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Learning Disabilities: Notes from Secondary
Teachers
by Dr. Tom Rocks, The Gazette News, September 2002
For more articles on disabilities and special ed visit
www.bridges4kids.org.
Don’t give up. If you have a learning disabled child who is in
middle school or high school, don’t give up. If you’re worn
out, frustrated, or think he shouldn’t need you any more,
don’t give up. Age doesn’t cure learning disabilities.
In fact age only leads to increased expectations, from the
school and from the world. These can lead to social,
emotional, and academic turmoil for the child. Just because
your child is just as tall as you are doesn’t mean he doesn’t
need you anymore.
Letting go is an important part of helping a child to grow up.
But some parents let go too early...when actually the child
needs them just as much and maybe more. Are you familiar with
what is happening to your child developmentally at this stage
of his life? Are you aware of the dramatic impact that
physical and emotional changes are having on your child’s
ability to focus on learning?
Middle school brings new social and emotional challenges. When
the parent stays in touch with the child’s feelings and needs,
the child becomes more comfortable with communication in other
areas of his life.
Parents need to make a special effort to stay connected with
what’s happening in the child’s school life. Attend parent
-teacher functions. Attend to communications from the school.
Keep an eye on the local newspaper for activities that your
child may forget to tell you about.
Most teachers are happy to have parents come to school to talk
over their child’s needs and progress. Most are even willing
to have you call them at home for support for your child. Most
are very committed to their students’ success and will go out
of their way to accommodate your child’s needs.
It’s okay for you to take advantage of that. It’s up to you to
facilitate your child’s availability for extra help from the
teacher. Ask the teacher what you can do at home to support
her efforts in school. When the LD child reaches high school,
life gets even more complicated. Expectations go up, volume of
work increases, and difficulty of subject is greater. Time
management, organization, and focus become even more
important. Parents need to be aware of the increased demands
on their child and be prepared to continue their encouragement
and support regardless of the child’s age.
Don’t assume that your LD child knows all the basics. Many of
these children don’t absorb all the vocabulary and basic
concepts you might have expected them to have picked up as
general information.
Don’t embarrass them by being critical of what they don’t
know. Just teach them over again and praise them for what they
learn. Teachable moments are still important during the high
school years. For example, a cooking or building project at
home presents a great opportunity to review and to practice
working fractions.
Keep them in the habit of discussing with you what they
learned in school every day. It will give them much needed
practice in paraphrasing and verbalizing concepts, both verbal
and written. They need to practice language manipulation
skills and to work on extending their vocabulary. Be patient
and listen.
Every learning disabled child is unique. You need to learn
your child’s specific needs and parameters. Be conscious of
strengths as well as weaknesses. Pay special attention to
strengths. Because high school is when a student begins to
plan for his life’s work, he really needs to know and focus on
his strengths.
Life for learning disabled children has been full of
frustrations and failures. Be aware of how very sensitive they
are about their abilities and inabilities. They need a parent
who believes they can learn and who provides opportunities to
help them to overcome their failures.
Those opportunities include encouraging them to continue to
seek help from a teacher to correct their mistakes and improve
their skills. Assume with the teacher that they CAN learn. It
is only a question of what is the best way to learn, and how
long it may take.
In keeping with this assumption, it is important that you hold
the child accountable for making the effort toward success.
It’s a given that he will need to put in more time and effort
than many other children in order to be successful. It’s NOT A
QUESTION OF FAIRNESS. It’s only a question of HOW MUCH HE
NEEDS TO LEARN to get where he wants to go in life.
You must help the child to learn that his success or failure
is based on choices he makes, not on the fairness or
unfairness of his disability. Success depends largely on how
hard he is willing to work for it. I like the approach of the
teacher who said, “don’t whine and groan about what you can’t
do. Tell me what you want to do and we’ll work at it until you
succeed. “
With all the distractions and demands of daily living in the
twenty first century, it is very easy to lose track of
priorities. Make the learning process a priority in your
family life. Parents who stay involved, stay supportive, and
stay focused, have more successful students.
Dr. Tom Rocks holds a doctorate in counselor education.
Recently retired as director of pupil services for the
Waynesboro Area School District, he has a private counseling
practice. Comments and suggestions are welcome at krocks@innernet.net.
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