We’re finishing up our series on common mistakes that parents inadvertently make when their child struggles in school. I hope you’ve found it helpful. As parents we always do the very best we can for our kids, but often, having a bright child struggle with reading or some other aspect of school is new territory and we don’t quite know what to think.
Mistake #7 – Ask The Wrong People For Help
Tutors, schools, pediatricians, and psychologists have their own specialties. Fixing learning problems is not really their field.
Standard testing doesn’t usually diagnose problems with underlying skills.
And there aren’t a lot of places that know how to correct the weak underlying learning skills that are at the root of the problem. Fortunately, the number is growing all the time.
Those that do know how to make real and permanent changes can completely make-over the lives of both students and families. It looks like a miracle when it happens!
If you follow my blog, you will have heard this time and time again, but it’s so crucial that it bears repeating.
Academic and social skills are higher level skills that sit on a foundation of what we call underlying learning/processing skills. These are skills such as attention, memory, auditory and visual processing, processing speed, and reasoning. Integrated reflexes and organized visual and motor skills also support comfortable, efficient learning.
If any of these underlying skills are weak, they can cause even very bright students to struggle – to have to work harder and longer than expected and often with a much lesser result.
While most people believe that students with learning challenges, including learning disabilities and dyslexia, just have to work around them and learn to live with them, we know that the critical underlying skills CAN be developed so that reading, writing, spelling, and math can be remediated and students can learn at their potential. The brain can change. Our work with thousands of children and adults over the last 30 years, and the brain research of the last 25 years proves that this is true.
Our goal is to help as many students as possible to become fully comfortable and independent learners.
Students should not have to suffer in school. Their self-esteem shouldn’t be chipped away a little each day. They should thrive in school…and they can!
Let us help your child become one of our Success Stories!
JOIN US for a FREE Information Night.
For information and RSVP go to www.learningdisability.com
“Helping smart but struggling students dramatically improve or completely correct their learning and attention challenges by developing the underlying learning skills that are not supporting the learner well enough.”
We serve children and adults with diagnosed or undiagnosed learning and attention challenges including learning disabilities, dyslexia, ADHD, auditory processing disorders, and autism spectrum disorders.
Jill Stowell, M.S.
Author: At Wit’s End A Parent’s Guide to Ending the Struggle Tears, and Turmoil of Learning Disabilities
Founder and Executive Director – Stowell Learning Centers
Ready to take the next step?
Speak to a Learning Specialist to learn more about the results from students and parents at Stowell Learning Centers.