This month, the Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper offers tips for parents who have children struggling in school. Director of the Cooper Learning Center Richard Selznick, Ph.D., has extensive experience assessing and treating children with a broad range of learning problems. He has also written about children discouraged with school in his new book, The Shut-Down Learner: Helping Your Academically Discouraged Child (www.shutdownlearner.com). Dr. Selznick coined the phrase “shut-down learner” to describe children who thrive with hands-on tasks requiring visual and spatial abilities, but who have difficulty mastering core skills such as reading and writing.
You may recognize your child in these descriptions. If your child is young, he or she can exhibit these characteristics:
- Doesn’t love circle time, rolls around on the floor and shows disinterest
- Resistant to early reading tasks
- Slow at letter naming
- Not attuned to sound variation (are there chronic ear infections?)
- Weak in phonemic-awareness activities
- Might not like being read to
- Might be overwhelmed by songs
In the later elementary school grades and high school, your child may be:
- Disconnected, discouraged and unmotivated (shut down);
- Weakest in reading, writing and spelling;
- Avoiding homework and other school tasks;
- Disliking reading;
- Hating writing; and
- Increasingly angry about school and gets no gratification from going.
Dr. Selznick has some advice. First it’s crucial for parents who are dealing with these frustrations every day to understand what your child is experiencing. Parents who yell at their children or criticize them too much provoke more tension and cause the child to have a negative view of himself.
Parents are often too quick to want to fix the problem. Parents need to pause and reflect on the situation. This understanding leads to change. Instead of seeing the child as lazy and unmotivated, parents can acknowledge when the child successfully completes a job.
To understand your child, you will want to begin with a good evaluation by an evaluator who is clear about your child’s strengths (don’t just dwell on the weaknesses). Tell your child that he/she is okay. Watch any critical tone; don’t put the child on the defensive. Admire small successe. (“Wow, you did a great job helping me organize the basement today.”). Celebrate frequently. Go out for a treat or something similar when your child has done something well in school. Be careful not to get into large monetary rewards. Be encouraging and tell the child that the future is not hopeless but full of promise.
For more advice from Dr. Selznick, the Cooper Learning Center, located in Voorhees, has a number of programs for your children, including a Summer Reading Camp. The program is designed to actively engage children ages 5 to 12 using proven, evidence-based methods. Building on its past successes, the Summer Reading Camp offers a range of activities in two four-week sessions: June 29-July 23 and July 27-August 20. Sessions are 9 a.m. to noon, Monday through Thursday. Camp is held in the Voorhees office. For more information, please contact the camp hotline (856) 673-4904.