While children and teens with learning disabilities are often “diagnosed” in middle or high school, many disabilities can actually be PREVENTED through intervention at a much earlier age. Experts now know that there are things parents can do at home to help even the youngest children.

The root of learning.

“The root of learning, whether it’s reading, math, or even writing, is good cognitive skills,” explains Tanya Mitchell, director of training for LearningRx, a “brain-training” franchise. “Things like auditory and visual processing, memory, processing speed, comprehension, short-term and long-term memory, logic and reasoning, and attention are the underlying tools that allow children to focus, think, prioritize, plan, understand, visualize, remember and create useful associations, and solve problems”.

According to Mitchell, any weak cognitive ability, or a combination of several, can cause a learning disability. By identifying weak cognitive ability early, parents can help prevent learning problems, even before a child attends kindergarten.

“There are very promising studies showing a 90 percent decrease in reading problems if children are first introduced to sound analysis activities,” she says. “This could include things like rhyming or playing sound games as children learn to add or drop sounds in a syllable.”

According to Dr. G. Reid Lyon, Chief of the Division of Child Behavior and Development at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NICHD-funded research has shown that such services must have a strong foundation in phonological awareness. Before most poor readers can successfully learn to read, they must learn that spoken words can be broken down into smaller segments called phonemes. Next, they usually require training in phonetics: “assigning” phonemes to words printed on a page. Once children have mastered these steps, they can receive training to help them read fluently and understand what they read.

Identify reading disabilities

While a trained cognitive specialist can help diagnose the details of learning and reading disabilities, parents may be the first to identify difficulties. Parents can determine learning problems, such as with auditory processing at home, by asking the following. He she:

1. …seems to guess words?
2. …Have you ever added or left out sounds in words?
3. …have difficulty spelling new words, or spelling as you write?
4. …have difficulty remembering stories and jokes?
5. …does it take a long time to complete tasks?
6. …have difficulty doing two things at the same time?
7. …often ask for things to be repeated?
8. …have difficulty organizing activities?
9. …are you easily distracted?
10. …use slow and deliberate speech?

Recognize risk factors at any age

If your child is too young to discern whether the general symptoms above apply, look for the following age-related risk factors:

Pre-K or Kindergarten: Difficulty…

o Recognize rhythms
o Remember names of friends, colleagues, etc.
o With normal language development
o Recognize some letter shapes
End of 1st Grade: Difficulty…
o Learn the alphabet and corresponding letter sounds
o Apply “phonics” to reading and spelling
o Spelling of common sight words
o Recount stores in sequence and make predictions
o Read aloud with some fluency and comprehension
End of 2nd Grade: – Difficulty…
o Recall facts and details
o Use phonetics to pronounce words, including multi-syllable words
o Correctly spell previously studied and commonly seen words

How to help at home

Parents don’t have to spend a lot of money to help improve children’s cognitive skills at home. In fact, many simple games involving words or sounds can even be played in the car while driving. LearningRx shared some ideas that their trainers recommend to help younger children get on the right track early on to become successful learners.

Auditory: Sound Segmentation Games: Say a two-sound word, like bee or tie, and have them tell you what sounds are in the word (“b” and “ee” for “bee” and “t” and “i ” for “Tie”). Then start building up to three-sound words like cat, (“c” “a” and “t”) and tree (“t” “r” and “ee”). This builds the auditory segmentation that is necessary for spelling as children get older.

Phonics Using Building Blocks: Help develop analysis skills by using blocks to make nonsense words that start with two or three blocks. Create a nonsense word, then have the child remove one of the blocks and add a new one while verbally trying to figure out what the new nonsense word sounds like. (If they can’t read, just tell them the sounds and have them try to figure out from listening to the sounds what the new word would sound like when they swap blocks.)
Rhyming games: Say a word, then take turns with your child trying to find a new rhyming word. This develops auditory analysis, which is important for reading and spelling, as well as processing auditory instruction.

Visual: “Make a Movie in Your Head Game”: Start with a subject such as a puppy and then have your child help create what the puppy looks like; the size of him, whether he is sitting or running, the color of him, etc. Then ask your child to talk about where the puppy is; next to a doghouse, in the woods, etc. Gradually have your child add other topics, the weather, what the dog says, etc. By developing images with color, size, perception, sound, background, etc., children learn how to develop a more complete image, which will lead to better understanding. If they are having difficulty creating a new image, parents can start by having the child describe what is in her room.

Memory: Ask your child to give you directions to your house, the post office, the supermarket, or a friend’s house. Also, ask them to say five things about their day, three being something new they learned. This helps build memory.

Parents can also teach mnemonics. Think of a fact, like remembering her phone number, and have your child create a fun story that she can use. For example: 487-9376. “Number 4 ate(8) seven(7) fine(9) trees(3) and seven(7) sticks(6)”. (This example uses rhymes and memory.)

For a complete assessment of cognitive learning skills, contact your nearest cognitive skills training center.