If you suspect that your child has a learning disability (LD), don’t despair. With early recognition and targeted intervention, children with LD can achieve as well as other children do. Students whose LD is identified and addressed before they leave third grade have the best chance at academic success, but it’s never too late.
Fortunately, not every child who struggles in school has a learning disability. For example, common reasons for reading problems in young children are insufficient reading practice and a lack of background knowledge. This type of learning difficulty can often be remediated without the need for special education services.
However, it’s critical that you are proactive about your child’s learning difficulties. The sooner you address your child’s struggles, the sooner he or she can receive appropriate support.
Here are some important steps you can take to work with teachers and other professionals to find out if your child has LD and ensure that he or she gets the necessary help to succeed in school.
Collect Information About Your Child’s Academic Performance
Gathering and organizing information about your child’s academic development will help you monitor his or her progress over time. (Because having LD can also affect a child’s social skills, make notes about his relationships and friendships as well.) To track the patterns of your child’s development, mark the dates of the notes you keep.
In addition to keeping your own notes, be sure to maintain a file of all school-generated reports, including standardized test results, report cards, progress reports and written comments from teachers. Also keep a record of what you observe at different stages as well as discussions you’ve had with school personnel and other professionals. Through this process you’ll start to develop a keen awareness of your child’s ability to learn, study, do homework and finish the tasks that are assigned.
Share Your Concerns With Your Child’s Teacher
Explain to your child’s teacher what you’re concerned about, and ask what she’s observed in your child’s academic performance and interactions with peers. Together you may come up with strategies to try in the classroom and at home to support your child’s learning and behavior needs. Honest and open communication, together with some creative thinking and flexibility in planning, can go a long way toward discovering how best to address your child’s unique needs. Working closely with you, the teacher can help you identify available school resources and methods for pinpointing and addressing your child’s special needs.
Before Formal Testing: Approaches to Pinpoint a Child’s Learning Problem
Before referring a student for a formal special education evaluation, many schools today try alternative methods to pinpoint and address a student’s learning problems. If you feel your child is struggling in school, speak up and request that the school consider one of the following approaches.
An approach that is often used to help struggling students is pre-referral intervention. In this approach, a team made up of teachers, a school psychologist, and other school personnel is established to brainstorm and suggest educational procedures and practices that a student’s teacher might implement to help that child in his or her regular education classroom. If the teacher uses the suggested procedures and they’re successful, the child may not need to be referred for special education or go through formal diagnostic testing. Note: Depending on the school, such a team might also be called a student study team, teacher assistance team, or child study team.
Another recommended approach is a research-based method known as Response to Intervention (RTI). RTI is a way to help all students succeed, include struggling learners. Teachers provide interventions as soon as students show signs of difficulties. When students are allowed to fail, they get further and further behind, making it more and more difficult to get them back on grade level. By helping students early, schools can keep every student on grade level and on track to graduate. The manner in which states and school districts implement RTI varies greatly, so be sure to check with your state or local school district for additional information about RTI in your child’s school. Note: The RTI process is sometimes called Responsiveness to Intervention or Multi-Tier System of Support (MTSS) depending on the state or school district.
Formal Educational Evaluation for LD
After a pre-referral or RTI approach has been used, you and/or your child’s school may decide that more information is needed to understand how best to meet your child’s needs. If so, a comprehensive educational evaluation can be conducted. A formal educational evaluation usually includes:
- Parent and child interviews
- Direct classroom observation
- A review of your child’s educational and medical history
- A series of tests that help identify your child’s strengths and weaknesses
- Information gathering with teachers and other professionals who work with your child
Public schools administer this type of evaluation at no charge to its students and to children who live in the district, whether or not they attend a public school. Either you or your child’s school can request such an evaluation, but it can only be conducted with a parent’s written consent.
If your child attends a private school, you may need to hire and pay for a private evaluator, but talk to your school administrator to learn what options are available through the school. Special education services (as defined by federal law) are neither required nor funded at private schools.
Know Your Legal Rights
Whether your child attends a public or private school, he or she is entitled to certain protections under education law. You also have the right to request at any time that your child be evaluated for learning disabilities. Learn about your child’s legal rights by obtaining a copy of your state’s guidelines for special education services. You can get these guidelines from your school district office or your state department of education. Tip: Use our Resource Locator to find your state department of education.
If the results of the evaluation indicate that your child has LD, she or he may be eligible for special educational services. Note: If your child has LD but doesn’t qualify for special education, he or she may qualify for protection under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability.
Help and Hope for Children Who Don’t Qualify for Special Education
If your child doesn’t qualify for special education services, it’s still important for you to work with the school and his teacher to ensure that the evaluation findings are used to enhance classroom instruction in ways that help your child work around his learning problems and capitalize on his abilities. Even without an IEP, it may be possible to make changes that will help your child, especially given recent amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that broaden the definition of who an individual with a disability is under federal law. If your child is not eligible for services under IDEA, your child may now qualify for a 504 plan. Discuss this with the school and work together to implement changes in the classroom and at home.
Reassure and Encourage Your Child
Reassure your child that having a LD doesn’t mean that he’s stupid or lazy. Be honest and optimistic with your child, and encourage him to speak up about what helps him learn. Teaching your child to be an effective self-advocate and to be able to articulate what he needs to succeed is one of the most helpful things you can do. Explain that, though learning may be a struggle, your child can still succeed.
Emphasize Your Child’s Strengths
Like all children, a child with LD has individual strengths as well as challenges. Some children with LD struggle with reading or math but are outstanding athletes, or excel in creative areas like music, painting, or sculpture. Participation in after-school activities and clubs are good ways for children to develop their interests and talents, build self-esteem, develop social skills and enjoy a break from formal academics.
In the classroom, the teacher may be able to help your child use his special abilities to compensate for his learning difficulties. For example, a child who learns well by listening (auditory ability) but who struggles with reading might benefit from listening to recorded books.
Support Your Child at Home
On the home front, you can help your child succeed if you establishing a regular time and place for doing on homework and other school assignments. Be sure to offer praise for work well done. Help him or her develop a homework routine that works, and encourage him to practice good study habits at home.
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