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Frequently, children who have been diagnosed with learning or attentional disorders can benefit from learning specific strategies to overcome these problems. Although general recommendations may be made to teachers and schools, it may be difficult for schools to provide one-on-one or small group instruction for specific learning problems. Similarly, traditional tutors may be trained to teach specific course content or to review and help with homework, but they may be unable to address a child's learning disorder. Barbara Ma received her Master's degree in Educational Counseling from Boston College. Working with one of the staff psychologists, Ms. Ma is able to develop an individual educational counseling plan to address a child's specific learning needs. Working directly with the child, and in cooperation with parents and teachers, Ms. Ma can then assist in providing strategies and skills that utilize the child's strengths and help overcome weaknesses in the child's learning style. When addressing these issues, Ms. Ma may use course content or homework as the framework for building strategies. However, the coursework is seen as secondary to the larger learning issue being addressed. Often, Ms. Ma may find it necessary to cover material not currently being presented in the child's classroom. Thus, her role is not that of a traditional tutor or course helper. In order to best assess a student's cognitive strengths and weaknesses, it is strongly recommended that the student undergo a comprehensive psychoeducational assessment before arranging educational counseling with Ms. Ma as this may help clarify the focus of their work together. For example, many teachers indicate that a child is "easily distracted and seems like he's not paying attention." Testing might indicate that rather than an attentional disorder, the child actually has an auditory processing weakness, and the focus of educational counseling would therefore be quite different.
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About | Dr
Blurton | Professionals | Services |