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School Success: What if Your Child isn’t Learning?
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Sometimes no matter how hard they try, your kids don’t get that A+ they wanted. School success seems impossible. Sometimes they have a learning disability. Learning disabilities are serious and need to be addressed or your child’s difficulties in school may never be solved.
But how do you know if your child’s problems stem from a learning disability or something else? When Andrew struggles with the multiplication tables, it could be a symptom of a much bigger issue which hours of math-drill won’t solve. Read More→
Does Your Child Have a Learning Disability? Three Tips for Parents
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When kids are forgetful and disorganized and have to use all their resources to survive each day, they may have a learning disability. Unless teachers and parents understand how difficult it is for such children, they won’t be able to relate to them.
Here’s what 12-year-old Joey explained to me: “Those teachers are losin’ it. They get nuts if you forget a pencil! I’m talkin’ about a pencil! I have to remember which room to go to each period, how to get there, what book I need, if I have my homework, if I can get to the bathroom in those few minutes, and if it’s A, B, C or D day, and they want me to remember a pencil too?”
Joey’s not lazy or stupid or trying to annoy his teachers. He’s been classified with a learning disability.
If your child is experiencing some difficulties at school, don’t be too quick to blame him. Instead, find out what’s really going on. Your child may have a learning disability. Many become frustrated and angry with their children or with the teachers and the schools. They blame their child for being lazy, for having a low frustration level, or for giving up too quickly. They invariably lecture and punish her when she gets poor grades.
Here are three strategies to follow if you think your child might have a learning disability. Read More→
School Success Starts with Mom and Dad
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Michael believed that if he tried hard and kept working at something, he’d succeed. He could succeed at school. He was sure of it. He said that nobody had told him this—not his parents, not his grandparents. How did he know? It was the message in his fortune cookie in a Chinese restaurant–so it must be true.
It’s a cute story but in Michael’s case, luckily only partly true. In fact he had wonderful support from his parents and his grandparents. They cheered him on every day as he struggled with severe language issues.
Although Michael could speak when he was five, nobody could understand him. His family was concerned with school and worried about his future. Read More→
Does School Success Depend on AP Courses?
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I read a “New York Times” article recently about AP classes in Newark, New Jersey.
It seems, Newark, along with other school districts in the country have developed intensive programs in order to help increase enrollment and student performance on AP exams.
Weekly or monthly summer courses, also called “summer camp” or “boot camp” have been established to prepare high school students for the AP courses they will be taking come September.
Wow! This article reminded me once again of the challenges our high school kids face as they get ready to apply to college. Should Jimmy take as many AP courses as he can fit into his schedule? If Mary takes only one AP course, Read More→
Thinking about School Success during Summer Vacation
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I’ll bet your kids are looking forward to summer!
They’re eager to be outdoors playing, jumping in the swimming pool, going on family outings.
But what about learning? Are you worried they’ll forget a lot over the summer. What if they’re behind when school starts in the fall?
It’s three months without school, without daily reading and writing. But you certainly don’t want to assign homework. Summer is supposed to be fun.
So I’ve got a solution to your dilemma. Read More→
Falling Asleep during Homework
Posted by: | Comments“Jonah, Jonah,” I repeated. Jonah’s mom had dropped him off a few minutes early, and he had fallen asleep in the waiting room. I had a tough time waking him up. Jonah, like lots of kids today suffers from sleep deprivation. How about your kids?
Kids (and adults) who don’t get enough sleep can’t function properly. Sleep restores energy to the body, particularly to the brain and nervous system.
When your child doesn’t get enough sleep, she has trouble concentrating on her schoolwork and remembering what she’s learned, even controlling her temper. The amount of sleep people need varies. Read More→
Does Multi-tasking Interfere with School Success?
Posted by: | Comments“What did you say? I was just texting my friend. Oops, sorry, that’s my phone. It must be my mother to see if I got here okay. So, which book did you want me to take out of my backpack?”
Jen, a fifteen-year old, was listening to music, too. As she got settled. I asked Jen if this kind of multi-tasking goes on all day. She confirmed my suspicions that multi-tasking goes on while she does her homework, including all the social interactions on her computer.
I’d bet your teens are doing this kind of multi-tasking too.
Life on this “fast track” doesn’t leave Jen or your kids enough brain cells for homework. Read More→
Obsessed with Getting an A
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“I have a 98.7 average, and I want to go to an Ivy League college. My mom and dad both graduated from Ivy League schools and so did my brother.” Leslie, age 16, was staying up until two in the morning studying in hopes she’d follow in her family’s footsteps.
Naturally we all want our kids to do well in school. We want them to succeed. However, some kids are driven. They become fixated on getting nothing lower than an A.
In itself, getting all A’s isn’t a problem as long as it doesn’t create emotional problems. However, if you see signs that your child’s natural ambition for excellence is becoming problematic, you need to step in. Read More→
Too Stressed for School Success?
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Read what Lori, a 13-year-old, said to me. Are we listening to our kids or just asking about tests, grades, and is their homework done?
“All the teachers care about is if I did my homework. They don’t even ask me about my life. My dad lost his job and my mom has cancer. Homework is the last thing on my mind.” Lori is stressed and it’s not about school.
Everyone has personal problems sometimes. Some are serious like Lori’s, others not so serious. Sometimes minor problems are blown out of proportion and appear to be more important than they are, impacting on more important things such as schoolwork. Big or small, we need to pay attention to how our children think about their lives and what’s worrying them. Read More→
Why Can’t My Kid Do Simple Arithmetic?
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If you change the name, is this a familiar scenario at your house?
“Jessica, you’re so careless. You do this all the time. Look, you failed the test because you added when you were supposed to subtract. Didn’t you see the minus sign? Then you multiplied 6×7 and put 40. You even wrote 54 instead of 31 when you recopied your answer onto the next page. What’s wrong with you?”
Jessica isn’t really careless. She’s got dyscalculia., a math disorder. Unfortunately, characteristics of dyscalculia are often not picked up as being a math disorder. Read More→
