Children with learning disabilities have three times more social and emotional problems than other children. How can they be helped? First of all, you need to assess and evaluate. Afterwards, you need to empower, to support, and to love. The experts at Nitzan have a few tips that could help.
Taken from an article by Galit Levi that was posted on Ynet on 15/09/2008
(Free translation)
"The first six years at school were a nightmare", tells Chana C. when she remembers the first years of elementary school of her first born daughter, a talented girl with amazing analytical abilities, a high IQ, and remarkable mathematical skills.
"But also difficulties with hand-eye coordination, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and social problems which were able to bring the educational staff to think that she was a stupid girl", remembers Chana.
"She suffered a lot, and I didn't know how to deal with it. I was angry that she had difficulty making the most, simple decisions of day-to-day life. I was angry that she wasn't able to copy assignments from the board. I saw her frustration continue to grow and I worried that as a result of her high-sensitivity that she would be hurt by the responses of those in her environment, her teachers and her peers."
One year ago, before her transition to middle school, to a class for talented and gifted students, the parents took their daughter for an assessment and evaluation. "The results were surprising. On the one hand here is a girl who is a genius; on the other hand, it was clear that she has severe dyslexia, emotional difficulties, and a low level of self esteem", tells Chana.
More Social Problems
Chana's daughter isn't alone. A large percentage of children with learning disabilities have social and emotional difficulties, more than three times as much as other children. According to figures from a survey of the Smith-Kalka Institute, conducted for Nitzan, it was found that more than 50% of parents who reported having at least one child with a learning disability or ADHD reported that in the previous years of school aroused social or emotional problems with their child.
It's necessary to discern between social and emotional problems that come as a result of the disability itself and between those problems which come as a result of other problems and are not a result of the disability, explains Nitzan. Social difficulties tend to result from non-verbal learning disabilities and appear as a difficulty in reading social clues and inaccurate interpretation of social situations. Therefore, these children need to be helped in learning these social skills and how to appropriately respond in a given social situation.
Social and emotional difficulties can also come as a result of the learning disability itself, from the frustration caused by the gap between the child's potential and his actual achievements.
Click here for the full length article in Hebrew
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