Should my child have a tutor?

By Angela Rudderham, Director of Turning Tides Community Outreach

Every parent wants their child to succeed in school and have a future full of opportunities and possibilities. We send them to school each day with all their supplies and a balanced lunch and trust that our educators will work to develop our child’s true potential and foster in them a desire to learn. 

Unfortunately, not every child’s true potential is unlocked from simply attending school. 

In fact, 15-year-olds in Nova Scotia scored statistically lower than the Canadian average according to Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey 2006.  Math scores in Nova Scotia were some of the country’s lowest as found in Measuring up: Canadian Results of the OECD PISA Study Ottawa, Statistics Canada, 2007.  Literacy was the lowest in the country and the dropout rate was 8.6% says Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey 2010.  Only 28% of students from Nova Scotia will go on to university and 8% will go on to a college or trade education (Labour force survey 2006). 

All of this evidence tells us our children will most likely need other supports to ensure their success.  The question is, when is additional support necessary?

You may want to consider tutoring if:

Your child still needs help mastering basic skills.  Teachers will move forward whether your child has mastered the skill or not. If basic skills are not mastered than the student will struggle when relying on them to solve more complex problems. These skills need to be re- taught until mastered.

Your child struggles with organization, working independently or lacks study skills. Often the brightest students who learn quickly may lack organizational skills or become overwhelmed when faced with a testing situation. Anyone can benefit from learning how to organize notes, break down large assignments, meet due dates or discover how they best take in information.

Your child has a learning disability.  This will interfere with the learning process in areas such as the intake, storage, processing, retrieval and/or output of information. A tutoring service that has extensive experience and training in helping students with learning disabilities should be able to show the student how they learn best and provide strategies for independent success.

Your child is struggling with big life changes.  A move, divorce, new school, family issues can all contribute to your child being distracted from their school work. Working closely with a tutor will ensure a smoother transition.

Your child struggles with behavioral, social or emotional needs.  Often these needs can contribute to missed instruction time. A tutor with experience working with students who have had similar needs will often have a large tool box of strategies to draw from to keep your child engaged and on track.

Your child has missed a lot of school due to medical or other reasons. A tutor can go back and teach what was missed and help the student gain back the confidence that they may have lost. They can also work around the student’s schedule.

You want to give your child the competitive edge to get ahead.  There is always room for improvement. Striving to do our personal best is an excellent habit to develop at any age.

Your child needs homework support.  Parents, homework and the student can sometimes be an unpleasant combination to say the least. In most homes both parents are working or have other major responsibilities and there just isn’t time to give your child the homework support they need without it taking on a rushed or negative tone. Let someone else be the “bad “guy and save your parent/ child time for the important stuff like hugs and kisses.

The right tutoring service will be able to match your child’s needs with the right program. They should understand the importance of rappot building between the student and the tutor. The tutor should be willing to work with your child’s teacher, provide regular updates and reports and improvements should be noticed after a few months. Be wary of services that will not let you observe or listen in on sessions at least once or have no way to measure the acquisition of new skills.

There is little doubt that anyone can benefit from tutoring.  Do your homework and shop around.  Ask questions and compare services and prices until you find the right fit.

Angela is a behaviour and social skills specialist who has developed programs for students, as well as support workshops for parents, teachers and other professionals.  Turning Tides Community Outreach offers tutoring services to meet the academic, social, behavioural and organizatonal needs of any child.  For more information or advice, please give Angela a call at 902-404-TIDE (8433).

Do you know the signs a child may be struggling with a Learning Disability?

By Angela .E. Rudderham

 A recent study called, “Putting a Face on Learning Disabilities”, used Statistics Canada survey data and focus groups with adults and children with learning disabilities, as well as with parents of children with learning disabilities. The results are that undiagnosed learning disabilities often lead to long-lasting psychological harm.

Without intervention, support or accommodations children are less likely to succeed in school, and adults less likely to graduate or be employed, and more likely to report suicidal thoughts, depression, or anxiety. When you have a learning disability it is not just a matter of “trying harder” - further intervention is necessary for the student to learn what he will need to achieve success.

It's not uncommon for students to struggle in or dislike school. It's not uncommon that a student may not excel in a particular area of school or not achieve marks that reflect their true potential. So how do parents and educators spot the sometimes subtle warning signs that a student may have a learning disability?

A learning disability doesn't mean the student is slow. So many times I hear people deny a child’s possible learning disability in statements such as, “No he definitely wouldn’t have a LD, he is very bright and intelligent.” This does not mean he is exempt from a learning disability. Plenty of highly intelligent people have been diagnosed with a learning disability. In fact one of the first steps professionals take in diagnosing a learning disability is to determine the  child’s potential (IQ) and compare it to the child’s performance. They do this through a series of tests called a psycho educational assessment.  They are looking for any issues in the learning process.

They will look at how the individual:

ü  Takes in information. There could be a problem with how the brain interprets what the eyes see; this is called visual perception disorder. It could be an issue taking in sounds; this is referred to as an auditory perception or auditory processing disorder.

ü   Makes sense of or processes information. Someone who has difficulty in this area may have trouble organizing their thoughts or struggle with the ability to infer meaning.

ü  Stores information. The individual may have deficits in the area of short term memory, working memory or long term memory.

ü  Is using or getting information out.  Difficulty coordinating the muscles of the hand (a grapho-motor problem) greatly affects a student’s hand writing. Getting thoughts onto paper can also be a problem for those who have trouble in this area. Language output issues, including problems organizing thoughts, finding the right words, and expressing themselves can be detected.

A very intelligent person can have a glitch in one or more of these areas. When trying to identify whether a child may have a learning disability leave intelligence out of the indicators and think about the following.

• Did your child struggle learning phonemes (individual units of sound) and graphemes (letters, numbers)? Or do they have difficulty learning how to blend sounds and letters to sound out words? Problems remembering familiar words by sight or difficulty with reading comprehension?
• Do they struggle with forming letters and numbers or have difficulty with basic spelling and grammar?
• Do they experience difficulties learning math skills and doing math calculations?
• Is it difficult for them to remember facts?
• Is organizing materials (notebook, binder, papers), information, and/or concepts a challenge?
• Do they have trouble understanding oral instructions and an inability to express them self verbally?
• Do they struggle with making, maintaining or repairing friendships?
• Do they often lose or forget materials, or do work and forget to turn it into the teacher?
• Do they struggle to plan out the steps and time lines for completing projects, especially long-term projects?
• Do they have difficulty organizing thoughts for written reports or public speaking?
• Have they developed behaviors that help them to avoid their school work?
• Do they frustrate easily?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions it is in the child’s best interest to have them assessed to discover or rule out the presence of a learning disability. Some types of LD are not apparent until middle school or high school. They only way to get a sure diagnosis is to have a psychologist do a psycho educational assessment. This can be done through your child’s school; however there is often a long wait. If you choose you can have this testing done privately through a psychologist for a fee. Regardless early identification can pave the way for children to get the support they need to experience success both now and in the future.

Is your child's LD affecting their social skills?

By Angela Rudderham, Director of Turning Tides Community Outreach

One thing I know for sure is that every good parent wants their child to be happy.  I also know that children who are rejected by their peers have a very difficult time finding happiness. They dread going to school with fears running through their minds, “I’ll probably be picked last in gym again and I’ll hide out in the washroom during lunch to avoid getting teased.” Or “My teacher hates me, she never sees what anyone does to me, and she seems to only catch me when I defend myself!”  With these very real concerns who can concentrate on academics? 

I hear these concerns everyday from new students who start our program at Bridgeway, a school for students with learning disabilities. Learning disabilities or LD’s,  can contribute to varying social difficulties that can play a huge factor in a student’s daily life that many of us may not fully understand.  A student with a non-verbal learning disability (NLD), for example, may not be able to interpret non-verbal communication such as understanding what facial expressions mean (interpretation), how close to stand to someone when speaking with them (proxemtics), or how their body language is being interpreted by others (perception). In some cases a student may even misunderstand the emotional attachment to words (distortion).  Since the experts tell us that at least 75% of our communication is delivered though non-verbal communication this tells us that these students are missing out on a great deal of information regarding themselves and others. Imagine the social ramifications of not receiving the message that the person you are speaking with is no longer interested in speaking with you.  Or maybe the group that has surrounded you to compliment your new clothes is actually laughing at you. 

We also have students with attention deficit disorder. One area a student with ADHD - combined type  may struggle with is impulsivity. This means that as soon as the child has an impulse they may act on it before their brain has had time to consider things like rules, the feelings of others, or the outcome of their actions. The student with ADHD may grab things before asking, break rules repeatedly, or even swing at someone who accidentally stepped on their toes in a line–up. Adults who are under-informed regarding ADHD may scold or punish these children, causing even more feelings of rejection. Students with language processing deficits, measurable cognitive limitations, complex learning disorders and hyperactivity are more likely to experience social deficits.

When students first arrive at Bridgeway, they are shocked to find out how different their experience is at our school. We train our staff to understand how a student’s learning disability or ADD directly affects their relationships with others. In our program we focus on what can be done to help students learn the skills necessary to engage socially.  Just like the skills that accompany hockey, social skills can be broken down and taught, practiced and reinforced to create skill acquisition and generalization.

Sending your child to their room or taking away their favorite toy for socially unacceptable behaviors just doesn’t work. You wouldn’t teach spelling by asking your child to spell a new word and then punishing them when they misspell it. Instead, you would provide them with the correct spelling and have them practice it until it becomes routine. This strategy will work for your child’s social mistakes as well. When your child chooses a socially unacceptable behavior immediately find a private place to rehearse the socially appropriate behavior. Model it for them, have the child practice it; provide positive feedback concentrating on the cause and effect of the desirable and undesirable behavior. Look for numerous opportunities in public or on TV where you can show your child someone else using the correct behavior. Remember to keep it light and very positive. Make a game out of it! Don’t worry with a little invested time you can find an abundance of information out there for assisting your child with their social deficits.  Check out your local library or online search engines. Understanding will create the ‘Bridgeway for Change’

Angela is a behaviour and social skills specialist who has developed social skills and behaviour programs for students at Bridgeway Academy.  Through Turning Tides Community Outreach, she is now offering social skills programs for all youth, as well as support workshops for parents, teachers and other professionals. For more information or advice, please give Angela a call at 902-404-TIDE (8433).

Sir Ken Robinson - The Element

We believe that everyone has gifts and talents, even if they struggle in other areas.  We can always help in the areas that need support, but it's just as important to get in touch with our talents and our passions and let them shine.

That's what Sir Ken Robinson's book, The Element, is all about.  Since we'll be welcoming Sir Ken to Nova Scotia in April 2012, we thought it might be a good idea to find out more about his ideas and share them with you.  Rhonda Brown, Bridgeway Academy's Director of Communications is reading The Element now and will be blogging about it.  She'll share her thoughts as a guest blogger for us over the coming weeks.

If you've read Sir Ken's books, or listened to his presentations online via the TedTalks, let us know what you think!

How does a learning disability affect the parents of a child?

By Angela Rudderham, Director of Turning Tides Community Outreach

Research indicates that parental reaction to the diagnosis of learning disability is more pronounced than in any other area of exceptionality. Consider: if a child is mentally or physically handicapped, the parent becomes aware of the problem in the first few weeks of the child's life. However, the pre-school development of the learning disabled child is often uneventful and the parent does not suspect that a problem exists. When informed of the problem by elementary school personnel, a parent's first reaction is generally to deny the existence of a disability. This denial is, of course, unproductive. The father tends to remain in this stage for a prolonged period because he is not exposed to the child's day-to-day frustrations and failures.

Research conducted by Eleanor Whitehead suggests that the parent of an LD child goes through a series of emotions before truly accepting the child and his problem. These "stages" are totally unpredictable. A parent may move from stage-to-stage in random. Some parents skip over stages while others remain in one stage for an extended period. These stages are as follows:

DENIAL: "There is really nothing wrong!" "That's the way I was as a child--not to worry!" "He'll grow out of it!"

BLAME: "You baby him!" "You expect too much of him." "It's not from my side of the family."

FEAR: "Maybe they're not telling me the real problem!" "Is it worse than they say?" "Will he ever marry? go to college? graduate?"

ENVY: "Why can't he be like his sister or his cousins?"

MOURNING: "He could have been such a success, if not for the learning disability!"

BARGAINING: "Wait 'till next year!" "Maybe the problem will improve if we move! (or he goes to camp, etc.)."

ANGER: "The teachers don't know anything." "I hate this neighborhood, this school...this teacher."

GUILT: "My mother was right; I should have used cloth diapers when he was a baby." "I shouldn't have worked during his first year." "I am being punished for something and my child is suffering as a result."

ISOLATION: "Nobody else knows or cares about my child." "You and I against the world. No one else understands."

FLIGHT: "Let's try this new therapy--Donahue says it works!" "We are going to go from clinic to clinic until somebody tells me what I want to hear.!"

Again, the pattern of these reactions is totally unpredictable. This situation is worsened by the fact that frequently the mother and father may be involved in different and conflicting stages at the same time (e.g., blame vs. denial; anger vs. guilt). This can make communication very difficult.

The good news is that with proper help, most LD children can make excellent progress. There are many successful adults such as attorneys, business executives, physicians, teachers, etc. who had learning disabilities but overcame them and became successful. Now with special education and many special materials, LD children can be helped early.

Pointers for parents of children with learning disabilities:

1.   Take the time to listen to your children as much as you can (really try to get their "Message").

2.   Love them by touching them, hugging them, tickling them, wrestling with them (they need lots of physical contact).

3.   Look for and encourage their strengths, interests, and abilities. Help them to use these as compensations for any limitations or disabilities.

4.   Reward them with praise, good words, smiles, and pat on the back as often as you can.

5.   Accept them for what they are and for their human potential for growth and development. Be realistic in your expectations and demands.

6.   Involve them in establishing rules and regulations, schedules, and family activities.

7.   Tell them when they misbehave and explain how you feel about their behavior; then have them propose other more acceptable ways of behaving.

8.   Help them to correct their errors and mistakes by showing or demonstrating what they should do.

9.   Don't nag!

10.  Give them reasonable chores and a regular family work responsibility whenever possible.

11.  Give them an allowance as early as possible and then help them plan to spend within it.

12.  Provide toys, games, motor activities and opportunities that will stimulate them in their development.

13.  Read enjoyable stories to them and with them. Encourage them to ask questions, discuss stories, tell the story, and to reread stories.

14.  Further their ability to concentrate by reducing distracting aspects of their environment as much as possible (provide them with a place to work, study and play).

15.  Don't get hung up on traditional school grades! It is important that they progress at their own rates and be rewarded for doing so.

16.  Take them to libraries and encourage them to select and check out books of interest.

17.  Have them share their books with you.

18.  Provide stimulating books and reading material around the house.

19.  Help them to develop self-esteem and to compete with self rather than with others.

20.  Insist that they cooperate socially by playing, helping, and serving others in the family and the community.

21.  Serve as a model to them by reading and discussing material of personal interest. Share with them some of the things you are reading and doing.

22.  Don't hesitate to consult with teachers or other specialists whenever you feel it to be necessary in order to better understand what might be done to help your child learn.

Angela is a behaviour and social skills specialist who has developed programs for students, as well as support workshops for parents, teachers and other professionals. For more information or advice, please give Angela a call at 902-404-TIDE (8433).