The First Few Years Of School by
Gary Direnfeld, MSW, RSW
The First Few Years Of School
As a preschooler, your child was well behaved and didn't exhibit any particular
problems. Next your child enters school, perhaps Kindergarten, and then Grade
one. Slowly issues with some classes and subjects appear. Maybe they are thought
nothing of in Grade one, but along comes grade two and trouble worsens. Now your
child's grades begin to suffer and there may be some issues with behaviour. By
grade three and almost as school begins, so to do behaviour concerns and they
outweigh the academic issues.
Children who surface with behaviour problems early in the school year and in
early grades, may have an undiagnosed learning disability that increasing
educational demands aggravated. There are clinical scenarios that can quickly
lead to suspicion. Children whose challenging behaviour occurs more in groups or
unstructured settings, may have an auditory processing disorder. If the medical
history includes recurrent ear infections, the risk of an auditory processing
disorder heightens. If behaviour presents more during certain subjects or
learning demands (visual, auditory, motor), other learning disabilities may be
present. Even in the case of a bonifide diagnosis of ADD/ADHD, statistically 50%
have a co-concurring learning disability.
Notwithstanding biologically determined problems, children who are exposed to
arguing or fighting in the home or domestic violence or serious conflict between
their parents will appear behaviourally similar to children with academic
difficulties problems. These children often go to school worrying about one or
both parents and even their marriage. This alone is distressing and distracting
from schoolwork. It can make children irritable and that can cause them
difficulty in getting alone with others. Girls in these situations sometimes
appear behaviourally similar to children with ADD while boys sometimes appear
behaviourally similar to children with ADHD.
In still other instances, a child who is victim to bullying may also appear
behaviourally similar to children as above.
A good assessment will be vital to determining the appropriate intervention.
Accordingly then, the assessment should look at the child's developmental and
medical history as well as family history and any issues between the parents.
Further, the school situation should be assessed to make sure there are no
problems such as bullying. Medically, the child should be screened for vision
and hearing problems and finally, a psychoeducational assessment to explore for
learning disabilities can be in order. A good assessment will help uncover
problems contributing to behaviour and academic issues. A good assessment will
then lead to proper intervention. Intervention may include special education or
at least recommendations to remedy learning needs, couple counselling for the
parents, or even intervention by school authorities as in the situation of
bullying.
The earlier a child's schooling problems are caught and addressed, the better
for the child. The longer problems continue, children can get further behind in
their learning and behaviour problems can escalate to become separate issues in
their own right. Further as these problems continue and behaviour and failure
occur, the child's self-esteem diminishes bringing on other
psychological/emotional concerns.
In the early years, at the beginning of each school year, track your child's
performance carefully. Read report cards thoroughly and attend all
parent-teacher meetings. Good information and good communication between parent
and teacher will help to identify and academic problems so they can be addressed
before they get too big.
Gary Direnfeld, MSW, RSW (905) 628-4847 gary@yoursocialworker.com http://www.yoursocialworker.com
Gary Direnfeld is a social worker. Courts in Ontario, Canada, consider him an
expert on child development, parent-child relations, marital and family therapy,
custody and access recommendations, social work and an expert for the purpose of
giving a critique on a Section 112 (social work) report. Call him for your next
conference and for expert opinion on family matters. Services include
counselling, mediation, assessment, assessment critiques and workshops.
About the Author:
Gary Direnfeld is a social
worker. Courts in Ontario, Canada, consider him an expert on child development,
parent-child relations, marital and family therapy, custody and access
recommendations, social work and an expert for the purpose of giving a critique
on a Section 112 (social work) report. Call him for your next conference and for
expert opinion on family matters. Services include counselling, mediation,
assessment, assessment criti
Source of this article:
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