Children "with learning difficulties" learn more slowly than their peers in the same school age group; they do not always have learning disabilities and outside the classroom they may even lead normal lives, however for them the subjects are a challenge. To help them, you can take various approaches to teaching important subjects: get them to receive assistance in the classroom and beyond, but most importantly, encourage them by working with them patiently and celebrating their successes.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Teach Pupils with Learning Disabilities
Step 1. Repeat each teaching point more often than you normally would
In order to understand information, pupils with learning difficulties need to listen to it more times than others.
- Keep other students interested by asking them questions and getting them to answer, then repeat the answers they give you and explain how they relate to the point you are trying to teach.
- For example, in an early elementary grade class you might say, "Paola says 2 times 2 is 4 and she's right. We know that because 2 and 2 equals 2 + 2, which is 4."
- With higher grades you can reinforce teaching points by leading discussions that encourage students to repeat them. Ask questions about a topic and, when they answer you, ask pupils to explain the reasoning they made.
Step 2. Use visual and audio support material
It is possible that pupils with learning difficulties have problems with fundamental skills such as reading, so films, images and audios can help them understand things that, reading alone, they would not be able to understand. Use various means of communication to repeat the information you want them to learn.
- For example, when teaching conjunctions to elementary school students, you can integrate your own explanations and work sheets using a presentation with fun sounds and images.
- When explaining a novel to high school students, help those with learning difficulties by handing out work sheets and background material with illustrations (for example: family trees of the characters it talks about, timelines of plot events, and images of historical maps. costumes and houses of the period in which the story takes place).
- You can also assign them a learning styles assignment, to understand what kind of students you have in front of you and what might be the most effective approaches to use with them.
Step 3. Guide students to the main points of the lectures and tests
Students with learning difficulties may be overloaded with supplementary information and have difficulty identifying the main points of a lesson or test. When teaching, be sure to identify and highlight the most important teaching points. Don't overwhelm your pupils by moving too fast or asking them to learn many other details in addition to the main points.
- Before starting a lesson, summarize the main points so that all students know what they will need to pay particular attention to.
- Provide study guides for taking the tests so that pupils with learning difficulties know what information they need to focus on.
- Assign readings and in-depth worksheets to students with faster learning to update them on the topic covered using complementary material.
Step 4. Use real examples when teaching math
Explain new math concepts by applying them to situations your students can relate to. To help them get an idea of the numbers, use drawings and objects such as coins, beans or marbles.
- For example, to explain the divisions to elementary school students, you can draw a circle on the board and say that it is a cake to feed 6 people equally. Then draw some lines to divide it into 6 slices.
- For high school students some notions can be more confusing when applied to real situations, so he teaches them the direct way to solve concepts such as, for example, the solution of an unknown variable.
- Pupils with learning difficulties may have lost information during math lessons from previous years. If you see that one of them is struggling to understand a new concept, check that they have acquired the most basic skills.
Step 5. Teach reading skills
Pupils with learning difficulties may have problems reading "automatically" as their peers do. To help them catch up, teach reading skills to the whole class or just a small group of slow-reading students while the others work on in-depth projects.
- Encourage those who are more difficult to follow words by sliding a finger across the page as they read.
- Teach students to recognize phonemes and to pronounce unknown words.
- Help your pupils in their written comprehension by teaching them to ask questions like "How does this character feel?", "Why did the characters make this decision?", "What could happen next?".
- You can also help older students who have learning difficulties by teaching them to summarize chapters or write down what they have read.
Step 6. Teach your class some study skills
Pupils with learning difficulties need to review the material more often than other students. Help them speed up their study time by teaching them effective ways to synthesize topics, take notes, and memorize things.
- Show the class how notes are taken and how topics are summarized.
- Teach students to divide challenging tasks into others that are easier to manage so they won't be overwhelmed by the workload.
- Teach them to memorize using memory tricks. For example, "We Know Our Orientation Well" might be a way of remembering the "North, South, West, East" directions.
Method 2 of 3: Drive Success in the Classroom
Step 1. Create a daily reading schedule
Pupils with learning difficulties need a lot of reading practice, so schedule some time each day for them to read silently and at a brisk pace. Provide a wide variety of reading material, including books of lesser difficulty than their school age range. In addition, pupils with reading difficulties may be fond of comic novels.
Step 2. Assign companions to your pupils to help them with homework and others to tutor
Rather than encouraging competition among your students, facilitate a mutually supportive culture by bringing them together in pairs so they can help each other learn new materials. Otherwise you can train some pupils who are quicker in learning and more patient to make them "tutor companions", ie students who help others understand how they should do their homework. If you adopt these strategies, assign tasks to all of your pupils. For example, assign some to distribute the papers or ask others to feed the class mascot.
Step 3. Assign pupils with learning difficulties tasks that highlight their strengths
These students may get discouraged by having to work on things longer than others, so allow them to take breaks every day and create opportunities for them to shine. Identify the activities they are best at and give them the opportunity to do them by alternating them with more difficult tasks.
For example, one of them may be good at drawing, playing a sport or organizing and they may like helping in the classroom as a foreman or tutor for younger children. Find out what skills he is proud of and give him plenty of opportunities to put them into practice
Step 4. Praise their achievements
When a pupil with a learning disability completes a task, masters a concept, or otherwise achieves success, praise him sincerely. You can compliment him for trying, but don't just focus on that; instead praise him for finishing his projects and understanding things. If he knows that he will eventually get compliments for his work, he will be less discouraged by the time it takes to get things done.
Step 5. Check the level of understanding of the students during the lessons
Find a discreet way to know how well you understand the material you are explaining, but avoid asking pupils to raise their hands to say if they understand or not. Instead, try giving them some numbered (or colored) cards to show you to communicate the level of understanding.
For example, you could give each one a red, one yellow, and one green card and ask them to raise the one that best describes their level of understanding. The red one could mean that they are confused, the yellow one that you need to go slower or repeat something and the green one could mean that up to this point the lesson is clear
Method 3 of 3: Supporting your Son (or Daughter)
Step 1. Help your son (or daughter) with homework
If your schedule allows, you can be your child's tutor. Having someone to help him with his homework, orient him in his study, and give him lessons on specific topics will benefit him. Try not to do the work for him, but rather sit by his side, help him organize his tasks and guide him towards solving difficult problems.
- If your school has an after-school program with homework help, consider enrolling your child.
- If you are considering hiring a mentor, look for someone who is encouraging and positive who praises their efforts and successes.
Step 2. Make her learning a part of your family life
Support the importance of your child's progress by making lessons and homework review an integral part of your daily routine. Review together on car trips, ask him to say long words he sees in stores, and connect the family's activities to the things he is learning at school. For example, if you are studying the Holocaust, you can watch Schindler's List during family movie night.
Step 3. Ask teachers about support courses
If your child's school offers them, ask the teachers if they can take part in small group tutoring on subjects they find difficult. Enroll him in any session to deepen the reading or study skills offered by the school librarian, writing center tutors or other staff.
Step 4. Test your child for learning disabilities
It is possible that some children with learning difficulties also have learning disabilities. With such a diagnosis, the student would be entitled to more support and, in addition, you would help him in areas that are most difficult for him.
- It is not up to the teacher to ask for this type of test, but to the parents.
- Children with learning difficulties will learn all subjects just like their peers, only at a slightly slower pace. Those with learning disabilities, on the other hand, may not keep pace with others by having different strengths and weaknesses.
- However, it is possible that some children with learning difficulties also have an unexplained learning disability problem.
Step 5. Organize an individual education program for your child
Although these programs are aimed at children with learning disabilities, it has been shown that even those with learning difficulties benefit from individual education, both from an academic and an emotional point of view.
- To take advantage of this program, schedule a meeting with your child's teacher.
- Arrange together an assessment of the child by the school system that has no cost to you.
- After the evaluation, get together with the teacher and all the important staff of the school to define the individual education program but, before the meeting, prepare a list of the things you want to include.
Step 6. Help your child set long-term goals
Children with learning difficulties often live in the present. Since they are not rewarded by school subjects, it is possible that they do not understand the usefulness of school and that they do their homework out of a pure sense of duty rather than with the aim of building a future. Help your child identify long-term goals and break them down into steps to take in order to achieve them.
Relate your school work to these goals. For example, if he wants to run his own shop in the future, use business-related examples to solve math problems and buy him books set in the world of commerce
Step 7. Give your child the opportunity to shine in non-school settings
Children with learning difficulties tend to live normal lives outside the classroom, and in non-school settings they can even stand out. Ask your child what he is passionate about and rejoice at everything that interests him. Try to figure out what his skills are and then get him involved by enrolling him in extracurricular activities such as athletics, art, or other outdoor activities.
