Issue link: https://fredparent.uberflip.com/i/1503668
12 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • July 2023 Q: What is your approach to helping children who are struggling in school? Christina: We are building learning skills from the roots up. If you think about a pyramid of skills we all need to succeed in school, specific academic subjects are at the very top. But if fundamen- tal skills like motor skills, attention, processing and executive function are breaking down, then no amount of subject-specific tutoring is going to fix things, and in fact, our struggles will only multiply as academic subjects grow in difficulty. With every student, we start with our evaluation. This is something I have created based on the research on how we can train the brain to improve processing skills. We look at the whole person, their memory, attention, reasoning, how they think about what they see and hear, but then we also look at how their eyes are working, fine and gross motor skills, and then the academics. When children struggle in school, but extra time studying or extra help with a specific subject doesn't help, they may need help with the underlying skills that are fundamental to learning. For more than 20 years, Learning Enhancement Centers has helped students address the root causes of their academic struggles by taking a research-backed, brain-based approach that builds learning capacity from the ground up. By working from an understanding that even the most basic observations—such as how a child sits at a desk or aholds a pencil—can offer clues to unlocking learning challenges, Learning Enhancement Centers has developed a reputation among area educa- tors as a resource that can help children build skills, catch up with their peers and build confidence as life-long learners. Christina Carson, who founded Learning Enhancement Centers in 2002, talks about why she is so passionate about the work her team does, and how parents can get their children started. Learning Enhancement Centers INTERVIEWED BY EMILY FREEHLING Learning Enhancement Centers Christina Carson,founder Learning Enhancement Centers "We are building learning skills from the roots up."