We aim to give students the skills they need to be successful at school. From foundation skills such as attention, listening and motor skills to academic skills like reading, handwriting and mathematics, we have a wide range of programmes which are suitable for students of all abilities.
Our programmes are different to “grinds” or resource teaching in that they are designed by therapists (psychologists, speech and language therapists & occupational therapists) combining research-driven strategies that have been proven to work. Rather than just “practicing” skills, our programmes aim at addressing the core components that cause the difficulties.They are fun and engaging sessions that build on specific core components to develop the skills necessary for success at school.
Read More About our School Success Programmes:
“Building focus and attention for improved application to academic tasks.”
Concentration is definitely a universal skill, necessary for every task in the classroom (and elsewhere). Without the ability to focus successfully on simple tasks, students can miss so many learning opportunities. While some students develop these skills naturally through practice, others need extra support. Whether students are distractible, have difficulty focussing for longer periods or have more complex difficulties such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Our “Focus on Success” programme is suitable for all ages, from younger to older students. It combines sensory strategies for regulation with cognitive strategies and the Interactive Metronome™. These strategies have been proven to be successful for improving attention and result in improved academic performance.
Parents are encouraged to have a high level of involvement in the programme to provide skills for carrying over concentration skills into everyday life. The games can involve the whole family and usually only take a few minutes each.
“Improving exam success through study and exam writing skills.”
Designed for students in secondary school, this programme combines traditional psychology, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy techniques with the Interactive Metronone™.
This programme aims to help students:
- Build on their processing speed to help boost working speed during exams.
- Improve their self-regulation to improve stress management.
- Develop and maintain appropriate study schedules.
- Learn the study methods that suit their learning style best.
- Learn how to read and interpret questions accurately.
- Develop their skills at writing expressive answers to optimise points.
- Learn how to structure and organise their exam papers to make them easy to read and mark.
“The desire to write grows with writing.” — Desiderius Erasmus
Developing fast, legible writing with ease.
Handwriting is, arguably, one of the most important parts of a student’s academic progress. Most of a student’s knowledge is measured through handwriting. Students who struggle with handwriting are doomed to daily battles, tears and feelings of failure, with no way out for at least 13 years. Homework can be a war-zone with both parents and students leaving frustrated and achieving little. Hours and hours of practice lead to very small improvements and very high levels of frustration and stress, many students even develop a resistance to handwriting.
But it doesn’t need to be this way: Now, there is help for those struggling with handwriting!
We offer a unique programme designed for children who have not developed good mechanics for handwriting. Our programme develops the skills that are essential for handwriting, bringing them together to grow a child’s writing speed and legibility. Once students have developed automatic, neat, and fast handwriting, more time can be spent on focusing on the main subjects taught at school, helping students to face each school day with confidence and success.
This programme is suitable for younger students who have not started handwriting yet (a perfect time to start the right way) to those doing joined writing. Thus, this programme is suitable for Junior Infants through Sixth Class, and may be helpful for some older students whose handwriting is challenging their academic success. Parents are encouraged to have a high level of involvement in the programme to provide skills for carrying over handwriting skills into everyday life.
Contact us now to ensure the student’s place on our invaluable programme.
Programme:
We combine the skills of our incredible team and our unique knowledge and understanding of the development of handwriting to help students develop faster, neater writing. Our programme is design and supported by an experienced team of professionals, including:
- Psychologists
- Occupational Therpaists
- Speech & Language Therapists
Our dynamic facilitators receive training and support in the programmes by the full team and can call on the team at any point if a student is not progressing as expected. This unique, high level of support ensures each student’s needs are met effectively in a way other “one-size fits all” programmes cannot.
Elements of our programme:
- Regulatory Work: The start of any session is the most important. This sets the tone for the rest of the session. Our sessions typically begin with regulatory activities which “wake” the nervous system up and get the student’s brain and body ready for handwriting work.
- Preparatory Work: Using visual, auditory and kinaesthetic feedback, this part of our programme focuses on developing the skills necessary for handwriting, from shoulder stability to fine motor skills and many more.
- Handwriting/Functional Work: This part of the session only begins once the “stage is set”. Now the students are ready to develop the appropriate handwriting mechanics. This stage is embedded into functional activities that the child doesn’t even realise he’s “working” on his handwriting and is teamed with activities of the student’s own interests to keep them truly engaged!
- Parent Involvement: Parent involvement is one of the key components of our programme. By including parents into many aspects of the sessions, parents are given the skills to continue developing concepts at home, both through formal practice/games and through everyday activities.
How the programme is structured:
This programme involves one 50-minute session per week (this can be increased to twice weekly if you prefer), with each cycle comprising of 12 sessions. Sessions are run by a therapeutic facilitator who has been trained in the above programmes and who receives ongoing support from the therapeutic team.
“Inspire reading by improving fluency and comprehension.”
Reading forms the basis of learning in our school system. Although some work is done practically, just about all learning, especially in “academic” subjects, takes place through reading.
Reading involves many different skills, including being able to “decode” the written word, reading with comfort and fluency and make sense of what we read (reading comprehension). Difficulty in any of these skills can have significant consequences for academic success.
Our programmes are fun, engaging sessions that build on these skills to build confidence and success in reading. Working with parents and with the student’s particular interests makes these programmes both engaging and successful. They are designed by psychologists and speech and language therapists, which ensure that they are well matched to build on reading skills.
Our “Reading for Success” programme is suitable for all ages. It combines cognitive strategies for regulation with confidence building strategies and the Interactive Metronome™. These strategies have been proven to be successful for improving reading and result in improved academic performance.
Parents are encouraged to have a high level of involvement in the programme to provide skills for carrying over reading skills into everyday life. The games can involve the whole family and usually only take a few minutes each.
“Go down deep enough into anything and you will find mathematics.” — Dean Schlicter
Developing a sense of patterns and concepts to make sense of Maths.
No-one can doubt the importance of Mathematics. Besides being a fundamental part of everyday life, it is one of the most important and often trying of school subjects. Students who struggle with mathematics are doomed to daily battles, tears and feelings of failure, with no way out for at least 13 years.
But it doesn’t need to be this way: Now, there is help for those struggling with maths! We offer a unique programme designed for students who struggle to grasp mathematics.
Our programme teaches understanding and development of patterns and concepts that form the basis of mathematics. Once students understand the patterns, they can approach more complex problems with confidence and success.
This programme is suitable for younger students who are not counting yet (a perfect time to start the right way) to those learning integers and algebra. Thus, this programme is suitable for Junior Infants through sixth class, and may be helpful for some older students who are struggling with basic concept development.
Our programme combines the RightStart™ Mathematics and the Interactive Metronome™ programmes. There are very few worksheets or repetition work, but lots of games for practice of skills.
Parents are encouraged to have a high level of involvement in the programme to provide skills for carrying over maths skills into everyday life. The games can involve the whole family and usually only take a few minutes each.
Elements of our programme:
- RightStart™ Mathematics: Using visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning, this programme focuses on understanding and problem solving and helps students find patterns in mathematical concepts.
- Interactive Metronome™: A computer-based feedback programme helps develop attention, rhythm and timing and is proven to improve mathematic skills.
- Parent Involvement: Parent involvement is one of the key components of our programme. By including parents into many aspects of the sessions, parents are given the skills to continue developing concepts at home, both through formal practice/games and through everyday language and interaction.
How the programme is structured:
The programme involves one 50-minute session per week (this can be increased to twice weekly if you prefer), with each cycle comprising of 12 sessions. Sessions are run by a therapeutic facilitator who has been trained in the above programmes and who receives ongoing support from the therapeutic team.