Dr. Michael Rizzo’s Speakers Bureau for School Year 2018- 2019:

Here are the listings for Dr. Rizzo’s speaking engagements school year

2018

• Aug. 16    American Preparatory Academy, Davie, Presentation for Faculty
• Aug. 28     Laura Cushman Academy, Miami Shores, Presentation to Faculty
• Sept. 14    Montessori of Pembroke Pines Academy Presentation to Faculty
• Sept. 19    Westminster Academy, Ft. Lauderdale Presentation to Faculty
• Sept. 20   Laura Cus

Technology-Based Remediation

Technology-based remediation continues to gain momentum as a robust way to improve phonological processing, language skills, and both reading and reading comprehension skills. Technology web-based remediation provides help at a reasonable cost and maximizes the ease of one’s time and access, in a manner that is engaging and more fun than traditional tutoring. There are many ways to improve phonological processing, language, reading decoding/word recognition skills, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. The key to success is dependent up

Top 4 Books on Dyslexia

CHECK OUT CPS’ TOP RECOMMENDED BOOKS ABOUT DYSLEXIA

Overcoming Dyslexia: New and Complete Science Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level by Shaywitz, Sally. (2003). Buy here                                                           

What is Dyslexia?

The human brain has specific regions dedicated to discreet tasks associated with reading. Below the level of words, is the “language of sounds” that must be differentiated and manipulated in order to form words. English words are driven by 1100 combinations of 44 sounds. These sounds are called phonemes. http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/16/06/fixing-failure-model Sounds (phonemes) do not simply show up in a region of one’s brain, but are converted in the inner ear to miniscule electrical charges that travel down

Everything You Could Ever Want To Know About Dyslexia

Political Metaphor

The current political climate bears a striking resemblance to what I see as polarized “mindsets/belief systems” in education. Think of it as the liberals pushing for change and the conservatives pushing for sameness. While a paradigm shift is clearly evident, especially in the past 10 years, driven by improvements in neuroimaging techniques, steadfast old school believers rear their heads from time to time. This is particularly concerning when these stoic individ

Fall Newsletter 2016

EVERYTHING YOU COULD EVER WANT TO KNOW ABOUT DYSLEXIA!

POLITICAL METAPHOR

The current political climate bears a striking resemblance to what I see as polarized “mindsets/belief systems” in education. Think of it as the liberals pushing for change and the conservatives pushing for sameness. While a paradigm shift is clearly evident, especially in the past 10 years, driven by improvements in neuroimaging techniques, steadfast old school believers rea

Dyslexia – A Personal Tale

Once upon a time… There was a little boy who so wanted to make his parents proud. However, no matter how hard he tried, he just could not seem to understand all the sounds, rules, and patterns intrinsic to reading as his classmates did. His parents and teachers asserted that he was lazy, not trying, or just not so smart. Others blamed his parents, suggesting that they did not provide the right support at home. Soon other children noticed and he became known as the “dumbest kid” in the class. He was always in t

Spring Newsletter 2016

THE TIMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’

EDUCATION IS FAR BEHIND!

“Come gather ’round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You’ll be drenched to the bone If your time to you Is worth savin’ Then you better start swimmin’ Or you’ll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin” – Bob Dylan Aerospace technology, communication technology, medical/healthcare technology, au

Character Traits and the Outdated Concept of Average

Making Learning Environments Reasonable to Manage

In the past decade, Social Psychologists and Neuroscientists have been conducting research and generating empirically supported conclusions that the ideas of grades, IQ, and standardized test scores are not the most important indicators of an individual’s success later in life. Yet in most schools today, the notion is that behaviors observed as failures are how far away a child’s cognitive abilities and academic skills reside from

Character Traits/Strengths

One’s environment should never be made too easy. A child should always be challenged within the context of what is reasonable and attainable. Some diversity/failure is necessary to develop aspects of character that are of value later in life. Additionally, there is clear evidence that “character strengths” (not IQ), are more important in a child’s school and life success. Allowing children to take risks, explore unstructured social situations, learn because of interests and curiosity, and fail from time-

Two Books About Our Brains

Great books to consider on the exploding science of the brain: The Myth of Mirror Neurons: The Real Neuroscience of Communication and Cognition Author: Gregory Hickok Abstract: In 1992, a group of neuroscientists from Parma, Italy, reported a new class of brain cells discovered in the motor cortex of the macaque monkey. These cells, later dubbed mirror neurons, responded equally well during the monkey’s own motor actions, such as grabbing an object, and while the monkey watched someone else perform similar motor actio

The Ingredients for Academic Success – Not Just IQ

The brain, with more than 100 billion cells and perhaps billions of connections creates neural networks that permit individuals to understand, discriminate, and integrate sensory information, with previously learned information, and respond appropriately. Networks of cells are dedicated to one or more discrete cognitive tasks. As one rises up through the brain from the brain stem to the frontal cortex, more and more complex interactions between networks separate humans from lower level mammals. All networks do not devel

Neurodiversity is Not a Bad Thing

When Your Child Is Struggling and Frustrated,

There Is Always a Reason

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Dr. Hackie Reitman, the author of “Aspertools: The Practical Guide to Understanding and Embracing Asperger’s, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Neurodiversity” (www.aspertools.com). He also recently wrote and produced his first feature film, “The Square Root of 2” (www.thesquarerootof2movie.com); st

No Child Is Lazy, Sad, or Angry By Choice

If parents are both involved and supportive, there can only be two reasons as to why a child is struggling in school. Environmental variables can affect a child’s school performance. Your child may have experienced a bad teacher, frequent school changes, recurrent absences as a result of extended illness, and even dealt with a difficult personal experience (i.e., moving, death of a loved one, etc.). In these situations, generic tutoring centers such as Sylvan, Huntington, or your neighbor who used to be a 2

Why Should a Child Be Tested?

Why Should a Child Be Tested?

A thorough school neuropsychological evaluation is the only way to truly understand the challenges to learning, managing emotions, and/or succeeding socially in a manner that can drive prescriptive interventions. All evaluations are not alike. Being trained to give tests and record numbers in a document is not rocket science. However, it does take trained individuals to know what tests to give, why to give selected tests, how to corroborate developing hy

Character Traits and the Outdated Concept of “Average”

Making Learning Environments Reasonable to Manage

In the past decade, Social Psychologists and Neuroscientists have been conducting research and generating empirically supported conclusions that the ideas of grades, IQ, and standardized test scores are not the most important indicators of an individual’s success later in life. Yet in most schools today, the notion is that behaviors observed as “failures” are how far away a child’s cognitive abilities and acade

Fall Newsletter 2015

When Your Child Is Struggling and Frustrated,

There Is Always a Reason

 

Neurodiversity is Not a Bad Thing.

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Dr. Hackie Reitman, the author of “Aspertools: The Practical Guide to Understanding and Embracing Asperger’s, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Neurodiversity (www.aspertools.com). He also recently wrote and produced his first feature film, “The Squar

Spring Newsletter 2015

SOME COOL STUFF ABOUTMEMORY AND ATTENTION

Memory is frequently “thrown around” by teachers and parents as an area of concern when a child is not reaching their perceived potential. In reality, there are multiple aspects of memory, and each aspect may be highly functional or less functional than would be ideal. Each aspect (subtype) impacts a different area of academic functioning.When initially exposed to a stimulus, whether visual or auditory, holding that information in awareness for a brief period of time is critical t