When kids don’t have the full story, they start to make up their own scenarios. For instance, if your child spends part of a school day with a Special Ed teacher, but hasn’t been told why he or she is doing so, they’re going to begin to wonder “what’s wrong with me?”, and potentially label themselves as ‘slow’ or ‘stupid’. This could be disastrous!
So, to be clear, fill them in!
Be positive.
Be straightforward.
Give them what they need to understand and cope with the problem.
Remember to:
- Adapt your explanation to the age of your child
- Depending on their age, kids absorb information differently
- Talk about individual strengths and weaknesses
- Ok, so your child has a reading disability. What does he or she excel at?
- The conversation should be on-going
- The process is evolutionary, so the conversation should evolve, too
- Seek the help of other people
- Teachers, counselors, classmates, siblings, other parents, etc.
- Plan for treatment
- Finding different ways to manage the disability is always good
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