The Today show aired a fun piece today about a little girl who opted to wear a hotdog costume to her dance class on Princess Day! Now that’s confidence! I love the individuality of little kids and I love it when people aren’t afraid to be themselves. Being different because you choose to be is often something to be admired. But being different because you can’t help it, can be painful. Over and over, I hear parents of struggling students say, “I just don’t want him to feel different.” When you are the student who’s always being told to, “Pay…
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…
When smart kids struggle in school, it’s confusing and frustrating for all involved. In my experience both as a parent and working with thousands of parents, we suffer along with our kids and we will do anything to help them be happy and successful. But since kids don’t come with instruction manuals, we have to figure it out as we go. Making mistakes is unquestionably part of the process of figuring things out. We’ve been looking at some mistakes that many parents make when trying to deal with their children’s learning challenges. Here’s Mistake #6… Mistake #6 – Misread The…
When smart kids struggle in school, it’s confusing and frustrating for all involved. In my experience both as a parent and working with thousands of parents, we suffer along with our kids and we will do anything to help them be happy and successful. But since kids don’t come with instruction manuals, we have to figure it out as we go. Making mistakes is unquestionably part of the process of figuring things out. We’ve been looking at some mistakes that many parents make when trying to deal with their children’s learning challenges. Here’s Mistake #5… Mistake #5 – Buy Into…
When smart kids struggle in school, it’s confusing and frustrating for all involved. In my experience both as a parent and working with thousands of parents, we suffer along with our kids and we will do anything to help them be happy and successful. But since kids don’t come with instruction manuals, we have to figure it out as we go. Making mistakes is unquestionably part of the process of figuring things out. We’ve been looking at some mistakes that many parents make when trying to deal with their children’s learning challenges. Here’s Mistake #4… Mistake #4 – Assuming That…
We’ve been looking at mistakes that parents inadvertently make when their children struggle in school. The first 2 were Waiting too long before looking for help Assuming that learning struggles just aren’t that big a deal Here’s #3… Mistake #3 – Thinking Students Will Grow Out Of Learning Problems Parents are often told or believe that maturity will take care of learning issues. Learning problems are caused by the way that the brain processes information. It’s not a matter of trying harder, or waiting until they get older. Until the brain is trained to process information differently, the same learning…
30% of ALL students struggle with some aspect of learning. Most of these struggling students have average to above average IQ scores. In other words, they have plenty of ability, but something isn’t working quite right. These students CAN be in regular or honors classes and learn as easily as the rest of the class, BUT it takes the right kind of help in order for them to really thrive in school. Last week we started looking at some common mistakes that many parents inadvertently make when their child or teen is struggling in school. Mistake #2 – Assume A…
No Wonder Our Kids Are Struggling Research tells us that 30% of the population across the board has some degree of difficulty with the key auditory skill that supports efficient reading. One in five students are now thought to have dyslexia. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) says that at least 5 percent of American children have ADHD. Most of these struggling students have average to above average IQ scores. In other words, they have plenty of ability, but something is getting in the way of their learning and performing in school as expected. In my experience, parents always want to…
We are getting one of those rare rain showers here in Southern California this morning. It’s pretty amazing to me how instantly the hills and lawns green up with a little bit of rain. Spring showers really do bring flowers! Year after year, we have seen that spring also seems to bring with it some special stressors for families, especially those with struggling students. I think Spring Fever is a real thing! As students, parents, and teachers hit the home stretch before summer, anxiousness increases. There are pollens in the air causing allergies and accompanying irritability to flair. Everyone has…
My husband, David, writes a business tip for private practice owners every week. I thought I’d share part of this week’s tip with you because it’s about change – something we all want for our struggling students, yet something that comes with it’s own set of ups and downs. He writes (and I concur)… Recently, Mondays have become my favorite day of the week! It’s not that I love work so much that I can’t wait to get started. It’s not that I hate the weekend and want to do something different. It’s because of Hulu. If you don’t know…