Dyslexia Myth Debunked: does NOT make you “See Things Backwards”.
Great post with helpful information about dyslexia from Learning Foundations!!!!
Dyslexia Myth Debunked: does NOT make you “See Things Backwards”.
Great post with helpful information about dyslexia from Learning Foundations!!!!
How to help your child with a learning disability (LD) overcome social and emotional obstacles and be proud of who they are!
In my last post, I talk about social and emotional vulnerabilities in children with LDs. I wanted to make sure that I also posted about how your child can avoid those obstacles. Like I said, there is no reason that a child with LDs cannot feel and be successful regardless of the severity of their disability and the past failures they have had. In fact, many children with LDs experience success later in their education or careers because they have learned to persevere more than the non-disabled students. Your job, as a parent of a child with LDs, is to make sure they have the best odds to learn that perseverance and overcome the pitfalls of LDs (anxiety, depression, anger, low self-esteem). Having hope for your child will help to instill a feeling of hope in themselves.
Here are some tips for instilling hope and pride in your child with LDs:
Student’s with specific learning disabilities (such as dyslexia) often struggle with social and/or emotional difficulties, but these difficulties do not cause learning disabilities. Learning disabilities (LDs) are believed to be largely genetic based, and are not caused by anxiety, depression, or poor parenting. Social and/or emotional difficulties could be a result of the discouragement that children with LDs experience. These children are intelligent. Their teachers and parents can sense this, but they wonder why they are not able to meet expectations. Many of us think that if these children would just try a little harder they would do better. What we don’t know is that the learning disabled child is probably trying harder than any other child to do well, but they are consistently not able to meet their teachers’ and parents’ expectations. This is frustrating and discouraging for both the child and the adults, and many children with LDs end up feeling stupid. Learning disabled children do not get to experience the fruits of their labor the way other children do. This is why evaluations and diagnosis is so important.
As a parent, I loved being able to explain to my child that you are not stupid, in fact you are very bright, however your brain works differently than other people’s. I saw a weight lifted off my son’s shoulders when I was able to explain to him why he was having so much trouble learning to read and write. Many of his anxieties over school and school-work have lessened since his diagnosis with dyslexia, but as a teacher I know that children with LDs are vulnerable to social and/or emotional problems relating to their disability. This list may seem daunting, but I believe that knowledge is power and that by acknowledging these vulnerabilities I can help my child try to avoid them.
Here is a list of problems associated with LDs in children:
When their children begin to struggle in school, many parents worry that their child may have a learning disability (LD). But most children struggle at some point in their education and most children do not have learning disabilities (it has been reported that only about 5% of students have a specific LD, such as dyslexia). A specific learning disability is defined as a disorder in one or more of the psychological processes involved in understanding or using spoken or written language. The disorder cannot be the result of a visual, hearing, or motor handicap, mental retardation, emotional disturbance, or an environmental disadvantage (such as poverty). Children with a specific LDs are not cognitively impaired. As a teacher, I often hear parents say, “I don’t understand why so and so is struggling, they’re so smart.” My usually response is, ” You’re right, they are smart!”
So… how do you know if your child is just struggling or if they have a learning disability? Special educators look for the student that is not achieving as expected in one or more of the following areas: oral expression, written expression, basic reading skills, reading fluency skills, reading comprehension, listening comprehension, mathematical calculation, and mathematical problem solving.
Special educators will ask themselves many questions about a students that is suspected of having a specific learning disability as they observe them in a classroom setting. While some students without a LD may have some of these characteristics, students with an LD will have many of these characteristics. If you are concerned that your child may have a specific learning disability, here is what to ask yourself :
If you notice many of these characteristics in your struggling child, you may want to ask that an educational evaluation (or core evaluation) be done as soon as possible. For more advice on how to request an evaluation, see my earlier post entitled:
As a teacher, one of the more common concerns I hear from parents is about medications for children with ADHD. As a parent, I’ve had to decide if I wanted to give my child medication for ADHD. I know what a tough decision this is for a parent. You may be thinking: I love my child’s love of life and endless energy! I get a kick out of my son’s goofy personality. My child is not sick, so why am I giving them medicine? My child is smart, they just struggle to get the work finished. Knowing what I know about ADHDers in the classroom, I decided to give my child the meds. There are 3 types of ADHD: inattentive (the daydreamer), hyperactive/impulsive (the mover and shaker), and combined type (the whirlwind). I have a “whirlwind” and a “mover and shaker” in my family, but I’ve seen all 3 types in the classroom. Here’s what I know, as a teacher, about the effects of ADHD.
ADHD Meds From a Teacher’s Point of View
There is a child in my class that has enormous academic potential, but because they suffer from the effects of ADHD they are not producing what they could be. They are struggling with motivation and self-esteem issues because they cannot make themselves meet the expectations of the teacher and their peers. They try, but continuously fail because it is beyond their control. This child cannot focus on oral instruction because they are so distracted by things in their environment (other students, something out the window, noises from the hall, what’s hanging on the walls, etc.) and miss up to 50% of what is happening in their classroom. This child has trouble working with a group of his classmates because they say something or do something before thinking it through (they misuse the materials, grab things before others can get a chance, blurt out answers, speaker louder, and make more body movements than the others) and this annoys the other students. This student requires many more reminders than other students, so they hear their name being called by the teacher (or lunch aid or bus driver, etc.) many more times than other students (_____ pass in your homework, _______ put your name on your paper, _______ return to your seat, and so on and so on). This child cannot sit still so they sometimes get into other children’s space, knock things over, get hurt on the playground, or fall out of their chair. These are just some of the ways that ADHD can affect a child at school. Because there are 3 types of ADHD, it does look different in different children (especially in girls). However, the overall effects are the same… lower self-esteem due to the fact that they have the academic potential to do well in school but struggle because of a condition that is beyond their ability to control. I have seen medication do wonders for some children with ADHD. One day they have all the side effects of it, the next day they come in and the symptoms are gone. I have also seen some children (not many though) not get that affect from medication. Generally medications for ADHD work really well and the children are happier because most of what they struggle with goes away and they are able to reach their full potential. Friendships become easier to make and keep for some students and school becomes a happier place to be.
As a parent and teacher, I feel very strongly that parents should not arbitrarily dismiss medication for their child. It is wise to first put yourself in your child’s shoes. Imagine what they struggle with daily. For your child, being at school for 6 hours with un-medicated ADHD may be like an asthmatic running a marathon with out an inhaler. If your child is old enough, ask them how they feel about having ADHD and about medication. Talk about the positives and negatives with them and get their opinion. Observe your child in the classroom, compare their attention and movement level to their peers. Watch other child react to them. Deeply consider all the ways that their ADHD might be affecting them (socially, emotionally, academically). Medication may not be right for your child, as their parent you are best suited to make this decision. However, I caution you to put aside any personal judgements you may have about medication and try to make the decision that would best benefit your child. Keep this in mind: I know more than one adult with ADHD that often says, “I wish my parents had gotten me help for this when I was a child.”
What Could Happen if I Put My Child on ADHD Meds: