Hi all,
Yes indeed, today is yet another Insane Work Day that started at 3am! However, the good news is….I’m actually in my groove and still am entirely coherent! Did a tremendous amount of work and feel really good about it too.
But I digress! 🙂
You know, it’s funny how kids can be. Long long ago, back when my youngest girl was 4.8, I took it upon myself to teach her how to read. I had mistakenly thought that kids started reading at 4 (generally it’s after 5), and was worried that she couldn’t understand any books.
So! I started teaching her and immediately realized….she didn’t buy a clue.
Odd, thought I. So I tried a different method of teaching by having her spell out the words.
No go!
Next, I had her write out words. That helped a bit…but not much.
To say I was baffled was an understatement!
And then…..I researched learning online and realized….perhaps she simply has a different learning style.
When that idea exploded in my mind, I had my kid instead:
- Look at the word
- Say the word
- Write down the word
In other words, I engaged 3 of her senses – visual, verbal and tactile.
She was able to read and retain words the next day!
‘course, me being me, I had to productize that, and created Lingstar Learning Reading Enrichment.
But that’s not the point of this post.
Here’s the point of this post – an hour ago, my youngest boy came to me with his homework. Included within it was the simple task:
Write the number "3".
He wrote it backwards….and then came to me in tears saying, Mommy, my brain keeps telling me to write it backwards! My brain wants to make me dumb!
Can you say, classic symptom of dyslexia?
I sure can!
Now, he’s never done this before…and when I made him outlines of 3’s to draw, he had no problem writing them down correctly.
But! Talk about a wake-up call!
I’m certainly going to keep track of his reading and writing as well. The thing is, he parallels my youngest daughter in ways that simply uncanny…and because she had the same issue, methinks he will be showing symptoms like that more and more.
I taught my girl how to learn effectively…and I’ll be sure to do that for my son as well!
And so….let’s bring this post back to the most important person reading it….YOU!
If your kids are having trouble learning in school, it could be that they have a unique learning style that simply needs to be unleashed.
As a parent, you must (you really must!) proactively take responsibility and ensure your kids are taught in ways that encourage learning…and don’t make them feel just plain dumb.
Need resources to help you with that? Check out:
Just about EVERYONE can be taught….but sometimes you have to expend big huge bunches of effort in finding what works for your kid.
DO IT. The benefits are unbelievable.
I’ve been witnessing them now for, gosh, 6+ years.
Enjoy,
Barbara Ling
ps- speaking about learning styles, have you seen:
Get Started Here
You’ll love what you learn… Promise!