{"id":63296,"date":"2021-10-18T13:24:52","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T18:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=63296"},"modified":"2021-10-18T13:24:52","modified_gmt":"2021-10-18T18:24:52","slug":"teaching-children-with-learning-disabilities-to-persevere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/teaching-children-with-learning-disabilities-to-persevere\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Children With Learning Disabilities to Persevere"},"content":{"rendered":"

“For a righteous man can fall seven times and rise\u2026” (Proverbs, 24:16)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Teaching all kids to persevere and keep trying aids them in all areas of life. However, the ability to keep trying when we don’t initially succeed is a must for children who struggle in school.<\/p>\n

We all know stories of successful people who failed many times before attaining their goals. Falling and getting up, making mistakes and using them as opportunities are essential parts of learning how to cope, grow and finally succeed.<\/p>\n

Students with disabilities often need accommodations and extra support. However, this does not mean that they cannot work hard and push through their challenges. Everyone, including children with disabilities, needs to know that to achieve expertise in any area, it takes many little steps and a lot of practice.<\/p>\n

Parents \u2013 and even educators \u2013 may have a hard time balancing the support and special accommodations that children with disabilities need, while also encouraging children to persevere through their learning difficulties.<\/p>\n

Here are seven ideas that can help:<\/p>\n

1. Life Success vs. Academic Success:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have said this many times, but it bears repeating: A person\u2019s success in life is not determined by his school grades. There are so many people that I personally know who were awful at school and are beloved to their family, have great jobs and are an asset to their community. A person\u2019s success is generally determined by healthy sense of self, an ability to be a team player, people skills, and finally, the determination to persevere despite the many challenges that they may encounter.<\/p>\n

Once we understand this, we may feel less stress about our child\u2019s academic performance. When that pressure is released, we can handle their issues calmly and kindly. We will then be better able to:<\/p>\n

2. Help Children Manage Their Frustration:<\/strong><\/p>\n

When children feel challenged by their schoolwork, they may cry, tantrum, throw up their hands in defeat or avoid their homework by busying themselves with other activities. It is at this time that we can use the following phrases:<\/p>\n

\u201cThese problems are really frustrating, aren\u2019t they? Try to slow down and let\u2019s see where you got off-track.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you already knew how to do everything, then you wouldn\u2019t need to be in school. This one is a hard one. It may take a few tries to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEli, it looks like the part of you that wants things to be easy is fighting the part of you that knows what it takes to learn new things. Try to hold on to that new learning mindset here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKayla, you are having trouble with homework. Remember, when you are feeling frustrated with a task, you need to remind yourself that this is all about learning. It is hard, but it is not impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBenny, you are getting a bit irritable with me over this homework assignment. What do you need to get back into the right frame of mind? Do you think you need help with the work now or time to calm down?\u201d<\/p>\n

These phrases give us the scripts we need to let children know that they can handle the frustration that may come along with their academic work.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

3. Help Promote a Problem-Solving Mindset:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Children with disabilities need an extra dose of problem-solving abilities. Oftentimes, children with disabilities are known for their imagination and innovation because they need to be creative to get through school. We can encourage this by using the following phrases:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou might figure out math problems a bit differently, but that isn\u2019t bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour brain may work differently than other people. That can be a good thing. You can figure this out.\u201d<\/p>\n

“I have seen you do hard things. I know you can do this. Let\u2019s take our time and figure out some ways to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. Move Them Through Their Mistakes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>We often tell children that it\u2019s okay for them to make mistakes as long as they learn from them. However, we need to take this one step further. We can help children analyze and reflect on their mistakes.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s review this paper and see if we can come up with some ideas on how to improve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was difficult for you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere do you think you got stuck?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think would help you understand the material better?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat can I do to help you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat can you do to help yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat might you need some support with?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is getting in the way of your learning?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you need?\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Transfer Responsibility for Their Learning to Them:<\/strong><\/p>\n

To help children take responsibility for their schoolwork, we can use the following questions\/observations below as conversation starters:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat works for you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat strategy did you use that helped?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think you can use this in other areas where you are struggling?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen things felt overwhelming to you, you took a break. That was letting your mind breathe. You feel that strategy worked for you\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

This can empower children. They learn the strategies that work for them and can start to use them independently.<\/p>\n

6. Use Humor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Often children with disabilities are sensitive about their learning weaknesses. The fact is, everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Part of encouraging children is to talk about other people\u2019s challenges in humorous and gentle ways.<\/p>\n

For example, most families have things that everybody knows and makes fun of \u2013 usually in a good-natured way. Maybe Grandpa\u2019s clothes never match because he\u2019s color-blind. There is always that family member who misplaces their keys. I am forever mixing up dates, and the activities I plan for vacations somehow always tank. I have a friend who does math using her fingers and my sibling talks out loud to help her remember the steps to a recipe.<\/p>\n

This reminds children that it\u2019s okay \u2013 and even sweet \u2013 to have these quirks. It can make them even more lovable.<\/p>\n

7. Give Examples of How You Compensate for Your Weaknesses:<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is also helpful to let children know how you or other people you know overcome their weaknesses. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n

\u201cI have such trouble remembering where I put my things. I used to lose everything. Now I put my keys on the hook by the door right when I come in. I put my purse right underneath the hook, as well. That strategy has helped.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is challenging for me to do simple everyday math in my head. I keep a calculator in my purse at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to have trouble organizing my schedule, now every appointment I have goes in my smartphone\u2019s calendar. I also set up an alert to remind me about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helping children with learning disabilities persevere through their challenges can work wonders. It can give them the tools they need to succeed, not just in school, but in life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“For a righteous man can fall seven times and rise\u2026” (Proverbs, 24:16) Teaching all kids to persevere and keep trying aids them in all areas of life. However, the ability to keep trying when we don’t initially succeed is a must for children who struggle in school. We all know stories of successful people who<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":720,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parenting"],"yoast_head":"\nTeaching Children With Learning Disabilities to Persevere - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/teaching-children-with-learning-disabilities-to-persevere\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teaching Children With Learning Disabilities to Persevere - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“For a righteous man can fall seven times and rise\u2026” (Proverbs, 24:16) Teaching all kids to persevere and keep trying aids them in all areas of life. However, the ability to keep trying when we don’t initially succeed is a must for children who struggle in school. We all know stories of successful people who\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/teaching-children-with-learning-disabilities-to-persevere\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-18T18:24:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adina Soclof\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adina Soclof\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/teaching-children-with-learning-disabilities-to-persevere\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/teaching-children-with-learning-disabilities-to-persevere\/\",\"name\":\"Teaching Children With Learning Disabilities to Persevere - OU Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-18T18:24:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/e1d662e1b99b4cb9d5268c1a8111a03a\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/teaching-children-with-learning-disabilities-to-persevere\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/e1d662e1b99b4cb9d5268c1a8111a03a\",\"name\":\"Adina Soclof\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Adina-Soclof_avatar-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Adina-Soclof_avatar-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Adina Soclof\"},\"description\":\"Adina Soclof, MS. CCC-SLP is a certified Speech Pathologist. She received her master's degree from Hunter College in New York in Communication Sciences. She works as a Parent Educator for Bellefaire Jewish Children's Bureau facilitating \\\"How to Talk so Kids will Listen and Listen so Kids will Talk\\\" workshops as well as workshops based on \u201cSiblings Without Rivalry.\u201d Adina developed TEAM Communication Ventures and conducts parenting, teacher and clinician workshops via telephone nationwide. Adina lives with her husband and four lively children in Cleveland, Ohio. You can visit her at website at www.parentingsimply.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/parentingsimply.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/adinasoclof-me\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Teaching Children With Learning Disabilities to Persevere - OU Life","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/teaching-children-with-learning-disabilities-to-persevere\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Teaching Children With Learning Disabilities to Persevere - OU Life","og_description":"“For a righteous man can fall seven times and rise\u2026” (Proverbs, 24:16) Teaching all kids to persevere and keep trying aids them in all areas of life. However, the ability to keep trying when we don’t initially succeed is a must for children who struggle in school. We all know stories of successful people who","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/teaching-children-with-learning-disabilities-to-persevere\/","og_site_name":"OU Life","article_published_time":"2021-10-18T18:24:52+00:00","author":"Adina Soclof","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Adina Soclof","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/teaching-children-with-learning-disabilities-to-persevere\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/teaching-children-with-learning-disabilities-to-persevere\/","name":"Teaching Children With Learning Disabilities to Persevere - OU Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-10-18T18:24:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/e1d662e1b99b4cb9d5268c1a8111a03a"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/teaching-children-with-learning-disabilities-to-persevere\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/","name":"OU Life","description":"Everyday Jewish Living","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/e1d662e1b99b4cb9d5268c1a8111a03a","name":"Adina Soclof","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Adina-Soclof_avatar-96x96.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Adina-Soclof_avatar-96x96.png","caption":"Adina Soclof"},"description":"Adina Soclof, MS. CCC-SLP is a certified Speech Pathologist. She received her master's degree from Hunter College in New York in Communication Sciences. She works as a Parent Educator for Bellefaire Jewish Children's Bureau facilitating \"How to Talk so Kids will Listen and Listen so Kids will Talk\" workshops as well as workshops based on \u201cSiblings Without Rivalry.\u201d Adina developed TEAM Communication Ventures and conducts parenting, teacher and clinician workshops via telephone nationwide. Adina lives with her husband and four lively children in Cleveland, Ohio. You can visit her at website at www.parentingsimply.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/parentingsimply.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/adinasoclof-me\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/720"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63296"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63298,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63296\/revisions\/63298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}