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Having a child with a learning disability (LD) is even more challenging than raising a child without one, and certainly more frustrating: you know that your child is bright, but certain areas of learning (reading, spelling, math, for example) simply elude him. And your job as a parent is to help him learn to overcome his disability without harming his self-esteem. How do you do this? Here are 10 tips for helping your child be the best he can be:
1. Learn as much as you can about your child’s particular type of learning disability.
2. Talk to your child’s teachers and principal about what resources they may have for accommodating your child’s specific learning needs.
3. If you have a local support group for parents of LD children, join it and attend meetings. You can share research, practical advice, your experiences, and moral support. Plus, your child might make friends with some of the other children who are going through some of the same experiences.
4. If you don’t have a local support group, look online for newsgroups and mailing lists to join.
5. Work with your child on her homework every night. This will have three benefits: you’ll be able to observe how your child learns best, your child will learn the material better as you help her to focus, and her self-esteem will be boosted when she sees that your time working together is “special time” that can’t be interrupted (so let the answering machine or voicemail take your calls during homework time).
6. Some types of LD result in a child who is unable to understand humor or sarcasm. If this describes your child, speak plainly with him, and always explain any jokes that he doesn’t “get” in order to reduce his frustration at not being in on the joke.
7. Outside of learning, find what your child is especially good at and cultivate that talent, whether it is in the area of sports, art, dancing, or computer work. This will help raise self-esteem and may also elevate your child in the eyes of her peers – which also plays an important part in a child’s self-worth.
8. Enlist your child’s help in doing chores around the house, and be sure to break larger tasks into smaller steps.
9. Consider counseling if your child seems overly sad, frustrated or angry, and is having difficulty dealing with those feelings on his own. The counselor may also teach your child some social skills to help him make and keep friends.
10. Remember to praise your child’s achievements! Knowing that she’s doing something right will give your child the confidence to try new things.
Learning disabilities are difficult to cope with, but make sure your child knows that many famous people, even geniuses, have also had learning disabilities and overcame them – Thomas Edison couldn’t read until he was twelve years old, and Albert Einstein didn’t speak until he was three! Emphasize persistence, give praise when praise is due, and your child will also find his or her own way to thrive.
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