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.
