Ye are the best of peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in Allah. If only the People of the Book had faith, it were best for them: among them are some who have faith, but most of them are perverted transgressors (Surah 3, Verse 110)
Every parent and every teacher knows how important a positive self-image is to success in studies. A student who thinks he is retarded will find it hard to succeed. That is why it is so important to express admiration at achievements and to make children feel that everything depends on their own will and determination. A child needs to see a spark of admiration in the eyes of a parent or teacher when he succeeds because such a response allows him to believe in himself and his abilities.
As a parent, you may wish for an intelligent child bordering on the verge of pure genius. You may wish for a child who can do sums in seconds, make a poem in minutes, or compose a sonata at the young age of seven bring pride to your gentle motherly or fatherly heart.
But what if you have a slow learning child? Can you face the challenges that come with having to teach such a child? Are you prepared to devote time, money, and energy inteaching your child and allowing him or her to learn at his or her own pace?
It is not necessarily difficult to raise slow learner kids - and they are certainly not that hard to deal with. In fact, many adults are slow learner kids themselves: as we age, we find it harder to amass new learning and set old, unnecessary, often erroneous information aside. What techniques have you tried out to make yourself remember facts? The same principles come into play when dealing with slow learner kids.
Here are a few tips on how to deal with slow learner kids.
- A child is a child is a child: discipline your child as you would any other, and affirm his or her good traits.
A slow learner will often be aware of his or her inability to learn as fast as other kids by the time he or she enters preschool or kindergarten. Do your best to encourage your child to do better.
- Compliment, but don't overdo it.
Some parents have the tendency to be fawning, and to overemphasize their children's abilities. This can be embarrassing for your child, and without your knowing it, it can be embarrassing for you as a parent. You will appear to be trying too hard to please and impress everyone.
- Help out, don't dominate.
You may find yourself assisting in your slow learner kid's homework. Allow him or her to work problems out independently, and avoid the temptation to do the homework yourself. How would you feel if someone took control of your life, and, without saying it, emphasized how you could not do anything on your own? Think how this philosophy would affect a child, and how it could hamper his or her mental development.
Every child is unique, even in learning ability.A slow learner can amass learning much slower, so be patient. We all learn at our own pace, and it so happens that a slow learner will take much more time to do so. If possible, hire a private tutor or a special teacher who specializes in educating slow learners. He or she will have special modules especially constructed to deal with the needs of slow learners.
- If you cannot hire a special tutor, then do the tutoring yourself, but make your teaching fun.
Remember how all the fun teachers made your student life more memorable? Remember how that exciting chemistry professor made you want to learn more about the elements, or how that fun history teacher made you want to hit the books instead of catching the latest big budget, period film?
Putting the fun into learning can encourage your slow learning child to love studying. If you can make your private lessons exciting, say by turning math problems into missions to save the world, or science problems into real world problems that your child can easily grasp, then you can give your slow learner a chance to actually learn.
- Congratulate your child on a job well done.
