Children with learning disabilities can be helped by the use of reading glasses, but is this the full story?

As a practicing Behavioral Optometrist for over twenty five years, I appreciate that vision is the principal sense in school, with in excess of 80% of all information coming in via the visual system. So it makes complete sense that any interruption in vision can influence a child’s learning ability. However, having a straightforward eye assessment is very often far short of providing the answers desperate parents are in search of.

The symptoms of children with learning disabilities who have visual problems include

Decreased attentiveness,

Painful eyes or excessive eye rubbing,

Headaches or weariness after reading

Aggravation when reading or writing

Misreading or missing words or lines

Avoiding, crying or screaming when forced to do homework

Children with learning disabilities go through loads of of these difficulties, and they can often be appreciably reduced by a competent eye examination and the appropriate reading glasses. But is it enough? Does merely putting glasses on a child and solving their fundamental visual difficulties mean that the child is cured?

Clearly this is often not the case! How can a pair of glasses help a child to spell better? How can glasses stop a child writing things in reverse, or help them to code or sequence more effectively? Yes, I am the first to agree that reading glasses can help mitigate loads of problems in children with learning disabilities, but all through the years I have come to appreciate that more is required.

The thing is that, even wearing the right glasses if they are necessary, these children lack the visual skills necessary to carry out the job of reading, writing or spelling. These skills are not innate, neither are they magically gifted with any appliance, such as a lens, a colored lens, an ADHD pill or anything else. They have to be learned, and they have to be learned correctly if the child is to get better in their learning to become an effective student.

This makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? If we need our child to be a great footballer, we send them to football practice to teach them the skills of the game. If we need them to be good at tennis, we send them to tennis coaching so they learn and teach the appropriate skills. If we need them to play piano, we don’t merely sit them in front of the piano making them play over and over again, do we? We have piano lessons, and they learn the skills that are considered necessary to play the piano.

Yet, when it comes to reading, we merely make children with learning disabilities toil on, and yes, the right reading glasses may assist, but how much greater will their get better be if we pair this with training the appropriate visual skills?

So if you appreciate children with learning disabilities, having an eye assessment is a great place to start, but it is very often not a wonderful place to finish. Why leave the job half done, with all of their visual skills less than developed? Why condemn them to keep fighting when, with the appropriate training system, you could see astonishing and speedy results.

The subject that remains is, where do you discover such a program> Though there are loads of therapy programs available through Behavioral Optometrists, there has been very little available until now on the internet.

Children with learning disabilities should be given every chance to progress, and merely giving a medication or a pair of glasses may not be the entire treatment they require. If you need to see if your child could be helped in their learning difficulties by training the correct visual skills, then visit our site for free symptoms lists and more, and see for yourself how powerful vision training can be for helping children with learning disabilities.

custom essay writing

As a parent, you may be experiencing the “homework headaches.” Is your child struggling to keep up with his math homework? Does it take hours after school to complete one worksheet? Is he resistant to doing his homework? Does he require your assistance on most of his assignments? Is he working hard, yet seems to get nothing accomplished? Is he acting out in frustration? If any of these scenarios sound familiar a few student homework help tips have been provided below. These guidelines may ultimately help your child succeed and eliminate your homework headaches.

1- If your child is easily distracted, it would be best to designate a study spot for him that is free of distractions such as siblings, TV, and toys. Equip the study area with any supplies that your child may find necessary to complete his homework. Establish a routine in which there is a regularly designated time for homework and stick to it until it becomes a habit. Let your child take a short break after a period of focused effort and achievement. Then he can return to his homework for another period of focused effort. Be sure to discuss any attention issues with his teacher, so that she can be sure to eliminate potential distractions in the classroom and/or offer suggestions specific to your child.

2- If he is staying focused and diligently working on the assignment, yet still regularly taking 1 0.5 to 2 hours each night to get it completed, it is time to discuss this with his teacher. Your child is probably struggling at school as well. You may be able to brainstorm a student homework help game plan that may assist him both in the classroom, as well as at home. The teacher may allow you to shorten assignments that seem to be overwhelming. For instance, say he is working on a math worksheet with several multiplication problems. If he is able to correctly answer the first 2-3 problems, you could then cross out and mark with your initials the remaining multiplication problems so that he can go on to the rest of the page. Often covering up all but one or two problems until they are completed may take away the overwhelmed feelings a student may have in facing an entire page of math. Once the problems are completed, uncover a few more and continue doing this until the page is done.

3- There may be certain concepts that your child has never fully grasped. Failure to grasp such concepts can become a stumbling block toward further growth. Check with your child’s teacher and see what areas of weakness she notices and if she has suggestions on how you can build up your child at home. For example, if your child is learning 2 digit multiplication and division problems and has not mastered the multiplication tables, he will struggle to keep up with the class. Therefore, practicing at home with flashcards or multiplication games can be very beneficial.

4- If your child’s grades are dropping and he is getting discouraged, it may be time to hire an online tutor to step in and assist your child. Through a one-on-one session, your child’s tutor can assess whether he understands the concepts being taught and can go back and re-teach if necessary. Once your child has a firm foundation in the essential concepts, he can progress and gain confidence.

With individualized student homework help to assist your child in the specific areas of his struggle, he can experience success in his education.

dissertation editing

Students can have a difficult enough time trying to function and essentially excel in school under normal circumstances. But when it has been determined that the student has a learning disability, success in school can be that much more difficult.

Normally, students with learning disabilities receive extra attention in school. However, there are times when that student might need a tutor to help with specific weaknesses. If your child has a learning disability and you think he may need a tutor, here are some characteristics in the tutor that you should look for – as well as other ideas to consider.

Special Training

Whether you’re looking for a tutor to work with your child in person or over the Internet, there is a certain level of training that the tutor should have in order to be properly qualified to help your child. For instance, the tutor should understand and be able to apply certain multisensory techniques. To make sure the tutor is able to properly tutor your child, it’s a good idea to ask about training, references, and experience level.

Constant Repetition

A student who has a learning disability often requires more repetition than other students. So after you find a tutor who you feel will work best with your child, it’s good to schedule at least two sessions per week to help reinforce ideas and sink in the message the tutor wants to get across.

Choose a “Fresh” Time of the Day for Tutoring

A student who has a learning disability not only can benefit from repetition when working with a tutor, but also choosing and sticking with a time that represents “freshness” and a readiness to learn. For many students, this means getting started before school starts. However, it’s best to consult with your child and monitor his response to determine the best time to stick with permanently.

Try Online Tutoring for Reinforcement

If you’ve decided to work with an in-town tutoring service, or personal tutor who comes to your home, it’s a good idea to reinforce their work with that of online tutoring services. Many services that you find online are highly qualified to work with all types of students and can help you to solidify ideas that your regular tutor has already taught.

Keep Your Child in the Loop

With your child having a learning disability, insecurities may not be far away. So to make sure your child does not feel insecure or inadequate by needing the added help of a tutor, it’s good to explain along the way why the tutor is coming in to help. It’s also good to let your child know that tons of other children – even at his school – get help from tutors on a regular basis. Your goal in keeping your child in the loop is to focus on the work at hand, rather than any inadequacies he may be feeling.

Your child’s having a learning disability is not the end of the world; it’s actually the beginning of a time that you and he can get closer as you discover the innate intelligence he was born with. As you bring a tutor into the loop, things can only get better. So make sure your child understands all of this – with love.

doctoral thesis

What do you do when your child would rather do anything else than read?

It can be really frustrating as a parent if your child has no interest or worse still an aversion to reading. You know that you need to encourage them to read to improve their literacy skills but what do you do when it becomes a battle rather than a source of enjoyment?

Reading is a skill just like any other. And when you do not have the basic skills then for some children trying to gain the skills becomes worse than not trying. Imagine you were learning to play tennis. How motivated would you be if the ball never went over the net? It wouldn’t be much fun would it, especially if the other player was getting stressed about it.

So the key is to relax yourself. Find ways to have fun reading in different situations. Reading doesn’t just have to be sitting down with a book.

If your child is struggling to read and is spending more time stumbling over the words try reading the book to the child first. Then let your child have a go at filling in some of the blanks that you leave. Then try taking turns reading a page or line. Make sure the book is about something that the child is really interested in. Try and find interesting facts books on a topic they enjoy such as sharks, dinosaurs or soccer. If the subject matter is interesting then your child is more likely to want to master the skills to decode the information.

There are lots of tools available online that can support your child’s reading skills whilst they are having fun. Educational games can improve language development, word recognition or spelling. Kids usually love using the computer and game based learning can be great fun as well as educational.

Ebooks that are animated and read the story aloud as the child follows the words can present reading in a different medium which is removed from the normal associations they have with sitting down to read a book. You can also let them master the tool themselves to develop their self confidence. Look out for books where emerging readers can have a go themselves and click on a word to hear it spoken, like the ones at wizz-e.com.

Try playing word games, like word snap or making words out of different letters. These can be made at home for free and introducing the fun element of play can engage a disinterested reader.

Let your child write their own stories and print them out. You could illustrate the story using images available on the internet, from magazines or let your child draw the pictures themselves. Your child will love showing and reading their books to anyone who will listen! If your child is not a confident writer, then write or type the story out for them.

If you remove the battle and encourage a love of reading using different methods your child will be developing their skills in a way that they enjoy. Just as with learning to playing tennis once one skill set is developed it encourages the desire to learn more.

academic custom essay writing

If you’ve heard about the benefits of online tutoring, you’re probably curious about what it may be able to do for you or your child. It’s always good to inquire first before diving in so that you don’t find yourself taking part in something that just doesn’t work for you.

Luckily, there are an evolving number of online tutoring resources to learn about and essentially take advantage of if you’re interested. Let’s take a look at just a few that have the potential to make your Internet tutoring experience just as rewarding as the traditional face-to-face session.

One-on-One Live Chatting

One resource that is available through various reputable online tutoring resources is one-on-one live chatting – some of which may be available 24/7. Meant to replicate the traditional face-to-face tutoring session, you have the opportunity to work individually with a tutor via live chatting. And very often, the tutors chosen to work as tutors are retired educators, graduate students, high school teachers and college professors with no lower than a Master’s degree in their subject area – in other words, they’re very qualified.

One benefit of this type of online tutoring is the convenience of being able to work with the tutor from the comfort of your home. However, one potential disadvantage to this type of tutoring is not having facial expressions and body language to work with, which are often important reassurance factors for students.

Daily Logs and Tools

Depending on the resource that you choose for online tutoring, you may be able to take advantage of newly-evolved software that allows you and the online tutor to keep a daily log of your child’s progress. For instance, a student management system called SAM is considered one of the most efficient forms of teacher-parent educational coordination and is often used in the online tutoring environment to help the parent review the tutoring session, as well as receive progress reports, after each session.

Also, you may be able to take advantage of electronic tools after signing up with a service. Some of these electronic tools may include a headset and microphone for vocal communication, as well as an electronic pen and tablet for immediate written communication.

Teleseminars / Webcasts

Another unique resource that may be available from an online tutoring service is the teleseminar/webcast. Similar to the one-on-one session, you are given access to a live experience with a tutor. However, the tutor will be communicating with a number of other students. You may have to listen to the session over the phone, or it may be viewable via a webcast. Either way, this lecture-style format offers a unique version of the online tutoring experience that offers the benefit of tutoring from any location.

Another online tutoring resources that you may be able to take advantage of is email homework help, which allows you to send in a homework problem for which you will receive the answer with the solution explained (this typically applies to math). Also, you may be able to utilize online or downloadable software to work through practice problems and assignments. Don’t let the convenience and reliability of online tutoring leave you behind. You may just find that it is just the academic assistance you need.

buy custom essay writing