Here is what we taught your kids to shout out at the last meeting.

• I will use my MTA skills

• I will ask for help BEFORE I get too frustrated

• Being different makes me SPECIAL!

Here are some tips that we put together in hopes of giving you some ideas on how to manage through the academic years. We can’t promise they will all work for you and your child, but they should get you thinking a little differently about accommodating your child’s special learning needs. Take this opportunity to ask questions of the MTA teachers, they are your very best link to a better understanding of your child’s abilities and differences. 

1. Be your child's best advocate!!!

2. Understand going into homework that your child has just spent seven frustrating hours at school and a loving, understanding, helping hand is what he/she needs at homework time.

3. If homework seems like it is taking a toll on your child, take a five or ten minute break and come back to it.

4. Read to your child every night.  Show him/her how fun reading can be.

5. Set a routine and stick with it.  If your child needs to have one hour to prepare for school in the morning, break out all the things that need to be accomplished is small tasks.  Teaching him to stay on task at home will make his school time much easier.

6. Post it notes are a life saver for me.  In order to help your child complete tasks on a regular basis, put a note on the mirror to remind him what needs to be done next.  If your child is not reading yet, draw a picture of things that need to be done.

7. Communicate with your teacher; whether that be notes back and forth, email or regular visits. If you communicate with your teacher the frustrations you are experiencing at home, he/she might have a suggestion or might be able to shed light on what is going on in class.

8. Encourage your child to talk to his/her teacher.  Maybe not during class: but before or after school.  It's OKAY to ask for help.

9. Praise your child constantly!  Let your child know that you see him/her trying. 

10. Talk to other parents who have dyslexic/LD kids.  You will be surprised how many other parents are having the same problems that you are.

11. Never take no for an answer.  There is a way it can be done, regardless of any learning difference.

12. Determine your child’s boundaries of ability, don’t push beyond them, and DO expand them with age and ability.

13. If tears fall STOP the effort, and put a note on the assignment to the teacher that your child tried his best. Strive to keep schoolwork and homework a POSITIVE experience. And make a personal note that you’ve gone beyond the child’s boundaries.

14. Keep a constant good repore with all teachers to be sure they remember your child has dyslexia and will occasionally need modified assignments.

15. Find Tools that will HELP your child succeed with homework like an electronic dictionary.

16. Educate yourself about a 504 plan.

17. Remind your child to use the skills learned in MTA class for all homework.

18. Provide a structured quiet, non-distracting environment for homework. Maybe even their own desk.

19. Get use to scheduling their homework into your day and know that it is OK for you to help them with their homework. You can each read a paragraph; you can spell words for them upon request, you can help them while helping them to learn.

20. Find their personal passion and nurture it so they are reminded how good they are at something outside of academics.

21. Work out a time limit to do homework with the teacher that gives a lot of homework. For a first grader it might be 20 minutes of homework is enough, weather the assignment is completed or not. STOP after 20 minutes if you see frustrations starting to build. Forcing a child to do homework that they find terribly difficult will only cause bad feelings for everyone involved.

22. Remind your child that although they do have a learning difference, they can still accomplish and succeed at anything they attempt, as long as they are dedicated to working hard and seeing it through.