K12 Educational Learning Disabilities

Behavioral interventions come to the rescue to provide cost-effective assistance for parents of troubled adolescents. Perhaps your child is suffering from a lack of concentration or is exhibiting inappropriate behavior, as young as pre-school age. Or maybe a recent divorce, move or other event is affecting your child adversely. In the most serious cases, teens turn to drugs, alcohol, sex or violence to compensate for emotions they’re lacking. The best way to remedy the situation is to get help early, utilize all resources and have a family intervention to ensure a strong support system.

Often, children who need a behavioral intervention suffer from ADHD, autism, dyslexia or another pervasive developmental disorder. An early intervention program is the key to helping the child overcome natural difficulties and find studying techniques that work. The public school system generally only focuses on one particular learning mode, which leaves many students feeling “stupid” or frustrated. By teaching the student more about their learning needs and focusing on self-empowerment, as well as skill development, the students will begin to learn their way at their own pace and will develop a renewed interest in school. A behavioral intervention can do more than just prevent anger or hyperactive outbursts in school. It can pave the way for your child’s future and instill a sense of pride and accomplishment.

There are other types of behavioral interventions as well. For example, some can help obese children get on the right track and begin living a healthier life. Dr. Teresa Quattrin, a UB professor of pediatrics, writes: “Obesity comes with a myriad of other serious health conditions, including hypertension, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and low self-esteem, so it’s imperative that we find tools that can prevent and treat overweight in a clinical practice setting early on.” At the University of Buffalo in NY, primary care physicians are conducting tests to see if a 24-month intervention can combat child obesity. The focus will be on increasing fruits and vegetable consumption, minimizing junk food, increasing physical activity and educating families on behavioral modification techniques that promote healthy living.

Evidence suggests that pre-natal behavioral interventions can be extremely helpful for pregnant women who smoke, drink, suffer from depression, or are victims of intimate partner violence. These risks can cause developmental disorders with your baby and may also lead to post-partum depression for the mothers. These intervention programs are ultimately very successful, with 90% of participants reporting a significant difference in their situation, according to one 2008 intervention study.

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If your child has special needs for any reason, finding the right play materials for him or her can be a bit of a challenge. However, finding the right therapy toys can do wonders for your child’s development and cognitive skills. Here are some of the best places to find the toys you need for your child at affordable prices.

Www.childtherapytoys.com is a great resource for finding educational toys that children of all development levels can use. Therapy toys include dolls that may represent parents or grandparents (these are good for role playing exercises), as well as hats that represent different occupations. You may also want to choose therapy toys that will help your child to further recognize some of the basic skills that are needed in the ‘real world.’ Play money in a drawer is a great tool for teaching your child about the value of a dollar, the values that is placed on each coin, and how to spend wisely.

You can also find a number of great therapy toys for your child at www.sensoryedge.com. This site sells toys that will enhance your child’s sensory skills, so that they can explore the world around them safely. Gymnic balls teach the concept of movement and motion, and there are also a number of therapy swings that you can choose from that will advance your child’s hand/eye coordination. These swings are also recommended for children who have autism or forms of ADHD. Art tables and easels are sold on the site as well, so you can purchase the supplies your child needs to be creative.

If you are currently working with a counselor or therapist, you may want to log onto www.toys4therapy.com to order therapy toys that will make your sessions more effective. Skills like fine motor control, sensory-motor awareness, and finger isolation are taught through these toys, and you’ll be able to expose your child to occupational therapy as well, since there are toys that will teach him how to tie his shoes or get dressed. There are also toys that are shaped like food in order to teach children how to prepare their own plates and feed themselves.

Other therapy toys include puppets, which will allow your child to ‘act out’ scenes in his or her life that may be troubling, or bop bags, which allow children to unleash their frustrations safely. You can find out more about how to find the right toys for your child when you visit www.counselingtoys.com; this site has a great selection of therapy toys as well, and the prices are very affordable.

No matter what your child’s needs are, these sites will most likely be able to help. The earlier you purchase the right play materials, the sooner your child will be on the path to successful learning. Good luck!

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To have to watch a child struggle through school and homework can be a difficult burden yet millions of parents have students with learning disabilities. They see test after test, report card after report card and tons of teachers’ notes detailing how the child is struggling with school and or life in general.
It is frustrating for a child to not quite grasp a problem as easy has his or her schoolmates. Students with learning disabilities often act out if they are experiencing these academic and life frustrations and the problem begins to escalate.
There are specific learning disabilities that many adults, parents and school officials are familiar with courtesy to a movement by health officials. One of these specific learning disabilities is dyslexia.
A common misconception regarding dyslexia is that the person reads “upside down” or “backwards”. Dyslexia is actually quite complex and can have a wide range of symptoms. Doctors usually look for at least three of the signs or symptoms before diagnosing a child. The actual symptoms also vary according to age group and can be difficult to isolate if the child has problems such as Attention Deficit Disorder or ADD.
Health officials and school officials perform learning disability assessments in order to determine what the child is specifically having trouble with. It could range from emotional to physical.
It is important to remember that sometimes there might not be an actual learning disability. Far too often there are misdiagnoses for students with learning disabilities when in actuality the child might develop or learn at a slower rate than his or her classmates. It is not a clear indication if the child is disabled in any way.
Teachers are now being trained on observing to see if there are students with learning disabilities in their classrooms and what steps need to be taken in order to ensure that the federally mandated laws such as “No Child Left Behind” are enacted.
It is important that each child be given every possible help needed in order to learn and grow in a healthy environment. If there is a possibility that a learning condition exists then the child is tested. In most cases there are three areas that professionals look that help determine the extent of the specific learning disability.
The first is within speech and communication. Does the child have trouble with reading and communicating thoughts? The second is how the child does in the academic setting. Is the child struggling to pay attention? Or is there a specific subject that the child is having problems with? And the third is any physical disorder or behavior problem that might indicate a learning disability.
Students with learning disabilities no longer have to be simply “passed” through until they reach the proper age to graduate. There is help available for students, teachers and parents alike.

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