It is every parents wish to see their children performing well at school. It is however not the case with most parents who in most cases find their children struggling to learn simple tasks that are perfectly managed by other children.
Instead of being harsh to the child and perhaps introducing cohesive measures one needs to consider that child performance at school can be determined by a number of factors.
If in any case your child’s performance is low or has become a major concern it is better to consider some of the many reasons and one of those could be dyslexia.
Dyslexia is a brain-based disorder; children suffering from dyslexia often use five times the brain area than normal children do while performing simple tasks. Sometimes harsh reactions by parents or tutors to the children’s failures may contribute to their dyslexic condition.
For instance, when a child fails to write or copy words down often it triggers impatience from both the tutor and the child being taught.
One important issue is to know that man is uniquiqe in his ability to communicate ideas verbally and symbolically.
In Zimbabwe most people have overlooked or probably are not aware of dyslexia, thus they often attribute children’s inability to cope in school to laziness and being “dull”.
The more the pressure put on them, the more frustrated and unconfident they become. Here are some things that parents can check to verify if their child is indeed suffering from dyslexia.
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One of the most common and obvious symptoms is reversal of words. For instance instead of writing “now”, they may write “won”.
What they say and what they write is completely different. In most cases dyslexic children write and read slowly and hesitantly thus they often loose their way and often need confirmation from the tutors.
If your child is finding it difficult to communicate through writing the problem can be dysgraphia.
The word dysgraphia is taken from the Greek words dys meaning ill or difficulty and graphien meaning to write. Symptoms that your child can be suffering from dysgraphia may include the following •irregular letter sizes and shapes •inconsistencies in letters •mixture of upper and lower cases in writing •illegible writing and •unfinished letters
In some cases the child might be aware of the right answer and yet finds it difficult to express it in writing.
Because of the pressures mounting up on these children they end up feeling unconfident, insecure and lost.
Most of these children end up developing behaviour problems the stress and frustrations they endure as a result to poor achievement at school make them reluctant to go to school.
Some develop temper tantrums, cheat, steal or even end up indulging in drugs. The question that most people may ask is: How best can we help to get better in school?
The first answer to this is that never rush a child by teaching him/her to write before they can read. One step at a time , if things mount up at once they are likely to frustrate the child and in return they resist.
Buy educational games, for instance blocks, charts, children’s laptops with built-in games to aid them develop their learning skills.
Create interesting ways of learning things, for instance rewarding them for a job well done encourages them to put effort into their next task.
Exercising the brain to gain brain power can be done in an exciting way, for example by downloading games on the Internet that may help in increasing your IQ.
Allow them to get time to play and be with other kids because “All work no play makes jack a dull boy”. Lastly patience pays; take time and invest in your child’s future.
