I agree totally.

Many times when my students need time to process what they were looking at, I have to tell myself to resist the temptation to prompt. This is because for a child with no learning needs, the prompting can assist them in their thinking process. However, for a child with learning needs, the prompting may actually disrupt their thought process. I have learnt to wait for them to process the information first, derive an answer then I assist if it is incorrect.

The best is when they get it on their own! I love to see that glint of happiness when they get it right themselves.
It’s sublime!

Hippocrafts\" post_id=\"1902936\" time=\"1552728513\" user_id=\"176401:

Fully understanding your feeling. My son is in Sec 1. He was in neighborhood primary school and his academic was on the average. We sent him to learn piano, Taekwonda, Guitar, etc. in the hope he can get chance to enter elite secondary school through DSA. But he didn't like and wasted all tuition fee.
He likes to check Youtube and play all kinds paper crafts himself. I asked him why he spent so much time on crafts. He told me he felt a sense of achievement when completed a craft work. We just closed one eye and let it be.
The thing we didn't expect was he got admit to NJC through DSC because of his hobby paper craft. Maybe as a parent, we think to much for our children. Give them a little space to find their own passion and hobby.
Share some of his crafts work.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQfWSzxwwEQ&t=42s][/youtube]
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceKrFce2GMo&t=3s][/youtube]
[youtubeId]lQfWSzxwwEQ&t[/youtubeId]

Wow! His craft work is good!!!!

Hi increa-edu


Just to clarify about the matter on test reliability, I was actually referring to tests conducted be EP to assess if a child has special needs or not can sometimes by unreliable, depending on the situation and the child himself. E.g. if a child is intelligent, tests conducted by specialists may not reveal that he or she is dyslexic.

Apologies for the confusion,
Cheers!

Increa-edu\" post_id=\"1900838\" time=\"1551592385\" user_id=\"175687:

sgmamadreams\" post_id=\"1896126\" time=\"1548390809\" user_id=\"79802:

[quote=\"Swit Cuppies\"]Hi everyone. My son just got diagnosed to be dyslexic last year. How do we get the child to cope to prepare for PSLE? I can see that he is pretty stressed and often say he is tired. Oh btw, he is in P6 this year. And only this year he had to be in the foundation stream. Not a bad thing to me but some nasty stuff was said out to him by his classmates. It somehow made him feel kinda low. Any pointers mummies?

Hi Swit Cuppies,

I'm an ex-school teacher who just left service last year and a mother of two big kids. I may not be specially trained in teaching children with special needs but I have taught quite a number of children who have special needs.

I would like to share with you a few suggestions and hope that they will be useful to you and your son.

Firstly, being transferred to another class or stream is always very difficult for any child. However, this is way better than needing to repeat the level if he or she does not meet the criteria for promotion. With the reduce in pace and curriculum, your son can better cope with his learning and have more time to fine-tune areas he is weak at. I believe he is frustrated every day, as at this age, peer recognition is important. Support him, encourage him and assure him that there are many successful people who are dyslexic. He needs to work hard just like everyone else if he wants to reap the rewards.

Both my own children were transferred between classes / streams and had(have) to handle the emotional burden of being mocked at or ostracised. However, both are doing well in their own way - one in an IP secondary school, the other topping a number of subjects in her NA cohort. So, tell him, he can still shine. He needs to believe it and work towards his target.

Secondly, is your son's school giving him any support after his diagnosis? You can request the school's AED (Learning) to teach him some strategies to cope. You can also ask for reference from the AED for contacts of professional support outside the school. It is not too late to start now. The professional help may be expensive but can truly boost his confidence and the strategies taught can help him a lot with his school work. Eg with spelling

One of my P6 student was only diagnosed in July of his PSLE year. He had always been labelled 'playful', 'inattentive', 'naughty' before he came to my class in January. It was important to finally get the diagnosis in order to apply for the extra time for his examination. After that, his teachers worked very closely with the AED to support him. She taught him strategies while we were more patient and wrote our words more clearly for him on the board etc. For Prelims, his English improved 10 marks and his Science from D to B. So, do engage his teachers for support. They are usually more than willing to help.

Finally, how you can help at home.
I cannot suggest anything too concrete. Some children with dyslexia see letters that rearrange themselves, some see letters as if they were looking through a drop of water. One thing for certain is the exhaustion. Imagine having to cope with trying to understand the science concept or recall the grammar rules while waiting for your brain to register the letters to form words to make sense.

So, ensures he has sufficient breaks in between his revision and homework, make sure he has sufficient sleep and be there to cheer him on when he feels low. Do not judge his handwriting or criticise his untidy work. If you need to correct his written mistake, write them down in clear, printed letters, not cursive, so he can process them better.

I do hope my insight is somewhat useful to you.

To other parents in the thread for suspect that their child might have some learning difficulties, request for a diagnosis. The earlier it is confirmed, the earlier your child can be taught strategies to help him or her cope. P2 - P3 is a good time as younger children do need some time to develop psycho-motor and fine-motor skills. However, if your child constantly misspells common sight words and struggles with recognising MT characters, do raise your concerns with their teachers or a GP.

My former students who had early intervention coped much better in school as compared to those who were diagnosed much later.

Apologies for the long post.
Cheers, with love! :snuggles:

Thanks sgmama for sharing this. How about those who don't have dyslexia but still struggle with studying? Also would children with dyslexia benefit from listening to audio recordings or do you think that would not help?[/quote]Hi increa-edu,

When a child is not performing academically, the problem may or may not be attributed to a learning disability.

Firstly, there are quite a number of different types of learning disabilities, the most common ones are dyslexia, ADD and ADHD. There are other less known conditions which affects auditory, memory and processing. I've learnt from the EP that sometimes, a child's maturity level and the reliability of a test can affect the result of an assessment.

Secondly, a child simply may not have matured to the level expected of him / her academically. We often used the term 'late-bloomers'. They are real and exist. A student of mine had always behaved very very oddly in primary school. He was slightly above average in Mathematics and Vocabulary but was unable to organise his ideas into proper compositions. He threw tantrums, rolled on the floor, banged his head on the wall, you get the picture. I think he is 29 this year and is a university graduate working in an investing firm.

Thirdly, there are odd conditions that have not really been explained...I once had a student who had difficulties seeing the words in a passage and often missed one sentence when reading, E.g. while doing word problems, he missed out line 2 of a 3 line question. Years later, I checked on him, he said he no longer had that problem. He can see clearly and did not need special arrangements in an examination. However, he was often very exhausted during class and he was always rubbing his eyes or temples.

Lastly, it is also about a child's learning attitude and personality. I know of students (my own students and from other classes and schools) who DECIDED that they did not want to WASTE time going to school. They think watching youtube is a lot more enriching and are not concerned about how they will survive without an education. Parents just tell us that they do not know what to do with them...

I believe in learning styles. Some children are just stimulated to learn differently. I am not an expert but I am always trying out different ways to help my students learn too. I think it is very much an experimental process. I do have quite challenging students now and am thinking how I can sustain their interests and get them to retain their learning (not assessed with any learning disability!!! ) Parents may need to be patient and try out what helps their child learn. Sounds cliche but with patience and love, there is usually a way.

Mmm..about audio recording, I think it can help. I did try something like that with my P5 dyslexic boy. I never really had a chance to find out how it turned out. It's s good idea and you are wonderful to be experimenting!

Sorry, not much of help here...hope my reply gave an insight to some problems I think some children (and their parents) face nowadays.

I'll share when I mange to obtain some success! :xedfingers:

Cheers!

AnneS:

Hi sgmamadreams, your suggestions and insights are really helpful for me. Thank you so much for sharing!

Hi AnneS,

Glad to help!
Can I ask why my posts do not have the 'like' button...am I doing something wrong?

Sorry fellow parents, have not used this forum for a while so feeling a bit sotong... :scratchhead:

LOL

Swit Cuppies:

Hi everyone. My son just got diagnosed to be dyslexic last year. How do we get the child to cope to prepare for PSLE? I can see that he is pretty stressed and often say he is tired. Oh btw, he is in P6 this year. And only this year he had to be in the foundation stream. Not a bad thing to me but some nasty stuff was said out to him by his classmates. It somehow made him feel kinda low. Any pointers mummies?

Hi Swit Cuppies,

I'm an ex-school teacher who just left service last year and a mother of two big kids. I may not be specially trained in teaching children with special needs but I have taught quite a number of children who have special needs.

I would like to share with you a few suggestions and hope that they will be useful to you and your son.

Firstly, being transferred to another class or stream is always very difficult for any child. However, this is way better than needing to repeat the level if he or she does not meet the criteria for promotion. With the reduce in pace and curriculum, your son can better cope with his learning and have more time to fine-tune areas he is weak at. I believe he is frustrated every day, as at this age, peer recognition is important. Support him, encourage him and assure him that there are many successful people who are dyslexic. He needs to work hard just like everyone else if he wants to reap the rewards.

Both my own children were transferred between classes / streams and had(have) to handle the emotional burden of being mocked at or ostracised. However, both are doing well in their own way - one in an IP secondary school, the other topping a number of subjects in her NA cohort. So, tell him, he can still shine. He needs to believe it and work towards his target.

Secondly, is your son's school giving him any support after his diagnosis? You can request the school's AED (Learning) to teach him some strategies to cope. You can also ask for reference from the AED for contacts of professional support outside the school. It is not too late to start now. The professional help may be expensive but can truly boost his confidence and the strategies taught can help him a lot with his school work. Eg with spelling

One of my P6 student was only diagnosed in July of his PSLE year. He had always been labelled 'playful', 'inattentive', 'naughty' before he came to my class in January. It was important to finally get the diagnosis in order to apply for the extra time for his examination. After that, his teachers worked very closely with the AED to support him. She taught him strategies while we were more patient and wrote our words more clearly for him on the board etc. For Prelims, his English improved 10 marks and his Science from D to B. So, do engage his teachers for support. They are usually more than willing to help.

Finally, how you can help at home.
I cannot suggest anything too concrete. Some children with dyslexia see letters that rearrange themselves, some see letters as if they were looking through a drop of water. One thing for certain is the exhaustion. Imagine having to cope with trying to understand the science concept or recall the grammar rules while waiting for your brain to register the letters to form words to make sense.

So, ensures he has sufficient breaks in between his revision and homework, make sure he has sufficient sleep and be there to cheer him on when he feels low. Do not judge his handwriting or criticise his untidy work. If you need to correct his written mistake, write them down in clear, printed letters, not cursive, so he can process them better.

I do hope my insight is somewhat useful to you.

To other parents in the thread for suspect that their child might have some learning difficulties, request for a diagnosis. The earlier it is confirmed, the earlier your child can be taught strategies to help him or her cope. P2 - P3 is a good time as younger children do need some time to develop psycho-motor and fine-motor skills. However, if your child constantly misspells common sight words and struggles with recognising MT characters, do raise your concerns with their teachers or a GP.

My former students who had early intervention coped much better in school as compared to those who were diagnosed much later.

Apologies for the long post.
Cheers, with love! :snuggles:

Hello!


I have a blog on helping primary school children in their composition writing.
Feel free to have a look.

You can navigate better by the menu on the side.

http://icanwritetoo-sg.blogspot.sg/

Cheeers,
sgmamadreams

p/s YES, it's FREE.