Excerpt from "The Notepad"
Newsletter "Talking to Children About Strengths and Weaknesses" |
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Help the child understand his strengths |
Students encountering challenges in school lose self-confidence and motivation if they lack an awareness of why they are struggling. It is important to help students understand themselves as learners and to demystify the way they learn. Demystification educates children about their own strengths and weaknesses. It is recommended that this be done as a team with an educator, parent and student. |
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Help the child understand his strengths. Children should be made aware of the things they do well.
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Provide children with specific vocabulary for their problems (e.g., "You have what we call a word finding problem that makes it hard for you to answer questions in class").
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Prioritize areas for your child's improvements (e.g., "here are four things you need to work on....").
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Create optimism by revealing the possibilities for great success as an adult given the strengths that the child now displays.
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Preserve accountability. A student should not come away feeling that he/she can "cop out" of work or responsibility. Rather, children must realize that now that they understand themselves better, they are accountable for working hard to overcome effects of their problems.
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Vary the demystification process depending on the age of the child. With a six or seven year old, you can use examples, analogies, animal stories, and pictures. (e.g., "You know, your mind is just like a television set, but it has problems with the channel selector-it changes programs too often.") Early adolescents (especially middle schoolers) are often the hardest to work with. However, by high school they become open and curious about acknowledging their strengths and weaknesses. |
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Inform teachers of what a child has been told so that everyone is "on the same page".
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