12 October 2007

Work with teachers

Learn every thing that you can about your child's school. The more you know, the easier your job as a parent will be. Ask for a school handbook. This will answer many questions that will arise over the year. If your child's school doesn't have a handbook, ask questions. Ask the principal and teachers, for example:
  • Any kind of special classes the school offers?
  • How does the school measure student progress?
  • What are the school's rules and regulations?
  • Ask about specific teaching methods and materials. Are the methods based on evidence about what works best in teaching reading or math for those with learning disabilities?
  • Ask if the school has a website and, if so, get the address. School websites can provide you with ready access to all kinds of information--schedules of events, names of people to contact, rules and regulations and so forth.
  • Keep informed throughout the school year. If your schedule permits, attend PTA or PTO meetings. If you are unable to attend, ask that the minutes of the meetings be sent to you. Or find out if the school makes these minutes available on its website.

I have personally found doing one or more of those listed above useful in helping my son. Like others with LD, my son quite frequently forgets what he needs to bring to school, homework to be handed up, forms to be signed, schedules etc.

Long term retention

Researchers at the University of Florida at San Diego found that cramming in facts for examinations will help in long term retention of what was learned. Results of their investigations indicate that if studying is spaced out over longer duration, long term recall is facilitated. Tests conducted by them showed that those who crammed and overlearned a topic did better in the short term over others who did not. However, after several weeks, there was no visible differences.
Chunking is one technique commonly advocated by experts to facilitate studying. By breaking up materials in small chunks, it was found that students could understand and master the materials more quickly. With periodic review of what was learned, long term retention improved significantly.
As such, it does make sense to study on a regular basis rather than doing it at the very last minute before the examinations.