How Parents Can Help Their Special Needs Child Study

Parents always want their children to be able to achieve success in their academics. Parents of children with special needs might find that traditional ways of studying or learning might not be the best approach for their children. Sometimes trying to incorporate different methods of learning, such as kinesthetic activities or music, to your child’s study sessions can help them to learn material and content. Even just creating a more focused and supportive study space in your home can help with their studying. Here are some ways you can help your child with special needs study effectively:

• Communicate With Your Child’s School – First and foremost, figuring out how to best help your child is to create a partnership with their school. Your child likely spends a good part of their days with their teachers and instructors, so these are the people you want to look to for help in assisting your child study at home. Meet with their teachers to find out how your child is doing and where they might need some special focus or improvement. Listen to their advice and offer suggestions as well as consider their feedback about your suggestions, this can help your child’s learning process carry over seamlessly from school to home.
• Identify How Your Child Learns Best – Meeting with your child’s teachers and instructors can help you figure out how your child learns best. Find out if they are more visual learners or more independent learners. Classroom environments have to accommodate for all their students’ learning preferences, but adapting your home study sessions to your child’s needs can help further their learning process. This personalized studying can give them more time to learn material and content in a way as well as pace that they like.
• Incorporate Music – If your child is an auditory learner consider using songs and music in their study session. Children with special needs often respond well to voice inflection and tone, which songs inherently possess. Using music also helps to keep study session multi-sensory and promotes active learning that many teachers try to achieve in the classroom as well.
  
• Incorporate Kinesthetic Learning – Creating kinesthetic activities around what your child might be learning at school can help them associate the information with fun and better retain the information. Children with special needs also respond well to activities that get them moving and are multi-sensory. Incorporating kinesthetic activities, such as experiments or even small activities such as memory cards, can enhance their at-home study sessions by being not just fun but adapting to their style of learning.

• Utilize Technology – There are many apps that are beneficial for children with special needs. Specifically there are great apps that help with helping children with special needs study. Apps such as virtual flash card creators can make learning visual and appeal to their sensory learning. Along with apps there are many websites that can help with organizing studying schedules or making at home study sessions more productive such as websites with interactive readers.
• Create A Productive Study Space – One overlooked, but simple way to help your child with special needs study is to create a safe study space for them in your home. Many parents and children take to the kitchen table or the living room to study and do homework. However, creating a separate space or room just for their school work can help them stay focused and associate that time with just school work. Creating this space can help them keep away from distractions but also have a space where they are free to learn in their own personalized way.

Overall, the best way to help your child with special needs study is to become involved in the learning process with them. Be an active member of their school and try to carry over their school learning to home. Incorporating learning methods that are tailored for them at home can help enhance their studying so that they retain material and information better.