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Parenting Kids with Learning Differences
You love your child, and you've also lost YOURSELFYour child has been struggling in school. Reading, handwriting, math, understanding spoken directions, holding their pencil, understanding the difference between the teacher’s gentle and “get down to business” tone have not come easy to them. After months, maybe years, of thinking and/or possibly being told “they’re fine” or “they’ll grow out of it” you decide to get them tested. Then you have a diagnosis of dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, maybe an auditory or language processing disorder, nonverbal learning disabilities or visual perceptual/visual motor deficit. You throw yourself into advocating for their IEP or 504, or a finding a whole new school, identifying the right therapies or accomodations, while your anxiety grows.
❋ Your kid with dysgraphia wants to use a voice to text accommodation when writing at school. The IEP committee says no. You lose your evenings writing emails to the committee and your kid’s teachers, searching for research to validate the accommodation, looking for professionals who could potentially lend their expertise. You fall into bed exhausted.
❋ In class, your child with dyscalculia lays down on the floor and plays dead when presented with a difficult math problem. You’re aware of their growth; this time they didn’t turn over chairs when overwhelmed and anxious. You wonder if their teacher notices it too.
❋ Your child with dyslexia comes home crying from school. They can’t directly name it, but they feel ashamed that the other kids in their class can read and they can’t. You notice you also feel sad, for a moment, then you feel anxious—wondering if this shame is permanent.
❋ You know your child appears to be listening to your words, but there is some kind of disconnect. Their response, or lack of one, doesn’t reflect the intention behind your phrases at all. Their auditory processing disorder makes ciphering out your voice from the hum of the refrigerator, the pot boiling on the stove, the TV show in the next room so hard. You feel grief and wonder how you will be able to protect them in all of life’s experiences.
WHAT we do in sessionsWe start where you are and not where you think you should be. You have spent so much time understanding your children’s needs and getting them the right supports. Now, we do the same for you so you can be resourced as we dive in. Together, we get curious about your life, so the impacts of your culture, the systems you live in, and your own history and environment become clear. We work to develop tools to support you in your reality. Sometimes, we feel like bad parents if we’re frustrated, anxious, or sad about the challenges of being a caregiver. I want you to know that you are not a bad parent. You are a human, with needs and feelings, just like your child.
WHAT getting better looks likeYou’re not waking up and immediately bracing for the day. You understand what you need and feel the permission to go after it. It feels like there’s a you that exists outside your child. You’re able to meet yourself with compassion on the rough days. When times get tough, because they still will, it doesn’t feel like you or your family is permanently broken. You can hold the hard times in balance with the good. If any of this sounds like you, you don’t have to manage it alone. Book a free 20-minute consultation.
