Cognitive Learning

Cognitive skills - one may be bad in one but it can improve if there is much practice.

Spell name backwards
Spell Colorado backwards

1. Attention - three kinds

- stay on task for a long time (to measure, use many of colored words of colors)
- selected attention (stay on one input and not distracted)( to measure, say the colors)
- multi- task( to measure, word, color, and alternate) (listen and take notes at the same time)

2. Working memory( short term memory for quick processing) (to measure, see if he can remember simple, short instruction. Can he add 23 to 58 in head)

3. Processing speed - how fast brain handles information. (to measure: does he transition from one task/thought to another well

4. Visual processing - (to measure. Can he draw backwards pictures or from back side of screen)

5. Auditory processing - hear the differences in sounds ( to measure, can he spell? Read?)

6. Logic reasoning - ( to measure, can he debate, manage projects or school work?)

7. Long term memory. Store and recall information. (to measure, can he remember things over time?)

Skills:

1. Reading fluidity - decode and understand what was read.

2. Attention , not just going through the motions

3. Visualize the story

4. Associate newly read to old memory

5. Vocabulary is important but less so than these other skills

Autistic children can not block out unnecessary information. They might get frustration and shutdown completely.

ADHD child may not rely on brain to control decisions. ADHD child often hooks on present, instant gratification and immediate feedback.

Brain helps working memory to decide what information to keep. Keeping all information will distract our focus. Working memory and long-term memory work together to block out needless information.

Long- term memory is enforced by
- emotion
- repetition (works at any age)

Dyslexia can be overcome by training and repeated practice .

Kids with poor comprehension can not form a picture in their mind while listening to a story. We should help them to visualize.

Next step: repetition.(or he will forget the new skills)

Drill:repetition of a single skill.

Sequence the activities. Kids can learn a lot.

Introduce distractions to train the brain to filter out unwanted inputs.

Goal is to build up kid's will to succeed.

Students are criminals?

Sometimes a school is thinking that all students are criminals and needed to be watched at all time's; this creates a lot of stress for the staff because they have to be on guard all the time. It is bad for the kids too because you treat the kids like criminals, they will behave like crooks.

Reward for learning?

Much of the education Of younger people that I've seen is done with coercion, tricking, or giving candy and things like that. As a result teaching them in high school is a problem if there is no reward or some kind of points. Some students will just sit there and do nothing.

This tactic wouldn't work in high school because students are old enough to know you're just saying it. You can't do anything about it if they just don't respond so should we continue with harsher methods? Should we start thinking, "well they're about to be adults, I need to switch tactics, i need to help them to see that learning is for their own good".