Helping Your Kindergartner Cope With A Learning Disability

The development of your child is a top priority for almost every parent. When your kindergartner seems to be struggling to master the cognitive skills that are normal for children their age, it can cause anxiety. Learning disabilities are not uncommon in children who are in kindergarten, and if you have concerns that your child may not be developing the cognitive skills that are necessary for their stage in life, you can learn some of the most common signs of learning disabilities and how you can help your child overcome them.

Speech Delay

Speech is one of the first skills that every child develops. Children often begin to learn to speak by making random alphabet sounds then moving on to simple three- and four-letter words. They will also mimic what you or others say. If your child's vocabulary is smaller than what is age appropriate, then you can take steps to help them.

What You Can Do:

1. As much as possible, get them to be around other children their age who have a wide vocabulary. This means that outside of school, they should have many play dates.
2. Use computer language games that are age appropriate.
3. Buy educational toys that encourage children to call words or imitate sounds.

Motor Skill Development

If you notice that your child has difficulty holding a crayon to color or to make markings, it usually means that your child's fine motor skills need further development. Here are a few step you can take to help develop their motor skills.

What You Can Do:

1. Get them to tear paper and use glue to paste them onto cardboard or construction paper.
2. Try teaching them origami.
3. Do a lot of paper cutting activities using a scissors.

Difficulty Understanding the Relationships Between Things

Difficulty understanding the relationship between things means that your child cannot understand how two concepts relate to each other. For example, you child may have difficulty understanding how "up" relates to "down" or "in" relates to "out." Children with this issue may come across as rude because they don't understand why negative actions provoke negative reactions.

What You Can Do:

1. Be patient. You must be prepared to reinforce behavioral concepts over and over again. Eventually, your child will understand.
2. Use fairy tales to help teach children about good and bad actions and their consequences.
3. Make a big production out of little things such as bouncing a ball, emphasizing words such as "up" or "down." You can also use everyday activities to emphasize concepts. These can include opening and closing the door to teach "in" and "out." Use the act of putting on and taking off of the child's shoe to teach "on" and "off."

Along with any help you receive from a professional familiar with developmental pediatrics, the tips outlined should help your child significantly.