Learning Disabilities
Many children have trouble paying attention in class at some point in their academic career. When this happens, especially with young students, it leaves parents wondering why their child can’t focus—and whether he or she could have a learning difficulty. It’s important to know that not every student who has a hard time focusing in school has a learning difficulty such as ADD or ADHD. In some cases, the concentration issues children have in school…
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Dyslexia presents itself in various ways, but a student’s age strongly factors into the symptoms teachers may observe. Students with dyslexia in grades K-5 struggle to remember letter names and sounds. Recognizing sight words also poses a problem. When reading aloud, these students may substitute words and confuse letters with similar appearances or sounds. For example, students commonly mix up the letters b and d. Students in grades 6-12 may have a hard time recalling…
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In 2019, a grassroots campaign led by parents succeeded in passing a wave of dyslexia treatment legislation. Many states mandated hallmarks of the Orton-Gillingham method, specifically calling for “multisensory” instruction, to help students with dyslexia read and write better.* In New York, the city spends upwards of $300 million a year in taxpayer funds on private school tuition for children with disabilities. Much of it goes to pay for private schools that specialize in the…
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If you’ve recently learned that your child has or might have autism, you’re probably wondering and worrying about what comes next. No parent is ever prepared to hear that a child is anything other than happy and healthy, and an ASD (autism spectrum disorder) diagnosis can be particularly frightening. You may be unsure about how to best help your child, or confused by conflicting treatment advice. There are many things you can do to help…
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Parenting is far from easy, but parenting a child with autism can be particularly demanding. If you are a parent of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), you are not alone. Receiving that diagnosis for your child is life-changing, and if there are times that you struggle, you should know you’re not the only one. Here are a few strategies that can help your family. 1. Reframe acting-out behaviors. It can be frustrating to…
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Teaching a child with dyspraxia can be a frustrating experience due to the wide range of symptoms they may present. However, while dyspraxia is a neurological condition that commonly causes movement and coordination issues, it does not affect intelligence. Children with dyspraxia are perfectly capable of learning alongside their peers, they may just need some extra attention and support from time to time. Awareness is the first step and can make all of the difference…
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Dysgraphia is a language-based learning difference that affects a student’s ability to produce written language. In the early grades, students with dysgraphia may have difficulty with consistent letter formation, word spacing, punctuation, and capitalization. In later grades, they may have difficulty with writing fluency, floating margins, and legible writing. Students with dysgraphia are often labeled “sloppy,” “lazy,” or “not detail-oriented” in a classroom setting, but students with dysgraphia are often trying very hard (if not…
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The first time you hear that your 7-year-old is weak in “executive functions,” it sounds like a joke. No kidding—that’s why they’re a first grader, not a CEO. But executive functions are the essential self-regulating skills that we all use every day to accomplish just about everything. They help us plan, organize, make decisions, shift between situations or thoughts, control our emotions and impulsivity, and learn from past mistakes. Kids rely on their executive functions…
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We most closely associate dyslexia with difficulty learning to read and with other language and reading skills like writing and spelling. Dyslexia, however, goes beyond letters, spelling, and learning to read and write. Dyslexic students are more likely to have difficulty comprehending what they read, and even what they remember. It can also cause students to have difficulty following directions. Somewhere between 60 and 100% of people with dyslexia experience difficulty learning math. Dyslexic students often…
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Many students struggle with math and math anxiety, but for those with dyscalculia, math classes and tests present seemingly insurmountable obstacles that can affect academic success and lower self-esteem. People with the math-related learning disability dyscalculia have a deficit in the brain’s ability to process number-related information. They may have trouble with math operations, memorizing multiplication tables and understanding math concepts. In a broader sense, they have difficulties with sequencing information, budgeting time and keeping…
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