Every parent wants their child to have a bright future. In the USA, the number of specific learning disorders is high, and it is increasing. Are there any treatments for learning disabilities? The answer is yes, there is.
But, it is important to understand that a child may find it hard to read or write or solve math problems which can be common in many terms. But is it significant enough to call it dyslexia, dysgraphia, or dyscalculia, meaning does the child have a learning disability? The first step for a parent is to get their child the diagnosis.
Learning disabilities do not come on their own. So, the child may not only be diagnosed with dyslexia or dysgraphia, or dyscalculia. Sometimes it can be comorbidities like the child can have dyslexia and dysgraphia, or sometimes all three. So, a diagnosis is extremely important for a person who is trained to carry out these tests by taking around three to four sessions.
It is important to sit with the child psychologist and understand the study skills for students with learning disabilities and all the awareness about learning disabilities. The parent must understand what difficulty the child is facing.
Every child diagnosed with a learning disability has a different profile, and approaching the right SLD treatment will help the child overcome it faster. A child has dyslexia, but what are his strengths, what are the difficulties, and what is the best way that the child can learn because not every child with dyslexia learns the same way.
The second step would be finding the best remedial educator or special educator.
Many schools may have special educators, and these remedies are practiced in schools or workshops. But many schools may not have these faculties. So, the parent should find a special educator who could do remedial education with the child.
It is very important to have a collaborative relationship between the school and the special educator, therefore, whatever the special educator is doing can be communicated to the school and vice versa.
The third step will be spending time with the child.
The parent communicating with a child and making their learning fun will help them overcome it faster. Listening to audiobooks, videos, and other such activities brightens up the mind and helps the child with auditory learning. Drawing in the sand and playing with blocks can be very helpful.
Most importantly, it should be a good balance between fun and learning. Also, using the child’s interests to make them learn something can be effective. Suppose a child likes cars, using cars, like placing ten cars and asking the child to count the number of cars.
Or making the child understand simple mathematical concepts like addition and subtraction can be made fun with the child’s interests. So, through his strengths, the child will make it a fun activity, and the child is learning.
The last and the most important is to practice daily. These will help them rewire their brain slowly and effectively. Even if it is for 10 minutes or fifteen minutes or half an hour every day and making it a fun activity.
Now there are so many apps and websites that are available that support these special education systems. The parent should introduce their child to such apps and where the interface is easy so that the child after one or two learning can operate by themselves.
Psychologically it becomes very important to motivate a child with a disability. The child might be facing difficulties in their school while reading, writing, or solving mathematical problems.
So, it becomes very essential for the special educator and parent to discuss more of their strengths and less of their disabilities and how by using their strength, they can eventually overcome their disabilities. The child needs to keep the perspective and the big picture in mind.
In short, the parent has to be their child’s advocate. During parent-teacher meetings, the parent needs to discuss with the teacher about the child’s difficulties and shows the improvement stats, the diagnosis reports, and the kinds of intervention planned out.
So, parents should be aware of learning disability treatments and are aware of the SLD. They need to be an advocate for their child to build a better future for them.
