Common Red Flags for Learning Disabilities
I Hate School-a/k/a
Why is School So Hard?
Your child comes home from school and tells you that school is “soooo hard.” How does a parent effectively respond after gritting of teeth and reluctantly passing up the golden opportunity to share that is he or she would just pay attention a little better or put in more effort it might change?
The first thing is to obtain some clarity. You need to figure out exactly what the complaint means. Does it mean that math is difficult? Reading? Writing? Paying attention? If so, what specifically is giving the child difficulty? Once you are able to determine exactly which subject or area is troubling,you may want to speak to your child’s teacher to determine if he/she notices any of the following “red flags.”
SOCIAL ISSUES
*few friends or lack of acceptance in any social group
*misreading social cues
*inability to appropriately respond to a particular audience – (e.g. telling off a teacher or pushing one’s way into a conversation with peers)
*lack of parallel play at 5 years or older
ATTENTION
*impulsivity
*inability to sit still
*distractibility
*disorganized
*consistently calls out in school
*consistently interrupts when in conversation with peers or adults
BEHAVIORAL
*oppositional/defiant
*task refusal or avoidance
*school refusal
READING
*difficulty sounding words out
*poor sight word recall
*letter confusion
*poor reading fluency
COMPREHENSION
*confusion about word or sentence meaning
*difficulty sequencing events in a story
*difficulty retelling specifics like character names, problem or solution
RETENTION
*inability to retain what is read
*difficulty connecting prior knowledge
*difficulty retaining abc, colors, etc.
*consistently misspells words
*spells words differently in same document
MATHEMATICS
*doesn’t understand numbers
*difficulty differentiating between left and right
*difficulty visualizing math or geometry
*calculation errors which are way off
*inconsistent mastery of basic facts
*difficulty sequencing common lists like the days of the week or months of the year
Some common learning disabilities include dyslexia (reading difficulties which may include letter reversals both in reading and writing), dyscalculia (difficulty with numbers and/or spatial perception), dysgraphia (difficulty with writing- both the actual motor task and the process of encoding), dyspraxia (difficulty with motor coordination), dysphaisa/aphasia (speech or language impairment or disorder), central auditory processing disorder, visual processing disorder and attention disorders.
Once you have ascertained exactly which area is making school hard for your child it is best to have a meeting with the school to discuss what your next step is in fixing the problem.
