As a learning disabilities specialist for over 30 years, I have worked with hundreds of students with learning difficulties and disabilities. There are five common problems that parents encounter when teaching their children. Sometimes these problems are just that, simple problems to overcome. Other times these problems are indicators of learning difficulties and disabilities.

A Lazy, Uninterested Reader or a Learning Problem?
Often parents tell me their children have trouble getting started with reading assignments, that their children are not interested in reading. These parents didn't know what to do to encourage their children to read more.

Keep in mind that sometimes a child isn't interested in reading because they are not interested in the subject matter of the books. In that case, parents can have their child pick out their own pleasure reading books. One thing I did was to go to the library and talk to the children's librarian. I told her that I needed a "guaranteed good read" for my son. The children's librarians are well versed in children's literature. The librarian asked me his grade level and his interests. She showed me several authors that had really interesting books in his grade level on those topics. I gave five books to my son to choose from. He then made his choices and really "got into" reading books.

If a child is struggling to read, the parent needs to identify why they are struggling so that they can address their needs. Then parents can instruct them in the best way for them to learn, to succeed, and to enjoy learning. Additionally, the parents can pass on the love of learning and reading by reading books to their child, and then talk about the books they are reading. A struggling reader will also benefit from family reading where each takes turns at reading. If they are truly "nonreaders," they can talk about the pictures on the page or tell the parent how they visualize what's been read to them, describing it in as much detail as possible. That way they are active participants in the reading process.

A Behavioral Problem or a Learning Problem
The second problem that I've faced over the years is helping parents to identify whether the problem their child has is part of their personality, a behavioral problem, a learning disability, or a learning difficulty. This can be difficult to identify, especially because homeschooling parents are so close to the situation. The best way to identify the cause of problems a child is having is by looking at the child's behavior and the frequency the problem occurs.

For instance, if they are taking too long to do school work, I would ask: Is this a daily occurrence, or does it happen occasionally? Is it for a particular subject area? Do they avoid a particular subject? I would want the parents to have their kids read aloud, because the types of mistakes made when reading aloud are an indication of the kind of difficulty they are having. For example, skipping, repeating, or omitting words when reading aloud may be a sign that their eye muscles aren't tracking efficiently. When a child mispronounces a word while trying to sound it out, that is a phonetic mistake.

Be reassured, even when a child is having difficulty with reading, that difficulty does not automatically mean they have a learning disability. However, the difficulty could be signaling several different issues. It can be that the child has trouble understanding that letters make sounds and that sounds come together to make words. I remember a number of years ago I worked with a sixth-grader who was really struggling with reading. He never knew that letters made sounds. Once he understood that, he really made progress. He went from a non-reader to a sixth-grade reader in six months. Obviously, he did have a reading difficulty, but he did not have a learning disability.

There are specific approaches parents can use to help their kids with these issues.

Trouble with Reading Comprehension
The third problem that parents sometimes face is children with poor reading comprehension. This can be caused by two different problems. Children might have a visual tracking problem because they've skipped, omitted, or substituted words in their reading. For example, they read the sentence Sally can go to the store. But the sentence actually was Sally can't go to the store. The rest of the passage might not make much sense to them on an informational level. When they get to the question asking "Why couldn't Sally go to the store?" they think to themselves, "Wait a minute-it said Sally can go to the store." This question doesn't make any sense to them. What happened is they just skipped an "aposthophy" in the word can't. Skipping it totally changed the meaning. They stopped and became frustrated. Their comprehension is going to be lower because of that. It could also be that they did not visualize what they read. They did not see pictures in their mind as they were reading.

Once you understand what's going on, there are things that you can do to help your child so that they have better reading comprehension.

Trouble with Reversals
The fourth problem is when a child reverses letters. For those unfamiliar, an example of a letter reversal is seeing a b for a d, p for a q, or b for a p, or vice versa. Dyslexia is commonly though of when a child has letter reversal difficulties. It is common for 5-7-years-olds to sometimes reverse letters and numbers. Letter reversals in students that are older are one indication of a reading disability. Very often, by the time parents come to a professional for help, they say, "I think my child is dyslexic because he does reversals." Well, that may be the case, but not always.

Webster defines dyslexia as â"impairment of the ability to read." The term dyslexia really doesn't give you an understanding of why a child is having the problem, just like the word dyscalculalia, which means a difficulty with math, doesn't identify why the child is having a problem. The key is to be able to understand why they're having the problem. Understanding is the first step to knowing what to do to help them. Also, a child may not have a reading difficulty or reading disability. Again, there are specific materials and activities that will address the problem areas.

Writing Difficulties
The fifth problem is when a child has poor writing skills. Two things can be going on here. First, does your child have difficulty with the physical writing-penmanship? When a child has difficulty with penmanship, a variety of areas of perception may be affecting their writing. It could be a visual motor difficulty. Visual motor difficulties can lead to poor handwriting and copying skills and poor memory of what was written, due to the extreme effort needed to get the information written down. It could also be a spatial difficulty where we perceive how things fit together. For example: what goes with what to make a pattern or a letter, formatting letters correctly, and writing in columns. There are specific activities to do to improve each of these areas as well as the actual penmanship.

Secondly, does your child have poor quality of writing? Often poor quality of writing is due to poor visualization skills. When your child doesn't visualize well, writing can be very difficult because they usually don't have any idea of where to start as well as what to put down. If they are good at visualizing, making pictures in their head, it will be easier for them to be creative in their writing. Visualization is a skill that can be improved.

Understand Learning Difficulties or Disabilities
I have created an in-depth report that will help homeschooling parents to more fully identify if their child has learning difficulties or disabilities. To get the report, go to www.bonnieterry.com/reports_LD.cfm or call 530-888-7160.

Bonnie Terry is the owner of Bonnie Terry Learning www.bonnieterrylearning.com.   For more information contact her at info@bonnieterrylearning.com  or 530.888.7160.