I hate school-a/k/a

Why is school so hard?

Your son comes home from school and tells you that school is “very hard.” How does a parent effectively respond after gritting their teeth and reluctantly passing up the golden opportunity to share that if he or she would just pay a little more attention or try harder, he or she could change?

The first thing is to get some clarity. You need to find out exactly what the complaint means. Does it mean that math is hard? Reading? Writing? Pay attention? If so, what specifically is causing the child difficulty? Once you can determine exactly what subject or area is problematic, you may want to talk with your child’s teacher to determine if you notice any of the following “red flags.”

SOCIAL ISSUES

*few friends or lack of acceptance in any social group

*Misreading social cues

* inability to respond appropriately to a particular audience – (for example, scolding a teacher or working your way up a conversation with peers)

*lack of parallel play at age 5 or older

ATTENTION

*impulsiveness

*inability to sit still

* distraction

*unstructured

* constantly yells at school

*constantly interrupts when conversing with peers or adults

BEHAVIOUR

* opposing/challenging

* refusal or avoidance of the task

*school rejection

READING

* difficulty pronouncing words

*Poor sight word recall

*confusing handwriting

*poor reading fluency

COMPREHENSION

* confusion about the meaning of the word or sentence

* difficulty sequencing events in a story

*difficulty retelling details such as character names, problem, or solution

RETENTION

*inability to retain what is read

*difficulty connecting prior knowledge

*difficulty retaining abc, colors, etc.

* constantly misspells words

*spells words differently in the same document

MATH

*doesn’t understand numbers

*difficulty differentiating between left and right

*difficulty visualizing math or geometry

* miscalculations that are far away

*Inconsistent mastery of basic facts.

*difficulty sequencing common lists such as days of the week or months of the year

Some common learning disabilities include dyslexia (reading difficulties which may include reversed letters in both reading and writing), dyscalculia (difficulty with numbers and/or spatial awareness), dysgraphia (difficulty with writing, both homework and such as the encoding process), dyspraxia (difficulty with motor coordination), dysphaisa/aphasia (speech or language impairment or disorder), central auditory processing disorder, visual processing disorder, and attention disorders.

Once you have determined exactly what area the school is making it difficult for your child, it is best to have a meeting with the school to discuss your next step in fixing the problem.