Family-Centered Educational Solutions – Lisa Brackin
Tell Us What You Do
Our mission is to help families locate educational solutions for their children. Our global service and mission encompass several different services as outlined below.
Assessment
The Cognitive Analysis Overview/Psychoeducational Evaluation
This “road map of a child’s mind” has been developed as a useful tool for parents. Using the tools and methods included in the cognitive analysis, allows parents to choose the best academic solutions for their children. Our individualized process uses a comprehensive approach that includes looking at each child’s:
- Learning Style
- Academic strengths and weaknesses
- Cognitive strengths and weaknesses
In doing this, the analysis will provide answers to a range of parents’ questions. The resulting psychoeducational evaluation report will present the results in such a way as to be easy to read. Most schools and colleges accept the results of these reports.
Information and Solutions Designed for Parents
The report produced by the psychoeducational evaluation includes:
- A chart outlining current academic and cognitive skills.
- A narrative outlining the child’s strengths and weakness.
- Recommended activities, supports, and classroom support as needed.
- An informal report to provide to classroom teachers outlining a student’s learning style and ability.
- Recommended accommodations and interventions as appropriate.
- Individualized homeschool curriculum and teaching plans for parents who are homeschooling.
Educational Therapy
Whether the academic challenges are newly discovered or have been going on for an extended period, some form of intervention is often called for.
We use the assessment to develop an individualized plan of action. We have found that the way a student processes information dictates the teaching methods chosen. This form of intervention allows us to ensure every child will have the opportunity to learn. More importantly, they can learn in a way that best suits their individual learning style.
Some areas of intervention include:
- Cognitive processing and memory
- Reading fluency and decoding
- Reading comprehension
- Mathematics
- Study skills and organization
Consultation
Parents often wonder what direction they should go next with their child’s education or therapies. They may have had difficult experiences that have caused them to lose trust in their current situation. Alternatively, they may simply need to know what the next step is. By consulting with someone who is knowledgeable about area services, schools, and supports parents will be aware of possibilities parents may not have been able to discover on their own.
Consultation services include:
- Review of current testing and diagnostic results
- Review of the current educational situation
- Referrals to schools, therapies, and services
- Curricular recommendations for supplemental and homeschool use.
My mission is to provide each child with access to the support and services appropriate to their needs. There may be times when I am unable to provide this support directly. When this happens, I will refer them to someone who will be a better fit for their specific needs.
Tell Us Your Story and Why You Got Started with Family-Centered Educational Solutions
Sitting in class one day I heard the teacher mutter “You will never be able to read” as I walked slowly back to my desk. This happened close to the end of first grade. However, those seven little words lit a spark somewhere deep in my psyche, that continues to burn even today. In many ways, I am thankful for that careless, hurtful statement. This is because, in the long run, it made such a positive impact on my life.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but my mother was my biggest champion. She recognized that school was more difficult than it should have been. I had, after all, been playing the violin since I was three. Plus, I loved to draw and build with Legos and enjoyed listening to people read books. Despite being able to remember facts and information, school was still a struggle and there seemed to be no solution available.
I had trouble remembering math facts, I couldn’t remember how to borrow or carry, and word problems were baffling. I could read, but stumbled through the sentences, skipping words, and missed the meaning of what I read. On top of this, my handwriting was terrible.
My mother was my biggest advocate after the school refused to have me evaluated for the special education program. To ensure I got the help I needed, she took me to have a private evaluation. The evaluation showed many things, including that I could read words at the middle-school level, but still struggled through written paragraphs.
A Private Assessment to Find the Best Solutions
Because of my mom’s willingness to have a private assessment done, the school district decided to perform their own assessment. In second grade, The school took me out of class for resource for 1 to 2 hours every day. I was very lucky. I had fantastic teachers who were willing to find solutions for my learning needs by using teaching methods that were innovative and intuitive. We still some of their teaching methods today with my own clients!
I spent 3 years in special education and the resource classroom. After a year in second grade and two years in third grade, the school placed me back in mainstream general education classes. Thanks to the efforts of my teachers and my desire to succeed I managed to keep an A/B average. This helped me to become a successful and independent learner.
This early success and sense of independence help me to achieve a bachelor’s degree in special education. I followed this with a master’s in human development along with an Educational Diagnostician Certificate.
If you have been working to be your child’s biggest advocate, and you see both their struggles and potential, I applaud you and thank you. It’s not an easy job, but the rewards are amazing!
Through the determination of my mother and my own experiences, I developed a passion for helping families looking for educational solutions for their children. In every child, I see a bit of myself, in every parent, I see a bit of my warrior mom.
If Someone was Considering Your Educational Solutions Services, What Would You Want Them to Know?
One of the most important things I would want them to know is that I see each child as an individual. In many cases, parents come to me while they are working through a process of grief. This grief comes from their not being able to fully know or understand what they’re capable of. Many of them have been told their child has only limited potential.
The sad part is that very few professionals are willing to take the time to evaluate a child’s strengths and weaknesses and find the right solutions. Yet without a careful balance of both, it becomes impossible for anyone to come close to understanding what the child is capable of. This also makes very difficult to create a plan for appropriate interventions.
One of the most important issues is for parents to trust themselves. They must also trust in their abilities to support their child’s learning and development. Parents are always going to be the best advocates for their children. They are the people who know their children the best. Professionals tend to come in and out of a child’s life over the course of time making it harder to find the right solutions.
I see my role as someone who can open doors, empower families and parents. My goal is to make it possible for children and students to experience learning in ways that help to build confidence and enjoyment in the learning process.
My calling is to partner with families helping them to find the right educational solutions for their child’s needs. I truly enjoy seeing the outcomes of my calling. While at the same time continuing to maintain continued relationships with the parents and children it’ my pleasure to serve.
Tell Us Anything Else You Want Your Readers to Know About
Recently I have begun working on new supports intended specifically for children with hyperlexia. My son has hyperlexia. Thanks to my experiences working with him, I recognize how little we understand about hyperlexia and the many misconceptions.
My newly minted second website www.hyperlexiabtb.com is specific to this population in comparison to my professional site at www.lisabrackin.com. My goal is to provide national-level support to families who have hyperlexic children.
I found only a few other websites dedicated to the phenomena of early reading children with language processing difficulties and possible autism spectrum disorders.
There are some professionals who maintain that we should not encourage children with hyperlexia in their reading skills. They say it is because doing so can take away from their ability to develop language skills. Researchers and authorities on the subject, however, have demonstrated how reading and communication through print can support spoken language in kids with hyperlexia.
I hope to provide both information as well as downloadable tools specific to the hyperlexic population. My first tool, the Hyperlexia by the Book; First Words Kit is out and available for download!
My plan is to develop a selection of videos and teaching kits that are free to families who have very few teaching tools specific to their child’s learning style.
Like my other services, though, my focus is to help families find educational solutions. I look forward to providing my hyperlexia services, on a national or international level rather than simply locally.