With increasing curriculum demands and expectations, excelling in school can be a challenge for many students. Yet for children with special needs, this struggle is often even more pronounced. Those who once thrived in math are now challenged with the problem-solving and language-based Common Core approach. Students who have difficulty with auditory processing or focusing miss key information. Dyslexic children may struggle with reading and writing, and simply need more individualized support than a classroom teacher can provide. For special needs children, having a one-on-one tutor can be immensely helpful. Here are some benefits of special needs tutoring.
Addresses Your Child’s Individual Needs
In a large classroom setting, it can be difficult for teachers to individualize instruction to meet every child’s needs. Certain students learn best from a visual approach, others prefer an auditory or kinesthetic approach, and some learn best through multi-sensory instruction. A one-on-one tutor can provide individualized instruction that specifically meets your child’s preferred learning style. If your child is a visual learner, for instance, the tutor might use a visual-based vocabulary technique, where your child visualizes the definition of a word and then draws a picture on the back of a note card. For example, for the word apex, your child might close his eyes and visualize an image of himself at the top of a mountain peak. Then he can write the word on the front of a note card and draw a picture on the back of himself on top of a mountain to help him remember the definition. Likewise, when learning to take notes, the tutor can teach your visual learner a tree-like “Webbing” strategy, where he writes the main idea in the center of a page and branches out with salient information, using small pictures and symbols to represent key terms.
Provides Specific Skills Remediation
As children move through elementary school, there typically comes a point – often toward the end of third grade and into fourth grade – when the curriculum shifts from learning to read to reading to learn. Suddenly, your child who once read fine (but perhaps not fluently) or struggled just a bit to sound out words is now flailing as the reading demands rise rapidly. Her inability to decode words and read fluently is hindering her from meeting these rising academic demands, and her self-confidence begins to suffer. In such cases, a special needs tutor can help your child strengthen her fundamental reading skills using an approach most suitable for her needs. Likewise, your child may struggle with certain math computation concepts or with understanding how to process and solve math word problems. To combat these challenges, special needs tutors can provide individualized instruction to remediate your child’s areas of weakness – ideally using research-based techniques – and help her thrive in school.
Helps Your Child Keep Up with Classwork
For special needs students, listening and grasping the quantity of information that is presented in class can be a real challenge. They may lose focus, miss certain concepts, or simply struggle to process the material being covered. Special needs tutors can review the material covered in class with your child to make sure he understood every concept; if not, the tutor can explain the concepts until your child fully grasps them – and before the class moves too far ahead and he feels totally lost. Many tutors will even reach out and stay in touch with classroom teachers to discuss what was covered and areas that seemed challenging for your child. As an added bonus, some tutors may request future concepts the teacher plans to cover in order to preview this soon-to-come material, setting your child up for confidence and success when new material is presented.
Reduces Behavioral and Emotional Struggles
When children struggle in school their self-esteem often plummets. They watch their peers read chapter books when they can barely read three-letter words. Their younger sibling may complete multi-step math problems when they can only compute simple addition equations, and their best friend may be composing multiple paragraphs when they can barely write a sentence. In such situations, some kids begin to “act out” in class, lose focus, develop anxiety, or feel permanently stressed out. Homework may turn into complete meltdowns, and parent-child stress at home can skyrocket. By working with a tutor, your child’s skills can begin to flourish, and so too can his confidence. He will soon feel good about his skills and will typically in turn become more focused, less anxious and overall happier in school.
Improves Study Habits
For many students, especially those with ADHD or Executive Functioning challenges, organization and study skills are virtually non-existent. These students often forget books, neglect to write down assignments, manage their time poorly and follow no consistent system for organizing and filing their papers. These executive functioning weaknesses can negatively affect nearly all aspects of school. As a result, students who are exceptionally bright and have the potential to thrive in school often struggle with their classes and maintain poor grades. A special needs tutor that has experience working with these types of children can teach your child how to take notes, plan time, stay organized and effectively use a planner, amongst other executive functioning areas that are critical for success in school.
As students move through school, the academic and organizational demands increase rapidly. For special needs students, this progression can pose a real challenge to their self-esteem and performance in school. A one-on-one special needs tutor can teach your child techniques to build her core skills and help her feel confident and successful in school.
Emily Levy Ed.D, Founder & Director EBL Coaching // eblcoaching.com.
