Deciphering Feedback from Parent-Teacher Conferences
Parent-teacher conferences are a great way to get feedback about your student beyond just the grades you see on quizzes, homework, and report cards.
Depending on your child’s age, school, and the time of year, you may be able to learn about their standardized test scores, any academic progress or challenges they have, their behavior in the classroom, or even subjects and activities in which they show the most interest.
For some parents, you may also hear about potential learning struggles their child is experiencing. Don’t panic! The teacher is simply sharing information and it doesn’t mean your student isn’t smart or that they’re not putting in effort.
In fact, more than 80% of learning struggles are caused by weak cognitive skills and even very bright students can have one or more underperforming brain skills that can be targeted and trained to help the child (or teen) reach their full potential.
Read on to better understand some of the phrases you may hear at the parent-teacher conferences and what they might mean for your student.
First: What Are Cognitive Skills?
Cognitive skills are the core skills our brains use to think, read, learn, remember, reason, and pay attention. Working together, they take incoming information and move it to the bank of knowledge that we use every day at school, in sports and other extracurricular activities, at work, and in life in general. Because each cognitive skill plays an important role in processing new information, it only takes one underperforming skill to impact the way we grasp, retain, and use that information.
Here’s a quick overview of the different cognitive skills and what they do
– Attention (3 subtypes)
- Sustained attention enables us to stay focused and on task for a sustained period of time.
- Selective attention enables us to stay focused and on task despite distractions.
- Divided attention enables us to remember information while doing two things at once.
– Memory (2 subtypes)
- Long-term memory enables us to recall information stored in the past.
- Short-term memory (a.k.a. “working memory”) enables us to hang on to information while in the process of using it. (Think “carrying the one” when adding 12 and 19.)
– Logic & Reasoning: This skill enables us to reason, form ideas, and solve problems.
– Auditory Processing: This skill enables us to analyze, blend, and segment sounds.
– Visual Processing: This skill enables us to think in visual images.
– Processing Speed: This skill enables us to perform tasks quickly and accurately.
Interpreting Red-flag Phrases in Parent-Teacher Conferences
Here are some phrases you may hear at your parent-teacher conference and what they might mean for your student.
#1: “S/he struggles to stay focused and on task.”
What it could indicate: Weak attention skills
ADHD is the umbrella term for three types of attention: Inattentive, Hyperactive/Impulsive, and Combined. While ADHD often manifests as hyperactivity and impulsivity in boys, girls with ADHD tend to struggle more with inattentiveness, disorganization, or “spacing out.” Because the latter symptoms aren’t as disruptive to the class, ADHD in girls is often missed.
It’s also worth noting that a study of children diagnosed with ADHD found that attention was not the only deficit cognitive skill. In fact, the learning struggles among these groups tended to be rooted in clusters of weak cognitive skills that included long-term memory, processing speed, and working memory.
#2: “S/he takes longer than their peers to finish tasks.”
What it could indicate: Weak processing speed
A child who understands the material and can eventually complete the work for a good grade may simply have trouble keeping up with the pace of their peers. And while perfectionism could be the reason, it’s more often than not simply an issue of their processing speed needing a tune-up.
You may notice similar issues at home. If your child takes hours to finish homework that should only take 45 minutes or if they have trouble following multi-step directions because their brain is “lagging” at processing the first step, it may be simply a matter of needing to work on the speed at which their brain sorts through information to take action.
#3: “S/he struggles to understand what they read.”
What it could indicate: Weak reading comprehension skills (auditory processing, memory, visual processing)
For most students, “learning to read” switches to “reading to learn” around third grade. But knowing how to read doesn’t always translate to understanding the deeper meaning behind those words. A student who needs to read passages multiple times to grasp their meaning—whether for word problems in math or directions for a science lab—may suffer from underperforming cognitive skills needed to master reading comprehension.
The Good News About Cognitive Skills
Hearing anything less than “ideal” about your child’s academic performance during parent-teacher conferences can be scary for parents. Common concerns may range from, “What if they don’t get good grades?” or “Will they fall behind their peers?” to “What is this doing to their self-confidence?” and “How will a learning struggle impact their happiness down the road?”
But the good news is, regardless of the learning struggles your student may be facing, there is help. Remember: more than 80% of learning struggles are caused by weak cognitive skills and these brain skills can be targeted and trained.
Start by scheduling a Brain Skills Assessment at your nearest personal brain training center. This cognitive assessment only takes about an hour and it will show you which brain skills are already thriving and which have room for improvement. Many families describe the results as an “Aha!” moment, helping to explain why your child performs well on certain activities yet struggles with others.
Armed with the results of this Brain Skills Assessment, you can determine the best course of action for your student. One intervention to consider is personal brain training.
Designed to target and train the brain’s core learning and thinking skills, one-on-one brain training helps address the root cause of learning difficulties to make thinking, learning, reading, and remembering faster and easier, regardless of the subject.
Using the results of the Brain Skills Assessment, your child will get a custom training plan and be matched with a dedicated brain trainer who will use brain games, cognitive drills, and mental exercises to target specific skills and build them up over time. In research studies, kids and teens have improved their cognitive performance by several years compared to peers—all within a matter of months!
