Here are some typical questions that I ask when parents ask me about learning disabilites:
- Did your child have trouble learning the alphabet, rhyming words, and connecting letters to sounds?
- Has he shown difficulty reading out loud, repeating words, or sounding out words?
- Does he struggle with reading comprehension?
- Does he have trouble spelling words, seeming to know them but then forgetting them?
- Does he have poor handwriting?
- Can he express himself orally but has difficulty communicating in writing?
- Did he acquire language late as a young child?
- Does he have trouble following directions—particularly multi-task directions?
- Does he have trouble organizing things?
- Does he fail to take social cues that most others understand?
- Is he disturbed by loud sounds and certain social situations?
- Does he reverse the letters of the alphabet?
- Does he have difficulty sitting still? Does he fidget?
- Do you need to sit with him at all times to get any work accomplished?
This is just a short list of things that I ask parents while entering a conversation of learning disabilities.
National Institute for Learning Development (http://www.nild.net) is a great place to start to find someone in your area to test your child. I love NILD because of how they think. On the NILD website they say:
“NILD exists to enable people to learn and reason effectively. Instead of adapting the learning environment to a student's unique learning struggles, we seek to change the way a person thinks so that he or she can succeed in any environment. Rather than accommodating weak cognitive connections, we strengthen them.”
If you think your child has an issue, please feel free to contact me at info@veritaspress.com. I am happy to talk through your situation with you. Address your email to Laurie and mention this blog post. You can also contact NILD. They have wonderful resources to help you on your journey. Know this: once you find out if your child has a learning issue, you can tackle the problem. We have so many children excelling in our classes because we have partnered with the parents to help each child live up to their God-given abilities.
Look at this as part of all that God has planned for your child, and know that we are here to help in any way we can.
Laurie Detweiler
