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SUMMER PROGRAMS
Register Today!
Reading/Writing/Math
Help your child gain confidence in core reading skills. In this one-on-one, week-long program, your child will participate in multi-sensory activities, computer games, and phonological-based programs to strengthen their foundational reading skills.
Help your child to build comprehension skills. During this one-on-one week-long program, students will learn to build comprehension skills through character analysis, chapter summaries, theme exploration, and annotation.
An individualized approach to improving a student's writing. In this week-long, one-on-one series, students will learn strategies to assist them in every step of the writing process, including pre-writing, researching, drafting, revising, and editing.
Provide one-on-one support, helping your child build confidence in math skills including: basic math (grades 3-8), pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, calculus and SAT/ACT level math.
During this one-on-one or small group, week-long program, students will actively engage in reading through Thinking Organized strategies and activities.
Executive Functioning - INTENSIVES
An individualized approach to improving key elements of a student's executive functioning skills that will assist with a smooth transition to the new school year.
An intensive program designed to introduce students to a variety of memory and studying strategies.
College
A seminar series for students preparing to apply to college and their parents.
A summer series that will focus on the key areas that tend to get overlooked while preparing to head off to college.
Group-Based Programs
In this program, children will work together to develop problem-solving and executive functioning skills through engaging, hands-on challenges.
A group-based program where your child will work with peers to plan a trip to a DC landmark, sporting event, or museum. After their trip, they will produce a scrapbook summarizing the planning process and documenting their adventure.
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Let Your Children Make Mistakes this Summer!
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As we reach the end of the school year, a number of "standards" start to be compromised. With the pressures of exams and end-of-the-year projects, parents might find themselves taking on some of their children's responsibilities or helping them with schoolwork a little more than usual. However, your overall goal as parents is to raise independent individuals who can effectively negotiate the rigors of life as well as academics. To do this, children need to develop executive functioning skills, the cognitive processes that control and organize goal-directed behavior. When an exam is looming, it is hard to not step in and help your child prepare for that test.
With the stress of school out of the way, summer is a wonderful time to work on improving your children's executive functioning skills.
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Although many students would prefer to spend their summers relaxing, it's important for them to budget time to strengthen their executive functioning skills. Since the stakes aren't so high, this is a great time to let your children make mistakes and learn how to persevere until a strategy is mastered. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Material Organization. If your children only have partial success with cleaning their room during the school year, it might be tempting to either do it yourself or lower your expectations. In the summer, there is plenty of time to teach them to do a complete and efficient job. First, define exactly what your expectations for a "clean room" might be. Your list might include tasks such as all clothes put away, bed made, bookshelves cleaned, and floor swept or vacuumed. Create a list for your children to refer to while cleaning; they may even benefit from using a checklist. Choose a time that the room should be cleaned each day or week; the more often a room is cleaned, the faster the process takes. Persevering through each step of their chore list will help your children be better prepared for organizing materials for school and running their own home one day.
- Time Management. Many children function better with some sort of schedule, even during vacation. Let your children be the ones to set priorities for a day, identifying chores, errands, or summer reading that should be completed before recreational activities. Once the day's activities are listed and prioritized, encourage your children to estimate the time each task will take. Record the actual time and spend a few minutes at the end of the day discussing your children's accuracy. Practicing the skills of managing time effectively when you aren't rushing to important appointments or classes allows your children to make mistakes and then learn to correct miscalculations without anxiety or panic.
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ALTERING THEIR PERSPECTIVES
Many students with executive dysfunction are very rigid in their way of thinking, which prevents them from trying new strategies. Summer offers the perfect opportunity to help your children step outside their comfort zone.
- Forward Thinking. After practicing making daily schedules, it might be time for your children to move towards creating weekly schedules. Ask them to determine when would be the ideal time to do certain chores, run errands, and attend to summer homework all while still factoring the various activities they would be participating in over the course of the week. This is the perfect exercise for your children to understand the importance of setting a weekly schedule, as it teaches them how to organize themselves in a way that promotes efficiency. For example, they'll learn to not schedule studying for a test the same night as a late game or school activity because they might be too tired to efficiently study. Taking time to hone this skill over the course of the summer means that they'll have the opportunity to develop it without the pressure they often experience during the school year.
- Cognitive Flexibility. Learning and practicing different approaches to tasks is an extremely important skill in academics, but one that hampers many intelligent children. Encourage your children to take risks and try new things this summer, when any mishaps won't result in poor grades or reduced self-esteem. Challenge your children to find a new way of doing something that the family enjoys, rather than accomplishing the goal by following familiar steps. For example, plan a novel meal that features foods from a foreign country or is completely vegetarian. Or read an article or short story with your children, and then discuss it while playing devil's advocate. Debating literary themes and presenting differing opinions helps your children consider alternative ideas and creates a greater awareness that there are many different ways to approach a task.
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FINAL THOUGHTS
As parents, our instinct is to protect our children. However, students learn important lessons from making mistakes and gain confidence when they persevere to complete a difficult task. Practicing executive functioning skills can be challenging, but summer provides opportunities to try and try again without the stress of academic pressures. By helping children improve their executive functioning skills, you are giving them the tools they need to succeed not only in school, but in everyday life.
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