Managing Behavior Problems During Holiday Activities
Thanksgiving is coming up, and many of you will be traveling to homes of friends and family to celebrate. If your child's behavior leaves you worried about holiday gatherings with family and friends, you're not alone. Children with learning disabilities who also have social skill weaknesses or hyperactivity sometimes clash with other children and raise the eyebrows of disapproving relatives. As a parent, your child's behavior may embarrass you and make you the target of hurtful comments from others. Fortunately, there are strategies you can use to reduce your child's problem behavior and help you cope more effectively.
Managing Your Child's Behavior
Speech and Language Delays Can Lead to Biting
If your child bites or has been bitten, you know the anger, concern, and feelings of guilt it can bring. Many children bite during their toddler years, and most are easily redirected. Among children with speech and language delays, however, biting can be more frequent, last over a longer period of time, and can require more comprehensive interventions. Learn more about this type of biting, why it happens, and what you can do about it.
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Learn About Section 504
If your child has a learning disability, depending on the degree of severity, his school may consider serving him in a special education program or providing adaptations and accommodations under Section 504. Learn more about Section 504 and whether it may be appropriate for your child.
Teach Your Child Early Math Concepts
Kindergartners are always learning. Just let a naughty word slip, and you'll see it in action. We often focus on teaching our children language, but we can also teach early math concepts through playtime activities. Begin by learning ways you can teach him concepts such as "same" and "different." These concepts will be used in later years in math in both visual and word problems. Learning these concepts now will help your child develop visual reasoning skills. Learn how to start with this quick math skills tip.
Letting your child help you with simple household tasks such as mixing and measuring in the kitchen can help him learn through observation and gain important hands-on experience with concepts such as more, less, and measurement.
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- Work on counting skills with this Goldfish Game from Homeschooling. Want to avoid sugar? Use Goldfish crackers instead of gummies.
- Practice measurement with teaspoons and counting skills while making these fun and tasty English Muffin Pizzas
- Teach rhythm and sound discrimination by making your own instruments.
Most importantly, remember to keep learning fun and lighthearted. Children are pressured earlier and earlier to learn, and it is important to remember that play is just as important to your child's development as learning.
Teach Your Child To Manage Problem Behavior
Disruptive behavior is the single most common cause of suspension and expulsion in schools. Students with disruptive behavior problems are at risk for school failure, and they also impact the learning of other students. Left unchecked, even moderate behavior problems can escalate into serious behavior problems in middle and high school.
Challenging behavior is difficult for teachers, parents, the child, and his peers. Behavior problems can result from hyperactivity, as in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, lack of social skills instruction, conduct and behavior disorders, problems in the family, and plain old growing up.
Whether your child has a behavioral disability or simply has behavior problems that many children experience as a rite of passage into adolescence, a behavior intervention plan can help.
Learn how to use pre-task rehearsal to teach your child social and behavior expectations.
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Multisensory Teaching Techniques Score High With Kids
Does your child have difficulty following the teacher's instructions? Do you find yourself repeating instructions at home over and over only to find your child never makes it past the first thing you asked him to do? Many children (and adults) have difficulty processing and following directions involving multiple steps. Incomplete work, tasks done partially or out of order, and avoiding homework can be signs that your child needs more guidance than traditional instruction. They need more than "spray and pray." You know, spray instructions out there, and pray they get it...
Students with learning disabilities often need more than spray and pray and often do better with multisensory methods. Multisensory methods tools involve using several of the student's senses to teach concepts and problem solving, improve memory, and strengthen application skills. Learn more about these fun and engaging ways to help students learn.
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Ways to Teach Math Skills to Children with Language Processing Deficits
Children with language processing deficits have difficulty with understanding spoken language, completing language based tasks in school, and with the ability to retain information in long-term memory for later recall and use. They may also have difficulty with math concepts and problem solving.
Although we often think of math as a nonverbal subject, we actually use language based thinking to understand its concepts and to perform the tasks necessary to solve complex problems.
Learn some effective strategies you can use to help children with auditory processing weaknesses learn math skills.
More Information on Auditory, Receptive, and Expressive Language Processing Deficits:
How Schools Can Accommodate Parents of ESL and ELL Students
English language learners are some of the fastest growing groups in the U.S., and the trend is likely to continue. English language learners face a multitude of challenges at school and in work.
Parents of English as a Second Language (ESL) and English Language Learners (ELL) frequently face communication barriers with schools. Every day school activities and communication with administrators and teachers is a challenge for both the parents and the school staff. This is especially true when learning disabilities and special education are involved. Explore ways schools can effectively accommodate families with language differences in special education programs.
More Resources for English Language Learners
Help Your Preschooler Learn Sight Words
Preschoolers are like little sponges soaking up information and learning new things from their environment every day. They may not be able to tell you what they are learning, but they are receptively learning concepts. You can reinforce this learning and also introduce early sight word recognition with these tips.
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What Is the Least Restrictive Environment?
Some people insist that the least restrictive environment is always the regular classroom. Full inclusion in the regular classroom is always the best placement for every child. But is that necessarily true? While it is true that many children with learning disabilities can learn in the regular classroom with support such as collaboration, some students founder and fail. Others, especially older students, object to getting extra attention in front of their non-disabled classmates. Some student's physical needs are so significant that placement in a regular classroom is embarrassing to them. The answer is that there is no single placement that is always appropriate for every child all the time.
During your child's initial placement meeting or during his annual review, the IEP team will discuss his progress, his learning needs, and his educational placement. Federal special education regulations require that students be educated in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). Learn what LRE means, how it is determined, and what placement options can be considered for your child.