Choosing Educational Toys For Children With Learning Disability
Choosing Educational Toys Amagoing Baby Activity Cube, 5 in 1 Wooden Educational Learning Montessori Toys for 12-18 Months Baby Girl, First Birthday Gift , Pink Packaging
Some children must deal with learning difficulties, or problems with learning new information. They might struggle to master skills like throwing and catching a ball. They might grow confused trying to communicate by talking and listening to other people. Without being able to learn and retain key bits of information, these children struggle even more when they enter school and try to master reading, writing, and other content-area knowledge and skills.
Choosing Educational Toys For Children With Learning Disability
Choosing Educational Toys For Children With Learning Disability
Choosing Educational Toys For Children With Learning Disability
Choosing Educational Toys For Children With Learning Disability
Scientists aren't sure exactly what causes learning difficulties. Many theorize that the brains of children with learning disability mix up signals and have difficulty sending and receiving bits of information. Basically, as University of Nevada-Reno professors Gary Fisher and Rhoda Cummings explain inThe Survival Guide for Kids with LD, "some kids just have a hard time learning."
These children are not dumb or lazy at all. They just "learn differently" (LD). Gary Fisher and Rhoda Cummings appropriately substitute the term "disability" in their book, helpful to deal with the problem not with the stigma. Children with LD have normal or even above-average intelligence and may, in fact, excel in other areas. Their brains just acquire, process and retain information differently. As Stanley s. Lamm, M.D., and Martin l. Fisch, Ph.d. put it in Learning Disabilities Explained, a child with a learning disorder just has "a condition or a series of specific conditions that interfere with the normal learning process."
Children who learndifferently can come from any ethnic or socioeconomic group. Although only about 5% of children have been formally diagnosed with an LD, some doctors and educators believe that as many as 20 percent of children have some sort of interference with the way they learn in some area. The good news is that with proper diagnosis and targeted intervention, children with LD can greatly improve their ability to learn in a weak area.
It is paramount especially for parents to recognize that children with LD learn differently and the means and resources that they should make available to help them learn. Once an LD has been identified, a team of professionals test the child and use their findings to develop an individualized education plan (IEP) for him or her.Now the child and his or her teachers and parents know the area in which the child needs extra help and can focus on developing and improving the child's learning skills there. Special classes and one-on-one tutoring can help.
So can using educational toys targeted to develop specific skills. Children who are becoming bored with dry schoolwork may find renewed exciteMent in learning when that learning comes in the shape of a toy. Simplifying the learning process and using unconventional methods to make learning fun can spur children with LDs to reach new levels of achieveMent.
Gary Fisher and Rhoda Cummings identify seven key areas in which children might learn differently: talking and listening, reading, writing, math, organizingskills, social skills, and motor skills. Here are some suggestions for toys that develop learning skills associated with each of these areas ...
Talking and Listening LD
Children with Talking and Listening, LD know what they want to say; they just struggle to communicate their thoughts. They may also have difficulty understanding the meaning of the words other people say to them, sometimes mistaking one meaning for another. Some good skills to foster in this area are critical thinking and the ability to make predictions, understand cause and effect, and draw conclusions. These skills can help children organize their thoughts so as to express them more coherently and to understand better what others are saying to them.
Strategy and logic gamesFoxMind Games such as ' Garten or Cliko games can encourage the developMent of such logical thinking skills. While playing such games, parents can encourage children to think aloud to guide their reasoning. Parents can also gently ask children questions about what they think will happen next in a situation, acknowledging each response and using it as the basis for the next question.
Reading LD
Children with Reading LD may be overwhelmed by being exposed to too much text at a time. They may struggle to read the alphabet or to sound out words. They may skip lines when reading because it looks to them like the words are moving around on the page.
Educational toys such as Melissa and Doug's Opposites Puzzle Cards or the See & Spellreading break down to its essential components. Travel Read Spin and Spin Deluxe Family Edition Word made by GeoSpace are also excellent ways to turn spelling and reading skills into a fun experience. Focusing on one word/concept at a time and breaking words down into letters keeps children from being confused by walls of text. While using such products, encourage children to talk about what they are reading to check comprehension.
Writing LD
Children with Writing LD struggle with many of the same problems as children with Talking and Listening LD. They have great ideas in their heads, but have trouble expressing themselves in writing with neat handwriting and good grammar and spelling. This is a case where the simplest of toys canhave the greatest effect. Take some of the pressure of writing off by having children compose their thoughts on a fun chalkboard or dry-erase board. Now children can erase and/or restart their sentences over and over until everything is exactly right.
Math LD
Children with Math LD struggle with what numbers and numerical symbols mean. They have difficulty memorizing math facts and understanding. On the most basic level, they struggle with the patterns that underlie math concepts. Playing with pattern, shape games, puzzles and blocks can give a child the experience and confidence with patterns needed to succeed in math. For example, a toy such as FoxMind Games ' Logix I give a child practice with shapes and logic patterns. Again, the TravelMath Spin by GeoSpace is a fun teaching tool for basic operations, taking away what is sometimes a dreadful feeling of a child to have to learn math by him or herself. Remember, adult participation in a family setting using educational games is important in the learning process.
Organizing Skills LD
Children with LD have trouble Organizing Skills keeping track of their materials and assignMents. Even keeping their rooms or desks in order can be difficult. Puzzles or other toys with pieces that can only go one way can subtly teach such children habits of organization. An organizer such as Melissa and Doug Magnetic Responsibility Chart's can encourage good habits by helping children keep track of their responsibilities and be rewarded forgood habits and behaviors.
Social Skills LD
Children with Social Skills LD have trouble interacting with other people. They misread facial clues and gestures and make expressions and gestures that do not convey what they actually feel. Dramatic role-play games can let children rehearse, proper social behaviors in a safe environment from which the stress of real-life consequences has been removed. Dolls and Dollhouses, play sets and figurines, and Dress-up Clothes and props can all be vehicles for "imaginative play that practices effective social interaction.
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