We have received MANY questions about the Fix Learning Skills workshops. THANK YOU! All three of us (Jill, David, and Evelyn) read the email before it was sent...but we have been talking about this for so long that we think we know what it says.

We really appreciate your response. It helps us clarify. Please, keep the questions coming.

Below, you will find questions in black and answers in red. 

= = = = = = = = = = = = =

I looked this over and couldn't find the dates.

Monday April 19 through Saturdday April 24 and Monday September 13 through Saturday September 18. (I love this! We gave people so much information and left out the date!!)

Can a person attend part of the 6 days?

Yes, but don't...other than Saturday. Plan ahead and BE THERE...physically and mentally. We won't throw you out if you don't show up some days, but we will not go back and cover the material just for you. Make believe you are out of town and can't go back home.

We say this based on over 10 years of presenting training events. We are all busy. We live multi-tasking. But what we have noticed is that there are people who never give their whole attention to the training...they show up late,skip parts, run out often to talk on their cell phones. And we see the results in the way that they implement the programs once they get home. If you pay your money, you get to do what you want. But if you are serious about getting results, don't "cut corners."

Jill has even reworked Samonas and how it is presented.

If you have been to an event that we have run, you know that we don't waste time. We fill every minute and give you much more than your time and money's worth.

If not, can the workshops in March be taken without the ones in Sept?

As long as you are trained in Samonas already, you can take the March workshop without having taken the one in September .  AST-Comprehension, which will be offered in March uses Samonas. Just remember, the March workshop will have different content than the Sept workshop.

What has happened to Samonas/Learning Ears?
For a few years, Learning Ears was available primarily with The Listening Program.  It has recently been made available again for Samonas providers.

Because it was not available for Samonas providers for quite a while, Jill had to go ahead and develop a program that provides the active listening component that Tomatis outlined. But Jill also included many other skills critical for reading, accuracy, fluency, and comprehension.

Hey, I am very interested in your programs; was trained in SAMONAS years ago, and could use an official upgrade, plus training in your other programs.  BUT I LIVE (OUT OF STATE).

Believe it or not, we get this question from people who live on the west side of Los Angeles!

How far is too far to travel?  That is a question only you can answer.

Jill has taken trainings in Colorado, New Mexico, Wisconsin, British Columbia and Alberta Canada, and Bimini. She almost went to England for a 3 week training.

We regularly have people attend from NY, NJ, PA, VA, TX, WA, FL. And we have trained people from HI, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.

Recently, someone on the east coast that we have trained was talking to someone in her area, someone who wants to open a learning center. He commented that, "All the trainings seem to be in California." Her reply was, "Get used to it."

Without trying to sound mean about it, the bottom line here is that we are doing the training at our facility in September and those who really want to come, will.

What we have tried to do is give everyone four months to make arrangements so that if they want to attend, they can.

Have you considered online courses?

There is a great deal of hands on experience and practice in these workshops that will allow you to implement the programs so much better than just reading about them or seeing it on video. 

The subtleties of working through challenges and errors, what to look for or listen for, and how to make modifications come out through experience so everyone being here working on it together is of huge benefit.  We have also found that connecting with people from all over the country who are of like mind and similar experience is invaluable.  We've made some wonderful friends that way!  We'd love to have you join us.

This is very interesting and I will give it serious thought.  It is enormously expensive considering training, airfare,etc. and I have more tools, training and interventions than I have parents willing to commit to. I realize you have included in here business/marketing stuff to generate more students as well as ongoing support.  I agree finding an  integrated, more simplistic method of delivering these services would be fabulous.  My biggest reservation is knowing how hard it has been for me to convince parents of this level of intervention because of the costs to them and despite parent presentations, educational consults, supportive articles, web sites, etc. where I live people are just waking up to the fact that learning problems in the classroom are related to underlying skills and still are hugely reluctant to go for more than the minimum. So here are my questions.

Here is something that was not emphasized in the email: People who take this workshop will get the very same marketing materials that we use. As we develop them, you will get them. Free. And you can use Jill's book as a marketing tool.

Can I have any idea what part 3 will include in some general way and what programs you may include in it?

Part 3 will include the following in terms of programming:

•  AST-Language:  This program will use a combination of Samonas and active listening exercises (audio-vocal training) on the microphone to improve auditory processing for listening, understanding language, articulation, speaking, and developing oral language competence.  It is for students who do not have enough language to do either AST-Reading or AST-Comprehension.  This program will build language competence from the single word level to creation of oral and written paragraphs.  It works with developing oral language vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure.
  
  
• Attention Focus Training:  This is a comprehensive attention training program that applies specific steps in attention training to develop the student's awareness and control.  It works "bottom-up" and "top-down" by approaching attention skills from body awareness and control as well as through cognitive attention training and self-mediation/mindfulness strategies.
  
  
• Executive Function:  Develops time/space orientation, logic and reasoning, problems solving, strategies for guiding own attention and behavior, ways to develop and make habits of good student and study behaviors, and approaches for test anxiety.

I would like to know more about the online assessment piece you are creating.  I do not feel that the CAB is adequate in today's market.  I believe we need to be using the WJ for cognitive skills or something comparable - though it continues to stand out as a superb measure of many of the underlying cognitive skills we are about improving.  I want a reputable assessment tool for processing speed, working memory, executive functioning skills, auditory & visual processing etc. etc as well as good measures for academic skills.  The Gibson is a good screening devise but it does not come close to matching the sophistication, research, reputation, etc. of the W.J.  When I read research results on Interactive Metronome, Cogmed, or BrainWare Safari I want to be using similar assessment tools as they used to get their research results or to be very sure my tools are just as reliable of measure.  Our interventions surpass what Ed. Psych's are suggesting and what most tutors are able to provide, so our assessments should be at least good, and definitely good enough to be taken seriously.  I do not believe most psych's take the Gibson or CAB that seriously.  I do not care about psych's necessarily but I do care about the parents who need to decide to have an evaluation done by me or another professional which would be a psych. of some sort.

What we are creating is really a reporting tool.

You are right the WJIII Cognitive is outstanding.  If people are qualified to use it, I would definitely suggest it.  What I will do is suggest to people certain standardized tests that will provide them with the information they need in various areas. 

What we will provide is a way for people to quickly enter their diagnostic impressions of what they have learned about the child through testing and will then be able to print out a report that is easy to consult from and that educates parents about processing skills, visually shows parents the areas of strength and need, tells how the challenges will affect the child in the classroom and real life, and makes recommendations for correcting the challenges. 

Test scores can be entered and reported for any of the tests that we have recommended.

I have invested and/or trained in Samonas, TLP, Cogmed, Interactive Metronome, PACE, Learning Ears, Belgau balance board work, infinity walk, among many other interventions.  It sounds like your program would replace Learning Ears, includes sound therapy, would probably take the place of Belgau work and perhaps infinity walk. I realize you can not tell us how to fit each individual program we do into your overall package but do you see what you are offering as a replacement for PACE, Cogmed, Interactive Metronome or are these programs ones that you have woven into the overall whole?

What we are offering in the second workshop could replace PACE but wouldn't have to.  PACE is an excellent processing skills program.  The problem is that it is becoming less available and practical for learning center owners. As we expand, we must have programs that can be used anywhere...no restrictions with number of people who can use the program or zip code location.

We do not use Cogmed or IM.  They are very specific in their scope and I'm sure you would continue to find that there are students that would benefit.  Working on a continuum approach helps you determine, prioritize, and sequence your programming.

What do you expect the cost for hotel to be?  I imagine you can get us a discount.  Will meals be on our own or will any be provided?

We are not sure of the new Ayres prices. If you stay in Diamond Bar, I believe it is going to be $98 or so per night. We negotiated that rate back in March (Before we knew that we were buying a building in Chino), but don't remember what it was. It was less than $100 per night. There is also a new hotel being built right down the street from our new place..

We will explore all the hotel possibilities and get that information to you as soon as we have it. The LA County Fair will be going on at that time so you will want to make reservations early.

Also, when people commit, we will do what we can to match up those who want to share a room.

As far as food, if you have been here before you know there will be food all day long...many people don't go out to eat because Evelyn feeds them so much during sessions. We will probably provide a lunch and a dinner, but it isn't yet planned.

In this first phase I will learn how to implement three major programs - Samonas, Core Learning Skills, and AST.  When you utilize the Core Learning Skills program or AST is that generally all you do during that 20 week period (along with Samonas)?  And if so, what is the typical amount of time students are coming into clinic for a 1 on1 session .  Do the kids that you currently work with typically do just one of these 2 programs or do they more typically move from Core to AST if Core is needed?  Can Core Learning Skills or AST be trained to parents and children in  a small group format or must it all be individualized?  For a parent to do these programs they would have a 1 time licensing fee of about $250, the cost of Samonas, and in clinic sessions - correct?  And they would be committing to either 20 or 40 weeks and then maybe another 12 weeks of Brainware? 

Samonas is integrated with both Core Learning and AST-Reading.  The listening is done at home. 

AST-R involves a minimum of 3, 30-minute sessions in the clinic, per week. 

We often do 3 one hour sessions per week to do Core Learning Skills and AST simultaneously. 

We do not have the parent do AST-R at home, except in the case of our distance learning clients, but there is some follow-up with CLS.

CLS, AST-R, and Brainware Safari could all conceivably be taught in a small group format.  We have not done it, but it has been a consideration.  One-to-one is optimal, however.

We charge a total program fee for these programs or combination of programs so that the licensing fee, Samonas, and clinical hours are all included.

The overall price includes a free year of learning100 membership - so if my membership expires next March will I get that for free if I come to all 3?  If I come to less than 3 what then?

We will be using Learning100 as one of our support services. We can discount you the amount between September and your membership expiration date. Our plan is that as long as people are using the programs, Learning100 is free.

To be the sort of person you are looking for - someone interested in building a business that might have 100 student hrs. per week, thus making the cost of training a wise investment, then it needs to be feasible to get those # of student hours.  Even if I become the business woman I need to become and do what I need to do to market and build my business I can not see how, given the limitation of serving students during after school hours (which allows me 4 slots max per clinician per day Mon - Thurs and maybe 2 at best on Friday), I could do this without having 6 employees and 6 offices.  Is this the model you would have in mind or is there another way to go about it to generate those number of hours?

There have been several variations on this question.

What we are doing is shifting whom we are marketing to. We are aggressively pursuing people who want to build a good sized business, and are willing to commit to the entire training process. We want to make an impact across the country. That will happen by finding people who want to build a larger business serving these kinds of students.

You are being offered the very same programs as people who won't get any of the trainings without a major committment...only you are being allowed in without making that committment.

Many of the people we have already trained are uncomfortable with a larger business or aren't interested in taking on the role of the Entrepreneur (See Michael Gerber's book The E-Myth).

No matter what size your business is, the programs we have developed and are offering are outstanding...effective, thorough, and comprehensive. They will work. If you know Jill, you know it will be done well.

If I invest in the full training for myself would I be able to send a second person from my business another year (assuming you keep doing this) for the $1500 price.  So how long does that offer hold?

The idea is that we will be able to simplify the training process for you...that you won't need to send additional people. These programs were developed with the idea that our least experienced clincian will be able to deliver the programs.

Also, there are several people who own businesses in partnership and it may be that both want to attend.

In the business model we are setting up, the original thinking was that the owner would attend along with the person who would be directing the clinical operation.

I'm sure we can work out training for additional staff if you want it, but right now we don't have details on how it will work.

== = = = = = = = =

Q&A #2...Click Here

Send us your questions: david@learning100.com