This is a common issue with children and not something out of the ordinary. Children have a short attention span and don’t always listen; but it can be more acute when dealing with children with special needs.

Getting a child to listen is not always the easiest thing to do in the world, but learning how to get a child to listen becomes especially important for children with special needs.

Children have a variety of reasons for not listening to their parents, guardian, or teachers.

Dyslexia is the most common and well known learning disability affecting up to 10% of the population; yet misconceptions and myths run rampant. The common understanding of dyslexia is that it causes children to read backwards. Sometimes people might even think it means children can’t read. While some misconceptions about dyslexia may be based upon some amount of truth, many of it are also just misconceptions and myths.

These misconceptions also may affect how people misidentify, or miss the signs of dyslexia.

Slow in reading books of their age level
A child that is having a difficult time reading shouldn’t automatically be seen as not being smart or advanced enough in their development. Neither should it be dismissed as the child just being uninterested. If the child is not reading to their age level, it is a good signal to take notice as it could be a sign of dyslexia.

Young children may be smart enough to get around any learning disabilities they may have by essentially ignoring the problem and powering through. They may even excel, but once they start entering secondary school, and the reading material and subject matters become more complex, it gets harder to ignore the problems. This is especially true with dyslexia as long, complex pages of text start to look arcane and illegible.

Messy handwriting
Children with dyslexia also commonly have dysgraphia. Children with dysgraphia have a difficult time writing properly. Their writing is inconsistent, messy, and may have problems spacing letters out properly on a page.

Difficulty keeping organised
Children with dyslexia also may have problems with keeping themselves organised. There is a process to organisation that dyslexic children may have issues with, and this can easily be dismissed as the child just being messy. Taken in conjunction with other signs, it could signal that the child may have dyslexia.

When a child shows consistent signs of these issues, it might be that the child has undiagnosed dyslexia or other learning disabilities that escaped notice. It is important to note that the child does not necessarily have a learning disorder just because they may have some issues with certain subjects in school. If the child is showing consistent issues with their learning, it’s always recommended to have the child professionally diagnosed to know the best method to help the child develop.

Join us at College of Allied Educators to see how you can develop an understanding of the different types of exceptional children, their needs, and the different special needs programmes and specialties that are available to you, for them.

CAE’s 12-month Advanced Diploma in Special Education course trains educators and parents in the identification, diagnosis and treatment of these needs and the basic principles and practices of effective teaching and learning. The programme is highly practice-oriented to ensure that what you learn in class can be applied to children with special needs under your charge.

CAE’s Diploma in Learning Disorders Management & Child Psychology programme is designed specifically to train potential teachers, parents and caregivers to identify, detect and support children with special needs, such as Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Dyspraxia, and Dyslexia.

For a FREE COURSE PREVIEW

CALL US at 6533-0031
EMAIL your enquiry to ENQUIRY@ICAE.EDU.SG

or Register for your free preview below:

A communication disorder is a disorder that negatively affects the person’s ability to speak or engage in discussions with other people. It can range from the inability to understand their own native language, or it can be an inability to make the proper sounds necessary for speech.

It’s easy to jump to the conclusion that the child might have some other learning disorder, or in some cases, that the child may be misbehaving and being stubborn. Read more

Dyslexia is one of the most commonly talked about learning disorder, but there is still a lot of misunderstanding about exactly what it is and what it means for the child. Parents also worry over what to do about it, and whether their child can be helped.

Children who suffer from communications disorders suffer emotional and social effects that may be a huge quality of life issue for them. Speech therapy is used to help improve your child or your students’ ability to communicate. Spoken communications is incredibly important to the development of the child, allowing them to express their emotions, needs, and thoughts.

Parenting a child with special needs can be challenging. It requires extra effort in time, awareness, and education. These considerations will be quite different from one child to the next because ‘special needs’ is used as an umbrella term to encompass anything from light learning disabilities to more severe behaviour issues. Proper diagnoses ensure parents will be focusing on the right methods and activities for their child.