By Amy James
John Wiley & Sons Inc
How can you determine if you child has a learning disability? Sixteen pages of checklists by age in this book will help.
What resources exist if you do suspect he or she has difficulties that need to be addressed? The author has many answers, and it’s encouraging to know that there are, in fact, more than 300 diagnostic tests in the United States for learning disabilities.
Here’s a book that walks parents through everything from how to get those tests administered, to how to help him or her with reading and writing – for instance, the importance of repetition and chunking. Chunking means reading a sentence in parts instead of trying to read it all at once, gradually increasing the size of the chunks as your young reader progresses, until he or she can read an entire sentence without hesitation.
Advice for handling homework includes:
- Set a schedule that includes both a beginning and an ending time.
- Have your child divide the assignment into “what I can do myself” and “what I need help with.”
- Don’t fall for the “this TV show is part of my homework” line.
- Provide a space with good light and few distractions.
- Be available while your child is doing homework, but perhaps in a separate room so you don’t serve as a distraction.
- Don’t correct his homework when he’s finished, as it’s helpful for a teacher to see a pattern of errors.
- Encourage her to study in daylight when possible.
- Provide some positive feedback regardless of how they’ve done.
The tips for helping your child improve at and enjoy writing are particularly good. There’s also advice for motivating your child to want to improve her reading and writing: Remind her she’ll complete homework faster, perhaps move to another class where some of her friends are, and find herself able to work at the same pace as friends.
Then there are the reminders for not only modeling reading (keep books handy, read them and newspapers in front of him), but demonstrating the value of reading: “Look things up on the Internet and read the information you find. Read labels at the grocery store and comment on the nutritional value of the food. Research information about the type of car that your child is daydreaming he will get for his 16th birthday and then read and comment on car-specific information with him.”
The writing is a little dry, and much information won’t apply to readers outside the United States, but if you’re the parent of a special needs child, this well-organized book is a good one to add to your shelf.
