There are three ways that you can support your child when they have learning difficulties, and ALL children have learning difficulties at one time or another.

First, act quickly.

As soon as you suspect that your child has met a learning hurdle – do something about it! I have worked with so many parents who, even though they were worrying about their child’s progress, kept thinking that things would get better.

Well, they might but the chances are that they will not.

If you do not get your child the help he or she needs as quickly as possible a small learning difficulty can turn into a large learning problem. It is much better to take the relatively small amount of time and effort required to help children overcome a new learning hurdle than having to correct the bad learning habits and loss of self esteem that occur when a child’s learning difficulties are not nipped in the bud.

If you suspect that your child is struggling to learn chances are that you are right. Act now!

Secondly, find out WHY your child is struggling to learn. Too many parents try to treat the symptoms rather than addressing the cause of the learning problem. They send their children to learning centers or hire tutors to help them do their work rather than finding out why their child is having problems.

Fixing the symptoms might work for a short time, like a quick revision session might help you do an exam, but it will not address the real cause and the learning problem might never be overcome.

You need to find out WHY you child is struggling before yo can decide on the kind of support he or she needs. This is not easy – but that is why I started this business- to help you discover why your child has problems so that you can chose the best way to support his or her learning.

Thirdly, you must match the support you give your child to you child’s specific learning needs. It is no good helping your child do math if his real problem is that he cannot think logically, or finding a tutor to teach writing skills if what your child really needs is help with organizational skills.

At best this kind of support will just paper over the cracks, at worst it causes frustration and confusion.

These three steps are part of my six step process that enables you to provide your child the support he or she needs to develop a love of learning and become a lifelong learner.

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This morning I read two sales pitches each describing a miracle cure for learning difficulties.

The first suggested that learning difficulties resulted from disorders in how the brain worked, and presented a program that could retrain the brain to work in better and more efficient ways.

The second stated (note the word ’stated’ rather than ’suggested’!) that learning difficulties were not caused by brain disorders but by poor diet (eat more fish!) and visual processing problems.

Why did these statements grab my attention? Well, I think that they both might be right – learning problems are caused by a whole variety of things among which can be brain ‘disorders’ and lack of visual processing skills. And just for the record, I have always believed in eating more fish as a way of boosting brain power and ate sushi nearly everyday while writing my thesis!

So, if they both have good ideas about the causes of learning difficulties, and they both have good programs that support their beliefs (I assume they are good,but I have not used them), how are you, the parent, going to decide which program can help your child?

You need more information.

You need to know WHY your child is struggling to learn before you can decide WHAT to do about it. Once you know why your child has a learning difficulty, and it can be for one or more of a hundred reasons, then you can decide which approach will work best. That way you are not wasting money purchasing the wrong program. You will also be saved the frustration of trying to help your child in a way that does not work well.

Want to know more? Watch out for my unique 5 step process that helps you discover the information you need to help your child succeed.

Coming soon to a website near you! Stay tuned!

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Public or Private school? Which is best?

July 2, 2009

At my last seminar a parent asked me if she should send her child to private school, did I think it was worth the cost?
She wanted her daughter to have the best education possible and a friend had suggested that she send her to a private school as a way of ensuring that her child [...]

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Stop! All learning centers are NOT created equal!

June 30, 2009

Are you thinking of sending your child to a learning center this summer? Perhaps the last report card could have been better, or you want to stop your child having summer brain drain’? In either case suing the services of a learning center might be a good choice.
But which learning center should you [...]

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Daily tip: Understanding Report cards #7

June 26, 2009

Yesterday we looked at what it meant when your child got the same grades or comments over the whole year. Today I want to talk about what it means when your child’s grades change over the year.
First, there is always a reason that a grade changes, and you need to find out why so [...]

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Learning problems?: 3 reasons why you must get involved.

June 26, 2009

Recently I asked who was going to help ‘grey area’ kids, those children who are struggling to learn but, because they are not thought of as being learning disabled, are not getting any extra help.
Well, the answer is you. You are the only person who can provide the support your child needs.
Children who, [...]

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Daily Tip: Understanding report cards #6

June 24, 2009

One report card gives you some information -looking at the report cards for the whole year gives you much more!
Check your child’s report cards for the whole year, are the marks consistent? Ate they consistently high or consistently low?
If they are high, no problem; if they are low you need to consider [...]

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Daily tip: Understanding School Reports #5

June 22, 2009

Make sure that you have rad the report before you meet your child’s teacher. Underline or highlight anything you are not sure about. It is easy to forget what you wanted to ask about when faced with a hurried, stressed out teacher.
In the Vancouver school system report cards that are handed out at the [...]

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Struggling learners: Who supports them?

June 22, 2009

Most of my teaching career has been spent working with children who did not ‘make the grade’ for one reason or another. Many of these were what I call ‘grey area’ students.
‘Grey area’ students who are those children who not doing too well in class but who do not seem to have a [...]

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Daily Tip:School reports #4.

June 21, 2009

Ask your child whether or not he or she agrees with what the report card says. You will learn a lot more about your child’s learning that way and about issues that may be bothering him.
I used to tell my students what I was going to write about them before i actually wrote their report. [...]

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