Blog - Insight into LD

This week I was reading a post from a distraught mother of a sixth grade son, on one of the LD websites. It was painful to read, though the storyline not uncommon. Bright, seemingly intelligent dyslexic boy with ADHD, still reading at a first grade level, and given his average profile from testing, receiving accommodations only, and struggling with this daily stress producer called school. 

In the series just concluded, Executive Director Shelly Weisbacher discussed the 6 Success Factors for Children with Learning Disabilities, published by the Frostig Center. Last week she mentioned self-awareness as a parent. What are your feelings about your child’s learning struggles? How do your feelings impact your parenting style? Are you able to hold your child accountable for breaking rules? Do you attribute poor behavior to his learning challenge and dismiss it?

When helping your child with learning disabilities develop the 6 success factors of self-awareness, proactivity, perseverance, goal setting, social support systems and emotional coping strategies (all discussed in previous posts), it can be useful to revisit these factors as they apply to parenting a child who is struggling. To begin with, how would you rate your own self-awareness with regard to your feelings about your son’s learning disabilities?

In recent blogs, four of the six success attributes for individuals with learning disabilities, that have been identified by the Frostig Center and experienced firsthand through our work at Springer, were explored. The remaining two are emotional coping strategies and the less familiar term, proactivity.

Perseverance naturally follows goal-setting as a significant success factor for individuals with learning disabilities. Successful individuals are able to stay focused on a particular path or course of action even in the face of challenges. Equally important, they demonstrate an ability to be flexible and shift strategies as necessary to achieve their goal.

The ability to be goal directed is a third factor that is highly predictive of success for students with learning disabilities. However, just like the development of self-awareness and the use of support systems (discussed in previous blogs), children with learning disabilities need explicit instruction in how to set goals.

Using support systems effectively is another one of the key factors that predicts success for students with learning disabilities. Many students receive support during school. They might work with an intervention specialist on a daily basis, have modified assignments and/or receive accommodations such as extended time on tests. Beyond these planned supports, successful students are willing to seek help from their teachers, peers, and parents.

In parenting or teaching a child with learning disabilities, it is important to be able to look to the future while addressing the issues of the moment. We know that learning disabilities are life span issues. We also know that many adults with learning disabilities are leading happy, productive lives. What then contributes to the success of adults with learning disabilities and how might one foster these success attributes in our children?

The term, pronounced dis-kal-kyoo-lee-uh, refers to a Specific Learning Disability in the area of Math. It is relatively rare for a student to qualify for an Individualized Education Program (IEP) under Specific Learning Disability only in the area of math. When a child has difficulty with reading, there will usually be spillover into math.

I have heard the term “dysgraphia.” What does that mean? It sounds like dysgraphia would mean that your handwriting is hard to read.