Is your child struggling in school, or perhaps in one or two specific subjects or areas? While there can be many reasons for this, one reason many children fail to achieve good grades in school is the existence of an undiagnosed learning disability.
WHAT IS A LD?
Learning disabilities come in many forms and levels of severity, but typically affect a child’s ability to take in, process, store, organize, or use information. Learning disabilities are usually seen as a life-long condition—they do not go away—but many children (and adults) successfully compensate for them by using various strategies and/or technologies. It is important to note that people with learning disabilities often possess average or above average intelligence, however their academic performance is impaired resulting in lower than expected grades.
WHAT ARE SOME POSSIBLE SIGNS?
Signs of a learning disability can vary depending on the age of the child. While most children show some signs at various points of their schooling, those with learning disabilities often demonstrate a far greater number. Sign can include:
Difficulty working with words: learning the alphabet, numbers, or colours; blending sounds, or breaking words into syllables; rhyming words or recognizing spelling patterns; trouble comprehending information read.
Difficulty with shapes & space: trouble with puzzles and patterning activities, copying and letter formation, handwriting or note taking.
Difficulty with memory and attention: trouble remembering things (short term and/or long term), slow or poor recall of facts
Difficulty with organization: thoughts, materials, belongings, time, etc; has trouble maintaining friendships with peers; difficulty self-monitoring and editing
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
If you or your child’s teacher suspects your child may have a specific learning disability, consider speaking to your family doctor. Learning disabilities should only be diagnosed by a member of The College of Psychologists of Ontario or The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario after a thorough assessment.
Once diagnosed, there are many things you can do to help support your child:
Advocate for your child. Be open with family, friends, coaches, and the school with your findings, and look for ways to help build on your child’s strengths.
Provide support. Your child may need extra help at home with school work, but more importantly, he/she may need emotional support to help deal with the frustration faced at school. Be sure to praise their efforts and help them to better understand their learning disability. Often knowing there are many other kids just like them helps.
Get support. Find friends, fellow parents, professionals, and/or organizations to act as your support network. One excellent resource is the Learning Disability Association of Ontario (www.LDAO.ca).
As well, various levels of support are also available at the school level. These might include support from a resource teacher, accommodations or modifications made by your child’s homeroom teacher, and possibly the creation of and Individual Education Plan (IEP)—a legal document to ensure your child receives the programming he/she requires to ensure his/her success.
BE OPTIMISTIC
With proper support, people with learning disabilities go on to have successful lives. Need proof? Here are just a few: Leonardo da Vinci, Tom Cruise, Magic Johnson, and Thomas Edison just to name a few.
About the author:
As an award-winning educator and Parenting & Youth Coach, Rob Stringer BA, BEd, CPC has spent almost two decades helping kids, teens, and adults meet with success, and live lives they LOVE!. Although based outside of Toronto Ontario, Rob’s coaching practice is global, with clients across Canada, the United States, Australia, and Asia. In addition to Parenting with Intention, he most recently launched, Youth Coach Canada – a non-profit organization dedicated to making affordable professional life coaching services available to youth aged 11-21. To receive Rob’s free newsletters or for information on speaking engagements, programs, and upcoming workshops for parents and youth, visit www.YouthCoachCanada.com or call 905.515.9822.
Our children learn new things every day at school, and we often do the same at home or work. But have you ever stopped to consider exactly how we learn a new skill? While it may not be something to which you’ve ever given much thought, understanding the four stages of learning can provide valuable insight into some of the reasons students have difficulty succeeding in school.
Unconscious Incompetence
The first stage is known as unconscious incompetence. Simply put, this means that not only do you not know how to do something, but you’re also not even aware you don’t know.
For example, take learning how to multiply numbers together. Having not yet attended school, young children do not have any understanding of what multiplication is, or what it is like to do it.
Conscious Incompetence
Once you start to learn a new skill, you enter the second stage, conscious incompetence.
At this point practising the skill takes all your concentration and is usually accompanied by many mistakes. While you become quickly aware of your limitations, this is the stage when you learn the most.
In our example, when first learning how to multiply numbers together, students learn what multiplication is, and then various ways to figure out the correct answer. The key at this stage is to assure the learner that mistakes are not to be feared but expected and embraced – they are a natural part of the learning process. (Note: If you child did not do well this year on Math tests, it may be a sign he/she is still at this stage, and requires some tutoring this summer.)
Conscious Competence
After lots of practice and guidance, you reach the third stage, conscious competence, where you can successfully demonstrate the skill although it still requires a great deal of thought. Interestingly enough, this stage is often thought of the final stage by many students and parents.
In our example, students can correctly multiply numbers together but it is still a relatively slow process. While test results may be good, there is one more critical stage to go – especially in school subjects like Math.
Unconscious Competence
The final stage is unconscious competence, sometimes referred to as mastery. It is the stage when the process has been internalized and handed over to your unconscious. It is the stage, for example, when you are asked to multiply 5 x 8 and immediately know the answer is 40. The process has become automatic through lots of drill and practice, and frees your conscious mind up to solve more difficult challenges. (Note: Did your child run out of time on Math tests this year? It could be a sign he/she may be stuck at the previous stage and requires some additional practice this summer.)
Given that our conscious minds can only keep track of about seven things at once, it becomes especially important for students to get to the fourth stage of learning as soon as possible. After all, once we can get to the point of mastering the basics, we free our conscious minds to focus on bigger and better things.
As an award-winning educator and Parenting & Youth Coach, Rob Stringer BA, BEd, CPC has spent almost two decades helping kids, teens, and adults meet with success, and live lives they LOVE!. Although based outside of Toronto Ontario, Rob’s coaching practice is global, with clients across Canada, the United States, Australia, and Asia. In addition to Parenting with Intention, he most recently launched, Youth Coach Canada – a non-profit organization dedicated to making affordable professional life coaching services available to youth aged 11-21. To receive Rob’s free newsletters or for information on speaking engagements, programs, and upcoming workshops for parents and youth, visit www.YouthCoachCanada.com or call 905.515.9822.
Final report cards are almost here, and with them comes an excellent opportunity to reflect upon and celebrate the growth and success your child has achieved at school this year. But what does success look like? Is it just about marks and favourable comments? Or are there other components, like having friends, high self-esteem, showing growth, or independence? While the answer to this can vary from family to family, this month I’d like to offer you some alternate factors (beyond marks) to consider as you reflect upon and define your child’s success this June.
Other faces of success …
In addition to looking at marks, parents at a workshop I recently ran in Ottawa shared these additional factors they use to define how successful the school year has been:
My child is …
• happy & enjoys school
• developing a love of learning
• motivated
• a good problem-solver
• organized
• well behaved
• good at making friends
• independent
• good at time management
Many of the above are usually addressed in the comments or the learning skills section of the report card. However, another method of evaluating your son or daughter’s current level of success is to use a variation of an exercise called “The Wheel of Life”. Here’s how it works …
The Wheel of Success …
Draw a large circle on a piece of paper. Then divide it into pie-shaped pieces, labeling each section to represent a different facet of “success” as you define it. (These may include some/all of those previously listed.) Add as many segments as you require.
Next rate your level of satisfaction with each segment from 1-10, with the center of the circle representing 0, and the outer rim 10. Draw a line across each segment at the appropriate level. (E.g. if something scored a 5/10, you would draw a line across the middle of the segment.) Finally join up and darken all of these new lines to create the new outer rim of your wheel.
How smooth and/or balanced is it? If most areas share close ratings (e.g. 7’s or 8’s), then you and your child likely experienced a relatively “smooth ride”. If, however, some areas are significantly lower (or higher) than others—forming an unbalanced wheel—then you may have noticed things have been a little “bumpy”. This is a great way to visually identify any areas you may need to work on or strengthen over the summer in preparation for next year.
So this month, in addition to celebrating what is on the report card (and not), be sure to take some time with your child and talk about your current school-related practices and determine what’s working really well, and what is not. After all, poor marks and results are really only “bad” if we ignore the opportunity they offer us to make changes.
As an award-winning educator and Parenting & Youth Coach, Rob Stringer BA, BEd, CPC has spent almost two decades helping kids, teens, and adults meet with success, and live lives they LOVE!. Although based outside of Toronto Ontario, Rob’s coaching practice is global, with clients across Canada, the United States, Australia, and Asia. In addition to Parenting with Intention, he most recently launched, Youth Coach Canada – a non-profit organization dedicated to making affordable professional life coaching services available to youth aged 11-21. To receive Rob’s free newsletters or for information on speaking engagements, programs, and upcoming workshops for parents and youth, visit www.YouthCoachCanada.com or call 905.515.9822.
Receipt of a report card is a perfect time to stop and evaluate your child’s progress—to check the map—to find out if they’re on-course, off-course, or completely lost.
“On-course” …
If the marks and comments appear to be indicating your child is progressing towards your targets with little or no difficulty, take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate their hard work (and possibly yours), and carry on. Just remember to always keep your eyes on the road ahead—looking for any potential roadblocks or hazards yet to appear.
“Off-course” …
Were the marks less than you had expected? Did the comments reveal behaviours that do not support the learning goals you defined? A course correction may be required. Here is a list of questions about common “hazards” that often slow or divert progress for many students:
• Is your child too busy outside of school?
• Has he/she mastered “the basics” yet?
• Is he/she sleepy? (Ask the teacher!)
• Are there attention issues?
• Do they (or you) need more support?
• How are his/her organizational or study skills?
• Is a learning disability interfering?
• Is he/she bored or under challenged?
• Are there unresolved emotional issues at home or school?
• Does your child agree and buy into the “destination”?
• Are you aware of upcoming tests & assignments?
One related topic that often comes up in my work as a parent coach is that of “blind spots”—ways that parents may have unknowingly contributed to the problem or issue. Some additional questions to consider might be:
• How might I have contributed to the lack of performance?
• Are there any past mistakes I may be repeating?
• Am I comfortable asking for help or outside opinions?
• Do I have a realistic view of my child’s abilities or behaviours?
“Lost” …
In some cases, things may have just gone horribly wrong first term. It could be the expectations were set too high, major trauma have occurred (death in the family, divorce, etc.), or perhaps old coping strategies just don’t work in a higher grade. In cases like this, when marks are well below expected levels, the best advice may be to “pull over” and ask for help or directions. Seeking outside assistance, council, or support is never something of which to be ashamed.
So remember, as you continue on this years “academic road trip” with your child, keep your eyes on the road for both hazards and signs you’re headed in the right direction, and enjoy the ride!
Educator and Professional Parenting & Youth Coach, Rob Stringer, BA, BEd, CPC is the founder of Parenting with Intention, and most recently, Youth Coach Canada – a non-profit organization dedicated to helping kids, teens, and young adults meet with success by making professional life coaching services available to youth aged 11-21. Interested in having Rob speak at your child’s school? For more information on speaking engagements, programs, and upcoming workshops for parents and youth, visit www.YouthCoachCanada.com or call 905.515.9822.
