How to Help Kids with Learning Disabilities? Tips for Teachers to Help Children with Learning Disabilities

Specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia can make it difficult and sometimes impossible for a child to achieve the same results as his or her peers in a traditional classroom setting. Some children face a constant struggle with reading and writing and many are at risk for developing low self-esteem, particularly when their condition goes undiagnosed and untreated.

The thing to remember is that there are alternative learning approaches, strategies, and tools that can help students with learning difficulties achieve their full potential at school. A positive attitude and plenty of encouragement from parents and teachers can do wonders when it comes to inspiring these children to stay motivated and persevere.

What’s the Way Out?

Imagine the frustration you might feel if you spent all night studying for an exam and still received a poor mark, despite your best efforts. Similar is the case for a child suffering from dyslexia. Dysgraphia can make it painful to hold a pen or pencil so that even writing a short paragraph by hand is a challenge.

Parents and teachers need to understand that no two individuals with a learning difficulty will be affected in the same way. The impact may be moderate or severe with symptoms often starting to show when a child begins learning how to read and write. Some conditions, including ADD and ADHD, can be harder for parents and teachers to see.

Continue reading this article to read tips to help kids with slow learning difficulties tips to learn.

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How to Teach Slow Learning Kids?

With every learning difficulty comes different challenges; that’s why parents and teachers can benefit from getting to know what kind of academic and emotional support is needed. Introducing them to strategies and the coping skills they need to be successful is a good start but it’s also crucial to encourage a healthy self-image and foster confidence by nurturing self-directed learning.

By self-directed learning, we mean allowing the individual to be responsible for certain aspects of the learning including how much material is covered in a session and how much time is spent on a given unit.

Modular courses in which learning is broken down into small sections are helpful in this respect because they allow children to proceed at a pace that is right for them, repeating material and reviewing when necessary.

Keeping track of their progress, setting goals and working towards them, and prioritizing different aspects of their studies, are important skills for a child to develop. With more responsibility comes pride in achievement and a boost in self-esteem and confidence. Learn more about building students’ self-esteem and self-confidence in these posts.

Some Tips to Help Slow Learning Kids

Praise Effort Over Performance

Children with learning difficulties may not always achieve high marks but if they’ve put in a lot of effort, it deserves recognition. Teachers may wish to focus on the child’s study strategy or approach to the assignment. Did they make flashcards, spend time in the library researching, work on drafts or incorporate feedback from past assignments? It can take a lot of courage to try a new approach and it’s important to keep them motivated regardless of the outcome in terms of percentages and grades.

Put Things in Perspective

To children with specific learning difficulties, it can seem like achieving a perfect score on an assessment measure is a near-impossible goal. Remind them that perfection isn’t important and mistakes are a part of learning. When a child begins to embrace his or her mistakes and use them to guide more targeted study, he or she is less likely to attribute errors to any personal failings or deficits. This makes it easier to maintain a positive and healthy self-image.

Share Your Own Experience

Children can benefit from anecdotes that help them relate to different aspects of the learning process. Teachers might explain how they dealt with their least favourite subjects or worked around material that proved particularly challenging. Sharing your experience helps to cement a bond with a child, making it more likely they will open up to you about their feelings.

Keep them Motivated

It can be hard to motivate a child to learn when he or she feels inferior in a particular subject area. That’s why it’s useful to choose lesson topics that are already of interest to a child. Explain why a particular task is worth doing and allow them a measure of choice in how or what they study. You might also devise reward schemes or plan your day so that fun activities are used to break up more challenging tasks. Learn more about motivation and motivating children to read.

Give them Time

It can take time for an intervention to work and for new strategies and skills to be acquired. Focus on long-term goals and break larger tasks down into milestones that can be spaced out over some time. Remind students that effort and approach count more than the time taken to complete something.

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How can a Slow Learner Learn Fast?

Teach them Once Concept at a Time

When you dump too much information into your child’s mental “funnel,” your child’s memory can only attend to a certain amount of the new information. Teaching one concept at a time respects the limitations of your child’s short-term memory, and allows concepts and skills to be more easily stored in the long-term memory. And that means significant amounts of meaningful learning can occur.

Consistently Review their Performance

Consistent review is the key to getting spelling facts and spelling words to “stick.” Teaching something once or twice does not mean your child has mastered it. Mastery takes time—and practice.

Review doesn’t have to be boring, either. Have your child practice spelling concepts with letter tiles and flashcards and through dictation. Use a variety of techniques to ensure that your child retains what you are teaching.

Keep Your Lessons Frequent and Short

Short, frequent lessons are much better than longer, sporadic lessons. In a short lesson, your child’s attention is less likely to wander, and you’ll find that you can accomplish more. Keep the lessons upbeat and fast-paced, and use teaching tools and activities that engage the child’s interests.

Start with 15-20 minutes per day, five days a week. You can adjust the length of the lessons up or down according to your individual child’s attention span and specific needs.

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Conclusion

Hopefully, the tips mentioned in this article will help you teach kids with learning disabilities with much ease. Want to read more such articles? Visit The Real School Of Montessoril Website.

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