Background Information

Eight-year old male in the third grade presenting with difficulty in spelling on weekly exams. His teacher begins the week by calling out each word of a new twenty word list every Monday. The children spell each word on a piece of paper that is not turned in to the teacher, but is to be used as a guide to the student's present skills for that particular word set. Only the individual child knows what his or her score is on this “pre-test.” Without going over the words in class, the list of words is called out again on Thursday morning, at which time the children's papers are handed in and, over the weekend, graded. The subject recently moved from another school district. In his first four spelling exams at the new school, he received two C's and two D's. One of the D's was on the exam for the fourth week, after which my assistance was sought. His grades in other subjects -- science, math, social studies, and reading were all “A's” and mid to high “B's.” He was poor in the neatness of writing category, but reviewing his papers I noticed that his spelling grades were a result of poor spelling for the most part, not a matter of the teacher not being able to decipher his handwriting.

Client Interview

I interviewed the subject in my office. He said that he was a bad speller. I indicated that spelling had been a problem for him, but, in an attempt to change his perception of the difficulty and place it behind him, I asked, “looking back at the bad spelling grades, how do you feel now that you are an excellent speller?” He responded that he felt better now that he was going to get help in learning how to spell.
I mirrored and matched the child's breathing pattern and used his vocabulary while asking questions. He indicated that his spelling “stinks” and that he couldn't ever get an “A” or a “B” on any spelling test. He stated that he wanted to improve his spelling because he wanted to be a good student and “get good grades” in all of his school subjects, and that he wanted to be a student athlete as he got older and entered middle school and then high school. He believed he was “smart” and wanted to “show that through [his] school work.” He felt it was “impossible for him to do well in spelling because he had no confidence in his ability to spell and had “never” done well on such tests. In sum, he believed he had the resources of intelligence and the ability to test well, but did not have the confidence necessary to generalize and use those resources in spelling. So low was his confidence in this area that he avoided any study of the spelling words, other than a few cursory looks at the page on which they were printed, between the time he was given the list on Monday and the test on Thursday. Throughout the interview, he never mentioned any form of punishment or negative event or situation that might occur as the result of his poor spelling, but presented the problem as something he wanted to solve to improve himself and to gain a command over.

Proposed Technique for Reaching the Goal

Given the information gathered from the child, I determined that the most relevant NLP techniques were the Circle of Excellence, the New Behavior Generator, and the Building Self-Confidence Exercise. For the sake of time, my plan was to do the interview and the Circle of Excellence, with a follow-up session going through all three techniques after his next spelling test was graded.

Techniques Used For Reaching the Goal

I asked the child if he wanted to play a game. His eyes lit up, he smiled and responded, “sure.” “Okay,” I said, “ imagine a circle in front of you. Can you see it?” “Yes,” he replied.
“We're going to call that your Circle of Excellence. Cool.”
“Cool,” he responded.
I asked him when he felt the most powerful, to which he responded: “Never.” His answer surprised me at first, so it took a few seconds to realize that children this young usually feel totally devoid of power, physical and otherwise, in a world they perceive as dominated by adults. So I changed the line of questioning to determine what the child believed he was best at, what activities he engaged in when he felt the most confident, which turned out to be video games and basketball. When he was at his best in both of these endeavors he saw in an associated fashion the activity in the lower center of his visual grid, he felt hot “like the sun,” saw the color “bright yellow like the sun,” with the smell of “something burning in the sun,” and had the taste of candy. I asked him if he could double all of those and double the brightness of the colors as well. He said he could. I asked if he could double it all again and double the size of the picture as well. He could. I then had him double everything twice more.
“Now,” I said, “when you have it all big and bright and hot with the taste and smell, step into that circle on the floor in front of you, keeping all the colors, all the tastes and smells, all you see, hear and feel.” He waited a few seconds and put his left foot into the circle. As he did, I touched his left shoulder and continued the touch until he placed his trailing foot, his right foot, into the circle. I then had him step back out of the circle and told him to relax. After a few seconds I had him repeat the process four more times, using the left shoulder as the anchor and giving a few seconds to relax between each repetition. (I continually observed the child for any signs of incongruency, any pointer suggesting that what he was feeling and experiencing was different than what he was verbally indicating. No intimation of anything other than total congruency existed. He was having fun and was fully associated with the episode, which he later described as “an adventure game”).
“Now,” I instructed him, “whenever I touch your left shoulder, I want you to step into your Circle of Excellence and think about how well you'll do on spelling tests and how good you'll feel about studying for them, knowing you'll be able to see and handle spelling the same way you see and handle basketball and video games.” I then touched him on the shoulder; he stepped into the Circle as directed, smiling as he did so. We repeated this four more times, after which I touched him on the left shoulder, had him step into the Circle once more, and asked him to describe how he would do on his next spelling test. He indicated that he would get at least an A- with a score of at least 90, following which I had him step out of the circle and asked him to tell me what happened during our Circle of Excellence game. He replied that it showed that spelling was a game, a different kind of game and not as much fun, but a game just like basketball or video games, and that if he practiced like he did with the others, he could do well on spelling too. (I thought his statements insightful, especially for an 8 year­-old, though perhaps not a concept pleasing to many educational authorities).
“Now,” I added, “I'd like you to touch your left shoulder and enter that Circle of Excellence before every spelling test and before each spelling study session. Even if there isn't room to do it physically, like if you're in the classroom, imagine in your mind that you are stepping into it.” He indicated he would. I then explained to his parents that it would be a good idea to help him study by having him write down each spelling word three times Monday through Wednesday and then taking the paper and all materials away from him, giving him only a blank sheet of paper and a pencil, and then giving him a test each of those days by reading the list, word by word, to him, having him write it down.

Results - Reaching the Goal

There were no follow-up sessions and no other techniques used other than the Circle of Excellence. They were deemed unnecessary by the child. On the nine spelling tests since his session, he has received 100% on seven tests -- a grade of “A+” -- and 95% on the other two – a grade of “A.” The subject has been spotted touching his left shoulder a time or two prior to playing a video game, prior to playing sports, and a time or two just to get his neurology roaring.

Conclusion

Humans are one-time learners, especially under the right circumstances, especially children who have less “experience obstacles” than adults. The Circle of Excellence technique is effective for blocks to superior academic performance as well as the more physical endeavors.

Return to Home Page           Return to Previous Page