Before my daughter Michele began attending school, a lady
who was babysitting her noticed things she did (or didn't do)
that weren't quite right developmentally. We were fortunate in that the babysitter had had training
in early childhood education, and she would work with Michele
and her son to help them develop appropriate pre-school skills.
She became concerned that Michele struggled with learning her
alphabet and her numbers. Her small motor skills - things like
using scissors and coloring - weren't up to par. She would
overreact to many situations, and she didn't understand jokes
because she didn't understand words with different meanings. We weren't surprised when she was recommended in first grade
to be evaluated for a learning disability. I have taught hundreds of children with learning disabilities,
and all of them had different combinations of signs. Some of
the younger children just couldn't remember what sound(s) each
letter or combination of letters made. Some couldn't figure out
what certain numbers added up to, or they couldn't remember
their subtraction, multiplication, or division facts, even
though they tried and tried to memorize them. Many of the kids, both younger and older, like Michele, could
read words on a page very well, but they had difficulty
understanding what they read. Then there were others who had
to have help reading the words, but once they read them, they
had no trouble understanding. There were some who were great
readers and writers, but they had an awful time with Math, and
there were some who could do math better than I could, but they
had a terrible time with reading. One thing a majority of them struggled with was organizational
skills. They were always losing things - notebooks, pencils,
coats, assignments, anything they could possibly lose. Their
lockers looked like tornadoes had gone through them. And I heard
from the parents that their bedrooms were the same story. Too many of the students I taught tried to avoid reading and
writing because it was so difficult for them. It was a common
practice for me to help them read tests because they 1) couldn't
read the words, or 2) didn't understand either the question or
the multiple choice answers they were given. Taking notes was always difficult for Michele. She couldn't get
the notes from the chalkboard, overhead, or even her textbook
onto her paper. She had to have help in her classrooms so she
could work around this problem. Everyone has problems with something. But when these problems interfere with your child's education, and they are not showing
the improvement they should be showing, it is time to consider
getting him evaluated. For more on having your child evaluated, visit http://www.LDPerspectives.com. For more information designed especially to help you take charge
of the Learning Disabilities in your life, please visit our
website at http://www.LDPerspectives.com. About the Author Sandy Gauvin is a retired educator who has seen learning
disabilities from many perspectives - as the parent of a
daughter with learning disabilities, as the teacher of children
with learning disabilities, and as an advocate for others who
have diagnosed and unrecognized learning disabilities. Sandy shares her wisdom and her resources at http://www.LDPerspectives.com
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