Summer reading programs

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Jennifer

Jennifer Little, Ph. D.Summer reading programs are not what most parents and children think about.  School ends soon and students are looking forward to having fun and not doing any school work.  Most look forward to two months without reading assignments.  Parents of children with learning difficulties know their children need extra help and/or support.  They want their children to do well in school, so they want to know how to help their children with reading.  Unfortunately, many students no longer receive extra support during the summer, because budget cuts have eliminated summer school except for those who lose all progress they make in school when there is a long vacation.    This blog entry is a response to a reporter’s questions.

If your child has dyslexia or other reading disability, do they need a specific summer reading program or is plain reading tutoring good enough? 

That is a very global question which can be answered several ways, usually with a “waffle” of maybe.  It really depends upon several factors:

  • The relationship the student has with his/her summer reading tutor.  Obviously, the better the relationships and how well they like each other, the more likely there will be progress.
  • The skills of the summer reading tutor.  The tutor needs to know what the child’s problems are and how to teach the missing skills.  Just because someone can read does not mean they can teach reading to children with learning problems.
  • The student’s attitude toward summer reading programs.  Many children resent having to go to summer school or tutoring during vacation, because they don’t want to keep doing what they are not good at.  When they see they are making progress, they are more willing to engage in the instruction.  When they have already given up hope of making progress, they will superficially comply with instruction but not put out greater efforts.
  • How much progress the student has made to date using the researched method(s).  Sometimes the school textbooks and approaches work for the child; sometimes they do not.  For some students, they have been reading the same textbook for years.  There can be underlying problems that the researched method does not address, and in this case the student will continue reading at his/her same level regardless of how much instruction (s)he receives.
  • The severity of the child’s disability.  Sometimes a child’s disability affects his/her memory and/or comprehension to the point that no matter what a teacher does, the child makes no progress.  The good news is that those children are not the average child with a learning disability.
  • The underlying predisposing deficits that contribute to the child’s disability and whether or not anyone (usually never) addresses those deficits.  This is the most important factor involved with a child learning to read.  For example, when a child has difficulty with producing and/or comprehending language, that problem will also be part of his/her reading difficulties.  Without addressing the language problem, the reading difficulties will not go away regardless of how much tutoring and effort happens.

Do those who continue a specific intervention in the summer fare better in the fall?

Any time a child has practice over the summer, (s)he will do “better” in the fall, but that improvement may not be sustained, as the summer intervention actually worked to prevent falling back to previous levels.  It has been my experience that learning disabilities students never have their language deficits worked on, so they tend to struggle throughout school, because comprehension, not phonics or decoding skills, is the underlying issue in their poor reading.  They may be able to read well and fluently aloud, recognize words and decode them reasonably, but they are simply “word calling” because they don’t understand the language structure and vocabulary above 3rd/4th grade reading levels.  A good guideline to figuring out if a child has a language problem is to find out what his/her reading level is.  A general rule is that when a child (upper elementary to high school) reads between 2nd and 4th grade levels, (s)he has a language difficulty.

For concerned parents, teachers, or tutors, more information about teaching reading and language difficulties is available at Parents Teach Kids.

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When to talk about college

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Jennifer

Jennifer Little, Ph. D.At this time, our state and federal governments expect everyone to go on to higher education.  Higher education has simply become an extension of the K-12 educational systems.  Higher education is where all those vocational training classes are now offered.  They were once in high schools in every district.  Now community colleges offer certification programs in auto mechanics, welding, plumbing, business, hospitality, nursing and many other vocations.  College seems to be the goal everyone expects children to have, yet it is not for everyone.

Parents may think they need to “talk” about college, but the conversations they need to have with their children should be about:

  • What their children are interested in learning about or doing.  Exposing children to people with many different professions/vocations is always a good idea from elementary school on.
  • Value of education for the purpose of learning skills that make the child an employable adult.  As often as possible, the skills should be transferrable and appropriate for more than one career choice or option.
  • Developing work ethics and behaviors.  Learning and doing homework and schoolwork are the child’s job.
  • Appropriate social behavior.  This is just as important as college on most jobs, yet appropriate social behaviors are not often taught to children, directly or indirectly.  When a child does not have these behaviors, they can easily offend others without being aware of what they are doing.

More than talking, parents need to be actively involved in their children’s educational experience, from preschool through high school.  When a child struggles with reading or math, parents have several choices:

  1. They can hire a tutor (often $50/hour or more).  This can be very expensive over time and beyond what parents can now afford.
  2. They can hire an older student to tutor or teach their child (typically at $10/hour), but students often do not know how to teach or recognize what the learning problems are.
  3. They can teach their children what they need to know.  This is by far the more desirable option for two reasons:  it is not expensive and they are involved with their child’s educational process.

Children who fall behind their classmates will struggle with self-worth and self-concept issues in addition to being unable to master the content teachers present.  Whey they fall too far behind (2+ years), they may never recover the missing skills unless parents find someone who really knows and understands developmental sequences, specific deficit training methods and appropriate instructional methods.  When they can afford it, this is the point when the parents typically hire professional tutors to work with their children.

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Psychological factors affecting language development

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Jennifer

Jennifer Little, Ph. D.My entire career has been working with at-risk students with children with behavior, learning and emotional problems. It is difficult to untwine those three, because each contributes to the others.  Children with behavior problems have difficulty attending to instruction or what is going on around them.  Their acting out detracts from the quiet, calm learning environments expected in school (and out of school for homework or studying).  They may or may not have biochemical or neurological contributing conditions.  Children with emotional difficulties may have biochemical imbalances that affect learning and the ability to read social cues (and not be behavior disordered).  Children with learning difficulties develop behavior and emotional problems because they are not learning or able to learn like their peers.

Many children are identified with difficulties and placed in special education where language difficulties are the “norm” but rarely treated.  School speech and language therapists only address the issues of articulation (making and perceiving specific sounds) and not language development.  A child with language deficits cannot achieve to his/her potential and usually can’t read above 2nd-4th grade levels.  This is typical for children in inner city schools where Title I services may or may not be available.  Title I teachers do not address the language issue, only reading (which is just oral language in written form).  Not dealing with the language portion of reading comprehension is the reason those kids have trouble with reading comprehension that ultimately results in:

  • Behavior problems,
  • Substance abuse (including early pregnancy),
  • School failure and
  • Dropping out of school.

They may or may not receive adequate instruction and/or support to overcome difficulties.  There are far more children who are never identified and/or served by special education services.  For example, I’m currently working with a highly intelligent 45 year old man who graduated from college but never developed full language facility.  Had it not been for his upper middle class and dedicated parents who sent him to private schools that focused on developing vocabulary comprehension skills, he would have much more difficulty than he currently has.

Psychological factors affecting language development in children are almost limitless, but the general categories would include:

  • Trauma experienced (abuse, neglect, accident, injuries, violence, hospitalizations of any sort, losses) – remember of the perception of what is traumatic to the individual may not be traumatic to another or an adult.
  • Parental substance abuse – in utero or after birth – which would also bring up the list above.
  • Lack of parental skills/involvement – research from the 1960s showed that Head Start children had the same language deficits that their parents have.  Since language isn’t taught in school, how are parents who are language deficit going to help their children even if they wanted to?
  • Biological factors (genetic and/or biochemical) which affect the individual’s perception and mental states.
  • All conditions associated with poverty that may not have been listed anywhere above.  This could include anger and resentment about not having enough food or “status” items to fit in with peers, overcrowded home conditions and lack of sleep and/or quiet time, social skills focusing on self-preservation rather than mutual social support, etc.

One of the best things parents can do is provide an emotionally safe and supportive environment by listening to their children.  During those conversations, language skills can be refined through modeling and direct instruction for proper ways to say or explain things.  That is also when parents can model appropriate behavior and provide their children with explanation for desired behaviors.  More information is available at Parents Teach Kids.

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Managing children’s technology

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Jennifer

Jennifer Little, Ph. D.Technology is here to stay.  It provides us with many tools for our jobs, for learning, for entertainment.  Technology has given us new toys for everyone.  In the past, watching too much television became a problem for children.  Instead of learning through play how to get along with others and develop motor skills, it was their babysitter or “best friend”.  With all the technology now available, the electronic hypnosis for children has expanded from television to a wide range of technology with entertaining apps and access to the internet.

The positive side of this easy accessibility is that children have embraced technology as easily as their parents and grandparents embraced cars and home appliances.  Children learn and adapt easily with new technology as it emerges.  They find ways of using the technology and apps that often mystify many in older generations.

The negative side of the technology explosion is that aspects of their minds, personality and developmental skills lie fallow.  They become passive, because technology brings everything to them.  Effort and sustained attention spans have been sacrificed to the immediate gratification afforded.  They do not have the perspective or skills to filter what is and is not appropriate.  If there is any question of that, consider the cases of cyber-bullying and other questionable and/or illegal acts in the news.

Critical thinking and judgment does not develop in a vacuum.  Children must learn from adults how to manage the technology in their lives.  Just because something is posted on the web does not mean it is true, valid, or important.  Allowing them to post all details of their lives on Facebook pages can be questionable or simply an invitation for very undesirable and/or hazardous consequences.

The bottom line is that parents need to remain in control of children’s technology.  Children still need to develop social skills, physical skills, and a work ethic.  They need to know how to be active mentally, socially and physically in life.  Technology is a too, a major part of our lives.  Adults need to be judicious in how their children use the technology.  A blog posting I read recently provides some general guidelines for parents.

Managing technology is a form of behavior management.  It is up to the adults, not the children, to decide what is appropriate and what is not.   For more information on managing the behavior and technology of your children, visit Parents Teach Kids.

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What to do with a messy child

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Jennifer

Jennifer Little, Ph. D.All parents know that not every child is the same.  Some are neat and orderly while others are messy and seem never to put anything away.  There can be underlying problems that the child has.  One is that the child uses his/her disorganization and/or messiness to get adult attention.  Think about how much time you spend monitoring and harping the child to clean his/her room.  You can continue to do this for years, or you can teach the child the needed skills with the same amount of time and energy in a very short length of time.  The parenting approach to the “messy child” situation is the short answer to the question, “What do I do with my messy child?” is to have a “chore chart” on which the parent specifies the exact actions the children need to accomplish.  For example, “clean your room” is far too vague and it allows the messy child simply to toss everything in the closet or under the bed.  Instead have a series of smaller tasks itemized (and also designated for specific days of the week), such as:

  • Make the bed
  • Put dirty clothes in hamper
  • Put clean socks and underwear in the designated drawer
  • Hang clean shirts on hangars in closet/fold and put in a designated drawer
  • Put clean pants on hangars in closet/fold and put in a designated drawer
  • Put trash in trash can
  • Put school books, pens, pencils, crayons, and work on the desk (one pile for books, one for papers)
  • Put toys/plaything (in/on appropriate designated space)
  • Take any glasses, cups, silverware, dishes/plates to the kitchen sink

This approach teaches what to do and the days designated teaches when the child is to do those tasks.  Of course, there need to be consequences for doing the tasks.  Rewards can be time on a video game, choosing a movie to watch or extra TV; consequences of not doing the cleaning would be removing video game privileges until tasks have been done.  The parent must monitor task completion consistently to get the child in the habit of exactly what to do.  The consistency of implementing this approach is what will teach the child the skills so it all becomes a learned habitual routine.  This is also a way to build a child’s self-esteem, as only success can do that.

Another problem is one that many professionals are unaware of. Subtle language deficits can cause an individual to be unable of organizational skills.  The affected individual does not understand how to organize, how to prioritize, or how to break a task into sub-components so it is manageable or able to be completed and/or accomplished.  This is a subtle learning problem, because adults attend to what a child is saying or trying to say and rarely attend to how a child verbalizes.

Many children may appear to be doing acceptably in school; but they are really underachieving, because no one sees or understands that they are having difficulties.  For example, I worked with a 45 year old man who graduated from college with this same problem.  In less than two months, he learned what he can do differently as the side effect of the developmental oral language work he’s been doing with me.  He has made comments about how his parents tried to help him, but the teachers and psychologists did not recognize what the problem was.  If his parents had known what was available at Parents Teach Kids, his life would have been very different.

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Effect of music on behavior

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Jennifer

Jennifer Little, Ph. D.For many years, I carried on experiments in my classrooms with behavior, learning and emotionally challenged (and challenging) students.  These various experiments used music with and without subliminal messages (my principal had approved this experiment as the messages were written out in accompanying materials), meditative breathing techniques, visualizations, and complimenting others.

No matter which method I used, it seemed to impact the students’ attitudes and behaviors.  I say “seemed”, because it was my observation of their behavior and I was not conducting a rigorous scientifically-based experiment.  I could only determine the success by students’ willingness to engage in assignments and classwork completion rates.

The breathing techniques helped diffuse tension in the individuals and, consequently, within the group.  Since these students were more acting out than other classes I had had, this was a significant accomplishment as far as I was concerned.  It was also my first experiment.  The more frequently the students experienced these once-daily five minute intervals, the more relaxed they were and the longer the benefits seemed to last.  Initially, the calmer attitudes seemed to last about an hour; over a period of two months, the attitudes seemed to last several hours.

I then expanded into having them compliment others in the class.  Again, this challenging class was full of students who did not trust anyone (with good reasons based on their experiences with people).  It was easier to get them to compliment others after they had experienced the breathing techniques.  Compliments could not be related to appearance (i.e., “I like your shirt.” or “I like your hair.”) but had to be related to personality traits and/or behavior (i.e., “I like the way you laugh at my jokes.” or “I like the way you helped me understand the multiplication process that confused me.”).  Again, the more often they heard others’ perceptions of themselves, the calmer they behaved in class.

In another class with less challenging and more interactive students who were in the greater L.A. area, I tried the subliminal message music tapes.  They responded well and worked well.  I noticed that I received the most benefit from these tapes, as I was more relaxed after school and slept better at night.  Perhaps it was because I had 5 hours of the music and they only had one or two hours at most.

I continued the music (subliminal and non-subliminal) at my next job working with inner city middle school students.  Initially, the results were mixed, but that was in part due to how I was teaching the students (the description is too complicated to go into here).  At semester, I had an enrollment change and different students.  I always varied the tapes, but one new student named Jerome apparently had not heard one tape until late February.  I did not notice much difference in the day’s behavior or work, but Jerome did.  The next day, he came into class and asked, “Where’s my tape?”  He sorted through the tapes, found the one he wanted, and immediately sat down and worked the entire period.  For the first time in his life, Jerome was able to attend in class and complete his assignments.  He had noticed the difference immediately and, obviously, liked what he felt.  For the rest of the year, Jerome completed all his work, because he made sure that tape played during the period I had him.

Others have experimented with such techniques.  The Findhorn Project was one.  While not exactly the same, there are projects monitoring the effects of trees and the frequency (and effects) of plants.  You might find the explanations interesting enough to apply some concepts to your own life.  Perhaps adding plants to the home or specific types of music would help family dynamics.  Other suggestions can be found at Parents Teach Kids.

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Is college for everyone?

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Jennifer

Jennifer Little, Ph. D.College, when talking about a traditional four-year degree education, is not appropriate for all kids and is actually appropriate for probably 20-30%.  These are arbitrary numbers not supported by statistics but determined by the normal distribution curve which the government clearly ignores when it comes to education.  However, technical training programs that are now provided by community colleges and technical schools are appropriate.  Unfortunately, many children cannot even attend those schools successfully for a couple of reasons:

  • The reading levels required for the textbooks.  For example, most text books for plumbing and electrician preparation requires over 10th grade reading levels and a level of abstract reasoning that many adults never achieve.
  • The courses require a great deal of internal motivation and self-monitoring.  Children who do not develop a strong work ethic and habits for task completion will have difficulty being responsible for adult time management and task completion levels.

The current guidelines for high school graduation (federal and then translated into state requirements) have all students who graduate from high school theoretically prepared for colleges (higher education).  For many reasons, this is totally inappropriate, but those explanations as to why are for another time.  The net result of those graduation requirements is two-fold: 

  1. Actual college preparatory classes have been “dumbed down” with easier class content or grading scales.  It looks like schools are actually teaching students as required under federal requirements and the replaced methods of statistical scoring procedures.  Remember: school drop-outs, retentions and failures are counted against the schools.  The net result of these “adjustments” is that students entering college must take literacy tests to determine if they are ready for college level instruction.  If they don’t pass, they must take non-credit gaining remedial classes in reading, math, or writing before they can begin the regular courses of study.
  2. Drop-out and failure rates for some classes (i.e., foreign language, geometry/algebra) are high, because the application and conceptualization requirements are beyond many students’ developmental skills levels (see cognitive development and language development at Parents Teach Kids).

Politicians have been driving education reform efforts and even defining requirements for education.  They are ignorant when it comes to understanding child development, normal distributions, and developmental readiness skills that schools do not address.  The result is our current education system that is trying to keep colleges and universities afloat by hyping lifelong learning, the need for higher education in all fields, etc.

Then again, let’s face it – how well were we college graduates prepared for life when we graduated from college?  Life requires many skills never addressed by education.  That is one of the areas where “education” is very broken.  In defense of education, I suspect it was never designed for the purposes we use it for today.  It needs to be reconsidered and redesigned for purpose and what skills need to be added to the curriculum beyond the two primary skills and contents now taught:  reading and math.  Think about it:  What do you think needs to be taught in schools at all levels?

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How children develop reslience

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Jennifer

Jennifer Little, Ph. D.Resilience means many things, depending on one’s profession.  It may mean withstanding peer pressures (drugs, alcohol, smoking, sex, delinquency) or simply navigating through life’s challenges. I have worked with children (and their parents) for over 35 years; some of them have been resilient and some not.

All the literature I’ve read and all the practical living I’ve witnessed over the decades of working with children point to the major reasons that resiliency develops:

  • School success (academic and social) and belief in one’s ability to learn and achieve.
  • Having parents who are actively involved with their children and in their children’s lives (proving to the children that they are loved and cared for).
  • Intact, broken or merged home environments where legal, moral and ethical standards are consistently taught, modeled and valued (including the consumption/use of substances of all varieties).
  • Strong developmental skills (verbal and non-verbal language skills and cognitive development) that support appropriate choices, decisions and problem solving (these skills are not taught in school and rarely directly taught at home).

I have noticed some patterns in the children I’ve worked with.  Of course, I did not work with a representative sample as a research study would.  Most of my students were already at-risk and not resilient, but that was because none of my students had had school success.  Few of them believed they were smart or able to learn.  It was my job to dispel those false beliefs. In addition to academic difficulties, they tended to have behavior problems.  I do not know if the behavior problems cause the learning problems or the learning problems caused the behavior problems.  Whichever it was, they were isolated from their peers who would ridicule them with name calling.

What I saw was that, when a child is raised in an environment that is missing one of the above, (s)he could usually compensate well enough to withstand peer pressure or not need to “self-medicate” any emotional pains.  When two or more were missing, the child had increasing difficulties coping with life’s demands, most of which seemed to come to a climax during high school.

Of course, environment cannot account for all of the factors; sometimes a child is genetically or personality disposed to the undesirable outcomes.  Teachers and school experiences would not be factors for resilience in those children.  Their parents were substance abusers (alcohol and/or drugs) and might have had experiences with the judicial systems for their personal habits.  What I saw was that, when those children improved their school performance, their substance use declined and their desire to remain in school and do well improved.  Perhaps it was hope that academic success gave them.

That same hope is what an involved parent can give their children.  For more information, visit Parents Teach Kids.

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Common Core Standards

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Jennifer

Jennifer Little, Ph. D.Common Core Standards in education are really what the old scope and sequence of curriculum and instruction was.  There is really nothing new at all, except that what used to be in first grade, etc., is now in a lower grade and/or more “current” information and skills (i.e., technology) are included.  Those pushing the “education reform” movement want to standardize everything and lots of money is being spent on Common Core Standards instruction “signposts”.  This whole movement started in the 1980′s with “standards” – even Diane Ravitch who was one of those behind that concept now says it was a mistake and won’t accomplish anything.  Her statements came fare too late, as it was embraced by the unthinking mass of education administrators and policy makers and it was moving of its own accord by the time she started speaking out against it.

Pros and cons to Common Core Standards

The pro side

  • People (parents, teachers, students, administrators and anyone who cares to read the state DOE website) know what should be taught in text books and classrooms of every grade.  The standards are in lesson plans, on classroom white boards, in textbooks, and anywhere someone might happen to glance in schools.  They are the focused guidelines for every activity a teacher chooses for students.  They are (theoretically) organized and build upon each other, grade by grade, to lead to the final “product” of graduation and appropriate for the average and above students in anyone’s classroom.

The con side

  • Teachers spend a lot of time re-hashing everything to make sure the standards are known to everyone.  They teach to the standards which means they are also teaching to the state tests.  There is really nothing wrong with that, unless all you do is focus on test scores and how to improve them without helping students actually learn content/processes that are reflected and included in testing.
  • Children don’t progress according to the timetables established by the Common Core Standards.  Many children develop more slowly, have learning barriers (within themselves and in their environment), learn differently from how teachers teach, or simply do not care about what is being taught (much is pointless in their understanding of life skills).
  • Common Core Standards do not allow for remedial instruction.  Like having a schedule for anything where the focus is on maintaining the schedule for the sake of the schedule, people’s needs are ignored.  This means that when a child does not learn what is taught at a particular level, the instruction just moves on along and (s)he is lost.  How critical is this:  consider a child who doesn’t attend preschool or kindergarten and enrolls in first grade – already 2 years behind in reading instruction.  What if a child doesn’t understand English?  Years behind in instruction.  What if a child has a learning disability?  Years behind in instruction and the current model of “serving” special needs students is in the classroom, so the child only completes an assignment (s)he doesn’t understand – band aid education.

What this means for education

Every educator knows what all these expensive and time-consuming changes about test scores and Common Core Standards mean for education:  nothing.  There will be no change in test scores or graduation rates or even competency of graduates.  Before you ask, yes, people are talking about this, but who is listening?  Visit the TED site for some very interesting and clear explanations of what needs to happen by Ken Robinson and others.  But where does the change need to happen?  Right where it started:  at the federal level of education and monitoring (Congress).

When teachers present the content, especially when they cannot go back and teach the missing skills that children need for each advancing grade level, it doesn’t mean students learn the content.  For more explanation about this, visit Parents Teach Kids.  Maybe when enough “non-educators” are complaining alongside the educators who are complaining, the decision and policy makers might start to pay attention and do something right.  It is worth listening to parents and teachers who know about children, how they develop and learn, and what can be done.

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How to recognize gifts in children

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Jennifer

Jennifer Little, Ph. D.Many parents want to know how to recognize gifts in children.  Most often, children will display some level of talents/gifts along the way as they develop.  These will show an inclination toward a particular skill or area of interest, but the child may not always enjoy the particular task involved.  How well someone will do will be determined by their ability to focus and maintain attention, remember (short and long term memories), integrate information from various modalities of learning (visual, auditory, tactile-kinesthetic or muscles/experiences),

For example, an artistically inclined child may get frustrated by drawing and/or painting with poor eye-hand skills, but (s)he may enjoy doing mosaics or stained glass that require seeing the whole-part relationships (as in puzzles); the gifted dancer may excel in rhythm and physical activities but have difficulty learning to read music.

Generally speaking, there are major “categories” of talents/gifts, some of which are below.  Depending upon the task, several talents/gifts may be needed for exceptional performances.  An example is someone who enjoys drama may be artistic in some way, may be a talented athlete, dancer and/or singer, but have an unusual memory (visual stimuli such as reading or auditory such as in speaking).

  • Some children take care of others, nurturing them when they are upset, demonstrating kindness and caring.  These are children who will be socially oriented, empathetic and caring for others.  Those with good language skills will have little trouble learning to read and get along well with others.
  • Some children like to organize and make things neat; these are children who will enjoy doing chores around the house and usually like seeing tasks completed on time.   They may be exceptional at arranging items within spaces and constantly keep rearranging their rooms.
  • Some children constantly inquire and search for answers; these may be unusually intelligent children and have a focus for achievement in school.  They will easily memorize information and applying it in novel situations/ways.
  • Some children are artistic (drawing, color sense, outfits they choose to wear or dress dolls in); these children may or may not excel in art (eye-hand control and fine motor skills must also be exception for visual arts) but will enjoy the arts.  They may enjoy creative activities of any type (crafts as well as arts).
  • The athletically inclined child will roll, tumble, climb and often distress mothers who fear for their safety; no matter what physical feat they attempt, they will usually be totally safe.  These will be the natural athletes who join and value sports over everything.
  • Other children like to either take things apart or put them together; these will most likely be the mechanically inclined individual who can fix almost anything even without directions.  These individuals will have difficulty with academic studies (English, Social Studies) but would enjoy vocational classes (shop, home economics, agriculture, etc.)
  • Musically inclined children have a good sense of rhythm, want to learn instruments and have an ease of acquiring the skills.  They often excel in mathematics.

The bottom line is how the individual combines talents and interests that make for the end results.  When parents know  how to recognize gifts in children, they can then take specific attributes and apply them into different tasks (interests) at which the child can excel.  For parents who want some support with their children’s development, Parents Teach Kids can help.

 

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