| How Your Child Learns | Opportunities to Succeed | Language Skills Organizational Skills | Advocacy Skills | Homework | Celebrating Parents; Tips for Parents |
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Becoming an Advocate for Your Child
Collect and organize information about learning and your child.
Make a file or portfolio of your child's works, putting in it samples of successful and unsuccessful assignments, and sequencing them according to date and grade. Over time, this kind of record can give valuable evidence of the progress your child has made, and point to areas which need continuing attention
Keep a master notebook and include sections for:
- report cards, grades, teacher comments, and school transcripts;
- copies of testing and reports from specialists;
- educational plans developed by the student's team, including changes made in those plans; and
- correspondence to and from school personnel and others involved in evaluating, planning, or working with the student.
Keep a log or journal which summarizes all conferences, telephone conversations, and meetings, their dates, the names of participants, the agreements reached, including who agreed to do what and by what date.
Collect information and resources, including newspaper and magazine articles and readings; lists of organizations and related resources, with names, telephone numbers, and addresses.
Be involved in your student's education. Attend open houses and parent conferences. Explore your child's difficulties and frustrations with his teacher, before they have a chance to become serious problems. Work collaboratively with teachers and other professionals, whenever possible, to create a team of support for your child.
Learn about the laws which provide for special services and modifications for students with diagnosed learning disabilities. Know your rights and responsibilities.
Learn as much as possible about learning. Understand the various functions which contribute to learning, such as language, attention, and memory, and the alternative ways individuals can learn.
Involve your child as a central partner in his own education. Teach him about learning and himself as a learner, and encourage him to assume as much responsibility as his age and maturity allows. Well-developed self-advocacy skills provide one cornerstone of success in the individual with learning differences.