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She is sure, she is true, she is straw is straw,
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She is true, is true, she is praise, pray, she
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is she is you.
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Hello, everyone, welcome to today's Word of Mom Radio. Here on
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the Word of Mom Media Networks. I'm your host, Dori
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Di Carlo, and you know we are here week after week,
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show after show, breaking those myths that morepreneurs and business women,
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especially those of us building our businesses from home, that
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we're just dabbling in between bake sales and getting our
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nails done. We're not. We are smart, we are savvy,
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and we are sharing the wisdom of women in business
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and in life. And I'm looking forward to bringing today's
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gift in. Doctor Emily Levy is the founder and director
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of EBL Coaching, a specialized tutoring program that offers individualized
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one on one, home, virtual and on site instruction using
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research based multisensory techniques. She's the author of Strategies for Success,
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a twenty two part student workbook series that teaches students'
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strategies for test taking, note taking, reading, comprehension, writing, summarizing,
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and executive functioning, along with the Flags and Stars Orton
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Gillian's Study workbook series which helps students develop their fundamental
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decoding and spelling skills. Additionally, she's also the author of
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Flags and Stars Multisensory Math, a multisensory math program that
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helps students develop a stronger understanding of core math concepts
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including edition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fraction. These workbooks are
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currently used at schools nationwide. Doctor Levy graduated from Brown University,
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received her master's degree in special education from Noba University
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in Florida. She's also so completed her doctor's degree in
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education from Nobah University. She performed a five year research
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study developing an alternative strategy for teaching reading comprehension and
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won a fifth place Westinghouse Science and Talent Award for
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this research. She's also spoken at national and international conferences
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on research based teaching methods. And I could keep going,
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but I really am looking forward to bringing doctor Levy
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in and having her share with us. So, with all
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that being said, welcome to Word of Mom Radio.
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Well, thank you so much for having me for the
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wonderful introduction, and I'm very excited to be here today.
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It's kind of fun to hear all the stuff that
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you did. It's like, oh, Yeah.
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Wow, nice, and.
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I'm thrilled to have you here. And I would love
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for you to take us on your journey that led
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you to creating EBL Coaching.
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I would be happy to I do have somewhat of
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an interesting journey in that I actually grew up in
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the field of special education. My mother was the founder
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of a school for students with learning disabilities down in
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South Florida, which is where I grew up. So I
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really spent so much of my childhood working at her school,
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being trained in different methods, observing teachers, observing students, and
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really seeing what an amazing difference having the right research
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based techniques in place can be on the lives of
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a child. Fast forward, though I kind of thought I
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wanted to carve my own path and not follow on
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my mother's footsteps, went to Brown University. I actually did
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finance of all things for two years, but quickly realized
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during that time that education was my calling. I recalled
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how gratifying, how rewarding it was. I knew that that's
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what I wanted to pivot back to. So I ended
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up getting my master's degree in special education, as you mentioned,
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along with my doctorate degree in education and slowly or
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organically began to create what is now EBL Coaching. I
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started tutoring students myself who had all kinds of special
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education needs, and then slowly started to bring on other
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experts who specialized in different skill areas, in different grade
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and age levels, and eventually formed what is now EBL Coaching,
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where we have an amazing team of tutors who specialize
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in providing one on one instruction two special education students
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using all research based multisensory techniques.
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That's awesome. My background was in special ed, so I
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have an affinity for people that work with kids and
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work with families because it really is about everybody understanding
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what's going on. So who do you specialize in helping
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with right now?
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Well, we really specialize in working with all different types
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of special education students, including students who have various types
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of learning disabilities, dyslexia, discalculia, dysgraphia also ADHD, and executive
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functioning challenges, autism, speech and language challenges. Really, anyone who
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kind of has special education needs is our specialty.
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My middle son was speech delayed, and so at one
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point I was an interpreter for the hearing impaired. I
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taught him to sign because when he went for his IEP,
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his expressive language was an eleven month old and his
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receptive language was five years eight months. Yeah, he was
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two years nine months. The woman was like, I've never
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seen a discrepancy this big. When he got to special education,
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his speech therapist goes, of course, he doesn't speak. You
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taught him how to sign, and I couldn't believe it. It
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was like, where did you get your degree?
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Right?
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I mean, seriously, you have to help kids communicate, So
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how do you work with families with them understanding that
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special needs are just that there's special needs, but there's workarounds,
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there's ways to teach your children to be able to
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do what they need to do absolutely well.
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First off, I think we're so fortunate that we now
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live in a world where there are so many resources
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available for students who have special education needs, whether it's
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services at school, services outside of school, speech therapy, tutoring,
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specialized approaches to learning. But I think what's really important
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is that a parent always advocates for their child, particularly
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in school, but really in general, I think sometimes our
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inclination is to feel like, oh, the school has it
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under control, the teacher knows what they're doing. But I
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hear too many times families finding out midway through the
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year or the end of the school year that their
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child has been struggling for months and months and months
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and it wasn't until that point that they found out
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about it. So I always tell parents, especially if they
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have a special needs child, start the beginning of the
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school year by meeting with their teachers, meeting with any
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service providers like a speech therapist or specialized tutor, share
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with them information about their child, what has worked, what
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has it worked, and set up a line of communication,
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whether it's monthly check ins or regular periodic meetings, so
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that nothing gets missed and so that you don't find
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out after the fact that your child's been struggling when
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you could have been more proactive along the way.
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Do you find that there are things that sometimes parents
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miss because they're too close to the situation to see
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I do.
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I think sometimes parents may feel like they see their
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child struggling, but they think maybe it's developmental or their
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grades are okay, so they're fine, even though grades are
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not always a reflection of skills. So sometimes I think
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parents may feel like it will just correct itself with
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time or the teachers have it under control. But too
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often that's not the case, and if parents don't take
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action and be pro active in staying communication with their
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child's teacher, a lot gets lost in the process and
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the child loses valuable learning time because it wasn't addressed
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and identified earlier.
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What kind of techniques do you use in helping kids
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in special ads?
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Well, our specialty is using all research based techniques that
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are individualized to the needs of each shooting. Now, there's
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been a great deal of research as to the most
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effective methodology for helping students who have learning and or
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attentional challenges, and really that is using a multisensory approach,
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meaning rather than just say working out of a work
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book or listening to a teacher, we integrate the senses simultaneously,
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the visual, the auditory, and the tactile kinesthetic modality. So,
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for example, when we're teaching a young child how to read,
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we might use a method called the Orton Gillingham method,
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which is a specific research based multisensory technique where we
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integrate tools like colored seeing, magnetic tiles, audio visual flash cards,
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mini whiteboards, all as part of the structured systematic approach
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to teaching reading, so it's again research based, multisensory, and
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very much catered to the needs of each student.
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My middle son, again was borderline add and they wanted
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to have him on riddle it, which I wouldn't do.
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And so what I did was I've controlled it with diet.
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I watched what he ate. I made sure and it
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was so funny. He would go to people's houses and
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they'd say to him, would you like to have a soda?
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He goes, well, not unless you want to watch me
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bounce off walls. He said about having a glass of water,
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you know, and they would laugh. But I said, you
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know what, He at one point had gone into for
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whatever reason, you know, that uncontrollable crying where he couldn't stop.
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And all I did was hold on to him and
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hold on to him until he stopped. And when he
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was done, he said to me, Mommy, I can see
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myself and there was nothing I could do to stop
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feeling like this. So then I looked and I said, well,
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let's see what you ate today, and it turned out
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he had had some chocolate and that's where it clicked
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for him. And again I and maybe it's just me.
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I want to ask you, do you feel sometimes people
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tend to jump the gun on putting your kids on
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riddlin and things like that as opposed to looking at
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some other issues.
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Well, I think it depends on the child. I think
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that there are many children where looking at alternatives like
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a diet, for example, can really be a solution and
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can really make such significant changes. However, there's also some
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kids that have such severe ADHD that they literally can't
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absorb what's going on in the classroom because they just
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can't stay focused. And when they start to really miss
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out on learning, then I think sometimes it might make
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sense to visit medication. But I do think exploring other
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options and not immediately going to medication can make a
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lot of sense for a lot of families.
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I think that's a great idea. And again I think
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quite often parents feel like they don't have a handle
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on what's going on, and it's just the simple solution
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that And again, like you said, there are some kids
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that without medication, they can't attend what's going on, they
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can't focus they, you know, and that is something that
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is really important to identify as well, right, you know,
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And what can parents do as their kids are home
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and you're noticing these things, what are things that they
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can look for to be able to identify. Oh wait
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a second, maybe we need some outside intervention on this well.
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I think if parents are noticing that their child's really
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struggling to get through their homework, whether it's they just
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can't sit still long enough to get homework done, or
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they're waiting till write the very late at night and
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they're up till three o'clock in the morning trying to
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get their work done, or they're really struggling to write
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a simple sentence and they're in fourth grade, or they're
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struggling to learn their letters and they're in kindergarten. If
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something just doesn't seem right, I always say first thing
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you should do is speak to their teacher and see
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if their teacher is noticing any of these challenges at school.
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And if that's the case, it really might make sense
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to have an evaluation done to see if maybe there
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is something deeper going on in which the school can
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then provide services and accommodations to help them during the
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school day to really maximize their academic skills and their potential.
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On that note, think of what doctor Levy just said,
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we're going to take a quick break, say thank you
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to our supporters, and we'll be back here in just
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a moment. Onward of Mom Radio. She is brave, she
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is bold, she is you, and we want to tell
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your story. Are you ready to share your journey with
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us on Word of Mom Radio? Go to wordomomradio dot
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com and register as a guest. We want to tell
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your story because when you win, we all win.
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In twenty seventeen, Unsilenced Voices was formed to help survivors
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of domestic abuse and gender based violence worldwide. The organization
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currently serves Siri Leone, Rwanda, Ghana, and the USA. In
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twenty twenty two, Unsilenced Voices gifted over thirty three thousand
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dollars to survivors in the USA and in Siri Leone.
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There are over twenty six young girls who have been
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rescued from sex trafficking and domestic abuse and now going
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through vocational training school in order to better their lives.
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We need your help. Donations are critical in order for
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us to continue our work. We also need volunteers to
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help with research and development. Please visit Unsilenced Voices dot
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org for more information.
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And we're back here on Word of Mom Radio. We
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are talking with doctor Emily Levy, who is the founder
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and director of EBL Coaching, and we're talking about our
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kids and the special needs that kids can have. So,
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as parents are entering their special education journey with their child,
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are there any tips and ideas that you can give
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them that are going to help navigate that.
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Well?
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I would say, don't do it alone. They try to
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work as a team as much as you can in school,
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so a team meeting, connect with your child's teacher. Reach
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out and find out what of services your child's school offers.
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For example, if your child has dyslexia, try to get
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orton Gillingham tutoring in school. If that's not available, you
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might want to try seeking it outside of school. Connect
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with any other therapists they may be working with again,
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a speech therapist, a physical therapist, whatever it may be.
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And set up regular meetings so that everyone's on the
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same page and everyone's working as a team. And also
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know that as a parent, you're certainly not alone. There's
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so many support groups, whether it's on Facebook, Instagram, in person.
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There's so many other families that are in the same situation.
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As you are, you are certainly not alone, and your child,
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of course is not alone in going on this journey.
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I think that that is something that needs to be stressed.
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You're not alone. I think very often parents of special
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needs children feel that isolation, that other people don't unders
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stand what's going on, and that has to be really
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difficult when you feel that, especially the different depth and
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how far that special education mantra and umbrella covers, you know,
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because there are there there are so many different Do
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you specialize in certain kinds of special education needs? Doctor
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Levy Well, I.
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Would say more of what we do is in the
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realm of attention and learning, so specific learning disabilities ADHD,
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But we also do a lot of work with students
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who are on the autism spectrum, speech and language challenges.
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We've many students that have traumatic brain injury, physical disabilities.
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So really again the whole category of special education.
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As you're dealing with a child with a traumatic brain injury,
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are there different ways to I don't know, how does
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the brain heal? Is it going to as the years
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go by, or is this something that excuse me, is
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fixed And then you're learning how to work with what's there.
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You know, it varies so much based on the child,
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based on the injury, based on the age. There's so
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many variables. But oftentimes we see difficulties staying focused for
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long stretches of time. They fatigue easily, Sometimes processing speed
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is slow, sometimes their handwriting isn't what it was before.
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But it's very much variable based on the child and
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their specific circumstances.
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Interesting, what are some of the techniques that you find
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are working well for your special ed students?
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Well, we find that, as I alluded to earlier, really
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following that research based multisensory approach to its teaching is
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by far the most effective. With that said, there are
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many different techniques that fall within that multi sensory approach,
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so it's always a matter of catering the instruction to
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the specific needs of each student. And that's why I
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like to start by evaluating each student, reading any other
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evaluations or IEPs that they may also have, to really
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gain a whole picture of who that child is and
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which specific methodologies within each specific academic skill would be
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most appropriate for that child.
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You've been talking about, Orton Gilliam, I would love to
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know more about that, sure.
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So, Orton Gillingham is a specific research based multisensory technique
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that's designed to help students develop their decoding and endcoding skills,
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which is essentially really the mechanical aspect of reading and spelling,
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being able to accurately sound out words and spell words
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with accuracy. You know, it was originally designed for students
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with dyslexia, but we have come to find that really
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all students who have a reading challenge benefits from the
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in Gillingham method. It's very structured and systematic. It follows
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that multi sensory approach to teaching that I mentioned earlier.
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It spirals upon itself, meaning as new concepts are introduced,
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old ones are integrated, so that really helps information stick
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in their long term memory. And it's very much of
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a diagnostic and prescriptive approach to teaching, meaning it's very
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much catered and individualized to the pace and the needs
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of each student.
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You wrote the Strategies for Study Success, which is the
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twenty two part student workbook. I would love for you
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to talk to us a little about that.
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Sure.
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So I wrote that over many years, and it's a
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workbook series that again is all research based, but it
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focuses on different skill areas within that category of strategies
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for study success. So there's a four part writing series
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within that that helps students develop their expository writing skills,
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specifically their ability to write well written sentences, simple paragraphs,
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extended paragraphs, and five paragraph essays. There's also a highlighting
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series that has four different actually found now five different
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parts to it, where students use a tricolored highlighting technique
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to help them develop stronger reading, comprehension and active reading skills.
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It also there's a summarizing component executive functioning, test taking
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no taking, so it kind of covers those core skills
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of reading, comprehension, writing, test taking, no taking, and organizational
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skills excellent.
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You know, I find it's such an interesting subject to me,
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and because special AD covers so much when I was
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in school taking the psychology of the exceptional child. You know,
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you have kids with autism that don't speak, that don't interact,
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You have kids with autism that are NASA working in NASA.
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You know, I mean, I think that's people when they
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hear that term autism, they don't they don't understand that spectrum.
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I would love for you to just give them a
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little enlightenment on that because we're hearing so much now
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about autism.
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Yeah, well, autism in particular, as you mentioned, really has
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a very wide spectrum. So we have kids who are
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really are nonverbal on the lower end of the spectrum,
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and that's completely different than students who are on the
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very high end of the spectrum and might have what
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used to be called aspergers, but really more sort of
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higher functioning autism, where they're often very strong at reading
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from a mechanical standpoint, sounding out words, have very strong
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off the chart decoding skills, very strong spelling skills, very
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strong math computation skills. But then when it comes to
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higher levels of language like reading, comprehension in particular, inferencing
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abstract language, drawing conclusions, they have a real challenge with that.
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Oftentimes they might have ideas, but they really struggle to
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express them on paper in an organized fashion. They might
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struggle with math word problem solving because of the language
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and comprehension involves. So with students like that, we're going
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to take a very different approach than a child who
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is nonverbal or minimally verbal and needs very basic early
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foundational learning skills. So again it goes back to what
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I was saying before, have always individualized the instruction based
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on the levels, the profile, and the specific needs of
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each student.
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As we are starting to wrap things up, what do
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you want to say to that mom that's listening that
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doesn't know where to go, doesn't know what the resources are,
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doesn't know where to go to get their child evaluated?
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I would say, first off, start by speaking to their teacher.
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Their teacher can direct them from there. If they're noticing challenges,
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it might be an evaluation, it might be seeking accommodation.
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Start with their teacher. Their teacher is a really good
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place to be with. But I think also, as I
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mentioned earlier, always advocating for your child because a parent,
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a mom and dad, always knows their child best, and
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I really believe that they should always advocate, but also
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know that any child has the potential to be successful.
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I have seen so many stories of kids we worked
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with who had severe ADHD or severe dyslexia and getting
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through school with such a challenge, but they have grown
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up to become successful engineers, CEOs, entrepreneurs. So sometimes getting
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through school is the challenge, but they often have the
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potential to really not get off the park knocket out
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of the park when it comes to life, So always
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kind of keep that in mind as you go through
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this journey.
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In looking at the resources out there. If you're somewhere
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where you don't know where to look, where can they look?
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Well, aside from their local school, there are many organizations.
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For example, the International Dyslexia ASSO Association and the Learning
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Disability Association of America are great resources for any student
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who has any kind of learning disability. There's a CHAD
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which is Children and Adults with add which is a
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great resource for attentional challenges. So there are resources like that.
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Our specialty, again is specialized one on one touring, where
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we now are able to work with students around the world,
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not just throughout the country, but throughout the world who
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may not have access in their local geographic area to
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specialized tutoring, whether it's Orton Gillingham tutoring, multisensory tutoring, executive
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functioning coaching. So we're really able to help so many
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kids outside of our local geographic area who really would
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benefit from these services.
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That's awesome. All of doctor Levy's links are going to
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be live on ward of mom Radio. What's your website.
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Our website is eblcoaching dot com. You like Edward b
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like Boy like Larrycoaching dot com. And then of course
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we have social media channels under EBL Coaching on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok.
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And x.
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All of doctor Levy's links are going to be live
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reach out. I love that you can coach globally by
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being able to be virtual. I think that's absolutely fabulous.
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And again, it's a great resource because you're not alone.
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There are people out there that understand what you're going through.
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There are people out there that can help you with
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resources and one on one things that you can do
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with your kids with your schools that are going to
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give them the biggest advantages. So I thank you so
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much for taking the time to come share with us
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today and for the work that you're doing because I
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know all the kids that are having that opportunity and
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all the families that your lives are that you're touching
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their lives and making them better for what you do.
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So good for you. Really, congratulations, thank you.
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So much, and thank you for having me today. I've
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really enjoyed our conversation.
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Right back at you. You know again, I think it
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is so important for parents to realize they're not alone.
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This journey is not one that you have to take
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with your child all by yourself. There are people out there,
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there are experts out there, there are resources out there
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that are going to help you and your child maximize
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their school experience. And again that what they're dealing with
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is what they're dealing with now. Like you said, people
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that you've worked with, that you know, with add and
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everything else, who have gone on to do all of
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these amazing things. You know, people forget that Bill Gates,
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Steve Jobs, you know what I mean. Look at these
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people who have that on that spectrum. That's why it's
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a spectrum. So again, doctor Levy, thank you very much
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for everything that you're doing. I really appreciate it. And
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for all of you tuning in, thanks so much for
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joining us today. We're going to close out with our
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fabulous theme song from Smith's Sisters and the Sunday Drivers.
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So till next time. This is Dori di Carlo saying,
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go out and create a marvelous you. Bye for now.
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She is sure, she is sure, she is strong, she
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is strong, she is true, she is true, she is brazed,
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she is boul She is you. She is you, she
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is you. She she is sure, she is sure, she
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is strong, she is strong, she is true, she is true,
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she is brazra, she is bold, she she is you.
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She is you, she is you, she is you.
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Sure of herself. Yes, she takes care of his Powerful
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and strong. Yes, she knows who she is, has integrity, woman,
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strong and true. You know her by name.
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See this woman is you.
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She is sure, she is she is strong, she is strong,
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she is true, is true, she is brave, she is
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she is you, is you, she is she is sure,
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she is strong, is strong, she is true, is true,
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she is brave, she is she is she is you,
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she is she is U.
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Adds value and hope.
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Has proved to be brave. See it's never too late,
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never time to behave Reaching for dreams doesn't matter. The
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age believes in herself from her cage. She is sure,
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she is she is strong, is strong, she is true, True,
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she is brave, brave, she is she is you, she
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is she, she is sure, she is she is strong,
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she is strong, she is true, is true, she is brave,
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is brave, she is she is you.
