![]() Children with learning disabilities often feel like failures, leading to low self-esteem. Consult with your child's teacher or local organizations serving children with disabilities. There are special private schools for children with learning disabilities, but these can be expensive. State and federal disability laws require many children with learning disabilities to receive free services. If your child has been diagnosed, she should be eligible for special services. ![]() Your job is to provide encouragement, love, and patience and to seek out experts who have the skills to help your child learn. "Plan activities that you know your child can do and be successful at," says Arnold, who nurtured her son's love for skiing when he was just 5 and wasn't doing well academically.ĭon't try to be an expert on treating learning disabilities yourself. Give your child lots of self-esteem boosters by encouraging her skills and passions. If she struggles with the alphabet but loves animals, encourage that interest and help her become an animal expert. The goal is to focus on your child's strengths. Children with learning disabilities can and do learn.Īs a parent, one of the most important things you can do is support your child and assist with positive learning experiences. For instance, the teacher can present materials in different ways, and your child can practice skills over and over again in a setting that is supportive and patient. But much can be done to help your child compensate for the disability and learn to work around the problem. Learning disabilities are permanent and don't go away. What can be done to help a child with learning disabilities? Your public school district should be able to help arrange an evaluation, but they may recommend waiting until your child is 7 or 8 years old. Your child will be asked to do various tasks using toys and educational materials. The evaluation is done in an office setting and takes a couple of hours. Your child will need a formal evaluation for learning disabilities, usually done by a child psychologist, neuropsychologist, neurodevelopmental pediatrician, or psychiatrist, to know for sure if she has a problem. "In kindergarten I noticed my son wasn't learning his letters, he wasn't reading anything, he had no interest in books," says Nicki Arnold, a psychologist and mother of a son with learning disabilities. The same can be said for most kindergartners, too, but sometimes the signs of a learning disability are already strong at this age. Your child may be suffering from a momentary setback, but she'll catch up in no time. In many cases with preschool children, the best advice is to wait and see. If your child's teacher hasn't already raised the issue with you, don't hesitate to bring up your concerns. Teachers are usually adept at spotting the early warning signs of a learning disability. If you are worried about your child's competence with reading, writing, numbers, or speech, talk about it with people who are familiar with your child, such as your child's teacher. Careful diagnosis is important and early intervention can make a big difference in your child's academic future. That doesn't mean you should ignore any concerns you have now. ![]() According to Liebman, learning disabilities can't be firmly diagnosed until a child is in the third grade. Diagnosing learning disabilities in preschoolers and very young children is particularly controversial because they learn at such vastly different rates. Some experts believe they are over diagnosed, a handy catchall for a host of normal differences in learning styles. Diagnosing learning disabilities is controversial.
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