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As soon as you notice that your child is facing difficulties with learning or notice that they are lagging behind peers, seek professional help and early intervention. I still maintain that early intervention is better than waiting to see if the child will outgrow a learning problem. While it is nice to hear teachers and family members tell you not to worry coz they have seen many others before who had similar problems and somehow they miraculously outgrew it, That is just a tall yarn!
I cannot emphasise the benefits of intervening early. It is, in the first instance, the most cost effective way. By intervening early, your child is going to be school ready on time. Chances are, if the child has had good early intervention, then, they will not have difficulties in the first few years of big school. After that, whatever special educational needs they may have, will be minimal and require less intensive session. They would not have fallen back so far as it would have been had there been no early intervention.
Second, the child's self esteem is preserved as they are able to see themselves as being equal to peers and peers accept them as being equals as well. Also, the heart ache of having the school tell you that your child has fallen so far behind that they are no longer able to cater to your child's learning needs, can be reduced or even eliminated all together.
Early learning skills are so important as they set the foundation for all future learning. A solid foundation is absolutely necessary. A shaky one causes long term problems and ultimately academic failure.
The plasticity of the childhood brain cannot be match at any other developmental stage. So, what we are able to correct through early intervention is amazing between the ages of 2.5- 7 years! If a child does not talk by age 9, it is safe to assume that that child will never learn to talk after that. Language and spontaneous speech must be developed and trained prior to the 9th birthday.
Again, selecting professionals who are properly trained to run early intervention is also imperative for programme success. Like I have been saying, someone with a degree in psychology is NOT a teacher nor is she teacher trained! So be careful. Someone with one year training cannot be trained as a special ed teacher. Teacher training takes at least 3 years these days!
I cannot emphasise the benefits of intervening early. It is, in the first instance, the most cost effective way. By intervening early, your child is going to be school ready on time. Chances are, if the child has had good early intervention, then, they will not have difficulties in the first few years of big school. After that, whatever special educational needs they may have, will be minimal and require less intensive session. They would not have fallen back so far as it would have been had there been no early intervention.
Second, the child's self esteem is preserved as they are able to see themselves as being equal to peers and peers accept them as being equals as well. Also, the heart ache of having the school tell you that your child has fallen so far behind that they are no longer able to cater to your child's learning needs, can be reduced or even eliminated all together.
Early learning skills are so important as they set the foundation for all future learning. A solid foundation is absolutely necessary. A shaky one causes long term problems and ultimately academic failure.
The plasticity of the childhood brain cannot be match at any other developmental stage. So, what we are able to correct through early intervention is amazing between the ages of 2.5- 7 years! If a child does not talk by age 9, it is safe to assume that that child will never learn to talk after that. Language and spontaneous speech must be developed and trained prior to the 9th birthday.
Again, selecting professionals who are properly trained to run early intervention is also imperative for programme success. Like I have been saying, someone with a degree in psychology is NOT a teacher nor is she teacher trained! So be careful. Someone with one year training cannot be trained as a special ed teacher. Teacher training takes at least 3 years these days!
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