The issue of the effects of bullying at school has recently received nationwide prominence and it is a serious problem. Bullying and being bullied not only interferes with a child’s success at school, academically, socially and health wise, but it can have life-long lasting ill affects on a person. Today’s guest on The Learning Curve with Roger & Virginia is Vicki Abadesco, the director of Soul Shoppe, an organization devoted to helping students, teachers and parents eliminate bullying in our schools by giving students, teachers and parents the communication tools and techniques proven to be successful in handling bullies, student conflicts and the effects of being bullied. Soul Shoppe last year alone served 75,000 elementary students nationwide through its school-wide workshops and assemblies. Vicki Abadesco has some wonderful resources at her website www.soulshoppe.com (http://www.soulshoppe.com) Hear Vicki explain how Soul Shoppe’s program achieves: Optimal Learning Environments based on a Foundation of Respect Personal Empowerment based on awareness of choices we make Skill Building to navigate life powerfully Community Enhancement promoting empathy and a high level of functioning for all Joyful Living—encouraging a sense of freedom on all we do We see this as an important program for, as we state in the Professional Edition of our book, How to Learn-How to Teach: Overcoming the Seven Barriers to Comprehension, an “Area of Fear” is one of the vital fundamentals that must be handled if a student (or adult) is going to be able to actually correctly apply their attention to studying and learning anything. See: www.howtolearneasily.com (http://www.howtolearneasily.com) Vicki points out that in the presence of fear a person’s brain and ability to learn actually shuts down. Roger and Virginia at The Learning Curve — www.howtolearneasily.com (http://www.howtolearneasily.com)