How to Teach Study Skills

1. Learn to focus while you work. Turn off the phone, music, and other distractions.

2. Use your class time wisely so that you will not have as much work to do at home.

3. Always do your homework. Record the assignments you have before you leave class.

4. Write it down! Take notes in class and as you read.

5. Do not delay learning. Learn the material the first time you see it.

6. Get in the habit of quizzing yourself as you study.

7. Don't try to cram. Keeping up is far easier than frantically trying to catch up.

8. Make and use flashcards.

9. Get organized and stay that way.

10. Believe in yourself. Have confidence that you can achieve your dreams.

11. Review your class notes within 24 hours.

12. Use colors to help you learn. Write on colored paper or use a bright ink or highlighter.

13. "Looking it over" is a waste of time. Write it down, call it out to a friend, sing it, say it over and over…don't just stare at the page and daydream.

14. Use your biological clock to your advantage. Study when you are most alert.

15. Plan your work and work your plan.

16. Pay attention when your teacher talks.

17. Make up your work right away when you have been absent.

18. Ask for help when you need it.

19. Take good notes in class and while you read. Then, study those notes.

20. When you study notes, mark them up. Underline or circle key points. Draw arrows to connect facts…whatever works for you.

21. Correct tests and quizzes when they are returned. Learn from those mistakes.

22. When you have a passage to read, preview it first.

23. Become an intelligent test taker. Read the test first and follow directions.

24. Learn a new word every day.

25. Form an informal study group. Many people learn best when they can study with others.

26. Be sure to practice as much as you need to master the material.

27. If you have a large task to accomplish, break it into smaller tasks.

28. Work on the most difficult assignments you have for homework before you tackle the easier ones.

29. Reward yourself when you have completed a task.

30. Set small goals and work to achieve them.

 

Tips for personality development for kids

Each person has his own unique personality which actually begins to emerge from an early age. By the age of six months, most parents can identify the nature of the child. These traits become stronger between ages three to ten and then they continue to develop throughout the adolescent years. The older view that every person is born with his personality has now been modified. It is now recognized that personality development depends on both nature and nurture. Parents must help the child to develop good habits and traits and a strong sense of self from an early age. While each child is unique, parental actions can go a long way towards helping in the development of personality.

Personality refers to the group of character traits that make a person unique. According to psychologists, these personality traits actually begin to emerge around the age of six months when the child becomes capable of independent movement. You will often hear parents describing their babies as 'temperamental' or 'sweet'. As the child grows, the development of personality continues rapidly. Most of the major traits are manifested between ages three and five years. These are the preschool years when the child is learning to cope with a number of new experiences and express his own feelings. They are becoming more active. Hence it is during this time that the major personality traits begin to emerge quite clearly.

Factors affecting personality development of kids

What are the factors that affect the development of personality in children? There are several schools of views. Some of the factors which are thought to play an important role are given here:

•Heredity is regarded as an important factor. For example, qualities like athleticism may be an inherited trait.

•Traditions are another factor. The traditional and ethnic values, its symbolism and rites will influence the behavior of individuals.

•Birth order is thought to have significant influence on the personality of a child. A firstborn, a middle child and the youngest child will show distinct and definite differences in personality traits. On the other hand, an only child also has personality characteristics developed because of his/her status as an only child.

•But perhaps the most influential factor affecting personality development is the quality of parenting and childhood training that the kid receives. That is why parents have a crucial role to play in developing the personality of their children.

Parenting and personality development of kids

As parents, there are a number of things that you can do to help proper development of personality of your child. Some important tips are as follows:

•The first task is to make time for your child and this goes for both the other and the father as a family group as well as with each individual parent. Attention and company of a parent is vital to the proper development of the child. No matter how busy you are or what a high powered job you hold, you need to make time for your kid. You need not plan a grand activity all the time, but you need to convey the feeling that you are always ready to spend time with him/her or listen to his/her problems.

•Your child is unique and even if you have twins, each child has his own personality. It is necessary that you treat your child as an individual. You should not try to put him/her in a preconceived category or to build him up to be an image of yourself. Using words like "Why can't you be more like your brother/sister/father/mother?" can actually hamper the natural development of personality in your child.

•Your child will learn how to behave from you. So, parents need to set an example. Children learn by imitation. Younger they are, longer they spend observing you and imitating your behavior. If you are engaged in family quarrels, abusive language or other negative behavior in front of your child, he/she will have a bad example to follow. Such parental behavior often leaves lifelong impact on personality of the child.

•You have to be aware about what your child is being exposed to and how much he/she has been absorbing. The television, the internet and even the magazines can expose your child to inappropriate material. You may think that he/she is too young to understand, but you will be surprised at how much a child can absorb. So, you need to be careful of the influences which pervade the atmosphere around your child.

•Avoid labeling the behavior of your child. This is especially common in large families with a number of siblings. One is tough; the other is quiet and a third is imaginative. While these labels may be partially true, they actually force the child into neat little categories. If he/she has a potential to be anything more, it is strangled at birth. So, avoid putting labels on your child.

•The best way to let the personality of your child emerge naturally is through play. Play is the way that children learn. It helps in physical, social and psychological development of a preschooler. He/she learns the skills of decision making, problem solving, leadership and gives reign to his/her creativity. So, letting your child play is necessary to help his/her personality to develop fully.

•Finally, parents need to use the twin concepts of reward and punishment carefully to help in the development of personality in their children. You praise the behavior that you want to encourage and you ignore or give a token punishment in response to behavior you want to discourage. However, recent research shows that reward punishment does not affect the personality as child grows older. In a study by Birch et al (1984) it was concluded that if you want your child to actually want to do something, it will be counterproductive to reward them for that behavior.

Top 10 Personality Development Tips For Kids

1. Make It Your Priority:
Parenting should undoubtedly be your topmost priority.
You may have been having a hard time managing work and home. Now's the time to prioritize and make it a point to spend more time with your child.
During this initial stage of development, your behavior with your child will play a role in developing his personality.

2. Review Your Parenting Skills:
It is also important to keep track of your own parenting skills during this period.
Ponder over how you behave in certain situations.
See if it has an impact on your child's behavior too.
Check if you have reasonable expectations from your child.

3. Avoid Labels:
Labeling your child is probably the worst thing you could do.
This is wrong, even if you're comparing him to someone who's a good person.
Allow your child to express his own personality.
Do not limit him to behave in a particular way.

4. Accept And Move On:
Every individual has certain shortcomings, and so does your child.
Keep realistic expectations from your child.
Encourage him to excel at what he's best at.
Fuel his passion.
Do not dampen his spirits by constantly nagging him about something he isn't good at.

5. Pay Close Attention:
Different forms of media play a huge role in influencing your child's behavior. This is especially difficult, as these days, the internet dominates pretty much everything that we do.
Pay close attention to your child's activities and interests.
Keep track of the new things he learns.

6. Set A Good Example:
In this developmental stage of life, your child is much more likely to mimic you and your partner.
Remember that you will need to be on your best behavior at all times.
Setting a good example for your child has many benefits, and most of them are good for you as well.

7. Set The Rules:
An important rule to follow when it comes to shaping your child's personality is to set down a list of rules.
Establish a healthy communication system with your child.
This will help strengthen the parent-child bond you share.

8. Punish Lovingly:
Punishment doesn't have to be abusive or violent.
The trick to handle your child is to punish him lovingly.
Make it a point to stress on the difference between the right and the wrong.
Explain why you don't approve certain activities, and say that you will be sad or disappointed if he does so.

9. Listen Up:
Giving your child undivided attention is probably one of the golden rules of parenting-it always works wonders.
Listen to your child's concerns.
This will give him a sense of importance and boost his confidence and strength.

10. Help Him Out:
Your growing child has a lot to deal with.
The best way to help him glide through it all is to be there for him whenever he needs you.
As a parent, you will need to be his ultimate support system
Be his guide to help him through his ups and downs.
Remember, each child is different and you need to understand what approach works best in handling your child. Your constant love and faith is what will help your child develop a confident and loving personality.

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What Are Cognitive Skills?

Children develop cognitive skills rapidly in the first few years of life and build on them progressively throughout grade school. In this lesson, you'll learn about three essential cognitive skills, as well as explore cognitive milestones from two to 12 years of age.

What Are Cognitive Skills?

Cognitive skill development in children involves the progressive building of learning skills, such as attention, memory and thinking. These crucial skills enable children to process sensory information and eventually learn to evaluate, analyze, remember, make comparisons and understand cause and effect. Although some cognitive skill development is related to a child's genetic makeup, most cognitive skills are learned. That means thinking and learning skills can be improved with practice and the right training.

Attention

When a child learns to pay attention, it enables him to concentrate on one task or conversation for an extended period of time. Learning to focus attention is an important cognitive skill that the child will use in virtually all future learning. Children younger than five years of age tend to have short attention spans that typically last 15 minutes or less. By the time a child reaches eight years of age, he should have an increased ability to focus on one thing for longer periods and complete tasks. He also should be more adept at ignoring distractions.

Parents and teachers can help a child develop his ability to focus by pointing out things that seem important or interesting and then asking the child to comment on his observations. For example, a trip to the zoo might result in some specific questions, like 'What animal was your favorite? and What did you like best about this animal?' Questions like these help the child pay closer attention to what he is exposed to and also challenge his ability to choose specific words to describe his thoughts.

Memory

Memory is an important cognitive skill that equips a child to retain what he has learned and experienced and therefore build a future base of knowledge. Children younger than five years of age have difficulty with short- and long-term memory retention. But, as a child progresses into the school years, his long-term memory increases and allows the child to progressively build on the previous knowledge.

A useful technique for facilitating memory in children, especially when there is a lot of information, is teaching content with rhymes or catchy sayings or putting content to music. For example, a common way to teach children the months of the year is through this rhyme:

'Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November.
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting February alone,
And that has twenty-eight days clear,
And twenty-nine in each leap year.'

A memory aid like rhyme enables a child's brain to better organize and retain the content.

Thinking

The ability to think includes being able to reason out tasks and find solutions. This cognitive skill helps a child to know whether he's accomplishing what he set out to do or whether he needs to ask for help. For example, when a child reads a story, thinking skills allow him to determine for himself whether he understands what he's reading or whether he needs to go over the passage again, look for additional clues, study available pictures or ask for help in order to better grasp the intended meaning.

One of the best ways to encourage the development of thinking skills in children is for them to hear the perspectives of others. Young children tend to assume that everyone thinks and sees a situation as they do. By involving children in small group learning exercises, they are exposed to different views and perspectives, which enhances their ability to think beyond their own limits.

 

 

Cognitive Stages for Child Development

Cognitive Stages for Child Development

In 1952, French Psychologist Jean Piaget published a theory that the cognitive development of children occurs in four distinct stages, with each stage building upon the last and characterized by higher levels of sophistication and thought.

Piaget's stages were groundbreaking. Before his influential theory changed the way people viewed childhood development, it was believed that babies were without cognition until they were old enough to develop language.

Here are Piaget's four cognitive stages during childhood development:

1.    Sensorimotor Stage: Birth through about 2 years. During this stage, children learn about the world through their senses and the manipulation of objects.

2.    Preoperational Stage: Ages 2 through 7. During this stage, children develop memory and imagination. They are also able to understand things symbolically, and to understand the ideas of past and future.

3.    Concrete Operational Stage. Ages 7 through 11. During this stage, children become more aware of external events, as well as feelings other than their own. They become less egocentric, and begin to understand that not everyone shares their thoughts, beliefs, or feelings.

4.    Formal Operational Stage. Ages 11 and older. During this stage, children are able to use logic to solve problems, view the world around them, and plan for the future.

Cognitive stages for child development as defined in the Information Processing Model

Another way to look at cognitive stages for child development is to use The Information Processing Model. Developed in the 1960s and 1970s, this model tracks the development of cognitive skills including attention, short term memory, long term memory, logic & reasoning, and auditory processing.

According to the Information Processing Model:

1.    Ages 2 through 5: Children develop attention skills, short-term memory, and long-term memory

2.    Ages 5 through 7: Children develop better control over attention, memory, and problem-solving skills, and are able to use their cognitive abilities to attain goals or solve problems. Logic & reasoning also develops further as children are able to make connections between ideas. Auditory processing, a skill that is foundational for reading, is also developing during this time frame.

Cognitive skills are the skills the brain uses to think, learn, read, remember, pay attention, and solve problems. They are also the skills that are measured to determine IQ.

All cognitive profiles do not look the same. Everyone has some skills that are stronger than others. Here's an example of cognitive profiles of three children:

 
These children, ages 7 through 13, came to LearningRx because they were struggling with attention, memory, or keeping up with schoolwork/homework. A comprehensive Cognitive Assessment pinpointed the weak skills at the root of their struggles.

The good news is that cognitive skills are not set in stone. If weak skills are identified, they can be strengthened through cognitive training, often called brain training. Brain training uses fun, challenging mental exercises to target and improve weak cognitive skills.

Here, for example, is a look at Child A's cognitive performance before and after brain training. The chart on the left shows how this child was performing before cognitive training. The chart on the right shows the improvement in each skill after cognitive training (the green bars show "before training" and the purple bars show how that same skill performed "after training").

 
(Naturally, these are the scores of one child, and may or may not reflect the improvements you or your child might achieve.

 

Cognitive Stages for Child Development

Cognitive Stages for Child Development