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 Heidi Lathy is an Educational Psychologist and Remedial Therapist with a passion for helping children of all ages who are experiencing difficulties at school. She believes strongly that as school plays such a central role in the lives of children it is vitally important to support them wherever possible if they are experiencing academic difficulties. Learning support should empower children with strategies which help them to become confident, self-directed learners.
After completing her undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Heidi trained as a Junior Primary and Pre-Primary teacher at the Johannesburg College of Education. She taught the Grade 0 class at Japari Remedial School for 3 years and during this time completed her Honours Degree in Educational Psychology and remedial therapy, also at the University of the Witwatersrand. After completing her Honours Degree she began her Masters in Educational Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand. This included a year’s internship working both at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in the Child Psychiatry section and at the Johannesburg Hospital working in the Child Adolescent and Family Unit doing assessment, play therapy, adolescent counselling and parent support.
While completing the research component of her Masters Degree Heidi, worked at Roedean School in Johannesburg as a Remedial Therapist both in the Junior and High schools. On leaving Roedean, Heidi joined Chartwell Country College (formerly In-Tuition Discovery Centre) as a teacher in the junior phase of the school. Her small class included learners who experienced a variety of difficulties including severe behavioural difficulties, Autism, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Both while working at Roedean and at Chartwell Country College, Heidi operated a private practice in psychotherapy, assessment and remedial therapy. She also lectured and supervised Honours Educational Psychology students on a part-time basis at the University of the Witwatersrand in the remedial therapy component of their degree.
At the beginning of 2010 Heidi made the decision to go into private practice full time. Despite being a fully qualified Educational Psychologist registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa, remedial therapy or learning support has remained a vital part of her practice. She runs a small practice at Chartwell Country College and Paterson Park Primary in Orange Grove.
Description of Learning Support
Learning support for Primary School children, where assistance is usually focussed on providing help with reading, writing and maths, is conducted using the Cognitive Approach to Literacy and Numeracy Instruction developed by Elaine Harcombe, a gifted South African Educational Psychologist based in Cape Town. This approach is an integrated approach based on the PASS model, a comprehensive model for understanding cognitive processing developed by researchers Das and Naglieri (Naglieri, J. A., & Das, J. P. (1997). The PASS cognitive processing theory. In R.F. Dillon (Ed.). Handbook on testing (pp.138-163). London: Greenwood Press. This method focuses on both top-down (simultaneous processing) and bottom-up (successive processing) methods of developing literacy. Simultaneous processing refers to the ability to integrate many sources of information together into an integrated whole. For literacy, this meaning driven aspect of cognitive functioning is addressed in the learning support by working in a theme through which general knowledge and vocabulary are developed in both reading and writing. This ensures that the overarching goal of reading, gaining meaning from print, is effectively supported. Successive processing, the ability to deal with parts or details, particularly when they are in sequence is addressed through a variety of activities: tracking exercises which train the brain to pay attention to visual detail and to process information sequentially from left to right; an approach called Sound Families which encourages the child to chunk letters giving them a visual and auditory cue to assist in decoding when reading and spelling when writing; word games where the child’s sight word pool (the number of words they recognise instantly) is increased through board games focused on visual matching. The successive processing component of the sessions focuses on making children more effective at decoding text once again to support the goal of gaining as much meaning as they can when reading.
For numeracy, the meaning driven aspect of cognitive processing is addressed through practicing maths tasks in a meaningful context using real-life situations which utilise maths reasoning. The bottom-up or successive skills for maths, tables, bonds and calculations skills are practiced in the context of the theme based tasks as well as in games.
All learning support is done in the context of a theme, chosen by the children. This ensures that the reading, writing and maths are practiced in an area which is of interest to the child automatically increasing their motivation and willingness to participate in activities. A structured behaviour modification programme where the child earns points which they can swap for prizes also helps to motivate them to attempt tasks which they might otherwise avoid as they often find them difficult, frustrating or boring. The points system is also an excellent way of giving them mathematics practice in a relevant, real-life context.
Learning support for the older learner is often focussed on first breaking through negative conditioned responses to learning. While support is provided for reading and writing if required, the sessions focus on a strong cognitive component where the child is made aware of their own preferred processing style and encouraged to use their strengths to support their weakness. Strategies they may have already developed are reinforced and they are also encouraged to develop new more effective strategies.
Learning support is usually conducted on an individual basis but, where appropriate, a learner can be placed in a small group with one or two other learners who are functioning at the same academic level. This allows the child to benefit from the social interaction of the group situation, as well as from the opportunities for peer tutoring afforded by working with other learners.
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