What is
the Play of Life?
Education |
Rosemary Ruthven M.Sc. B.A. Dip. Ed. is Active Learning's course designer and Head Trainer. As well as providing training in the Play of Life® methodology on life balance, based on the research of Psychiatrist and MBA Dr. Carlos A. Raimundo, Rosemary brings with her over 20 years of experience in the field of Education.
Rosemary is a Curriculum Specialist, Reading Specialist, Screener for Perceptual Dyslexia, Published Author and International Speaker. She has worked in multicultural, bilingual, high and low socio-economic settings in the United States, Spain, Australia and Singapore; training educators and designing customised curriculums for both public and private organisations.
Rosemary’s workshops and literacy services provide practical wisdom and strategies for parents and professionals including:
Professional Development for Educational Institutions.
Seminars for Business and Corporate on factors affecting employee performance and productivity.
Diagnostic and Remedial Reading Tuition Services.
Courses for Parents, Caregivers, Educators & Organisations on on how to develop literacy skills.
COURSES AND SERVICES
Active Learning Centre International is committed to helping professionals and parents provide clearer pathways for learning and life balance. Please peruse our course offerings below and contact me to customise a seminar, workshop or reading diagnostic for you or your group.
Rosemary Ruthven
Irlen Syndrome: The Insidious Talent Crippler
Delivery: 90 minute or 2-hour Seminar
Fee: $200 plus $2 per participant
Research studies confirm that at least 12% of the population has Irlen Syndrome (IS). IS is a condition that affects the way the brain perceives and processes visual information due to a sensitivity to full spectrum light. When IS is not addressed in the workplace or the classroom, productivity is dramatically lowered and relationships are unnecessarily strained.
IS is chronically under diagnosed. Someone can muddle their way through life not knowing why they suffer some or all of the following symptoms on a daily basis:
Become fatigued relatively quickly when a task involves reading/writing
Misunderstand written communications in spite of being a proficient reader.
Have difficulty maintaining focus during training, meetings, seminars and presentations.
Need to take many small breaks.
Take longer than normal to complete a standard written report.
Regularly experience restlessness, nervousness, headaches or migraines with no apparent cause.
Find it difficult to find just the right spot in the room to settle down and get to work.
IS is not related to IQ level or the need for an optical script. However, people with IS are often seen by others as being “dumb”, "slow", “poorly educated”. It is not uncommon for Irlen sufferers to be perceived as “unmotivated”, “fidgety”, “procrastinators”, “ADD” even “hypochondriacs”.
The good news is that the problems associated with IS can be dramatically alleviated so that people can function at higher task efficiency and with lower stress levels. A 1995 study conducted by the US Navy indicated a 94% increase in productivity, a 79% increase in job satisfaction and a 91% decrease in absenteeism when personnel with IS were fitted with the right spectral filters.
In this seminar, Rosemary demystifies and de-stigmatise this common form of perceptual dyslexia that affects so many of us and our children. She also shares practical ways for HR and Educators to address the issue so that individuals stop suffering unnecessarily and start performing to their full potential.
Many people live with print
distortions making reading
uncomfortable and fatiguing.
E.g. Click on the image below
Find out why reading is difficult for you or your child
Contact Rosemary to arrange for:
A Reading Diagnostic -$120 (90 minutes)
Includes an Irlen Screening
for Perceptual Dyslexiaor
Literacy Tuition -$60/hour
Tel: 02 43411832
MOB: 0429040658
Detecting and Remediating Reading Difficulties
Delivery: Full-Day Workshop
Fee: $200pp (Maximum 20 participants)
Erroneous beliefs about how reading works often lead both professionals and parents to spend time and money on reading interventions that are not appropriate for the needs of the individual. Reading instruction must be prescriptive as well as comprehensive. Why not get it right from the start?
This is a hands-on practical workshop in which Rosemary covers the nuts of bolts of what it takes to help people move along the literacy continuum towards proficiency:
Overview of the core components of literacy needing to be developed for reading to occur- (Auditory and Visual Discrimination, Phonology; Phonemic Awareness; Phonics; Relevant Vocabulary; Structural Analysis; Application of Background knowledge; Use of Context- both Syntactic & Semantic; Literal, critical and interpretive comprehension.)
Dyslexia: What it means and symptoms of perceptual dyslexia to watch for:
Assessing reading strengths and weaknesses quickly and precisely.
Comprehensive and Prescriptive literacy instruction: Practical techniques and strategies for whole-group, small-group and individual reading and writing instruction.
Introduction to Rosemary’s reading intervention programme designed to systematically introduce beginning and struggling readers to every sound in Australian English and the spelling varieties used to represent those sounds. Each lesson has its own reading passage (at various reading levels) and a game to anchor new learning into memory. The programme also makes it possible for people suffering with perceptual dyslexia to read on a background colour most comfortable for their eyes.
Practical Strategies for Developing Pre-Schoolers' Literacy Skills
Learning to read is a science and involves a lot more than simply learning your ABC’s. In fact many parents and teachers are not aware that teaching their toddlers to sing the ABC song before other key reading concepts are in place, does more harm than good.
There is a right way and a wrong way to introduce children to the alphabet. Knowing the right way results in children learning to read very quickly; many times before Kindergarten. On the other hand, introducing letter names to children before they have phonological and phonemic awareness inevitably impedes reading progress.
What is phonological and phonemic awareness? To put it simply, this refers to the ability to differentiate one sound from another and to be able to manipulate those sounds to form new words. For example, we need to be able to hear the difference between “pin” and “pan” and to understand that if we substitute other sounds for the first sound in “pan” we can make “ran”, “can” and “man”. As adults, this seems so easy and natural, people assume children learn these concepts automatically. They do not. This has become even more apparent since the tradition of singing nursery rhymes and reading poetry in the home has become almost a relic of the past.
Delivery Option 1:
90 minute or 2-hour Seminar
Fee: $200 plus $2 per participant
In this presentation, Rosemary shares some practical tips on how parents and teachers can develop their pre-schooler's reading skills in a fun way as they go about their normal daily routines.
Delivery Option 2:
3-hour workshop (maximum 20 participants)
Fee: $50pp (includes all materials)
In this hands on practical workshop, participants will learn about:
Activities for developing phonological and phonemic awareness.
Child-friendly Phonics instruction: Games and activities for anchoring sound-symbol connections into memory.
Using environmental print productively.
Activities for sight-word recognition.
Correct letter-formation and pencil grip-How much should you expect and encourage?Interactive "writing" instruction.
Getting the most out of "story time": Strategies for developing literal and
critical comprehension.Role-modelling literate behaviours.
Optional Add-on:
Getting Ready for Big School
1-hour interactive presentation sharing tips for preparing Pre-Schoolers for "Big School"
Fee: $15pp
An opportunity for parents to think about how best to begin establishing routines and practises that will make the transition from pre-school to primary school an easier one.
Learn what the brain needs to feel safe and contained in the midst of change.
Identify practical para-school routines to begin at home.
Familiarise your child with the school environs, schedules and expectations.
Keep your child safe.
Avoid the morning rush.
Learn how to contain your child when things and people seem unfamiliar and scary.
Free your child to learn: Help him/her leave home concerns at home.
Managing Change
Delivery: Full-Day Workshop
Fee: $200pp (Minimum 10/Maximum 20 participants)
*Discounted rates for organisations scheduling more than one workshop
The world of education is fraught with change and professionals can sometimes find themselves experiencing change fatigue. The result... a loss of passion, energy and enthusiasm for the job.
In this workshop participants discover:
Why it is difficult for the brain to accept change sometimes.
What needs to happen in the brain for change to be perceived as being acceptable and manageable.
How to recognise and alleviate the affects of change on themselves before it affects others.
The lenses through which we can choose to view change- A lens of fear or a lens of hope?
Lessons from biology: When is it the right time for change?Practical and immediately applicable strategies for addressing current issues of change in the workplace and at home.
Appropriate ways for expressing dissatisfaction with changes in the workplace- Avoiding the whinge.
How to maintain Tenacity for the Long Haul
As part of the workshop experience, participants do a Play of Life® 3D Simulation technique designed to rekindle the passion that propelled them into the profession.
Embedded into the programme are opportunities for guided discussions with peers to find practical solutions to current challenges in the workplace and to find better ways of supporting one another along the way.
Strategies for Engaging Adolescents
Delivery: Full-Day Workshop
Fee: $200pp (Minimum 10/Maximum 20 participants)
*Discounted rates for organisations scheduling more than one workshop
It takes an entire campus to retain and educate a student and the first step is Engagement. Better Engagement leads to:
Increased student retention.
Achievement of outcomes with less drain and fatigue.
A more pleasant and productive work environment, people are drawn to.
In this workshop, the Neuro-science behind communication and engagement is covered in a digestible way to better understand why engagement and containment are so essential for learning. It also answers questions such as:
How do I get inside the minds of Young Learners to know what makes them tick?
How are their needs different to more mature students?
From what level of thinking do they operate?
How do I cope with the diverse backgrounds, learning disabilities and age ranges in my class?
Why are some individuals so rude and reactive?
Why do some students (even those doing well) leave?
How can I reach outcomes in spite of the challenges of the workplace?
As part of the workshop experience, participants are invited to explore the way they view and interact with individual students and co-workers using a Play of Life 3D® Simulation technique. The technique is thought provoking, fun and respectful. The exercise helps each person find a better way to deal with even the most difficult student or co-worker.
The day provides practical and immediately applicable strategies for engagement and learning.
The Play of Life® For Transformational Leadership
This is an opportunity for professionals in Leadership positions to enhance their own level of Social Intelligence, and to raise the thought levels of their Followship.
Participants are introduced to the neuro-science behind engagement, communication, change management and effective leadership and have the opportunity to translate this into practical action through the use of Play of Life® 3D Simulation techniques.
The Play of Life was created by Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist, Dr. Carlos A. Raimundo more than 20 years ago to fast-track insight and make behavioural modification sustainable. The method works by directly stimulating the mirror neuron system and sub-cortical processes allowing cognitive biases (defence mechanisms/verbal rationalisations) to be by-passed. Click here to watch a power point on how the Play of Life works.
Leaders and Management trained in this method enjoy personal and transformational breakthroughs previously thought to be impossible. Please view some of the testimonies.
Play of Life techniques are widely used in Australia and Internationally, among other reasons because:
The approach is not language dependant and therefore has significant relevance for cross-cultural populations and with clients with low levels of articulation for whatever reason (High stress, Intense emotion, Aspergers, , hearing impaired).
Using small figures and props, people play out "show" what's going on in the workplace rather than enter into cyclic verbal explanations. Being able to "see" issues objectively, helps people get to the crux of the matter more quickly and to find suitable solutions.
Training Courses and Fees:
Play of Life® Core Foundations (2 days) $1200
Includes Play of Life 3d Simulation kit -value $300
Also available as Distance Education
Play of Life® Applications for Leadership (2 days) $1200
* Must have completed Core Foundations course
* The biology of Social Intelligence; Self-Knowledge; Values, Ideals and Priorities; the Narrative Interview for Performance Management, Managing Stressors and Conflict Resolution, Appropriate Confrontation of issues, Talent motivation and team alignment for achieving desired outcomes.
Discounted rates for organisations training more than 10 people.
The Play of Life® Accreditation Programme
For Counselling and Mentoring
This is an opportunity for professionals working in the counselling profession to enhance their skills through the use of Play of Life® 3D Simulation techniques.
The Play of Life was created by Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist, Dr. Carlos A. Raimundo more than 20 years ago to fast-track insight and make behavioural modification sustainable. The method works by directly stimulating the mirror neuron system and sub-cortical processes allowing cognitive biases (defence mechanisms/verbal rationalisations) to be by-passed. Click here to watch a power point on how the Play of Life works.
Practitioners trained in this method enjoy breakthroughs with clients previously thought to be impossible. Please view some of the testimonies.
Play of Life techniques are widely used in Australia and Internationally, among other reasons because:
The approach is not language dependant and therefore has significant relevance for cross-cultural populations and with clients with low levels of articulation for whatever reason (Aspergers, Autism, hearing impaired, brain damage due to accident, stroke etc.).
Using small figures and props, people "show" what's going on and how they feel. Being able to "see" the issue, helps people get to the crux of the matter more quickly and to do so with less pressure on themselves.
Practitioners report feeling less tired at the end of a Play of Life session because the client has more quickly found their own solutions and psychoanalytic interpretation is not necessary. Practitioners
also use it for self- and peer- supervision.
Training Courses and Fees:
Play of Life® Core Foundations (2 days) $1200
Includes Play of Life 3d Simulation kit -value $300
Also available as Distance Education
Play of Life® Advanced Counselling Applications (2 days) $1200
Must have completed Core Foundations course
Abuse, anger management, conflict resolution, values, fears & phobias, Grief and Loss,
Play of Life® Group Applications (2 days) $1200
Must have completed Core Foundations course
Techniques for coaching couples, family dispute resolution and achieving cultural transformation.
Discounted rates for organisations training more than 10 people.
