How to help your child who has learning disabilities
A child with learning disabilities faces lots of problem and so does his parents. It is very important that a parent recognize his child's disability and help him to manage and improve for achieving success in his life. This article helps parents with children having learning disabilities to understand their children better and help them to improve in their life.
How to help your child who has learning disabilities
Who doesn't get excited with the idea of perfect child; but everyone is not that lucky. A dream of having a perfect child may just not be for you. When a parent realizes that one of her child suffers from a learning disability; it may just take some time for him to accept the fact. Parents with children who have learning disability go through a lot. Though parenting gets a lot difficult with such situation, it is not impossible at all. Though the dream of a perfect kid just wasn't for you but still there is nothing to be disheartened. Sometimes things don't turn out the way they are planned but that doesn't mean that the present situation may not work out for you. It may get a bit difficult to manage the needs and wants of a child with learning disability. Such children live in their own enclosed shell as they hardly understand about the outer world which is bigger and confusing from them. The problem may be because of the way they find it very difficult about connecting with the outer world and hence chose to stay in their own shell. All a child expects from everyone especially his parents is the understanding and little patience. Though most of the parents fail to provide what looks like just a small thing for us. But for them it may not be that easy, though they do try hard. Because it is a proven fact that even if a child tries hard there is always a barrier between your child and his success. Such barrier can always be present and may make it difficult for your child to achieve something in life.What happens when a child has learning disability
When a child has learning disability, he or she may :
- Fail to perform better than others.
- Fail to provide proper attention
- Cannot improve even after trying
- Cannot learn things quickly and perfectly.
- May fail to succeed in life no matter how hard they try.What exactly is learning disability
Learning disability is a type of learning disorder in which a child may suffer or experience difficulty while learning or understanding. Such children find problems with communication with others and also face difficulty in processing information unlike normal children who can understand and process information quickly. But children with learning disability get great problems when it comes to figuring out things and also while performing specific actions. This learning disorder is termed as learning disability and cannot be cured completely. What happens to a child when he suffers from learning disability
When a child suffers from learning disability he may face severe communication problems. Though the problem can't be cured permanently yet the children can be helped to find success in their life by planning certain strategies and helping them with some patience and understanding.Types of learning disabilities
Learning disability can be broadly categorized into following types:
- Non-verbal Learning disability, where a child may face problem with visual skills, organizational skills, self expression and even while identifying and learning spellings.
- Verbal Learning disability, where a child may face communication problems, lack memory skills and have difficulty speech.
- Auditory Processing Disorder, where a child may face difficulty with completing and processing two or more task at the same time. Causes of learning disability
Since there are no specific problems, few of the common reasons which can't be overlooked includes:
- Disturbance in brain either before or after birth.
- Neurological problem
- Genetic disorder
- Disorders in fetal development
- Problems during pregnancy
- Overuse of alcohol or tobacco during pregnancy
- Smoking during pregnancy
- Use of drugs in pregnancy
- Presence of toxins in the environment which affects child's brainSigns and symptoms to be recognized in children with learning disability
Specific signs and symptoms shown by kids during early years are to be recognized by parents as well as teachers for early for early detection and cure. Following are few signs and symptoms which can be watched out for:
- If a child has difficulty in grasping words
- If a child has difficulty in hearing and repeating words or sentences
- If a child has problem with speaking
- If a child has speech problems
- If a child has problems with learning and understanding patterns
- If a child has problem with learning and grasping phonics.
- If a child is unable to concentrate or focus
- If a child has any problem related to subjects like language, math, general knowledge, speech, conversation and so on.
- If a child appears to different than the rest of the students
- If the child scores poorly in academic levels as well as other social activities.
Watch out for following signals
- If your child has poor memory
- If your child shows least interest in school
- If your child forgets each and everything easily
- If your child show slow response or no response at all
- If your child is too careless
- If your child blurts out wrong answers confidently
- If your child keeps going blah-blah unnecessarily
If more than one of the above signs and symptoms persist in your child don't just jump to conclusions that there's something wrong with your kid. Take your specialist's advice and let get them decide about your child's condition. If specialists diagnose learning disability in your kids then don't get dishearten; instead try to help your kid with various ways to help them help themselves.Support your child
What your child presently needs is little bit of support and understanding. So it is important for parents to let their child know that they are there for them in every step of their life. This way a child feels confident about himself or herself and thus can enjoy all the learning strategies successfully. Sometimes children feel lonely and helpless when they find that their parents don't understand their situation and thus they find it difficult to cope with the new challenges of life.Provide children with proper aids
If it's a visual or audio impairment than see that your child gets to have an hearing or audio aid which will facilitate your child with proper communication and also help them learn and understand better.Encourage your child's ability and strengths
It is very important to recognize your child's strength and potential. If you find your child to be interested or being creative about something, encourage your child's skills and allow him or her to achieve more in that field. If your child has a learning disability of any kind but still loves to draw pr paint or is interested in music allow him to specialize in that area, which will boost his confidence and also allow him to make new friends.Don't nag
Try and always be supportive, but don't force him or her to do anything. Forcing your child to do anything against his will may not be helpful at all. Do not keep nagging again and again on small issues and discourage your child. Instead be supportive and always be their pillar of strength. Take expert's advice
Do not hesitate or feel shy about taking a doctor's advice. Always take proper therapy and help your child to do better. Never leave the treatment mid-way. Speak with the teacher about your child's condition
It is very important to tell and inform the teacher about your child's condition and the therapy that he or she is going through. Encourage the teacher to involve in the process and be supportive about it.Pay attention to signs and symptoms
Always be an alert parent. The signs and symptoms of learning disability can be recognized earlier if parents can detect them in their child at an early age. Watch for the signs and symptoms which are mentioned above and get an specialist's opinion on it. Diagnose the problem and get it fixed.
Always be there for your child and help them to recognize their talent. Let your child be assured that you love him and are always there for him as a great support. Never leave your child alone which will only aggravate the problem even more for them. Help your child to help himself.