As David Bowie said…"Turn and face the strange, ch ch ch changes.”

How quickly everything has changed and I am sure that some of you are finding it strange to suddenly become faced with the task of being teachers at home. Don’t be afraid, when you think about it, you have actually been their best teachers for their whole lives, after all you taught them to walk, talk, eat, ride a bike and more.

Many of our wonderful teachers are also struggling with the strange concept of leaving their students before the end of term without knowing when they will see them again, with the only contact through online learning. It’s a very difficult time for all and we are so sad that some students will be disadvantaged.

Looking for that silver lining has been difficult in this situation, however, something that has bothered me for a long time is that students with learning difficulties often spend a lot of time at school that is unproductive, without one on one assistance and lack of targeted, appropriate structured learning. They don’t have adequate skills to read or write or spell and yet the focus is on the curriculum.

Here’s an opportunity for you, parents!

For a student to be able to access the curriculum, they need specific skills. Reading, spelling and writing are essential for any type of written communication. For mathematics, we need skills in concepts of number and number calculations.

I know that many students with dyslexia and learning difficulties have not and yet they are expected to do more complex tasks related to the curriculum. They are pushed from year to year through the system, struggling to grasp the basics. 

Has your child established these skills?

If the answer is “no”, then this is your opportunity to take their education into your own hands and prioritise the development of these absolutely essential skills for learning. Whatever you do, look for an alternative, evidence based approaches to how you can teach them these skills. It doesn’t need to be done on the computer, in fact handwriting is a crucial part of the process of reading.

I’ve prepared a few tips for you to consider when working with your child at home. You can print these out to set goals and track progress each week.

If it all feels too hard, we have an excellent team of coaches on hand to help you through. Many have switched to online lessons and are ready to get started with your child via an online platform (Skype, Facetime, Zoom, Hangouts, etc).

Some extra time spent on improving these literacy skills now will make a massive difference to your child’s success not only when they return to school, but for the rest of their life!

Stay healthy, keep learning and look after each other.

~ Leslie