Seven Keys to Identify a Struggling Learner…and Why They Likely Struggle

No matter which school option your child is returning to this Fall, one thing we know is you’ll more than likely be more involved in their school work. As you work with your child, here are a couple of key indicators, that there might be some deeper underlying issues that need to be addressed. If your child is:

• Struggling to stay on task and follow directions and needs constant reminders from you.
• Struggling to work independently. Again, parents needing to be there the entire time to help a child comprehend and/or stay on task.
• Difficulties and a dislike for reading.
• Motivation issues. If a child has weak cognitive skills it usually manifests as motivation issues.
• Inability to work through hard tasks – Giving up easily and an “I can’t” attitude.
• Schoolwork takes forever! Usually these students have slow processing speed and struggle to stay on task.
• Not completing work or turning it in.

If you answered “yes” to any of these identifier’s you may be wondering why your child struggles in these areas.

Typically, if a child struggles to stay on task and follow directions, these difficulties can be traced back to weaknesses in working memory (the ability to hold thoughts and information) and/or processing speed (the ability to keep up, stay in task and think quickly).

As far as reading difficulties, weaknesses in long-term memory, visual processing and/or auditory processing contribute to reading difficulty. Memory is a critical reading skills for a child to retain sight words or retain the strange rules in our language (i.e retaining a word like “laugh”).

When these weaknesses exist it makes school very difficult which also manifests as motivation issues and general struggles to work independently.

If you see any of these behaviors and would like to explore how to address them and make learning a better experience for you and your child, the first step is to call us to schedule an assessment. The assessment will identify the root cause of the struggles and provide insights as to how to improve your child’s performance. Mention this blog article and receive $100 off your assessment!