Landmark360 Blog

Landmark 360 Blog

Practical, informative resources, tips, tools, and strategies for parents of children with learning disabilities written by experts in the fields of Learning, Learning Disabilities, Social & Emotional Topics, College Prep, and Teaching.

An Empty Seat at the Table
March 3rd, 2014
Submitted by Rick Lavoie, Author, Lecturer, Consultant Preparing Your Child (and You) for Transition to College For 30 years, I served as an administrator of residential schools for Special Needs students. One of my responsibilities was designing the Autumn Arrival Day…the day that parents dropp...
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Posted in: College Prep
31 Days of Kindness
January 30th, 2014
By Brandi-Lin Ebersole School is a place we learn facts, methods, and grow our skills. When a teacher sits down to write a lesson she thinks, “how am I going to get them to understand my subject matter?”, “What tools can I use to do this?” and “How am I going to draw them in?”. One ty...
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Posted in: Social and Emotional Issues
Bridging Brain Research and Dyslexia Awareness
October 21st, 2013
Submitted by Nadine Gaab, PhD., and Elizabeth Norton, PhD. As scientists who study reading difficulties and developmental dyslexia, we hope that one day, we will be out of business. That is, we hope that one day, we will all understand the causes of reading difficulties, be able to identify ...
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Posted in: Learning Disabilities
Why I Don't Teach Tolerance
October 12th, 2013
Submitted by Ariel Martin-Cone I was asked to write this blog piece about teaching tolerance, but I want to start by changing some vocabulary. Teaching tolerance promotes that idea that you just need to put up with something you don't particularly value or enjoy (Brussels sprouts, regular exercis...
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Posted in: Teaching
Holden Caulfield and Me
October 9th, 2013
Submitted by Rachel Urbonas, Landmark School Senior, writing to the late J.D. Salinger after having read The Catcher in the Rye Dear Mr. Salinger, When I was first assigned your novel, The Catcher in the Rye, I was expecting another bland piece of literature said to be a ‘classic must read’ th...
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Posted in: Social and Emotional Issues
Making Handprints: A Summer In Baranovo
September 2nd, 2013
By Erin D'Agostino During my time teaching at Landmark, I was struck by one aspect of the school that went above and beyond classroom material and educational skills: the Landmark Community. Landmark has created an environment in which students are accepted for who they are and what they are capabl...
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Posted in: Learning Disabilities
An Oasis of Dignity
June 26th, 2013
Submitted by Donna Hicks, Ph.D.It was pouring down rain on Friday June 7 — graduation day for the class of 2013 at Landmark High School in Beverly, MA. This was no ordinary graduation, and the rain did not put a damper on the joy that infused everyone in attendance.It was victory day for 82 stu...
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Posted in: Social and Emotional Issues
Discovering Dignity
June 3rd, 2013
Submitted by Donna Hicks, Ph.D. After working in the field of international conflict resolution for nearly 20 years, I decided to take some time off in order to write about what I felt was a missing link in our understanding of conflict. No matter where I was in the world convening dialogues for w...
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Posted in: Social and Emotional Issues
Anxiety: What Is It Really?
May 8th, 2013
Submitted by: Jane B. Ross Anxiety is a feeling of fear. Anxiety is a common response to ambiguity; when we don’t know what’s happening or we don’t know how to respond. Anxiety is nature’s way of helping us deal with difficult situations. This can be beneficial as it can invigorate us f...
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Posted in: Social and Emotional Issues
Differences Among Learners, Real and Not
April 25th, 2013
Submitted by Annie Murphy Paul The idea that students have particular “learning styles”—visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc. — is a popular and persistent one despite the lack of scientific evidence to support it. (For a great summary of the research, see this blog post by UVA cognitive sc...
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Posted in: Learning