The Learning Skills Continuum

The Chatterbox Learning Academy is based on the Learning Skills Continuum. Here, learning skills are like steps on a staircase. In order for the staircase to be stable and function properly, each step is dependent on the development of the step before it. The lower steps form the foundation of learning and development. 

Any missing or weak step creates a hole in that foundation of your child’s intellectual processing. But your child is not alone. These shaky foundations are found in 30% of people, causing their skills to develop slower than others. For this approximate 1/3 of the population, as they mature from infancy to adulthood, these gaps can cause varying learning disabilities that challenge a person’s daily existence and lifetime potential. 

 
 

At the base of the staircase, the first step is your child’s Developmental Learning Skills. Developmental Learning Skills include:

  • Developmental auditory (hearing)

  • Visual

  • Gross motor skills

  • Internal organization such as motivation or getting started with projects due to primitive reflex

  • Body and attention awareness and control

We think of body and attention awareness as, “Where is my body at in space, and what is my mind doing right now?” 

Cognitive Processing Skills are the next step and build on the Developmental Learning Skills. Cognitive Processing skills include: 

  • Memory

  • Attention

  • Auditory and visual processing

  • Processing Speed

  • Language processing

Cognitive Processing Skills take the input of Developmental Learning Skills and give them meaning and context.

The next step on the Learning Continuum staircase is Executive Function. Executive Function includes:

  • Reasoning

  • The ability to strategize

  • Organization

  • Self-monitoring of attention and behavior

  • Planning

  • Study skills

These are the thoughts that take place to organize one’s activities, or movements. They sequence action items in the right order (for example, the steps it takes to tie one’s shoes) and are motivated to complete tasks. 

The top two steps on the continuum are Basic Academics and Content Areas / Higher Learning. 

Schools are not designed to teach kids how to learn.

Academic Skills are what your child learns in school. These skills include: 

  • Reading

  • Writing

  • Spelling

  • Math

When your child arrives on the first day of their school journey, teachers begin teaching Academic Skills. If he or she has weak skills on the learning continuum, Academic Skills will be that much more challenging to develop. Rather than starting with a strong base of support for learning academics, your child’s missing core learning, processing or executive function skills creates a challenging, unstable foundation.