Helping Children With Learning Disability

Practical parenting tips

All children needs love, encouragement and support for kids with the learning disabilities. Such reinforcement can help ensure that they emerge with a strong sense of confidence and determination to keep going even when things are tough. Your job as a parent is not to cure the learning disability but to give your child the social and emotional tools. He/She needs to work through challenges. 

Always remember that the way you behave and respond to challenges as a big impact on your child. A good attitude won't solve the problem associated with learning disability but it can give the child hope and confidence.

Tips for dealing your child learning disability

1. Keep Things in Perspective :  Parent should teach their children how to deal with those obstacles without becoming discouraged. Parent should give their children plenty of emotional and moral support. 

2. Become your own expert :  You may be tempted to look to others - teachers, therapists and doctors for solutions specially at first. But you are the foremost expert for your child. So take charge when it comes to finding the tools he/she needs in order to learn.

3. Be an advocate for your child:You may have to speak up time and time again to get special help for your child.It may be frustrating at times ,but by  remaining calm and reasonable, yet firm, you can make a huge difference for your child.

Remember that your influence outweighs all others. 

 If you approach learning challenges with optimism, hard work, and a sense of humor, your child is likely to embrace your perspective—or at least see the challenges as a speed bump. Focus your energy on learning what works for your child and implementing it the best you can.

HELPING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITES

TIP-1:  TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR CHILDRENS EDUCATION

In this age of endless budget cuts and inadequately funded schools, your role in your child’s education is more important than ever. Don’t sit back and let someone else be responsible for providing your child with the tools they need to learn. You can and should take an active role in your child’s education.

Parents who want the best for their kids may find this standard frustrating. Understanding special education laws and your school’s guidelines for services will help you get the best support for your child at school. Your child may be eligible for many kinds of accommodations and support services, but the school might not provide services unless you ask for them.

Tips for communicating with your child’s school:

You’ll need superior communication and negotiation skills, and the confidence to defend your child’s right to a proper education.

Clarify your goals. Before meetings, write down what you want to accomplish. Decide what is most important, and what you are willing to negotiate.

Be a good listener. Allow school officials to explain their opinions. If you don’t understand what someone is saying, ask for clarification. “What I hear you saying is…” can help ensure that both parties understand.

Offer new solutions. You have the advantage of not being a “part of the system,” and may have new ideas. Do your research and find examples of what other schools have done.

Keep the focus. The school system is dealing with a large number of children; you are only concerned with your child. Help the meeting stay focused on your child. Mention your child’s name frequently, don’t drift into generalizations, and resist the urge to fight larger battles.

Stay calm, collected and positive. Go into the meeting assuming that everyone wants to help. If you say something you regret, simply apologize and try to get back on track.

Don’t give up easily. If you’re not satisfied with the school’s response, try again.

Tip 2: Identify how your child learns best

Everyone—learning disability or not—has their own unique learning style. Some people learn best by seeing or reading, others by listening, and still others by doing.

Once you’ve figured out how he or she learns best, you can take steps to make sure that type of learning is reinforced in the classroom and during home study.

If your child is a visual learner, he or she:

• Learns best by seeing or reading
• Does well when material is presented and tested visually, not verbally
• Benefits from written notes, directions, diagrams, charts, maps, and pictures
• May love to draw, read, and write; is probably a good speller

Tips for visual learners:

·        Use books, videos, computers, visual aids, and flashcards.

·        Make detailed, color-coded or high-lighted notes.

·        Make outlines, diagrams, and lists.

·        Use drawings and illustrations (preferably in color).

·        Take detailed notes in class.

If your child is an auditory learner, he or she: 

• Learns best by listening
• Does well in lecture-based learning environments and on oral reports and tests
• Benefits from classroom discussions, spoken directions, study groups
• May love music, languages, and being on stage.

 Tips for auditory learners:

• Read notes or study materials out loud.
• Use word associations and verbal repetition to memorize.
• Study with other students. Talk things through.
• Listen to books on tape or other audio recording.
•   Use a tape recorder to listen to lectures again later

If your child is a kinesthetic learner, he or she:

• Learns best by doing and moving
• Does well when he or she can move, touch, explore, and create in order to learn
• Benefits from hands-on activities, lab classes, props, skits, and field trips
• May love sports, drama, dance, martial arts, and arts and crafts

Tips for kinesthetic learners:

• Get hands on. Do experiments and take field trips.
• Use activity-based study tools, like role-playing or model building.
• Study in small groups and take frequent breaks.
• Use memory games and flash cards.
•  Study with music on in the background.

 Tip-3:  Think life success, rather than school success

Success means different things to different people, but your hopes and dreams for your child probably extend beyond good report cards. Maybe you hope that your child’s future includes a fulfilling job and satisfying relationships.The point is that success in life—rather than just school success—depends, not on academics, but on things like a healthy sense of self, the willingness to ask for and accept help, the determination to keep trying in spite of challenges, the ability to form healthy relationships with others, and other qualities that aren’t as easy to quantify as grades and SAT scores.

By focusing on these broad skills, you can help give your child a huge leg up in life.

Self awareness and confidence

For children with learning disabilities, self-awareness (knowledge about strengths, weaknesses, and special talents) and self-confidence are very important. Struggles in the classroom can cause children to doubt their abilities and question their strengths.

• Ask your child to list his or her strengths and weaknesses and talk about your own strengths and weaknesses with your child.
• Encourage your child to talk to adults with learning disabilities and to ask about their challenges, as well as their strengths.
• Work with your child on activities that are within his or her capabilities. This will help build feelings of success and competency.
• Help your child develop his or her strengths and passions. Feeling passionate and skilled in one area may inspire hard work in other areas too.

Being proactive 

• A proactive person is able to make decisions and take action to resolve problems or achieve goals.

• Talk with your learning disabled child about problem solving and share how you approach problems in your life.
• Ask your child how he or she approaches problems. How do problems make him or her feel? How does he or she decide what action to take?
• If your child is hesitant to make choices and take action, try to provide some “safe” situations to test the water, like choosing what to make for dinner or thinking of a solution for a scheduling conflict.
• Discuss different problems, possible decisions, and outcomes with your child. Have your child pretend to be part of the situation and make his or her own decisions.

       Perseverance

Perseverance   is the drive to keep going despite challenges and failures, and the flexibility to change plans if things aren’t working. Children (or adults) with learning disabilities may need to work harder and longer because of their disability.

• Talk with your learning disabled child about times when he or she persevered— why did he or she keep going? Share stories about when you have faced challenges and not given up.
• Discuss what it means to keep going even when things aren’t easy. Talk about the rewards of hard work, as well as the opportunities missed by giving up.
• When your child has worked hard, but failed to achieve his or her goal, discuss different possibilities for moving forward.

The ability to set goal

 The ability to set realistic and attainable goals is a vital skill for life success. It also involves the flexibility to adapt and adjust goals according to changing circumstances, limitations, or challenges.

• Help your child identify a few short- or long-term goals and write down steps and a timeline to achieve the goals. Check in periodically to talk about progress and make adjustments as needed.
• Talk about your own short- and long-term goals with your child, as well as what you do when you encounter obstacles.
• Celebrate with your child when he or she achieves a goal. If certain goals are proving too hard to achieve, talk about why and how plans or goals might be adjusted to make them possible.

 Knowing how to ask for help

 Successful people are able to ask for help when they need it and reach out to others for support.

• Help your child nurture and develop good relationships. Model what it means to be a good friend and relative so your child knows what it means to help and support others.
• Demonstrate to your child how to ask for help in family situations.
• Share examples of people needing help, how they got it, and why it was good to ask for help. Present your child with role-play scenarios that might require help

The ability to handle stress

If children with learning disabilities learn how to regulate stress and calm themselves, they will be much better equipped to overcome challenges.

• Use words to identify feelings and help your child learn to recognize specific feelings.
• Ask your child what words they would use to describe stress. Does your child recognize when he or she is feeling stressed?
• Encourage your child to identify and participate in activities that help reduce stress like sports, games, music, or writing in a journal.
• Ask your child to describe activities and situations that make them feel stressed. Break down the scenarios and talk about how overwhelming feelings of stress and frustration might be avoided.

Tip 4: Emphasize healthy lifestyle habits

It may seem like common sense that learning involves the body as well as the brain, but your child’s eating, sleep, and exercise habits may be even more important than you think. If children with learning disabilities are eating right and getting enough sleep and exercise, they will be better able to focus, concentrate, and work hard.

Encouraging healthy emotional habits

In addition to healthy physical habits, you can also encourage children to have healthy emotional habits. Like you, they may be frustrated by the challenges presented by their learning disability. Try to give them outlets for expressing their anger, frustration, or feelings of discouragement. Listen when they want to talk and create an environment open to expression. Doing so will help them connect with their feelings and, eventually, learn how to calm themselves and regulate their emotions.

Tip 5: Take care of yourself, too

Sometimes the hardest part of parenting is remembering to take care of you. It’s easy to get caught up in what your child needs, while forgetting your own needs. But if you don’t look after yourself, you run the risk of burning out.

It’s important to tend to your physical and emotional needs so that you’re in a healthy space for your child. You won’t be able to help your child if you’re stressed out, exhausted, and emotionally depleted. When you’re calm and focused, on the other hand, you’re better able to connect with your child and help him or her be calm and focused too.

Tips for taking care of yourself

1.     Learn how to manage stress in your own life. Make daily time for yourself to relax and decompress.

2.     Keep the lines of communication open with your spouse, family, and friends. Ask for help when you need it.

3.     Take care of yourself by eating well, exercising, and getting enough rest.

4.     Join a learning disorder support group. The encouragement and advice you’ll get from other parents can be invaluable.

5.     Enlist teachers, therapists, and tutors whenever possible to share some of responsibility for day-to-day academic responsibilities.