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| 7 Things Every Parent
and Educator Should Know About Learning Challenges |
- Attention problems are often a symptom, not the real
issue...
In her book, Why Our Children Can't Read Dr. Diane McGuinness
says, "The worse you are at something, the more brain cells you
need to do it, the harder it is to keep doing it, and the harder
it is to keep your attention focused on what you're doing" When
it takes more effort to do something, the brain burns more glucose,
using energy, which can eventually lead to exhaustion. In order
for the brain to efficiently process information, it has to regulate
levels of attention.
The two major attention control systems in the
brain involve:
- attending for a certain amount of time
- being able to keep out distractions in the surrounding environment
Learning things that are difficult makes holding attention to
that task, over a considerable span of time a struggle. When learning
is difficult, the ability to block out distracting background
or peripheral noises is stressed or
decreased.
When new things are learned, or concepts are still a novelty,
more energy is required from the brain to pay attention. Over
time, with an efficient processing system, this effort to pay
attention diminishes as tasks become more innate and automatic.
However, if a student's processing system is not working
efficiently, it may take longer for skills to get to that comfortable,
automatic level, increasing the likelihood of attention challenges
.
The inability to pay attention is very often a symptom
of inefficient information processing.
- "Try harder" is a dirty term...
Believe it or not, trying too hard can be counter-productive.
In order to be an efficient learner of anything, we need to be
able to use all of our mental resources. Our
two hemispheres in the brain each have unique thinking capabilities
which compliment each other and work best in cooperation.
The right side of our brain let's us experience
the whole or the "big picture." It is more intuitive and less
structured.
The left side is logical, orderly, and verbal.
It allows us to break information into small bits in order to
learn new things and communicate.
When both hemispheres of brain work together, learning can be
easier and more fun. Telling a struggling learner to "try harder"
may actually cause him to "over focus" with the left side of the
brain. He will try and try to make sense of the pieces, but without
the "big picture" support of the right brain, he will become more
confused and frustrated. Dr. Paul Dennison of the Educational
Kinesiology Foundation calls this "switching off."
The cycle of being stuck can often be broken by movement.
Integrating movements for this purpose can be found in Brain Gym
activities.
(www.braingym.com )
Our words can also help trigger clearer thinking for learning.
Instead of saying, "Try harder," try saying something like, "You
got this part exactly right. Now let's take a look at this."
- Respect the effort...
Being smart but having to work harder and longer than anyone else
in your class, or trying hard and failing anyway is painful
for both the individuals with the learning challenges
and their families.
As we work with our children or our students with learning difficulties,
we first need to respect the great amount of extra effort
that is needed for them to perform. Constantly reinforcing
that effort and celebrating each small success encourages them
to keep going.
- Coping is NOT the final answer...
All of us have both stronger and weaker areas of ability, talent,
and interest. WE naturally gravitate toward those things that
are our strengths, and often find ways to get around the weaker
areas.
As an adult, if I am terrible at playing tennis, I may choose
to cope with that by not playing tennis. But what if the area
that is weakest for you is reading? "Getting around" it or just
coping with a reading disorder is not easy or comfortable in today's
society.
Those of us who work with the "learning disability" / dyslexic
population, do them a great disservice
if we do not seek to understand and address the underlying skills
and differences in thinking that cause the learning challenges.
Teaching them compensations and coping strategies is simply not
enough.
- Look at the whole child...
If your child/student is not performing to his potential academically,
you may want to ask these questions:
- Does my child enjoy learning?
- Is my child eating a variety of healthy foods?
- Is my child getting enough sleep and maintaining good sleep
patterns?
- Does my child independently complete homework and follow
through on responsibilities?
- Is it easy for my child to communicate what he needs and
wants?
- Is my child able to be kind, considerate and compassionate
in social situations?
- Does my child have self-confidence and experience social
acceptance?
- In general, does my child feel safe and protected at home
and school?
- Do I know my child's strengths and weaknesses? Does my child
lack skills to perform successfully at school?
These questions will allow you to get a good look at a variety
of factors that affect a child's academic performance.
If you answered "no" to any of these questions, take a
look at what piece of the learning puzzle they affect.
If it's a matter of changing dietary habits or improving sleeping
patterns, these are things that can be worked out in the home.
However, if communicating is difficult for your child, or if s/he
has low self-confidence, low social acceptance, or struggles to
independently complete his work, there could be underlying factors
to your child's difficulties in school that need consideration.
- Underlying processing skills MUST be addressed in order
to make lasting changes
The most common cause of learning challenges is inefficient mental
tools, or processing skills.
In order to have good information to learn with, individuals must
be able to:
- Pay attention
- Remember
- Quickly and accurately process what they see and
hear
When any underlying processing skills
are weak, the individual will be a less efficient learner than
s/he could be.
A person has a learning problem if he makes more mistakes than
the average person or has to work longer or harder than the average
person. Only by addressing the underlying issues can the individual
become a truly independent learner. Underlying processing skills
that affect learning are memory, attention, processing speed,
auditory and language processing, visual processing, and logic
and reasoning.
- The brain can change...
Recent brain research tells us that the brain has plasticity
, or the ability to change with training. Through
intensive training that "stretches" an individual's thinking,
chemical and physical changes can occur in the brain. Because
we know this kind of "neuro-rehabilitation" is possible, we also
know that with the right tools and strategies, new, higher functioning
neuropathways can be developed to enhance a student's overall
processing and performance.
Our brains are continually modified by our experiences. This implies
that programs which target processing and motor skills
can improve those areas in students with brain injuries or motor
or learning disabilities.
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