PCADSL BLOG

Reading is a difficult process. The brain must be doing several things at once in order to make sense out of the written word. Many things can go wrong when a student is learning to read. Kids who struggle with reading struggle with life. If there is just one skill you can spend time on to help a student succeed in school and life, it would be reading.

The biggest mistake most people make is to try to teach a student to read in the same method they were taught or by using traditional methods. Well, guess what? If these methods worked, then the student would be reading and reading well. So, to start with, please understand that different methods must be used to help a struggling reader. A combination of brain, visual, visual memory, auditory, and tactile decoding training is a method that works to help students learn to read, especially when traditional methods have failed.

To start with, use brain integration activities to help balance the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Phonics is a left brain activity, and many right brain dominant students have a terrible time learning to read with traditional phonics based methods. Also, students with reading problems should do vision and auditory exercises to strengthen these learning systems.

Now that the brain and learning systems are primed for optimal learning, the student needs decoding practice. Most poor readers look at the first syllable or two of a word and start sounding it out. However, for some reason, this is as far as they can get, and from there they start guessing. For instance, the word dignity may be read as digital by the student. This is not an accurate method to read and causes a lot of problems, especially with comprehension.

In order to remedy this situation, the student is to sound out a decoding unit that is in color, since the right side of the brain is attracted to color. The decoding unit is placed within a larger word. There is also a picture to represent the decoding unit, once again because the right side of the brain works in pictures. For example, the decoding unit ar would have a picture of a car for the picture. Then the student reads a list of words with the ar sound imbedded within them. The words might be far, dark, remark, etc. The ar would be in color while the rest of the word is in black. The student has a picture and a color to help remember the sound.

Next, the student reads nonsense words with the ar sound. These might be something like lar, smar, cark, etc. This time there is no color or picture. The student uses a highlighter to go over the sounds while reading the nonsense words. As the student moves the marker over the letters, he reads the sounds. Once again, the color activates the right side of the brain while the student is forced to stay on the sound that he is looking at. This prevents looking at the word as a whole and guessing. (Right brain dominant students look at the whole of something as well as pictures and colors.)

Another option used with great success is to have the student pull down a coin or tile at every sound read. This involves another tactile operation while reading and also forces the student to look at sounds as he reads instead of the whole word and a mental picture that might go with it, often one that is incorrect.

The next step is to dictate the real words the student learned and have the student write them down on paper or in a gooey substance. This not only helps with spelling, but it will give you a good idea if the student has mastered the decoding unit. You would call out the words far, dark, remark, etc. and have the student write them. If the decoding unit was learned, the student will recall the unit and spell it correctly.

If the student learns one decoding unit per day, it will only take about 15 minutes per day. There are more than 52 known decoding units that can be used. Kids who have struggled with reading are raising test scores and grades, usually within six weeks. This read, touch, and write method works when all other methods have failed.

The Greenville County Planning Commission of South Carolina has approved a massive development project near the intersection of Woodruff Road and I-85 at a 75-acre area known as The Point. The project is generally seen as a “desirable model” that will bring 500,000 square feet of shopping, 600,000 square feet of new office space, a 420-room hotel, 1,225 condos, and 1125 apartments. The only reservation is an increased traffic load of 32,000 daily vehicle trips that will stress the popular area that already has 37,000 daily vehicle trips. More roads through the project are planned, but the long term plan for the Woodruff / I-85 exchange needs to be carefully evaluated.

The recent arts festival “Artisphere” in Greenville downtown was named one of the “Top Twenty Events in the Southeast” for the month of May by the Southeast Tourism Society. Attendance for the three day event was estimated to be around 60,000, up 15,000 from 2006. The 100 invited visual artists averaged $4500 in sales which was up $900 from the previous year. Last week I noticed that the extraordinary sidewalk chalk art was still in excellent shape and attracting onlookers.

Greenville County Council is considering tax incentives to a state and other corporations in exchange for capital investments of nearly $2.4 billion. Project “Skyline” would involve a mixed-use project of “business, office, hotel, restaurant, commercial and corporate headquarters” with the county spending about $115 million on public infrastructure improvements.

Pickens County is trying to make the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway even more attractive by requiring billboards to be at least 2500 feet from the centerline. Commonly known as State Highway 11, the road runs across Greenville, Pickens and Oconee counties below the escarpment into the mountains of North Carolina. The area was formerly known as the Keowee or Cherokee Path and served as trading route for English and French fur traders. A short 30 minute drive from downtown Greenville will give you access to some great views and tremendous state parks like Caesar?s Head and Table Rock.

A local camp for disabled children and adults located in the northern part of Greenville County is preparing to move to a better location. Camp Spearhead has been around since 1968 and serves more than 600 attendees every year on its 178-acre campus. A rent increase for the site has prompted the Greenville County Recreation District to take over the camp and fund it with revenues from the recently approved TRAC plan which generates monies from a 2% restaurant sales tax. Other funds are expected from The Cliffs Communities, the State of South Carolina, and contributions from local groups. The move should complete by 2009. Source: Greenville News

Lots of “newbie’s” to the world of cold calling, ask this question, “I send a ?flyer’ to my prospect then want to follow-up with a prospecting phone call. Should I incorporate the fact that I sent a “flyer” when I reach the owner?”

Those in the financial services industry and other industries as a matter of practice send pre-approach letters. My counsel to these talented professionals flies in the face of conventional wisdom.

Let’s take a quick visit back into the not so distant past, when sales professionals spent more time pounding pavement than they did dialing for dollars. The majority of sales were conducted face-to-face where you could smile and shake the hand of your prospect ? even get away with giving a bag of multi-colored, jellybeans as a “thank you for your business.”

Book More Meetings Faster and In Less Time with Cold Calls

Move forward a few years to when some savvy sales pro decides to get a leg up on the competition. He decides to book more appointments faster and spend more time for selling as he opts to let his fingers to the walking. This sales pro coins the phrase, “smile and dial” and he does smile as he brings in many more dollars than his colleagues with this effective prospecting tactic.

Then some not so savvy “sales trainer” — who hasn’t sold so much as a box of Girl Scout cookies — offers to standardize the prospecting process.

The uninformed staff member makes the decision to substitute the warmth of the in-person handshake with a 4 inch x 6 inch pre-printed, computer signed, “pre-approach letter” ? then in an unprecedented flash of dim-witted brilliance claims that as soon as the prospect sees that piece of paper with your company’s name on it, the prospect will rush to the phone to call you and/or have instant name recognition when the administrative assistant breathlessly says “it’s you” on the phone, and the gatekeeper and prospect with knowing nods will throw the doors open and welcome you in to do business with them ? because of the all powerful pre-approach flyer.

Kinda makes your heart go pitter, patter, doesn’t it?

Eager- to-please new sales professionals; who are anxious to make money since they are on 100% commission do their best to make this plain-vanilla, pathetic tactic work.

When this approach predictably fails, a whole new batch of well-intended, bright, revenue producing sales professionals blame themselves ? when in fact it’s the approach to pre-approach letters that is to blame I know, I know, I know you either use “the company’s” tried and true Business Reply flyer or you sweat blood coming up with your own direct mail piece.

As you ponder the effectiveness of pre-approach flyers, keep this thought in mind:

Your prospects receive as much or more mail than you do.

Like you either they or their assistant reviews the mail first. During this cut, most flyers that look like junk mail get tossed.

Horse back riding can be a wonderful past time that allows you to be outdoors and take in the beauty of nature. It can be an exhilarating experience mounted on the back of a horse, letting them provide the mode of transportation. However, it?s not quite as easy as all of that. Movies play off horseback riding to be a leisure activity that anyone can do. And while it can be relaxing and is surely enjoyable, you will need to take horse back riding lessons in San Diego before you start perusing the trails.

If you live in or around San Diego, then you have plenty of options as to where to get horseback riding lessons. In fact, a simple web search should provide plenty of options with just a few clicks. Regardless of why you want lessons, you should be able to find a trainer that wants to help you and your horse reach your maximum potential.

The kinds of things you can learn during horse back riding lessons in San Diego include basic riding, gaits, tricks and you can even learn different styles including Western, English, Dressage and Jumping. Also covered are various training methods so you can put pesky behavior problems to rest and fully enjoy your horse.

Horseback riding lessons can be a fun experience that takes you away from your everyday life and plunges you into something earthy and natural. You get to be outside and enjoy the natural world. You get to form a bond with a loving, intelligent animal. You even get to learn a new skill and then put those skills to the test.

If you?re really committed, you can further test your horseback riding skills by entering shows. This is a great way to make those horseback riding lessons work for you and to let the world see the horse that you?ve developed such a great bond with. And luckily for you, there are plenty of opportunities in San Diego to do just that.

Horseback riding can be done for many reasons. You may wish to simply pleasure ride or maybe you want to show. Regardless of your reasons, you are sure to find a horse back riding lesson facility near you in San Diego to hone your skills. Even if you have no prior knowledge of horseback riding, there are places that accept beginners and experts alike. So what are you waiting for? Do something for yourself for a change and take up horse back riding.

Retirement is one of the things we all look forward to and invest for. But do we all know how to invest money to get the maximum return. A good approach to finding out where to place your hard earned money is to consult people in the know. There is no better ‘horses mouth’ than a consultant, a professional finance expert to grill.

A great example is, when I spoke to my guy, he put me onto investing in gold as a very worthwhile investment option. (I suppose he could see I had the “metal” for such an investment. Sorry!). Now most of us would have assumed that gold was cost wise out of our reach and forgotten the idea immediately.

An area not widely known outside of “inner circles” within investing is stocks, diversified stocks, for a good return. We do know of some who’ve boasted of getting a 1% annual return – which is not to be sniffed at in the slightest. Others argue that this is not the best way to invest money because playing the stock market is quite like gambling. However scary stocks may seem, they could still be the best way to invest money especially if you take the right approach.

Although you might think that investing in a number of different stocks or areas dilutes your effectiveness, it does have the benefit of adding a degree of security to your investing portfolio. In other words, diversifying your portfolio of investments is the best thing to do! You really want to try and choose some solid stocks that boast a modest but consistent return.

Like everything else in life, there are those who like to take a risk for a potential higher return as well. The good news for those who are prepared to invest in areas with a higher risk ratio is you can still do so and utilize a diversified portfolio strategy. Any investment advice article should always encourage you to consult a professional when making these decisions and I certainly do now. With their knowledge and experience, they can move you towards investments and methods best suited to your specific circumstances.

Interestingly enough, bonds aren’t that highly thought of in the investment market. An expert I spoke to commented that “as they fall to inflation rate changes, they hold more potential as a risk, not a sound investment growth commitment”. No matter what, in other words, you are taking a little bit of a gamble.

Whilst I think of it, a new investing strategy has recently come to the fore. How about doubling your initial investment, over a mid to long term position, with zero coupons.

No matter which options strikes your interest you really want to consult a professional who can guide you in the right direction. They are paid to know the best way to invest money!

So someone you know had a little baby recently, and now you need to find them baby gifts. If you don’t know what kind of gifts you should get for a new baby and the parents, we have lots of ideas! Our ideas will help you get great gifts for the baby and the proud new parents.

Here are our recommendations for baby gifts:

- Personalized baby pillows. Cute baby pillow is a keepsake that the parents, baby and other family members will treasure forever. Get the pillow personalized as well ? it can be personalized with baby name, birthday, etc.

- Baby picture frames. Who takes the most number of pictures? That’s right, the new parents do that, they take lots of pictures. And it?s not just when they bring the baby home from the hospital – they continue taking pictures of the baby’s firsts – first smile, first time the baby crawls, first step, etc. And they need lots of picture frames for those pictures.

Give the parents a personalized baby picture frame, something they can use right now to proudly display the latest baby pictures.

- Baby blankets. This is something that the baby needs, and will use for a long time. Sometimes kids use their baby blankets even after they stop being babies. Now you can personalize baby blankets with baby names, and you can find them in lots of different colors, made from many different fabrics.

- Baby jewelry for Moms. Mothers love jewelry, and baby jewelry always has special meaning. Since baby jewelry can be personalized with Mother?s and Baby?s names, this is a keepsake the Mother will surely treasure forever. There are many bracelets, rings and necklaces online that can be personalized with the baby’s name.

- Personalized baby clothes. How about some cute baby clothes for the little one? Give them baby clothing ? they need lots of clothing anyway, and personalized clothing always has a special meaning.

If you can sew, it will be very cool for you to create the personalized clothes yourself. Otherwise, check out what is offered at different clothing web sites online.

Congratulations on the new bundle of joy in your family, or among your friends. We hope that these gift recommendations will help you pick the perfect personalized baby gift for the little one.

Audio books online downloads are sweeping the nation’s libraries as well as up and coming retail stores on the internet. Audio books, which we have been listening to for many years on cassettes and CD’s are getting another boost in the digital world. Downloadable Audio books are digital versions of audio books that are available through the Internet. Since audio books online downloads are readily available 24/7, you can start listening within a few minutes after making the quick and easy purchase.

This is the latest capability of audio books online downloads available at any time of the day or night onto the player and medium of “your” choice! IPods, MP3 players, etc? are becoming the latest “go anywhere, play anywhere” platform of choice for the kids and grandparents of the world!

Audio books are recordings of words rather than music. They are growing at a spectacular rate and there are many reasons why they are gaining in popularity. Largely due to technology growth, audio books are the book medium of the 21st century. Since they are now available in the main publicly usable formats, such as MP3, .wmv, etc? one does not have to worry about whether the audio books online downloads will play on their specific player? Downloadable audio books are around 35% cheaper than their physical counterpart due to a significant reduction in publishing costs.

In many cases, audio books are actually closer to the original written book than the film. This creates a further emotional bond with the listener. Voice inflections, background noises and tonal characteristics of dialogue all add to the listening experience that the original hard copy purchase could never previously provide.

The good news for audio book shoppers is that audio books are getting less and less expensive. Audio books online downloads are around 35% cheaper than their physical counterpart due to reduced production costs and no packaging or shipping charges. Generally audio books are digitally captured, spoken versions of books. Portability is also another major reason why audio books are becoming so successful.

Hundreds of categories are available to satisfy the wide appetite of preferences in today’s marketplace. Science based categories drill down into details about astronomy, physics, chemistry and more. Self-help audio books are a definite solution, with popular works being readily available for anyone to download any time of the day or night. Humor and comedy audio books are a great way to find an unscheduled moment to lift your spirits throughout the day.

Audio books are great for people who have tired eyes, insomnia or lack of time. People who do a lot of driving in their day to day life or work on lengthy projects are great candidates to become avid users of audio books. In short, audio books online downloads are a great way to pass the time!

According to recent surveys, audio books are growing in popularity and may have well exceeded the success of eBooks to date. Audio books are being hailed as the new alternative to the classic printed book.

The seamless rain gutters are the gutters most largely used in America, because 75% of all the rain gutters installed are the seamless rain gutters. Seamless rain gutters are also known as continuous rain gutters and are long overhangs on your roof and your property is evaluated fast inclined, they are essential for the flow of roof of advance far from your house. There are many advantages related to the seamless rain gutters. The seamless rain gutters eliminate the ugly seams and reduce the possibility of escapes. And since seamless rain gutters are make cook with the furnace on the enamel completion, they never do not have need to paint and they protect the beauty from your house and installation.

Seamless rain gutters are formed on the site of work for exact measurements, but the majority of the installations of the seamless rain gutters are accomplished in one day. The goal of the seamless rain gutters is to collect water (rain) sector of roof and to disperse water far from your house. By choosing the seamless rain gutters, there are many various materials of gutter available, including steel, aluminum, vinyl, copper. Have with the spirit that seamless rain gutters must be on the spot manufactured by a professional contractor, thus the hiring of a contractor is the first thing to be made. Naturally, by seeking a contractor without seam of gutter of rain, seek a company with an established reputation, and confirm their current state with your authority of local authorization.

Seamless rain gutters are called without seam, because there are seams in the system. The seams are only with the corners and the exits of down pipe of waste waters. These joints are attached more firmly and are sealed for the resistance of stability and escape. The gutter without seam of rain itself is continuous which makes them visually more attractive strong and. Each system without seam of gutter of rain requires maintenance to ensure protection for your house. Ensure them that your seamless rain gutters are free of the remains, the sheets, granules of the shingles, the birds nest, etc… The extreme exposure to nature can also cause cement failures.

For an average house, the installation of a system without seam of gutter of rain will be made in one day. The contractor will arrive with a machine without seam truck-rise of gutter with the color which you chose. Each piece is measured individually, and the machine without seam of gutter to create a continuous piece of gutter which is classified habit.

Selling an item or service through the internet can be a grueling task, without question. And most internet marketing techniques either don’t work, or have been overused. Marketing through self-promotion is a new, innovative way to sell your products, while at the same time advertising your skills. Providing your customers with information about yourself and your background can put them at ease with their impending purchase, and assure them that you care about their best interest. This fresh internet marketing technique may just be one of the best sources currently available.

One way to utilize internet marketing through promoting yourself, is to regularly participate in online communities. These can involve discussion groups, chat rooms, or message boards. Any forum where you can interact with the public is a great form of internet marketing. As you regularly visit these online areas, you will get acquainted with your peers, as they familiarize themselves with you and your business.

Another great internet marketing technique is composing informational articles on subjects that you are interested or skilled in. The end of the article should include a byline, and short bio about you. Adding your web site address is also a helpful marketing tool. Submit the articles to numerous e-zines and article directories for even more internet marketing power.

Have you ever wanted to be a teacher or professor? Why not teach an online class devoted to your area of expertise? Chat room classes have become a favorite on the web, and now an outstanding marketing source. A chat room can easily be installed on your web site. Before each class begins, be sure to tell your students about your education, background, and business. This method of internet marketing is exceptional, because it allows for continuous interaction and a commitment to learn more about the subject at hand. The more that you promote and market yourself, the more others will want to know about your business and goals!

Nobody dreams of having acne, that would be tantamount to wishing for bad teeth. One thing that makes people attractive is their flawless skin. Sometimes, it shows the entirety of their personality especially on the manner of how they take care of themselves. Having a blemish-free skin also builds up the confidence of a person.

Acne can be present on any individuals at all ages. However, it is mostly occurring on the teens because of the imbalance production of hormone in their body. This is in fact, a part of their being adolescent where they undergo physical changes.

Here are 3 tips for you to prevent and get rid of acne.

1. Healthy diet for a healthy skin.

Fruits and vegetables are the best ingredients for your diet to maintain a healthy skin. Rather than eating junk foods it is better that you add varieties of fruits, vegetables and even nuts for your snacks. You can create a sweet juice out of the fruits if you are not used to eating it whole.

2. Drink more water everyday.

Water is the major cleansing agent of all the unnecessary components inside a person’s body. It is very essential that you drink a minimum of eight glasses of water every day to keep track of your acne-free skin. 3. Vitamins and Supplements

In order to combat the skin diseases and toxins that may attack your body, you can drink vitamins and supplements everyday. There are also some supplements that are best for fighting against acne, such as the Maca and the Manuka honey.

Above all other tips, you can make use of natural products for your skin. Avoid purchasing certain skin products not approved by your dermatologist because they contain chemicals that may just threaten your skin. Herbal soap will help you pacify the production of too much oil in your skin.

Article written by Hector Milla, editor of http://www.acnesolutionsproducts.com , a website pointing proactive acne solution , visit his weblog for daily news about acne at http://www.acnesolutionsproducts.com/blog/ , thanks for publishing this article in your website or ezine keeping a live link.