ABA is used as an Autism Intervention, But What is ABA?

ABA or Applied Behaviour Analysis is most commonly known in Ireland as an intervention for people with autism but did you know that ABA was not designed specifically for autism?

Applied Behaviour Analysis is the science of human behaviour. The best definition available is by Baer, Wolf, & Risley in 1968: ‘Applied Behaviour Analysis is the process of systematically applying interventions based upon the principles of learning theory to improve socially significant behaviours to a meaningful degree, and to demonstrate that the interventions employed are responsible for the improvement in behaviour’.

Specifically, ABA involves the principles of learning theory. That is, the use of reinforcement and other important principles to increase behaviours,generalise learned behaviours or reduce undesirable behaviours, is fundamental to ABA.

It was not until the 1960s that researchers began exploring Applied Behaviour Analysis as a method to educate children on the autism spectrum. Behavioural analysts agree that consistency, in and out of the classroom, is key in order for children with autism to develop to their greatest potential. It is vital that teachers and parents using ABA evaluate the interventions to determine their efficacy and make changes as needed to insure consistent and ongoing progress.ABA programs and interventions should focus on outcomes for the learner that will have socially significant consequences to a meaningful degree.

There are many different teaching strategies that are used under the umbrella of Applied Behaviour Analysis. These include shaping and chaining behaviours along with specific teaching strategies such as discrete trial instruction, pivotal response training, incidental teaching, fluency based instruction and many more.

The first step in Applied Behavior Analysis is to analyse the behaviour. This is done using the ABC model:

A – Antecedent – a directive or request for the child to perform an action.

B – Behavior – a behavior, or response from the child i.e. successful performance, noncompliance, or no response.

C – Consequence – a consequence, defined as the reaction from the therapist, which can range from strong positive reinforcement (ie. a special treat, verbal praise) to a strong negative response, “No!”

The following are some of the techniques used in ABA

Chaining: the skill to be learned is broken down into the smallest units for easy learning. For example, a child learning to eat independently may start with learning to unscrew a jam jar lid. Once the child has learned this, the next step may scooping the jam out with a teaspoon, and so on.

Task Analysis: a process in which a task is analysed into its component parts so that those parts can be taught through the use of chaining: forward chaining, backward chaining and total task presentation.

Prompting: the parent or therapist provides assistance to encourage the desired response from the child. The aim is to use the least intrusive prompt possible that will still lead to the desired response. Prompts can include:

• Verbal cues ie. “Take off the lid of the jam jar “
• Visual cues ie. pointing at the jam jar
• Physical guidance ie. moving the child’s hands to unscrew the lid
• Demonstration ie. taking the lid off to show the child how it is done.

Fading: the overall goal is for a child to eventually not need prompts. This is why the least intrusive prompts are used, so the child does not become overly dependent on them when learning a new behavior or skill. Prompts are gradually faded out as the new behaviour is learned. Learning to unscrew the jam jar lid may start with physically guiding the child’s hands, to pointing at the jar of jam, then just a verbal request.

Shaping: is the gradual modification of an existing behaviour of a child into the desired behaviour. For example  a young child who only engages with their pet by hitting it. Although time consuming, the parents intervene every time the child interacts with the pet, grab their hand and turn the hit into a stroking motion. This is paired with positive reinforcement “It’s great when you are gentle with …!” and doing a favourite activity immediately afterwards as a reward.

Differential reinforcement: Reinforcement provides a response to a child’s behaviour that will most likely increase that behaviour. It is “differential” because the level of reinforcement varies depending on the child’s response. Difficult tasks may be reinforced heavily whereas easy tasks may be reinforced less heavily. The teacher must systematically change the reinforcement so that the child will eventually respond appropriately under natural schedules of reinforcement (occasional) with natural types of reinforcers (social). Reinforcement can be positive (verbal praise or a favourite activity) or negative (an emphatic ‘no’). Positive reinforcement is an incentive given to a child who complies with some request for behaviour change. The aim is to increase the chances the child will respond with the changed behaviour. Positive reinforcement is given immediately after the desired behaviour has occurred so that it will shape the child’s future behaviour.

Generalisation: once a skill is learned in a controlled environment (usually table-time), the skill is taught in more general settings. Perhaps the skill will be taught in the natural environment. If the student has successfully mastered learning colouring at the table, the teacher may take the student around the house or his school and then re-teach the skill in these more natural environments.

April is Autism Awareness Month.

Elaine Sparling is the CEO of the award winning Hummingbird Learning Centre®. Based in Adare, Co Limerick and Tralee, Co Kerry, she works with clients on a one to one basis and can be contacted on 087-2996054 or through this website www.hummingbirdlearning.com. We are currently developing a week long Irish Course for summer 2016.The online version of our popular workshop The Secrets to Successful Spelling™ is available through this website and on our Facebook page and we have launched our in house Study Success Program™ for second & third level students.

How to Correct a Pencil / Pen grip and why it is so important

A few weeks ago, my cousin Trish was visiting from Dublin. Trish is a Montessori teacher and as you can imagine, it didn’t take long for the conversation to turn to learning. We were amazed to find that we have both noticed that many children dislike writing and how there seems to be a decline in handwriting skills and an increase in really bad pencil grips!

Handwriting Requires:

-Fine motor skills: Dexterity, Precision, Coordination, Grasping

-Visual motor/Oculomotor skills: Eye teaming, Convergence, Scanning

-Behavioural skills: Attention, Focus, Creativity

Writing can be both a representation of necessary skill mastery (i.e. a proper grasp = able to button a shirt, tie shoes, or open containers to prepare a meal).

OR, it can be a window into underlying delays in skill development (i.e. poor handwriting can reveal visual motor integration issues, vision issues, behavioural/emotional issues, etc.).

Humans are not born with the natural inclination to hold writing tools with a proper grip. The proper pencil grasp actually has a name: the tripod grip.  Though the tripod grip is preferred, the quadropod grip is also a common and accepted grip.

The tripod grip utilizes three fingers to secure a writing utensil: the thumb and forefinger directing, with the utensil resting on the middle finger. The quadropod grip uses four fingers working together to stabilize the writing tool.

The tripod grip is the ideal grip for proper letter and number formation and writing, and this grip is a skill that must be modelled, taught, and corrected.   When there are too many fingers involved, or if the stance is improper, writing will not be as easy as it can be.  And writing is a difficult skill even without the grip!

But how do you teach kids how to properly hold a writing utensil?

Before you even place the tool in the child’s hand, determine whether the child is right-handed or left-handed (or a ciotóg as we say in Irish).

When you are ready to introduce the tripod grip, it’s pretty simple:
– Place a writing tool in your child’s hand;
– Move the fingers to the proper position, encouraging the child to keep their little finger and ring finger on the palm so that the fingers can do their jobs (a little pom-pom is great to use here);
– Show the child how to manipulate the tool by moving their fingers more than their wrist.

And after your child does a little bit of doodling, colouring, and painting, the tripod grip will become as easy as breathing.  It’s just imperative for parents to play an integral role in instructing early on, with demonstrating, correcting, and modelling. I cannot stress this enough – children seem to be arriving to Montessori, playschool and big school with really poor tripod grips and if not corrected early it can become a problem later on.

Ideally, we want children to be comfortable writing and to teach them proper grip as a starting point.  As they get older this will mean that they are more relaxed when writing with a lot less neck, shoulder and wrist discomfort when writing essays or in exams.  They won’t be digging into the paper because the grip will be secure and they will writing with better flow.

Cursive writing will also become easier and as cursive writing aids the flow of thoughts, having the correct handwriting grip is vital.

Trish went back to Dublin and on my recommendation started to use the pom-pom with her Montessori students – the results were astounding – here’s the text she sent me:

“OMG what a difference the humble pom-pom makes! The pencil holding and letter formation with the children who were struggling has improved by 100%!  Thank you…thank you.”

Have you noticed how your child holds their pen & pencil? For more information contact me at elaine@hummingbirdlearning.com

6 Easy Tips for Back to School but with a Study Plan in Place!

The New Year always brings with it New Year Resolutions.  Those guilt laden promises we make to ourselves each year where we are going to do so much and do it better than before!  We tend to bite off more than we can chew though and then remonstrate ourselves when we can’t keep our resolutions.  We get totally overwhelmed and demoralised and, rather than feel like that, it is so much easier to give up.

Students facing into a new term can also feel overwhelmed.  Going back to school after Christmas, they are full of good intentions regarding their study, especially if they are in a big exam year. Elaborate study plans are drawn up, colour co-ordinated and printed out.  They are going to spend hours studying and it’s going to be so easy – until the first wobble comes. Suddenly they are overwhelmed, annoyed with themselves for not sticking to the plan and it goes by the wayside.

But it don’t have to be like that.  With a little more thought, a really successful and flexible study plan can be put in place.

Here are my 6 easy tips:

#1 Set your Objectives: There is no point on setting out on a journey without knowing where you want to arrive at! Write down the reasons why you are creating the study plan (yes, ‘because I was made to’ is a reason) and then write down the goals you want to achieve. Imagine yourself achieving those goals, feel how good you feel having achieved those goals, see yourself beaming from ear to ear and hear everyone congratulating you on your success. Make it as real as possible and ensure that your goals are true to you and what you want to achieve. Review them regularly to make sure that you are staying true to your plan.

#2 Get your Props Ready: Preparation is key so to make planning really easy gather your props in advance.  I recommend the following

• Timer / Clock
• Multi-coloured markers / pens
• Good study lamp
• Cookbook stand to prop textbooks on
• Computer / Laptop / Tablet
• Paper Diary

Study Tip No 3 use an Online Diary

#3 Online Diary: This is really important because I like to use a combination of an Online and Paper diary.  The Online Diary is for the big picture stuff while the paper diary is for the detail.  Let me explain; set up Google Calendar and block off chunks of time, using different colours e.g. Green for School. Firstly block off time for School, travel, eating, TV, breaks, Sports etc.  It is really important to schedule in downtime and sports as these help the body and brain relax, switch off and regenerate, making us more alert. After that add in the time blocks for study periods.  This visual representation will make it really easy to see how efficient you need to be with your study time. It can also be accessed on a smartphone, avoiding scheduling conflicts. Set up reminders or alerts on your phone to take breaks & when to start studying. Technology makes all of this so easy.

#4 Paper Diary:Once you have created the Big Picture, you will know how much study time you have each day. Now it’s time to get down into the detail.  I recommend breaking time down into units of 30 minutes – 25 minutes studying, 5 minutes on a break.  This optimises the concentration levels for the brain. Consider your subjects and break them down into units – e.g. one chapter = 1 unit.  Now decide how many time units each chapter unit will need.  So if your history course has 25 chapters and it takes 1 hour to study / revise each chapter then you will need 50 time units to cover the course.  This very quickly allows the student realise how much time they need per subject and how efficient they need to be with their time. As soon as they have this, they then use the paper diary to fill in the time units in their study blocks with the subjects. Writing things down adds a kinaesthetic element to the plan and studies show that we are more inclined to do things when they are written down.

#5 Spreadsheets: Set up spreadsheets to track the chapter units that you need to do. This way you know what has been covered and when you revised it.  It also quickly shows what still needs to be done and will allow you to amend your time units if needed to ensure everything gets covered/revised sufficiently.

#6 Miscellaneous: This tip is kind of a catch all but I didn’t want to have more than 6 tips, otherwise setting up the Study Plan would have been too overwhelming when in fact it is really easy. These mini-tips are short and are the icing on the cake.

• Get loads of Sleep – burning the midnight oil is counter-productive. Sleep is vital.
• Eat well – avoid too many fatty and carb laden foods, they make us sluggish. Eat lots of good protein and salads

• Stay hydrated – our brain needs to be hydrated to work well so sip away on water throughout the day
• Be social – Get out and meet your friends. Schedule your meet ups, that way you won’t feel guilty when meeting them. Social interaction is really important, it brings balance and perspective.
• Treats – reward yourself when you reach your objectives – you deserve it!

 

Elaine Sparling Founder & CEO Hummingbird Learning Centre®

Elaine Sparling is the CEO of the award winning Hummingbird Learning Centre®. Based in Adare, Co Limerick and Tralee, Co Kerry, she works with clients on a one to one basis and can be contacted on 087-2996054 or through their website www.hummingbirdlearning.com. They have also launched the online version of their popular workshop The Secrets to Successful Spelling™ which is available here: The Secrets to Successful Spelling Online Course

Stuck for a Christmas Gift

We’ve all been there. Stuck for a Christmas gift idea!  The person in question doesn’t seem to need anything – at least nothing that one would equate as a gift; although my sister once gave my dad a mouse trap as a gift when she was about 8 years old and overheard dad saying that there had been a mouse in the garage.

For the older person it can be a place to write down memories of times gone by.  A place to recall loved ones and bring them back to life by sharing stories about the little things that happened, the saying they had, their faults and follies, dreams and aspirations.  Local history can be recorded; the names of fields saved for future generations, recipes and cures passed on.  Their childhood recalled – one that is so different to now.

You see, history is not just about the big events but also the hundreds of little things that seem mundane at the time but are true glimpses into the past for other generations.  It is the very fact that they are considered mundane, ordinary & no different to anyone else’s life that family history & stories are easily overlooked and before we know it, gone and forgotten FOR-EVER!

A journal is not just about the past but also a place to write about our current experiences, to reflect and think things out.  A pen & paper are marvellous tools for getting perspective.

As for children – well they can dream up their futures in their journal.  They can create characters and escape into other worlds.  Children really have so little control over their lives, but in their journal they are masters of their destiny!  A journal can be a great place to figure out life, a safe place to vent their frustrations, to dream and then discard those dreams before dreaming it all up again.

Writing in a journal is not about having perfect spelling and following the rules of grammar.  It can have drawings & doodles with newspaper clippings & photographs.  It can have codes and made up language.

As the years go by, journals become our time machines.  We can travel back in time.  Our minds have the ability to conjure up people and places we thought were long forgotten, simply by reading about them again.  Journals become our personal time capsule. I was reminded to this today when I took out my cookbooks, looking for Christmas Recipes and there were my Auntie Maura’s and my Granny’s handwritten family favourites and in that instant it was as if they were with me.

There is a line in a song by the Irish band The Fat Lady Sings and it says “We don’t leave ourselves in many things, just in letter, leases, writs and rings, And when the last one’s sold or lost or gone, we don’t belong here, we don’t belong”.

A journal is about the good and not so good things that we have experienced.  It’s about life.  Our life. Record that life in the gift of a journal. Maybe give yourself a journal.  You are here, you matter! Write!

Wishing all of our readers, Hummingbirds and Hummingbird families a wonderful, easy Christmas and a Totally Awesome New Year!

See you in 2016. E

Elaine Sparling is the CEO of the award winning Hummingbird Learning Centre®. Based in Adare, Co Limerick and Tralee, Co Kerry, she works with clients on a one to one basis and can be contacted on 087-2996054 or through their website www.hummingbirdlearning.com. They have also launched the online version of their popular workshop The Secrets to Successful Spelling™ which is available through their website and Facebook page

Fidgety Kid? 7 Awesome Ways to Help them Fidget

Áine is a jack in the box.  She is on the go from morning to night.  Even in her sleep she squirms in the bed, kicking off the covers and sometimes ending up on the floor!   Her need to move can often result in her getting into trouble at school.  She isn’t being disruptive on purpose; she is simply a fidgety kid that needs sensory input in order to focus.

The trick is to find ways that allows the child to fidget, without disrupting the entire class or annoying the hell out of the teacher. When children come to us at Hummingbird Learning Centre, their parents stay for the session as well. Thinking that it must annoy me, parents will often interject when their child fidgets; telling the child to put things down or to sit still.  The truth is; I’m never bothered by it, in fact I will often give a child something to fidget with.  You see, it’s not the child fidgeting that is the issue. It is way the observer reacts to the fidgeting that is the  real issue.

Believe me there was a time when it would have driven me crazy, but now I realise that it is simply fulfilling a physical need and not a sign of disinterest.  I know that fidgeting actually helps many children to focus so I made a conscious decision to change my reaction to it.  I cannot control how any child fidgets, but I can control how I react to those actions.  By choosing to see a fidget as a positive it no longer bothers me.  When it no longer bothers me, the kids can only use it to help themselves get focused rather than attempt to distract me with it. So here are some totally awesome fidgets to use in school:

1. Air filled rubber toy: These are always the favourite fidget at Hummingbird Learning Centre. God love the poor fidgets – they are squeezed and squashed and dangled & plucked at.  The kids just love them and it’s amazing how they automatically reach for them when they need to get themselves focused.  They are especially great to work out any frustrations.
2. Pipe Cleaners: Pipe cleaners remind me of my grandpa and Christmas presents. I love the feel of them. Nowadays they are mainly used for crafts and come in lots of different colours and sizes.  Not only do they feel great but they can be quietly bent into all kinds of shapes and are silent too – perfect!
3. Worry stone: You can buy these in health food shops or indeed lots of craft shops have them too. Why not find a little pebble when out for a walk or in the garden? It makes it more personal.  Take care to ensure that it is a little light pebble to avoid injury if it was thrown.
4. Marla / Plasticine / blu tack: Who doesn’t love pulling apart or rolling marla? (Marla is the Irish word for plasticine, play dough or silly putty).  I also suggest blu tack – it has a little more resistance which also makes it a great option for kids with dyspraxia.  The kids can stretch and squeeze while quietly sitting at their desk.
5. Velcro: Placing some sticky backed Velcro onto a ruler or even under the desk will give the child something to touch.  Use both the hook side & the soft side – the contrast will make it a better fidget.
6. Sensory bracelets: These are specialist bracelets which are excellent for children who need oral sensory tools as they are chewable.  Wearing the fidget is a great way of ensuring it’s always at hand.
7. Nail file: Now before you think I’m giving a child a lethal weapon, I mean the emery board or spongy nail file. They come in all shapes, sizes and colours.  They can be easily kept in a pencil case and offer great sensory support.

Fidgeting is a real issue. It is a not bad behaviour, rather a strong indicator that children are not getting enough movement throughout the day. Ideally they would be playing outside a lot more but that can be difficult in the modern world. So in order to counteract that, allow those kids, who need to fidget to focus, fidget.

 

Elaine Sparling is the CEO of the award winning Hummingbird Learning Centre®.Based in Adare, Co Limerick and Tralee, Co Kerry, she works with clients on a one to one basis and can be contacted on 087-2996054 or through their website www.hummingbirdlearning.com. They have also launched the online version of their popular workshop The Secrets to Successful Spelling™ which is available through their website and Facebook page.

 

 

 

 

Dyslexia & Me: Richard Branson

At Hummingbird Learning Centre we always say that dyslexia is a wonderful thing – it’s just that it needs a different strategy for reading & writing.

I remember when the Virgin Megastore opened in Ireland. I was working in Dublin in the late 80’s early 90’s and it felt so cool,modern & kind of dangerous to be in there, browsing through the records. The store had caused all kinds of outrage because they were selling condoms openly on the counter, flouting the law at the time. The radio waves were jammed with moral condemnation, probably I suspect, to the delight of its owner, the maverick entrepreneur, Richard Branson.

Early in his life, Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Media, struggled with dyslexia. “I struggled with dyslexia when I was at school, long before it was widely known—my teachers just thought I was just stupid, lazy or both. Words just looked like jumbles of letters on the blackboard to me.”

Richard Branson has made a name for himself by mixing creative passion with business ideas. His first commercial success came after he founded his dream business: a record label. That company, called Virgin Records, produced the Mike Oldfield album “Tubular Bells,” which was later used in the film The Exorcist.

But that wasn’t Branson first business.  His first was a magazine that he started while still at school. The magazine was so successful that he left school early to continue with it.  I always think that this was incredible.  Here was a guy who struggled with reading and writing, yet he started a magazine, where his trade and tools were words!

In a blog post on Virgin’s website, Branson attributed the Virgin brand’s success to his dyslexia: “However, there are still many dyslexics out there, especially young people, who feel held back by their condition. I used my dyslexia to my advantage and learned to delegate those tasks I wasn’t so good it. This freed me up to look at the bigger picture, and is one of the main reasons I have been able to expand the Virgin brand into so many different areas.”

That ability to see the ‘big picture’ is one of the many positive attributes of dyslexia.

There are many, many talented dyslexics out there,” Branson wrote. “In fact, some of the most creative people happen to have the condition.”  One of his ‘big picture’ ideas really couldn’t be any bigger – he created a company to make commercial SPACE travel a reality!

In addition, Richard Branson owns his own train company, an airline, a media group and even a Caribbean island, but it’s not all about making money.  He takes a different approach to customer care.  He advocates for looking after your staff first, then they will look after the customers. “I have always believed that the way you treat your employees is the way they will treat your customers, and that people flourish when they are praised.” “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”

Branson also knows the value of making mistakes, something people who do dyslexia often find difficult: “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over. You learn by doing, and by falling over, and it’s because you fall over that you learn to save yourself from falling over.

He credits dyslexia with another of his signature management techniques: the habit of always taking notes. He writes in his 2014 book “The Virgin Way” that he learned as a child that if he ever had a chance at remembering anything, he’d need to jot it down. To this day, he says he carries a notebook everywhere.

The handwritten note habit has come in handy in management, negotiation, and even legal situations — he’s submitted his notebooks as evidence in lawsuits, he says.

It’s one of the “most powerful tools” in his “bag of business tricks,” Branson writes.

Dyslexia, Branson claims, actually made him a better manager, he wrote in his 2012 book “Like a Virgin,” and it became what he considers his “greatest strength.”

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month

#DyslexiaAwarenessMonth #DyslexiaAwarenessWeek

This month is International Dyslexia Awareness Month & here in Ireland, this week is Dyslexia Awareness Week.

Whenever someone tells me that they are dyslexic, I always say ‘Hi Dyslexic, I’m Elaine’.  Usually they’ll look at me quizzically and say ‘no – I have dyslexia’, to which I reply with ‘great, show it to me’. With their patience beginning to grow thin, they will explain that they have it in their head but I’m curious, so I want to know where in their head they have it. ‘In my brain’ they practically shout at me but I’m tenacious, I want to know specifically where they have it and how do they know that they have it and when do they know that they have it.

Interestingly, they are usually only aware of it when reading, writing or spelling.  The rest of the time they are completely unaware that they are doing dyslexia.  That is it – you are not dyslexic! Dyslexia is something that you do!

Dyslexia is a pattern that you run and because it is something that you do naturally, you are really unaware of it. You are unaware of all the wonderful abilities dyslexia brings to you because it’s just a part of you.  People who do dyslexia can be incredible problem solvers and innovators. They are fantastic with machinery and engineering.  They are amazing crafts people, golfers, builders and snooker players because they can see angles and potential in lumps of rock and clay.

This very ability though, is not a great strategy to run when reading, writing & spelling.  The ability to move & manipulate images in your head, means that you can also do this with words & letters.  Words & letters however, must remain visable, be still and keep their shape in order for us to read, write and spell.  So a person who does dyslexia needs a different strategy to be able to do this with ease.

In school, the curriculum is taught with a massive emphasis on phonics – even though English is not a particularly phonetic language.  It works reasonably well for most children but for others it doesn’t. They need a completely different strategy, one that compliments their natural abilities, rather than shoehorning them into a size that doesn’t fit.  Yes if you push hard enough, they can squeeze into phonics, but they will be hobbling along for the rest of their lives.

A visual strategy, such as the Hummingbird Learning Method® where they learn to control their images, works like magic for people who do dyslexia and indeed for anyone who struggles with spelling.  The beauty of a visual strategy is that it works for every language as it doesn’t depend on sounds, so the student’s Irish, French, Spanish, Japanese, or any other language also improves.

So remember – Dyslexia is a wonderful gift to have, it is just not the best strategy to run when reading, writing or spelling.  Dyslexia is simply something you do – it’s not who you are.

If you , or someone you know is struggling with Dyslexia, please let them know about us.  We are in Adare & Tralee.  If they are too far to travel (people come to us from all over), let them know about our online course, The Secrets to Successful Spelling™.  It will shortly be available.  Just email me at elaine@hummingbirdlearning.com & I will put them on my notification list so that they will be among the first to know when it is launched & can avail of the special launch price.

Have a great week,

Elaine

Homework – A Thorny Issue

“Homework is one of the thorniest issues at primary level”. Not my words but those of Peter Mullen of the Irish National Teachers Organisation, in an article in the Irish Examiner in November 2013.

The Department of Education in Ireland has no formal policy on the length of time homework should take. I’m going to repeat that – there is no national policy on the length of time that homework should take or how much homework is given.  Each school is free to make its own policy.  In many ways, the lack of a formal policy is a good thing. Nobody wants a situation where home work is done with a stopwatch – not a second more, not a second less.

Homework is a contentious issue.  Some parents rate teachers based on how much homework they give – too much & the teacher mustn’t be teaching them in class at all, too little and the teacher is way too laid back.  Other parents decide that a school is more or less academic than other schools based on the amount of homework given. The consensus being that the longer the students spend on homework the more academic (and therefore better) the school.

I know of one parent, who decided that the teacher, who was also the principal, wasn’t giving enough homework to the class. That parent went to town on the teacher, who gave in and increased the homework from 30 – 40 min to 2.5 hours per night!  The pupils were in 4^th class and no other parents were consulted before the massive increase in workload.  The fact that there isn’t a formal national policy gave the other parents little comeback when this happened.  The school set the policy.

There is a lot more to doing homework than the time it takes to do it but giving a time frame is at least an easy guideline for parents.  However, when I checked the homework policies of various national schools on time to be spent on homework in sixth class, some schools recommend up to 50% more time than others.

An article in The Irish Teachers’ Journal in November 2014 entitled ‘An Evaluation of the Utility of Homework in Irish Primary School Classrooms’ by Joanne Jackson and Lorraine Harbison, concluded that,  based on their research  it is not the giving of homework per se that is of value but that the type of homework that is administered is more important.

They go on to say:  Homework remains a central part of the primary school curriculum that affects teachers and teaching, children and learning, families and home-school communication. Despite this reality, there is limited evidence on the utility of homework. As with the findings of Van Voorhis (2004), too little attention has been given to the purposes of homework and communication between home and school about homework policies. Communication should work both ways, but all the literature refers to home-school communication in relation to homework rather than what could really be deemed the more appropriate term, school-home!

A number of key themes arose during the questionnaire, namely the lack of knowledge of the expectations of parents, partially due to the homework policy being poorly communicated to parents and the juxtaposition of positive and negative views of homework amongst parents. Even more disappointing, is the absence of the voice of the child in the debate although the curriculum advocates that children should be active agents in their own learning rather than submissive partakers. What is apparent is that radical overhaul of homework needs to take place and it is vital that all involved are given opportunities to voice opinions in order to develop the most effective strategies possible which will maximise children’s learning potential.

In March 2015 the UK newspaper The Telegraph ran a story called ‘Homework around the world: how much is too much?’ In it they claim that there is little data on how much time primary school students spend working on homework, but studies have failed to find any relationship between time spent of homework during primary school and academic achievement.

The debate continues in secondary school. The amount of time secondary school children spend on homework varies hugely around the world, depending on the pressures and expectations of each country.

According to the international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and various education research partners, 15-year-olds in Shanghai spend the most amount of time on homework, at an average of 13.8 hours per week. Students in Finland spend just 2.8 hours on homework per week, but manage to still perform well on academic tests, despite the correlation between time spent on homework and success. British 15-year-olds spend an average of 4.9 hours per week on homework, which is exactly the same as the overall OECD average.

Ireland was not included in the list of 62 countries.

Elaine Sparling is the creator of the Hummingbird Learning Method® and is about to launch an online version of their the popular workshop The Secrets to Successful Spelling™. Based in Adare, Co Limerick and now also in Tralee Co Kerry, she works with clients on a one to one basis and can be contacted on 087-2996054 or through their website www.hummingbirdlearning.com

Allowing our children to take responsibility for themselves

My husband is terrible at remembering dates. He just doesn’t know birthdays or anniversaries. He has a constant fear of forgetting his god-son’s birthday & every so often he’ll panic about it, even though it could still be months away!

I have a theory about it.  His twin remembers all important dates. I believe that my hubby never had to remember dates because his twin did that for him. His twin would always let him know when a birthday or anniversary was coming up, so over the years hubby abdicated that responsibility to him.

Tuesday morning I was not a happy camper! The Ploughing Championship had started in Ratheniska, Co Laois and it seemed like the world & his mother were heading there – just as I was leaving the house to drop my teenage boys to the school bus. Traffic was unusually heavy but moving and I was grateful that we had left the house a little early.

Then #1 son pipes up – ‘oh damn, I forgot my lunch’.  I won’t go into the next 15 minutes except to say it involved turning the car, getting the lunch-box, taking a back road into the village to avoid the worsening traffic, frantic calls to pals to hold the bus, missing the bus and chasing it to the next stop.

Yet when I told my husband about the forgotten lunch-box, somehow it became MY fault that the lunch-box was forgotten! You see, hubby asks them very morning if they have their lunch with them. I didn’t, ergo it’s my fault.

Lake Mary High School in Seminole County, Florida has a rule, clearly posted in the front office: “Attention students and parents: We do not accept items for drop-off such as lunches, backpacks, homework, and sports equipment. Please plan accordingly.”  They have taken the view that, by the time you are in High School, you are well able to remember to bring what you need with you. If you forget, then you deal with the consequences.

My children have been taking their lunch to school since they were 4. It’s not like it was an unusual item that had to be brought to school that day, but they are now conditioned not to have to think about it until reminded by dad.

There comes a time in life, when we as parents have to let go.  We have to allow our children make their own mistakes. It is how they learn to deal with stress, how to come up with innovative solutions, how to cope when life doesn’t go smoothly.  On the grand scale of things, forgetting to bring lunch to school was a minor event.  The consequence though was missing the bus and the slagging that he got from his pals when we eventually caught up with it, just as it was pulling away from the final stop – cue honking of horns & flashing of lights.

On Tuesday my son learned that he has to be self-reliant and his dad & I learned that there comes a point where we have to allow our boys make mistakes.  Of course, we will always protect them, but big lessons can be learned from making little mistakes.

And what else did I learn?  The date for the 2016 Ploughing Championship is already in my diary AND I’ve texted it to the hubby’s twin!

Back to School : How to survive the SECOND week!

First week down, breathe a sigh of relief. You’ve gotten through the drama of ‘Back to School’.  Well done you. Unfortunately, come Monday, you’re going to have to do it all again – and not just this Monday, but the one after that & the one after that and on and on to Christmas & beyond.  In addition, the mornings and evening will get darker and the weather will get worse (maybe I should say colder rather than worse, given the summer we just had!). Aren’t I just a bundle of joy today?

Back to school can be overwhelming for everyone. The first week can often be the easiest time.  We plan it.  The uniforms are bought, the books covered, the lunches planned, but is in the second and third week that routines are created and once a good routine is established, life becomes much easier.  Here are some tips for the second week at school:

Your children will have been more active over the summer, even if that meant that they simply got up from the couch and walked into their bedrooms whenever they wanted. Now even that limited physical activity is curtailed, they will for the most part be sitting down for almost all of the day.  Therefore it is really important to maintain physical activity when they go back to school.  If they are into sports, keep them playing – even in big exam years.  You might need to reduce the time spent training but don’t cut it out completely.  The mind and body needs that physical activity.  It is an excellent form of stress relief.

Make sure that you know exactly what events are coming up in school.  Your child relies on you to be their anchor. Mark your calendar and check it regularly. Make sure you use one that has plenty of space to write on.  It can be useful to have a weekly planner as well.  I have one framed so that I can reuse it like a whiteboard.  That way I can remind everyone of what’s happening that week like birthday parties, play dates, meetings, training, and doctor’s appointments.  As I say, if it’s not on the board it’s not happening.  If you’d like a copy of it, just contact me at elaine@hummingbirdlearning.com & I will email it to you.

School is back but if your kids are on sports teams, training seems to be as regular as ever so a good idea, to prevent overwhelm for you, is to have some easy meals ready in the freezer.  This will ensure everyone will have time for homework and sport, and gets to eat properly, without mum or dad having to cook from scratch.

Adjusting to the rhythm of school can be stressful for children, so as parents it is important that we don’t over react.  Reinforce the ability to cope. Children absorb their parent’s anxiety, so model optimism and confidence for your child. Let your child know that it is natural to be a little nervous anytime you start something new but that your child will be just fine once he or she becomes familiar with classmates, teachers, and school routine.

Turn off the TV and other devices.  There was a time when the telly was the only distraction in the house, but now there are so many others.  Establish rules and stick to them.  Have a place where the phones go to be recharged and they are plugged in the moment the kids come home from school and not touched until after homework has been completed.  Even then limit the amount of time to half an hour. Children need to relax before going to bed and the tiny flicker of screens prevents this.

Reinstate bedtime and stick to it.  Children are experts at the war of attrition and they will wear you down, taking 5 minutes extra at a time until bedtime is now a completely new time.  Be strong.

Arrange playdates – at school, friendships can be forever but sometimes they can be for a short time.  Your child’s friends can move school, be in different classes or for some unfathomable reason no longer want to be friends with your child.  You can help your child through this by arranging play dates with other children.  These are also a great way for you to get to know other parents, especially if you are working.  Knowing the parents can be very handy for carpooling or being able to contact them about school issues.

Finally, make sure that you take care of YOU!  If you are frazzled, the whole household becomes frazzled.  Take some time for yourself.  Do something that you enjoy, for some it might be an uninterrupted lingering hot bath, for others it might be a lung bursting spinning class. It doesn’t matter what it is, what matters is that you do it for you.

One last tip – Highlight the midterm breaks, bank holidays and holidays on your calendar, every day you are one step closer to them!! Good luck.