5 Ways to Help Your Child Cope with a Learning Disability

One of the biggest problems that a parent has to face is to see their child struggling with a learning disability or any other kind of disability. As parents we want our children to have happy carefree lives and when our child struggles to learn something we feel like we let them down.

All a parent of a learning disabled child can really do is educate themselves on the type of disability the child has and then do everything within their power to help their child overcome the disability.

1. The first way to help your child cope with a learning disability is to make them understand that their disability has no reflection on their intelligence. Just because a child needs a reading aid to help them read the words on a piece of paper does not mean that the child is incapable of reading. This is going to be the hardest battle you fight because often children who have a disability and need help learning feel like they are dumb, or that they are not as good as their peers.
2. Talk to your child’s teacher and let them know of any concerns you have about your child. The school most likely already has a program in place that can help a child with a learning disability overcome the disability and gain in self-confidence. You may want to talk to the teacher without talking to your child so you can work with the teacher on the best way to approach the child concerning the subject.
3. Create an area in your home for your child to do their work. A child will need to have a place where they can do the assignments the teacher sends home. These assignments are important because they help the child develop the skills they need to develop. Having an assigned area to do the work in provides them a distraction-free space that encourages learning.
4. Become an expert in the type of disability your child struggles with. Learn everything you can about the subject so you will know if your child is receiving all of the help that is available. Your school may not know all that they should know about the type of disability your child has. Be an expert and then be an advocate for your child. You can fight the battles with the school board and other red tape bureaucrats that might be inhibiting your child from learning because they simply do not understand the problem they are dealing with.
5. Focus on the strengths your child has. You have to approach the task of learning with optimism. And to spread that optimism to your child you have to make them see how they are strong in some areas and then weak in others. Some children are math wizards but they have a lot of problems in science. You have to make them see that they have strong points and weaker ones, but that everyone else has strengths and weaknesses also.

You may have to look for a specialized school to help your child. Many of these schools are not free to attend but, some schools and resource centers offer financial help to pay the private tuition cost of enrolling their child.

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Annabelle is part of the Content and Community team at SmileTutor, sharing valuable content to their own community and beyond. Annabelle’s passion is connecting parents & children who are looking for English tuition in Singapore.