Lane's Learning Center opened in 1980 and offers a supportive atmosphere which meets the individual needs of children and adults who experience challenges in learning. With over 30 years experience in education as a private practitioner, Michele works with families, students of all ages, schools, and other outside agencies involved. The Center offers educational assessment, consultations, and educational therapy in all academic areas.

I am a Licensed Educational Psychologist in California and credentialed School Psychologist in both California and Massachusetts. I have spent over 15 years in education, functioning in different capacities for school districts in Marin, Sonoma, and Contra Costa counties as well as in Newton, Massachusetts. I understand the world of learning differences and how frustrating and painful it can be to watch your child struggle. I have spent my career working with students and their families to help them navigate the often confusing spaces of assessment and special education. I have helped countless parents understand the complicated set of laws, rights, accommodations, and resources available for students with disabilities. I am passionate about being an ally for those who need help navigating the educational system.

My work as an educational therapist is student-centered and focuses on mediating, collaborating and coaching students to understand how they think and learn. The intellectual underpinnings of this process draws on research from a variety of disciplines— psychology, education, neurobiology, sports and art—all disciplines that seek to explore how we perceive, learn, think and express ourselves. This sets a student up with the skills they need for school, lifelong learning and success In this role, I focus on: • Cognition—understanding how we think and perceive • Meta-cognition—understanding how we strategize and plan • Memory—understanding how we retain information as we build our knowledge base • Pragmatics—understanding how to be more efficient and implementing effective strategies to manage time and effort. My results are based on mediating the learning experience. As a Feuerstein practitioner, I believe in the effectiveness of the mediated learning theory. I often use the Instrumental Enrichment instruments to explore abstract problem solving and bridging newly acquired awareness and skills to content. For example, working systematically on the Organization of Dots instrument provides an opportunity to understand impulsive behaviors, such as spontaneously jumping to the wrong conclusion, or answering a question before it’s asked. The communication involved with students mediates their experience of their perception, allowing them to develop alternative ways to think and behave. They achieve sustainable improvement How extensively the IE instruments are used is student and situation dependant. My training as an Educational Therapist and Feuerstein practitioner conveniently coincide with my personal experience of learning difference, and allow me to understand the effects of learning differences on performance from an insider’s perspective. Hence, my goal is to help students avoid the pain and suffering learning differences can impose on us in so many complex ways. I try and move beyond the labels attached to learning disability by the medical establishment, at the same time acknowledging their veracity, hence mediating a fresh new perspective of self. This more effective self carries on with life.

The Perceptual Enrichment Program (PEP) is a short-term program of sequentially designed, hands-on tasks. The program fosters academic and practical problem solving, and integrates the ability to receive, organize and use information. PEP combines readily with other ongoing therapies and educational activities. It enhances the assimilation of related skills such as: gross and fine motor planning, self-esteem, problem solving skills, time management and creativity. PEP works through the visual amd motor systems to establish efficient functioning and to improve preplanning, planning, and execution of higher level thinking skills. It assists in balancing the individual's thinking approach to consider both the "big picture" and "details". Motor function, emotional development, and language interweave to form perception. Sometimes, however, during critical stages, an individual will withdraw in response to trauma or illness and miss out on essential developmental opportunities. Although people often invent skills to compensate for developmental gaps, these compensations become inadequate and fail as academic challnges increase in complexity. PEP helps to fill in these gaps, supporting the development of individual potential. It expands self-confidence, curiosity, and interet in grasping many intellectual challenges. It also increases openness to resolving social and emotional conflicts, and strengthens self-esteem. PEP therapy typically begins with a pretest to determine appropriateness of the therapy and to establish a baseline against which to measure progress. If developmental gaps are evident, PEP therapy begins. Each session includes manipulatives or papaerwork for cognitive or perceptual practice from eight skill areas. Every lesson in concluded with a fun, related activity to enhance assimilation of the newly acquired skill. Upon completion of the program, a post-test is given and the results are compared to the pretest. If additional work is needed, based on the post-test results, another level of PEP is available. Individuals benfit from PEP who experience functional difficulty in various cognitive and perceptual skills including: Concentration, Organization, Handwriting and spatial planning, Behavior, Motor planning, Bilateral motor coordination, Processing and integrating information, Understanding new concepts, Language processing, Memory, High intelligence-low functioning, and Academic performance.

I pay very close attention to an individual's learning strengths and needs to gear the sessions to an optimal format. Sometimes someone prefers hands-on practice rather than writing until s/he feels safe. Sometimes shorter activities yield more productivity if someone is hesitant about putting forth effort. My lessons are designed to be fun, creative, engaging, and flexible, with mastery of the daily learning objective. Specific strategies applying multi-sensory instruction also guides students to strengthen their memory, attention, comprehension, and motivation. Multi-sensory, direct instruction in Reading, Writing, Math, and other subjects are infused with Study Skills, Social Skills, and self-regulation strategies. Other services include Screenings, IEP consultations, visual art, collaboration and art integration with school stakeholders. Consultations with teachers regarding explicit differentiated teaching, inclusive practices, accommodations, and adaptations are emphasized. With motivation and desire to learn, a strengths-based approach while demystifying learning, builds confidence and skills needed to fill the gaps as well as to propel forward!

Educational Therapy for adolescents and young adults with learning disabilities.Services include assessment and one on one remediation and advocacy for students and parents. Areas of focus are study skills, reading comprehension, organization skills, writing skills and academic self esteem and motivation. Unlike tutoring, Educational Therapy offers academic remediation designed with consideration of each student's learning needs and skills.

Do you have a child who struggles with schoolwork? Maybe they seem to need much more time to complete homework assignments than others, or struggles to decode unfamiliar words. Maybe they have trouble understanding and remembering what they've read, or has trouble with any of the complexities of writing. I’m an Educational Therapist in the East Bay, providing private, specialized instruction to address the underlying issues that cause school difficulties, while also teaching any content needs. I use systematic, explicit, multi-sensory instruction to address issues with reading, writing, processing speed/working memory, and math. I am a patient, thorough and empathetic practitioner with 14 years of experience in both clinic and private practice settings. I teach students in grades K – 10, with a specialty in reading and writing, but I also offer instruction in study skills and organization. I’m happy to answer questions at any time, by phone or by email!

EmpowerKidz is a multi-disciplinary initiative to provide holistic services to children with learning challenges under one umbrella to identify & build their fundamental cognitive skills, while bridging their academic gaps through multisensory educational therapy. We believe in the potential of every child and equip them with practical tools to enhance learning, confidence, and success. We create personalized treatment plans based on our age and grade-specific assessments. Our unique process assesses, analyzes, and trains cognitive learning abilities prior to implementing a comprehensive educational remediation program based on the Orton-Gillingham Multi-Sensory approach.

Kathryn Tournat, M.S., Professional Educational Therapist, is the Director of BellaMenti Thinking & Learning Solutions in Pleasanton, California - Serving the Tri-Valley and 680 corridor. * REMEDIATING Reading, Writing, Math. Plus ADHD & Mindfulness * Specializing in Whole-Person Systems Analysis, Remediation and Management for All Ages Elementary through Professional. * We provide Individualized Solutions: Driven by the most recent and widely accepted human brain development models, scientific methods, and client collaboration. * BellaMenti Educational Therapy services provide intensive, individualized educational interventions for children and adults with classroom learning challenges such as dyslexia, ADHD, dyscalculia (math challenges) language processing problems, poor motivation, low performance, low self-esteem, performance anxiety...or even, poor classroom social, organizational, and/or study skills. * Clients are 2nd gr. through Adult/Professional students needing academic/learning evaluation, remediation planning, and implementation methods that are appropriate to their situation. * Clients also include adults needing customized learning and memory assistance who do not have diagnosed brain trauma.

One-to-one educational therapy focused on remediation in reading and writing skills. I am in north Palo Alto. I use the Slingerland Multisensory Language Approach. The Slingerland approach is a simultaneous mulitsensory approach that includes oral language development, phonemic awareness, sound to symbol (letter or letters) instruction, vocabulary, handwriting, spelling, reading comprehension. Instruction is explicit and interactive. The environment is private and supportive. The Slingerland Multisensory Language Approach contains the effective components of reading instruction as described by the National Reading Panel: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension strategies. It is a complete language arts program that includes reading passages and instruction in writing (including sentence, paragraph, and essay writing). It is an extremely effective approach. I am committed to making a difference in the lives of children and youth who have difficulties with reading and writing, so I continue my own education in an on-going basis. I attend local and national conferences and stay up-dated about relevant research findings. I was an expert witness (reading expert) in 2011 and helped a child obtain appropriate instruction.