How To Jump Over Learning Hurdles

Every parent wants to make sure their child reaches their full potential at school. But what if they’re not getting the attention they deserve within school hours? What if they have unique challenges that need to be addressed?

As they develop, kids can face physical, mental and social problems. It’s important to identify these early so you can take steps in the right direction. Whether your child is in Preschool or Year 3, early intervention is vital.

Some of the most common learning hurdles include:

Physical Issues

Visual-motor coordination – Some kids slow responses to visual stimuli, or they can’t take in a lot of visual information at once.

Weak wrists – This can prevent a child from writing properly, since they may not be able to grip their pencil properly. Kids might also have trouble participating fully in physical activity at school.

Speech issues – If a child stutters or stammers, this can affect their social interaction.

Mental Issues

Concentration problems – These include ADD (attention deficit disorder) or ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Kids who can’t stay focused for a long period of time can often misbehave due to frustration. For more information about these disorders, see here.

Autism and Asperger syndrome – These disorders are characterised by an impaired ability to interact and communicate with others. In school, these can form barriers between a child and their classmates. Students with autism and Asperger’s need extra care to build one-on-one social relationships. For more information about autism, see here and for information about Asperger’s, see here.

Dyslexia and other learning disabilities – At a time when kids are being introduced to lots of new numbers, letters and words, this can inhibit them from reading and writing to their full ability.

Stress – If kids become easily confused or disorganised, they often respond by panicking. Working closely with kids is important to develop their independence.

Problems with memory and recall – Kids need to be able to recall basic information, since this is a foundation for the work they will do as they get older.

Social Issues

Awkwardness or introverted behaviour – Some kids are naturally shy, which is fine. But it’s also important for them to become confident so they can interact with their peers at school.

Problems with expression – If a child has trouble putting their ideas verbally or in writing, they might not be able to relate properly to those around them.

Fortunately, most of these issues can be overcome! While it’s true that some children develop faster than others, those that lag behind need special attention to become more confident and independent.

How can tutoring help?

Studies show that early intervention is key if a child is to excel in later years of school. They also show that kids respond to individual, one-on-one lessons that are tailored best to their needs. They simply don’t get the time they need in a class of thirty students at school.

Students need structured development – making sure that kids are ready for school through early education.

There are three main ways to improve your child’s prospect of school readiness:

1) Give them structure. Lessons allow a student to respond individually to a tutor’s instructions. They allow kids to work within limits of a set timeframe and lesson plan.

2) Work towards a goal. We all want to achieve, because we like what we are good at. Kids are no different – they want to be able to improve, and for this they need to work towards manageable targets. It makes them feel good, because once they achieve, they want to achieve more. It is important to consolidate this early so they can build a lifelong interest in learning.

3) Make it fun. It’s not enough to sit kids down and expect them to rote learn their times tables. Kids need games to develop their imaginative and critical skills as well. They want to explore – who says they can’t learn at the same time?

Children respond to structure, goals and fun. To make them ready for the classroom and the playground, they need to follow a clear pathway.

Early education is beneficial – it’s about accelerated learning, it’s about structured learning, and it’s about fun learning!