The Chicken Farmer that's a Chicken Charmer!

This summer we had the honor of working with Vance, who lives in Barbourville, KY and loves working on the farm with his granddad, Pap.

Vance is a chicken farmer.  Everyday he feeds and waters his chickens and then gathers the eggs!

Vance's family has nicknamed him the Chicken Charmer because the chickens are so calm around him and gather at his feet when he is around.  While here in town, Vance visited the Lorikeet exhibit at the Louisville Zoo one day after sessions.  Looks like he's also a charmer of all things feathered!

Mom asked Vance one day whether he'd told Kristin, his Learning Coordinator here at Langsford, about his chickens.  He replied, "Nope!  Because I'll just get asked a bunch of questions about them!"

  

And he was right!  Vance did comprehension work with us and we ask LOTS of questions to encourage students to be clearer with their use of language while making movies in their minds about what they've read.

Kristin hopes that maybe Vance will write her a story about his chickens before next summer when he comes back to visit us again.

A Model Family

Recently we celebrated Jolie's completion of a phase of work at LLAC devoted to improving her reading and spelling skills.  Since Jolie's older sister who lives in Chicago was in town, it was a rare photo op for the family!  

Two Young Heart-throbs

All of our female staff this summer stayed in a state of infatuation.  And who could blame them with these two boys around.  Toooooo cute!  We all had crushes on them.   

Henry and Mitchell came to Langsford over the summer to work on their reading skills.  We suspect they'll be needing those skills in the near future for reading love letters from their girl classmates.

These two are surely going to break a lot of hearts!  Ahhhhh.......to be young again! 

A Mother's Love

You've heard the phrase, "It takes a village......"  Indeed, everyone involved working together has proven to be the best way to assist children in the development of their reading skills.  

One of the most important people on this "team," is often the child's mother.  

Since Mom generally practices the new concepts needing mastered and helps with the homework assignments, she is often in the best position to recognize when the child is struggling or just needs a little boost.  Often the final output in the classroom that the teacher sees does not reflect the level of effort that had to go into the assignment. 

For any child working to develop his or her reading skills, having a parent as an advocate to monitor the work done at home, to stay in close contact with the child's teachers, tutors, or anyone else from "the village" that is working with their child, is a critical component to coordinating the efforts of all involved in addressing their child's individual needs. 

Addie, shown here with her mother and younger sister, is lucky to have her mother as an advocate for her.  Addie's mother has worked tirelessly and with much enthusiasm to make sure that her daughter gets the help she needs to perform to the best of her abilities.  

And isn't that what a mother's love is all about?

Sarah's Got Talent!

While this may look like a new singing group auditioning for "America's Got Talent," the show in this picture is all about Sarah! One of Sarah's many talents include winning the hearts of the Middletown Langsford Staff. On Sarah's last day of sessions, everyone wanted to get into the act for her celebration!

In this picture, from left to right, are Sarah's supporting cast:  Fran, suffering a little stage fright but excited about getting into the act; Toni W., trying to steal the show; Claudia, Sarah's Learning Coordinator and Ringmaster of this crew; and Toni H., another instructor, who would sing, dance, or juggle to have more students like Sarah!

Sarah, we think you're a winner and your talent will take you far in life!

Failure Is Necessary for Success

For some reason our society often teaches that failure is something to be avoided at all costs. We fear failure.

To avoid failing, many of us simply stop trying. We stop taking risks. We play it safe and never go outside of our predefined boundaries. Even worse, we may let others define these boundaries for us.

When we put all of our energy into avoiding failure, we are missing out on the best opportunity we have to reach success.

Failure is simply a natural part of the learning process. We try, we fail. We learn from the failure and try again. As this process continues, we learn and we grow...

And we succeed.

The video below clearly demonstrates how several successful and famous people were not just born that way. They had to fail. And fail. And fail again.



Here's another video describing Michael Jordan's success through the perspective of his failures.



Finally, take a look at this video of Michael Jordan talking about failure and our inclination to make excuses rather than continue trying.



Failure deserves more respect.

So go ahead, be inspired by failure.

Langsford Lecture at University of Louisville

The photos above were taken last week, when our Director Stephen McCrocklin gave a presentation at the University of Louisville. This lecture was part of the curriculum for graduate students enrolled in the Doctor of Audiology Program in the Department of Surgery.

Stephen’s talk explained how the brain works in connection with auditory processing and learning. He described how auditory processing within the brain is an integral part of learning how to process language, which in turn is a vital component in learning how to read.

Stephen enjoyed the opportunity to interact with this engaging group of people who will soon be devoting their lives helping others as Doctors of Audiology.

Shortly after the lecture, Stephen received this email from Clinical Instructor, Dr. Julie M. Manche:

“The Au.D. students found the lecture fascinating. They now have a greater appreciation for the complexity of the brain and how auditory processing directly affects so many other skill areas, such as reading and language processing. The “real world” connection that you highlighted between audition and reading has enriched their knowledge and understanding.”

Langsford specializes in assessing dyslexia and other reading, spelling and comprehension difficulties. If you know of someone who may need a reading tutor, you can learn more about our evaluations and how we develop a customized plan of action by clicking here.