How Learning Works

Now Available in PDF and downloadable on Demand:

Select Chapters from “Between Failure and Success- A Parent’s Guide to

Learning Disabilities and Helping Kids Become Successful in School”

Written by Whitney S. Hoffman

Producer, The LD Podcast

Click here to read or download Chapter 2: A Tour Of The Brain and Cognitive Development

This PDF is a draft chapter of a book I’ve been working on for some time.   I’m releasing it in PDF format so that it can help you now, rather than wait until some time in the future, if and when it gets published.

This chapter walks you through brain development, in order to help you understand how things fit together, and where things can go wrong.  For example, if a child’s hearing isn’t working properly, it effects how parts of the brain are wired during development.  There are also “developmental windows” where certain skills are picked up faster and easier than others; outside of this time period, and learning can become more difficult as you try to re-wire those pathways in the brain.

I think every parent should know how a brain works on a basic level- that way, if there’s a problem with learning, it becomes a little easier to understand where the problem might stem from, and what can be done to address the problem.

The second half of the chapter talks about cognitive development- how kids learn to think.  This is important, because kids do go through ages and stages in development.  Parents need to be able to set realistic goals and expectations for kids, and if you don’t have a good sense of what normal development looks like, and when it should occur, there’s no way for you to know if your child is having real problems or not.

I hope this is helpful for you, and I would love any and all feedback.  Please email me at ldpodcast@gmail.com, or call me at (206) 666-2343.  I can’t wait to hear from you!