Clients that benefit from our services range from those that are having some difficulty with communication or academic skills at school and/or at home to those that have a specific diagnosis. Clients we commonly see have been diagnosed with one or more of the following: auditory processing disorder, language processing disorder, receptive and/or expressive language disorder, articulation disorder, learning disability, ADD/ADHD, sensory processing disorder, dyslexia and autism.

However, many of our clients do not have a prior diagnosis. We often hear parents state that their child is “falling through the cracks” because they have learning issues, but not in the severity range necessary to qualify for special education in the school setting or to be given a specific diagnosis. Students that exhibit mild or moderate communication and academic difficulties often need treatment to reach their optimum potential and be successful in school. In addition, students issues often appear to worsen over time if not treated for specific learning deficits when they arise. This is due to the increasing expectations that occur at each higher grade level.

Our clients also include gifted students that may achieve straight A’s, but must study far more than necessary to achieve those grades. Parents of these students often share that their children are unable to have extracurricular activities or many friends because most of their free time is spent studying. These students are often not using their brain in the most efficient way for studying and memorizing. Our training and techniques have helped these clients to significantly reduce the amount of time they need to study in order to obtain good grades, as well as teach them to learn more efficiently.

When first out of college Janel worked in various school and private practice settings. As a result, she had the opportunity to assess many students. She found that the vast majority of the special education students she assessed, as well as many of the students that were “falling through the cracks” and had deficits in reading, spelling, comprehension, etc., exhibited an auditory discrimination disorder and/or weak or non-existent visualization skills. 

Auditory discrimination is defined as the ability to hear sounds and sound changes in syllables and words – such as hearing that /pip/ has three sounds, and that the first and third sound are the same. If a person has difficulty discriminating and then "mishears" sounds, issues with listening, reading and/or spelling may occur. 

Visualization refers to converting what is read and heard into pictures in the mind’s eye. Those that have strong comprehension and long-term memory skills visualize well. Janel found that when she treated auditory discrimination and visualization skills students demonstrated improvements in a variety of communication and academic skill areas, even when those other areas weren’t directly treated. She began to think of these skills as the foundation of the ‘academic house’ so to speak – necessary for students to become independent learners. She found that when these skills were intact there was a solid base for learning and communicating. When they weren’t, students struggled in a variety of ways. While a variety of treatments are utilized in this clinic to address the specific needs of each individual, the cornerstone of Clear Pathways Learning Services is addressing discrimination and comprehension skills as so many people have deficits in these areas.

As visualization is a vital area for academic success, Janel has written an e-book entitled "Beyond Tutoring: Strategies to Improve Reading, Spelling, Comprehension and Memory" that addresses in detail how to work with visualization skills in the home environment. It discusses how to use and apply visualization to reading, spelling, comprehension, organization, writing, learning vocabulary words and following directions. The book also outlines how Janel teaches clients with auditory issues how to read. This book is a helpful tool for those that cannot attend therapy on-site, as well as for clients that like to have the information in written form for future reference.

In addition, Janel has written a second e-book entitled "Poetry Fun: Training Visualization Skills with Poetry." The poetry book is a companion book to Beyond Tutoring, and is an excellent resource to help train visualization skills with younger elementary-aged children. Janel’s e-books are available for purchase on the home page of this website. She has received positive feedback from teachers and other professionals, that the books break the visualization training process into easy to implement steps. This is important as Janel’s goal was to make these books a simple to use resource for busy parents. They are an effective tool in regard to training this valuable skill at home.

Call for more information: 503.722.2851