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Some learners who face mild learning difficulties may well be able to stay within a mainstream school system. Their learning differences are not so great and they only require some learning support - be it a pull out session within the school day or after hours. Nevertheless, learning support is necessary and crucial for them to progress and pass examinations.
Very often, parents mistake learning support for additional tuition. There is a huge difference the two. Learning support employs strategies and focuses on teaching the learner how to cope with large chunks of information. It is the building of underlying skills to be an effective learner. Tuition on the other hand, is extra teaching or a repeat of what was taught in school. The tutor simply re-teaches materials from the existing syllabus in the hope that re-teaching enhances understanding. Tuition focuses on the syllabus content. Learning support on the other hand, focuses on the learner and their specific ability to absorb syllabus content.
A regular tutor or tuition teacher is not equipped to provide learning support to learners with special educational needs or additional learning needs. A tutor or mainstream teacher, trains in the delivery of a fixed syllabus content - for example Secondary History or Geography. They are not trained to understand the cognitive processes of each learner as an individual and the efficiency of it. Learning support teachers are trained to understand the cognitive processes involved in learning and to identify problems areas and provide strategies for overcoming the problems.
So, while your child may be in the mainstream, as long as they have been diagnosed with a learning difficulty, they will face problems with learning at school, and therefore, require learning support. I met a real estate agent a few weeks ago, who upon reading my business card, said, " my daughter is dyslexic. But she's normal now. She only needs tuition in English"! To me, that made absolutely no sense! If you are dyslexic, and then you are dyslexic. You could not have outgrown dyslexia. There are no cures for dyslexia or any other specific learning difficulties. There are cures for broken legs and the flu but certainly not for learning difficulties. Research has proven that programmes that emphasize exercise or training of brain processes such as BrainGym, Fast ForWord, CogMed and the Arrowsmith for example, have no basis for improving reading ability or any other academic skills.
AND, there is nothing abnormal about being dyslexic or dyspraxic or hyperlexic or having dyscalculia or dysgraphia, that parents feel the need to say that their child is normal now! If parents have this need, than, this already qualifies as discrimination! So someone learns a little differently...so what?? Its like trying to compare a manual transmission car with an automatic one. Which is better? NEITHER!! Each has its own set of merits and limitations so stop being so judgmental and critical of your children and give them the learning support that they require.
Very often, parents mistake learning support for additional tuition. There is a huge difference the two. Learning support employs strategies and focuses on teaching the learner how to cope with large chunks of information. It is the building of underlying skills to be an effective learner. Tuition on the other hand, is extra teaching or a repeat of what was taught in school. The tutor simply re-teaches materials from the existing syllabus in the hope that re-teaching enhances understanding. Tuition focuses on the syllabus content. Learning support on the other hand, focuses on the learner and their specific ability to absorb syllabus content.
A regular tutor or tuition teacher is not equipped to provide learning support to learners with special educational needs or additional learning needs. A tutor or mainstream teacher, trains in the delivery of a fixed syllabus content - for example Secondary History or Geography. They are not trained to understand the cognitive processes of each learner as an individual and the efficiency of it. Learning support teachers are trained to understand the cognitive processes involved in learning and to identify problems areas and provide strategies for overcoming the problems.
So, while your child may be in the mainstream, as long as they have been diagnosed with a learning difficulty, they will face problems with learning at school, and therefore, require learning support. I met a real estate agent a few weeks ago, who upon reading my business card, said, " my daughter is dyslexic. But she's normal now. She only needs tuition in English"! To me, that made absolutely no sense! If you are dyslexic, and then you are dyslexic. You could not have outgrown dyslexia. There are no cures for dyslexia or any other specific learning difficulties. There are cures for broken legs and the flu but certainly not for learning difficulties. Research has proven that programmes that emphasize exercise or training of brain processes such as BrainGym, Fast ForWord, CogMed and the Arrowsmith for example, have no basis for improving reading ability or any other academic skills.
AND, there is nothing abnormal about being dyslexic or dyspraxic or hyperlexic or having dyscalculia or dysgraphia, that parents feel the need to say that their child is normal now! If parents have this need, than, this already qualifies as discrimination! So someone learns a little differently...so what?? Its like trying to compare a manual transmission car with an automatic one. Which is better? NEITHER!! Each has its own set of merits and limitations so stop being so judgmental and critical of your children and give them the learning support that they require.
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