Parenting & Family
Parenting a child with a learning disability can be challenging. We’ve gathered information to help you get organized, understand your rights and responsibilities, and provide support for your child at home and at school.
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Attending Meetings to Plan Your Child's Individualized Education Program (IEP)
This checklist prepared by the PACER Center will help parents prepare for and get the most out of Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings with school staff.
Explaining Learning Disabilities to Your Child
Talking to your child about their learning disabilities is crucial. Rick Lavoie explains how parents can dispel misconceptions, highlight the child's support systems, and provide on going encouragement that will help their child flourish.
What Do You Do If You Suspect That Your Child Has A Learning Disability?
Parents: Learn how to obtain a diagnosis for your child. This article walks you through the process of determining whether your child has a learning disability. Study different types of evaluations that clarify your child's learning difficulties, what that means for your child, and what your next step should be if an LD is found.
Accessible Textbooks: A Guide for Parents of Children with Learning Disabilities
If your child cannot read their textbooks, they need digital copies of their books. Schools now can use National Instructional Material Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) to get e-text. Learn the details that will help you advocate for your child so they can use NIMAS. And learn where to find the publishers and producers that provide e-text.
Organizational Problems and the Beginning of the School Year
Read techniques from Rick Lavoie to help your child get organized for new school year. Don't let their bedrooms and backpacks become black holes. They need effective systems and routines. Get them started right so they can remember their homework assignments, stick to deadlines, and develop organizational skills.
Crickets, Books, and Bach: Develop a Summer Listening Program
Put together a summer listening program for your child. Listening is an engaging way to learn, so your child, may love listening to books and other written documents. Have them listen to music, stage plays, comedy routines, and other works. Point out background sounds such as the way the peppy tune on a sound track adds fun and humor to an adventure tale. Learning to listen is particularly helpful to children with learning disabilities.
When the Child with Special Needs Goes Off to Summer Camp
Are your children in summer camp? Are you wondering how to support them while they are away? Rick Lavoie gives advice on how you can help children with learning disabilities have a great time this summer — and enjoy yourself more. For example, did you know it is better to send lots of short letters than a few long ones?
Response to Intervention (RTI): A Primer for Parents
Learn what questions to ask about Response to Intervention (RTI), an approach to helping struggling learners that's gaining momentum in schools across the country. The National Association of School Psychologists tells you the most important features of the process, key terms, and its relationship to special education evaluation.
Strategies for Summer Reading for Children with Dyslexia
Read a dozen strategies to help your children keep the academic skills they learned last year. Support them as they read. Give them material that is motivating – and some of it should be easy. Help them enjoy books and feel pleasure—not pressure from reading. The summer should be a relaxed time where their love of learning can flower.
Improving Your Child's Behavior in Public Settings
Help your child behave properly in public settings. Meet the five basic physical needs that keep them calm. Community excursions, such as trips to the mall and your house of worship, are challenging for children with learning disabilities. Learn the steps that will help your child improve their behavior.
Are Learning Disabilities The Only Problem? You Should Know About Other Related Disorders
About half of people with learning disabilities also have other related disorders. Learn about ADHD, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, depression, and other difficulties. This article, written by Larry B. Silver, a psychiatrist, tells parents about other related disorders, how they can impact your child, and how you can get a diagnosis.
Sample letter: Writing to Discuss a Problem
Dyslexic Parents of Dyslexic Children
Dyslexic parents talk about what it is like to have children with dyslexia. They speak of both blessings and challenges.
Helping Students with LD Pass High-Stakes Tests
Students must pass a high stakes tests to graduate high school. If they fail, they don't get a diploma. These tests are a major barrier for students with learning disabilities who often do not test well. Accommodations can help. Learn how to help children with learning disabilities do well on these tests.
These Tips Might Make Your Son a Reader
Boys may encounter stereotypes that make developing a life-long love of reading more difficult. This article examines those negative perceptions, and gives parents a list of concrete suggestions to combat stereotyping.
Raisin' Brain: Maintaining Homes for All Kinds of Minds
School is not the only arena in which children's minds need to be nurtured and expanded. Equally vital is the kind of education and brain building that a student undergoes at home.
Divorce: It Can Complicate Children's Special Education Issues
Divorce is never easy, and it can be especially complicated for families also navigating special education services. This article examines who can make educational decisions for a child after a divorce, as well as how sole or joint legal and/or physical custody impact IEP meetings and IDEA due process rights. Answers to some specific questions from divorcing parents are also presented.
Building and Maintaining A Good Relationship with Your Child's Teacher
Help your child succeed in school by developing a strong relationship with your child's teacher. Start the relationship right and maintain the connection. Read these tips from the National Center for Learning Disabilities.
Finding Happiness in Your Child
This essay looks at how recasting your thinking about happiness — from an external "goals achieved" view to an internal "happiness received" view — can help parents and children find joy in everyday achievements.
Advice to Kids with Learning or Social Problems About Siblings
Does your child with social skills difficulties have trouble with their brothers and sisters? Read them this advice which is written just for them! And then read the section for you, the parent. Richard Lavoie gives powerful advice on how all people in the family can get along.
