All About Working With Children Who Are Weak Academically
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I have a 16yo daughter who finds certain subjects a challenge, eg. Maths. She has some learning difficulties.
What I try to practise:
- Start where the child is, not where she ‘should be’ for her age or grade. If she hasn’t understood or forgotten something she should have mastered 2 yrs ago, she isn’t going to manage today’s work until she has revisited that concept or topic. Even if it means that she can’t do today’s work today (I will write a note to the teacher and promise to catch up within a few days) and needs time to catch up, it has to be done even if it seems very time-consuming.
- Moderate expectations. If a child is not academically strong, setting a goal of ‘top in class’ or ‘straight As’ is just setting her up for failure and disappointment. I set achievable goals (meaning they should stretch her a bit but shouldn’t make her give up in despair), eg. to get Bs for Maths since we know that As are out of reach.
- Never compare with other kids but compare against herself. My younger daughter is academically strong, and so I never compare the 2 girls. We will make a big deal of a strong B from her even though her sister always does much better.
- Measure work in terms of effort, not in results. If a child has put in several hrs of concentrated effort a day and still does poorly, then she should still be praised for her effort.
- Set a steady routine of work, play and rest. I think good habits and routine really help. It also gives the child an incentive to put in the work so she can rest and play after.
Hope this helps. -
Could you be more specific? Help kids who are not academically strong to do what? To improve in their studies? To score better? To boost their self-confidence?
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Thank you slmkhoo. You covered pretty well.
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Hi slmkhoo,
Thank you for the info :)) ! its pretty useful ! i was once like that too and thats how my family encourage me when i was young ! -
For young kids, like p 3 below, it is important to set some routine or habit in study, try to set half hour everyday for child to study, for each subject, at first, he might not know what to do, we have to guide them, once it becomes a habit, the rest will follow.
I also like what slimkhoo said, never compare, sometimes, it is hard for us not to, each child has own unique compactly, we have to be very encouraging, make a learning a happy one for our children. -
Kids who are not academically strong has low self steem. So, as much as possible i dont brag them to do excellent jobs at school. I just support them, and find time to teach him in his academic subjects.
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My preschool son is reluctant to do his work independently… And I don’t want to spend all my little time with him stressed over hmwork at night (yes, he has homework). I would rather spend time playing with him to develop his social skills and thinking skills. Does anyone have a tutor to recommend for a child like mine? Need one who can handle my active, and cheeky child
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missk:
My preschool son is reluctant to do his work independently... And I don't want to spend all my little time with him stressed over hmwork at night (yes, he has homework). I would rather spend time playing with him to develop his social skills and thinking skills. Does anyone have a tutor to recommend for a child like mine? Need one who can handle my active, and cheeky child
What level is your child in preschool? N2, K1 or K2? Is it daily or wkly homework?
For my K2 ds, I will stay with him a little while and then tell him I will come back to chk shortly. I do not expect him to do his work totally on his own in K2. I chk on him periodically to make sure he is still on track. The work done is for spelling and tingxie. He will practise writing the words/characters.
It takes a while to establish a routine. So take it one step at a time. For my dd1 who is in P2 she's getting better at proactively taking out her homework and getting them done on her own. I too spent some time to help establish a routine with her. -
Hi concernmother,
I believe you are never alone. As far as a mother can do, educate and guide a child;we can only do our best. As parents, we always want the best for them and want protect them however if they need to fall in order to climb a mountain then probably we need to be prepared? Because human’s nature learn by the hard way. You might want to try her reading some self-help books? Perhaps she will turn out fine in other ways? Since she goes to church, do you? Pray then. -
Just to share my story. My boy Mathematics dropped when he was in P3 onwards. His became the borderline score, only once in a blue moon when it hits 60, I can really put up firecrackers that sort.
Initially, I thought he was simply not putting in the effort, and nag and nag at him, bought him 3 different assignment books to expose him to more qns and even supervise him when he does his work. It did not help that he hung out with some friends after school and his attitude took a little downhill. Still, it wasn't working, in fact he only began hating the subject more which got me very worried.
I myself was not of an help especially to his problem sums as I go by my \"adult-thinking\", not the method that his teachers had taught him. I could see him dreading to go for Maths lesson in school and for his tuition, his actions to do maths became very dilly dally type.
Worried that he might not be able to pull up his act before PSLE, I packed him off for a motivational course during his June Holidays when he was in P4, and as I became a part time tuition coordinator at that period, I made use of those resources and searched for those individual tuition and tutors that I could trust to help my boy.
What I was told by the tutor was that my son got \"lost\" as he couldn't grasp the concept and had him started down from basics in the lessons. Even though the tutor isn't still teaching him today, his grades has improved and most importantly, his faith and confidence in himself.
So I guess sometimes, parents might often overlook a simple problem and push the blame that the child is unmotivated and lazy. Children can't comprehend what is going on in their life, and its the parent duty to solve that problem and give them the helping hand. And btw, his friends I misunderstood them, they are nice kids