“I hate History. It’s boring.”
“I don’t want to do this homework. It’s so borrrring!” (Said in a whiney voice)
If you’re the parent of a school age student, you’ve probably heard this before. If you’re the parent of a child who struggles in school, you have probably heard this, or something similar, more times than you can count.
The definition of boring is: not interesting; tedious. And there certainly are assignments that are just plain boring.
But for many students with learning challenges, “boring” translates as “I think this is too hard and I may not be able to do it” or “This makes me feel stupid and I don’t want to have to deal with it.”
When kids are struggling, it’s particularly important to “listen between the lines.”
In the book, The Orphan Train, a teenage foster child says, when asked why she hasn’t tried to find out what’s happening with her biological mom, “I don’t care, that’s why.” But the truth was, she did care. She cared desperately, but she was so afraid of the answer, that it was easier to put on a defiant face and tell herself and the world that she didn’t care.
At the Stowell Learning Center, when a student says that something is boring or digs in about trying a particular task or activity, our job is to determine what is making that task something to be avoided. What about it is hard or overwhelming? How can we break it down so that the student can feel success? What underlying skills need to be built so that the task is not just manageable, but something that the student can do efficiently and comfortably?
What’s really amazing, is that once a student really understands something or feels competent with a task, it’s suddenly no longer “boring” but “fun.”
How do we take a student from “boring” to “fun” – from struggling to learning comfortably? We have to look at the underlying processing/learning skills that support efficient learning and identify and then develop those skills that are not supporting the learner well enough.
Reading will be excessively boring if you have to sound out every letter and the words still don’t make sense when you put them together, or if the information you read just goes in one ear and out the other with no comprehension. Where’s the fun in that?
But once your brain is able to process the sounds, connect them to the letters, and blend them together easily and automatically, reading can become a pleasure instead of a chore.
When the reader who doesn’t remember or comprehend learns to create a mental movie while reading, a whole new exciting world opens up.
If you or your child are struggling with reading or learning – if you’re repeatedly hearing, “It’s sooo boring,” it’s time to make a change. For more information about the underlying skills that support learning and how address and correct the real cause of the learning challenge…
JOIN US for a FREE Parent Information Night
GO TO www.learningdisability.com for dates, details, and RSVP
Also at www.learningdisability.com sign up for FREE HOMEWORK TIPS
These are simple things that parents can do to support their children and teens with all different aspects of homework.
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Speak to a Learning Specialist to learn more about the results from students and parents at Stowell Learning Centers.