It places special emphasis on teaching children how to listen in order to concentrate. Carole Samuels, a certified speech and language therapist designed the program for teachers. Over two years she has introduced it into seventeen school districts in and around Houston. As she explained, We're used to telling children to listen, but we don't give them a purpose for listening. And Focus does that.
All children can learn and they can learn well regardless of the problems they present.
Helen Hearnsberger a certified language therapist first models the reading tasks for the children. Teaching reading is a rocket science, she told us. Because we have to know how the language is put together. Normal language development follows an orderly progression. Beginning with the perception of the sounds, followed by the imitation, comprehension and expression.