Today many children undergo lot of stress related to academics from a very early age. Coping up with the activities, curriculum and relation to the school environment is an everyday challenge. These children have difficulty in following the instructions, or read, write do certain other task related to academics, which in turn hamper their overall development and eventually become a target of peer rejection, leading to low self esteem and shame for oneself. Children undergoing such a situation are the ones having “Learning Difficulties”.
Learning Difficulties is generally referred to the chronic difficulties in learning to read, write, spell, or calculate. Though their causes and nature are still not fully understood. Presence of a learning disability does not indicate subnormal intelligence, but it is thought that learning-disabled are neurologically based difficulty in processing language or figures. These difficulties can overcome by special learning strategies or with extra effort and tutoring on the part of parents and teachers. Examples of learning disabilities include difficulty in reading (dyslexia), writing (dysgraphia), and mathematics (dyscalcula). Learning disabilities may be diagnosed through testing, and children may be enrolled in programs offering special help. Children usually show early signs of Learning Difficulties, if these signs are left unrecognized, learning disabilities may result not only in poor classroom performance but also in low self-esteem and disruptive behaviour.
Some of the early symptoms of Learning difficulties are:
- Poor performance in group tests.
- Difficulty discriminating size, shape, color.
- Reversals in writing and reading.
- Slow in completing work.
- Poor organizational skills easily confused by instructions.
- Difficulty with abstract reasoning,sequencing, calculations as well as problem solving.
- Gets distracted easily and is hyperactive.
- Lags in developmental milestones in terms of physical- motor, language, mental and social adjustment.
When considering all the given symptoms, as a parent you should very well know that each child is a different individual. No child will show all the listed symptoms. Some symptoms maybe common as compared to other ones.
You as a Parent should keep in mind certain issues which can help your child to come out of learning difficulty.
- Accept them for what they are according to their age of development and potentials and have a realistic expectations and demands.
- Listen to your children as much as you can. This way you will come to your child’s strength and weakness.
- Look for and encourage their strengths, interests, and abilities and overcome their limitations and difficulties.
- Reward them with praise, good words, smiles, and pat on the back as often as you can.
- Involve them in various family activities. Tell them when they misbehave and explain how you feel about their behavior, then let them come up with their own behaviour correction strategy.
- Help them to correct their errors and mistakes by showing or demonstrating what they should do. Do not nag! Nagging will aggravate the problem.
- Give them reasonable chores and a regular family work responsibility whenever possible.
- Provide toys, games, motor activities and opportunities that will stimulate them in their development.
- Read enjoyable stories to them and with them. Encourage them to ask questions, discuss stories, tell the story, and to reread stories.
- Increase their ability to concentrate by reducing distracting objects in the environment around.
- Do not get hung up on traditional school grades! It is important that they progress at their own rates and be rewarded for doing so.
- Take them to libraries and encourage them to select and check out books of interest.
- Help them to develop self-esteem and to compete with self rather than with others.
- Insist that they cooperate socially by playing, helping, and serving others in the family and the community.
- Serve as a model to them by reading and discussing material of personal interest. Share with them some of the things you are reading and doing.
- Consult with teachers or other specialists whenever you feel it to be necessary in order to better understand what might be done to help your child learn.
Children with learning difficulties need lot of love, understanding and patience from parents. Its only you who can help your child to cope up with the situation and overcome their difficulties, hence giving them a wonderful life ahead.
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