Is your child falling behind in school, anxious during the school week or making excuses to avoid attending class? Does your child appear to hate learning while children around them love it?
Your child isn’t lazy or stupid. They may have other issues like anxiety or a learning deficit that are drowning their natural love of learning. With MAP tests and other standardized testing that could determine whether they repeat a grade or languish in the wrong class next year, some students become so riddled with anxiety that it prevents them from performing in school and functioning normally. It can even affect family life.
Betsy Fanning, head of school for Trident Academy in Mount Pleasant, the school that teaches children who learn differently, offers a four-step process to help a child in this circumstance reach their full potential.
1. Get Your Child Tested
Public schools are required to provide free testing for children at risk of having a learning disability. Some schools may be more enthusiastic about offering this service than others, so it may require that you push hard to have your child tested. If that doesn’t pan out, Trident Academy can offer a list of reputable child psychologists who will test your child (for a fee) and offer recommendations going forward.
2. Consider After-school Academic Therapy
Trident Academy provides an after-school program for children with learning disabilities and who struggle n reading, math and other subjects. These programs are offered to children irrespective of where they attend school during the day. With teachers specially trained to relieve anxiety by focusing on children’s strengths, they can boost confidence and unlock the learning process. Trident Academy specializes in the renowned Orton-Gillingham approach to teach reading skills to children with learning differences. (They offer the same services to adults!)
3. Consider Summer School (plenty of playing involved)
If twice-a-week tutoring after school is insufficient for your child, perhaps a more intensive summer program would be more beneficial. At the very least, it could curtail the infamous “summer slide,” in which children regress academically after being away from formalized learning for two months.
Trident Academy’s summer program for grades 1-6 offers three distinct sections during its four-week session beginning in June. One is focused on employing the Orton-Gillingham approach to help children with learning struggles improve their reading ability to grade level. A second section employs multi-sensory nstruction while learning math, providing children with tricks to understand concepts. For example, teachers might use colored beads on a string to help children learn multiplication tables. Third is a reading comprehension and applied writing course customized to the needs of the children. A first-grader might need help with letter formation while an older child might read a story and learn paragraph formation by writing about it.
If you’re wondering whether your child’s summer would be all work and no play, rest assured, says Fanning. “Our teachers use many fun activities during instruction so that students don’t even realize they are learning; it’s lots of fun,” she says. ”Brain research has found that movement aids brain function, so we have children get up routinely and get moving.”
4. Enroll Your Child at Trident Academy
Trident Academy, one of only 15 schools accredited in the proven Orton-Gillingham instructional method, understands that students who learn differently need to be taught differently. Their teachers employ a structured, diagnostic and prescriptive approach to identifying and working with each student’s individual needs. Students are taught traditional subjects via the incorporation of assistive technology and using various multi-sensory techniques, and experiences inside and outside the classroom.
It’s not too late to enroll your child for this semester. To arrange a tour, call (843) 884-3494, or visit TridentAcademy.com.
