensure students’ goals are clear and attainable. This is essential to student performance, executive skills development, and reading achievement. There are only 9 spots available for the SMART Summer and deadline for registration is April 10^th so act fast!

Specific: A goal of “being the best reader” or “caught up to grade level” is too broad for specific execution. We create reading goals that are more specific and will ultimately lead to increased reading confidence and capabilities.

Measurable: We have the metrics that will tell us if students are progressing toward their reading goals. Daily measurements allow us to execute immediate interventions and celebrate gains. When students can see a visual representation of their growth, they feel motivated to learn.

Attainable/Achievable: Reading goals will be challenging enough to inspire but not so big as to frustrate. Have big dreams for your reader overall, but we set smaller goals during the SMART planning process to make those dreams a reality.

Relevant: We make sure your student’s reading goals are personalized and apply only to your student. Each reader’s journey is unique, and their goals will be, too.

Time-bound: We use the FITT (Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type) Principle to effect significant change in six-weeks’ time.

Dates available:

• Week 1: June 15 – June 19
• Week 2: June 22 – June 26
• Week 3: June 29 – July 3
• Break! July 6 – July 10
• Week 4: July 13 – July 17
• Week 5: July 20 – July 24
• Week 6: July 27 – July 31

Facts you need to know:

This is the time for cognitive training. This is the time to close learning gaps. This is the time to empower and to teach them how to manage their struggles confidently. This is the time to home in on missing skills and reteach them the way that their brain will efficiently adopt literacy skills.

1. Students receive reading instruction in Kindergarten-Second Grades.

2. Third grade students and up, are expected to know how to read. They are expected to be able to read and comprehend grade level material to learn and master new content such as science, social studies, math word problems, etc.

3. Reading skills, such as comprehension and fluency, might be continuously developed. However, there is no more explicit instruction on how to decode language.

4. Smart students who struggle to read often slip through the cracks because they have developed many compensatory skills. Most teachers are not trained to notice the signs and/or didn’t notice the signs of a less obvious but very real reading struggle.

5. So many struggling readers hit the “Third/Fourth Grade Wall” because their compensatory skills can no longer balance out their inability to read on level.
6. If a child is a year or more behind in reading, you must act, and you must do it as soon as possible.

Summer is the best time to remediate a smart but struggling readers’ skills! With this uninterrupted time, we’re able to work with kids and close severe learning gaps. And yes, they may miss morning tennis lessons or a week of camp, but what they gain creates peace of mind that comes from moving forward with a new sense of normal. That includes more confidence, less stress, and many tools to succeed in school. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy, but it is simple: one SMART summer can change a lifetime. Remember, there are only 9 spots available for the SMART Summer and deadline for registration is April 10^th so register for 2020 the SMART Summer Literacy Program now.

The educational therapists at The Learning Lab have been on the fore front of how neuroscience and interpersonal neurobiology impacts learning and literacy for more than 20 years. Let this summer be the summer that you reacquaint yourself with your fun-loving child. It can only happen when their learning needs are met.