Ask Your Child’s Teacher These 5 Questions to Identify Potential Learning Struggles
As a parent, understanding your child’s academic progress can be challenging. Teachers see your child in the learning environment every day and can offer valuable insights into their habits and challenges. Asking the right questions can help identify potential learning struggles that may be tied to cognitive skill weaknesses.
Here are five questions to ask your child’s teacher and what their answers could tell you.
1. Does my child usually finish tasks, assignments, or tests first, last, or in the middle?
What it tells you:
How your child paces themselves in the classroom can give clues about their processing speed and attention. Finishing first might indicate impulsivity, rushing through assignments without checking for accuracy. Finishing last could suggest slow processing speed, where your child struggles to keep up with the pace of the class.
Read More: Signs of Slow Processing Speed >>
2. Does my child ever volunteer to read out loud?
What it tells you:
Volunteering to read aloud shows confidence in reading ability. If your child never volunteers, it could be a sign of reading struggles related to cognitive skills like phonemic awareness, decoding, or memory. Reading out loud requires concentration, working memory, and the ability to decode words in real-time. Reluctance or avoidance could indicate difficulties in one or more of these areas, which may require targeted support.
3. Is my child always searching for materials, struggling to keep up an organization system?
What it tells you:
This question helps gauge your child’s executive functioning skills. Difficulty keeping track of materials or assignments often point to weak working memory, poor attention, or challenges with planning and organization. These cognitive skills are essential for managing daily tasks and staying on top of schoolwork. If your child is constantly misplacing items or forgetting assignments, addressing these skills could improve overall school performance.
4. Do you need to redirect often or repeat instructions?
What it tells you:
Frequent redirection or the need to repeat instructions can signal issues with attention, working memory, or auditory processing. If your child struggles to stay focused, follow multi-step directions, or remember what was said, they may have cognitive weaknesses in these areas. Strengthening attention and working memory can help your child better process and retain information, reducing the need for constant redirection.
5. Does my child move towards challenges or away from them?
What it tells you:
A child’s willingness to tackle challenges is often a reflection of their self-confidence and cognitive resilience. If your child avoids difficult tasks, it could indicate a lack of confidence in their abilities or cognitive weaknesses in problem-solving or critical thinking. On the other hand, if they actively seek challenges, they likely have strong cognitive flexibility and resilience. Understanding your child’s response to challenges can help you determine if they need support building confidence in their learning abilities.
More Signals to Identify Learning Struggles
