4 Tips If Your Child Begins To Struggle In School

When your child begins to struggle academically, you will begin down a path where many experts – some self-styled – will prod you in various directions. This tiring process is akin to a pendulum, where opinions shift to either a learning disability or pure slacking off. 

During this period, you will face a torrent of emotions. You may even feel exhausted and out of your league. 

Your child, on the other hand, will learn “failure”. He or she will take this as the absence of success, as peers continue to display skills such as reading and writing. 

Then there’s the report card decorated with those bad grades; a meeting with the teacher; and instances of bullying. 

And this vicious cycle seems to be never-ending. Or is it? 

What if we say that it can be changed? How, you ask?

The answer is you. You become the expert. You become the extra assistance your child needs. 

It's actually quite natural, because to your child, your help is simply the normal role of being a parent. Moreover, you are the expert on your child. 

No, we're not saying to ignore outside experts on the various disorders, who may have knowledge which can inform your approach, but nobody knows your child as well as you. 

Get real, be invested 

The problem isn't too big. To the parent just beginning to suspect your child is struggling with a learning disability:

•First, don't panic. It's really okay that children don't necessarily develop at the same rates in the same areas.

•Second, don't ignore it either. Use your parental instincts. If you start to feel your child has a deficit that needs attention, that's a good enough reason to start giving the child more attention in that area.

•Third, convey a message to your child of confidence in his or her ability to succeed. Point out areas in his/her life where hard work is paying off. Don't make a big deal about a lowered report card but begin to work with him or her on the areas that are difficult. You're the parent, and helping your child does not need to ever convey the message that there is a problem – that's the key difference between help from you and getting outside help. You're not saying the problem is too big for you. You're saying, you're there and invested in your child's education.

•Fourth, start learning what works! For example, scientists have revealed quite a lot about the foundational skills that must develop first in order to later read. Do you know what those are? We also now know that lots of praise for what a child is good at often develops risk-avoiding tendencies in a child, which is particularly problematic for the child who must face a learning disability, whereas praising effort and persistence leads a child to the conclusion that he or she can overcome obstacles and succeed. Our course teaches you how to work with your child, without increasing your child's anxiety toward the subject matter (in fact, many of the exercises we give you, your child will not recognize as belonging to the subject matter with which he/she is struggling).

Finally, don't buy into the lie that someone else will have to provide the specialized assistance to your child that he or she needs. 

While there may develop a team of people who support your child, you're the leader and key instructor. Refuse to accept any lesser role. 

Consider signing up for the Learning Success System, and let us teach you how to work with your child so that his/her education will never be defined by a disability.