Dr. Linda Silverman, a very experienced psychologist who studies these students, has done a study of 750 students and found that 33% are what she calls visual spatial learners and an additional 29% learn better this way — her website http://www.gifteddevelopment.com has more information

We have read the studies on both sides of the vision therapy argument and have both:
- Used a Visagraph (R) that shows the problem when the child’s eyes are not tracking and

- Seen the benefits when students get both the right educational and vision help

We have also had a number of doctors change their minds when they see both the student’s problems and their excellent results

We are working on a study and are more than willing to compare our efforts with other methods — many components of our program have been scientifically validated but not the integrated model — (e.g. The Interactive Metronome (R), Taylor Reading Plus (R), Gemstone Vision Therapy (R) and we use a well tested assessment — the Structure of Intellect Assessment (R) that does focus on learning style, underlying learning strengths and identifying vision and auditory issues)

Many of the recommendations you have recited here have been examined scientifically and found wanting.

For example, see these sources on behavioral optometry: American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement, “Learning Disabilities, Dyslexia, and Vision: A Subject Review” “ADHD — Unproven Treatments“ and R. Worrall’s Web page about “eye-related quackery.”.

Similarly, how can we reliably establish which students “learn best when they see and experience information?” I know of no scientifically valid test for discriminating children on the basis of visual, auditory, or other sensory modalities for learning. If you have one, it would be a great service to the field of education to submit it to scientific scrutiny so that we can learn how to tell which students have which learning style. Once we know that, then we can study which methods work best with certain groups the test identifies and which methods fail with some or all of them.

I am glad you encourage parents to compare. Comparing is at the bottom of scientific knowledge. It would be valuable, in fact, for you to submit your methods to a comparison against alternative methods.

Thanks again for responding to my post and Liz’s comment.

I am an experienced educator and mother of four — two of whom have Dyslexia

I first developed the program to help my then 8th grade daughter who had been told she was not college material

With the program she gained 4.2 grades in her comprehension in 7 months and later earned her Masters in Education and is now a teacher

My son went from the 31st to the 74th percentile in comprehension and is now an Honors student in college

We combine what we have developed with the best programs we can find and then partner with parents and professionals

Our students often do well because they learn the way we teach, we address their underlying issues and we
help parents to help their child

We have had many students make significant gains in their comprehension including
- A 2nd grader who went from the 18th to the 83rd percentile
- A 5th grade who went from the 17th to the 82nd percentile
- A 5th grader who went from the 48th to the 95th percentile

We succeed partially because of what we do and how we do it and partially
due to the committed parents who want to be an integral part of the solution

At 3D Learner we do help the children who learn best when they see and experience information — As Dr. Linda Silverman writes in her book Upside Down Brilliance, “Phonics instruction does not need to be eliminated altogether, but sight word vocabulary needs to be built first. Then whole words or syllables can be compared and the pattern recognition capacities of the visual-spatial learner can be brought to bear”.

Dr. Silverman’s research found that 38% of the students learn best with a visual experiential approach

We also address student’s
- Attention issues with the Interactive Metronome (R)
- Anxiety issues with Heart Math’s Freeze Framer (R) System
- Student’s vision issues by first using a Visagraph to identify tracking issues and then working
with vision professionals
- We train parents how to work with their child and their child’s school
- Self-confidence, which is critical to build

We believe phonics-based solutions are an option for parents, but have found
the visual-experiential approach we use in conjunction with our other efforts
to help this large cohort of students who learn best when they see and experience
information

We encourage parents to talk to others and to us and compare

http://www.schwablearning.org/message_boards/view_messages.asp?thread=16248&f=search

and more commentary here

http://lizditz.typepad.com/i_speak_of_dreams/2004/07/product_3d_lear.html

both sites have commentary from the creator of “3d Learner”.

I agree with you, it is lunchmeat. It’s so discouraging that the Davis Method is still being flogged, and Sylvan is advertising that it can help with dyslexia, and so on.