Early Signs of Learning Struggles to Watch for in the First Weeks of School
Many parents are caught off guard when they get to the first report card or check-in with the teacher. “What do you mean my child is struggling?!” Rather than waiting for grades or parent-teacher conferences, there are some early signs of learning struggles you can keep an eye out for in the first weeks of school that indicate your child might be struggling.
#1: They Lose Their Enjoyment of School
Whether they start out strong and excited about school and experience a slow (or sharp) decline in that enjoyment, or they’re hesitant to begin with, not wanting to go to school is a big sign that they’re struggling.
Why?
Would you want to do something that’s hard or that you’re not naturally good at for over 7 hours every day? Of course not. When kids have learning struggles, school can feel like an insurmountable obstacle.
#2: “I Don’t Know” or “I Can’t Remember”
When those are the only answers you get when you ask your child what they did or learned during the day, it could be a sign of learning struggles underneath the surface. It’s common for kids to spend a majority of the school day in a fight-flight-freeze response to stress because they’re overwhelmed, struggling to keep up, or unable to grasp concepts. When this cascade happens, it impacts reasoning and memory abilities that prevent kids from really absorbing what they’re learning.
#3: Homework Battles or Groundhog Day-Like Frustration
There are a few different ways learning struggles can manifest in homework time.
First, they fight you on getting it done. This avoidance may not be purely stubbornness; it could indicate some learning struggles where their brain is just trying to avoid the stress of doing something that feels impossible.
Second, they procrastinate. If your student is leaving everything to the last second and simply struggles to get started, there are a few underlying reasons for that. Task initiation is a critical executive functioning skill that may need some training and practice so they’re not scrambling the night before something is due.
Third, it can feel like you’re repeating the same thing over and over. This Groundhog Day experience with homework can look like:
- fighting the same battles every night,
- needing to reteach the same concepts to them several days (or weeks) in a row,
- or them struggling to remember what they’re supposed to do and when.
#4: “I Forgot It” is a Sign of Learning Struggles
If your child suddenly becomes forgetful — “I left my textbook at school.” “I couldn’t turn it it because I left it at home.” “My laptop wasn’t charged, and I forgot the cord in my locker.” — these are also indications of learning struggles.
It could be that your child “forgot it” because they’re trying to avoid it. It’s human nature to be averse to things that are hard. When kids are struggling in school, they may try every trick in the book to get out of having to do it anyway.
Or it could be that they truly forgot it because they are so overwhelmed. But that, too, is a sign of a struggle.
So What Do You Do if You Notice These Learning Struggles?
First, realize that while these things can feel like behavioral issues, they’re almost always more deeply rooted in cognitive deficits. When cognitive skills are weak, learning is harder.
As these signs become more and more frequent, there are two main approaches to addressing them: accommodations or a root cause intervention.
Accommodations are things like extra time on tests, quiz retakes, the ability to re-submit assignments, taking tests orally, or doing tasks in a quiet room. All of these things are beneficial to get your child to pass a class. But are they really “fixing” the learning struggle?
The reality is that accommodations are not designed to build learning skills independent of that extra support. Yes, they can help make school more enjoyable and “easier” in the short-term (and sometimes that is very necessary). But they are not the long term solution. They don’t make your student more confident in their ability to learn independently.
A root cause intervention takes a different approach. Instead of allowing the struggle to continue and working around it, an intervention like brain training looks at which skills your student is lacking. And then it buildsthem.
It’s like refilling their cognitive toolbox with the right tools for the job of learning.
Learn more about this approach to addressing learning struggles here! >>
