Habits to Make Your Child Creative and Active by Helene Goldnadel

Being impressive and innovative at young age is a sign of great success. This creativity can be developed from childhood. The creative and funny behavior of a child is very important to do well at school. These activities will help your child to perform well and have fun in every situation whether it could be home, schools, or some holiday visit.

There are many easy and funny habits that will help in encouraging creativity in the children at home and this practice will be funny for you too. Helene Goldnadel discusses some of them below:

Playing creative Games - Playing games with your kids should always be a great fun. When a normal playground game doesn't seem innovative, the let your creativeness takes over. Try to play imaginary games with your child or make some game by engaging with the kid. These types of inventive games will make your child to stay dynamic and keep amused for long hours.

Making a new story - Stories are full of knowledge and wisdom. Children are interested in listening to stories right before the bed time. Try to make a new story every time for the kid, and it must be innovative, humor and some kind of knowledge too. It will help children to think of what can happen in some particular situation. You can engage with your kid by making up an interesting story together, inspiring your teen to think of what is going to come about next.

Make Drawings - It is real fact that an image can speak thousand words. Instead of making your child to learn by writing things, inspire your kid for making drawings. Research on children shows that drawing help kids to remember things and learning new things too. And image can stay for longer time in a kid's mind. Drawings and Paintings are real source of creativeness.

Artistic work - Well, it might be cluttered but let your child to get some finger paints and chart papers and let them draw and decorate whatever come in their mind. It's going to be a funny approach of presenting them that there are no limits for success and they can attain anything if they want to get it.

Spending time with your kid - This is the most important way in which your teen can learn new things and habits. Stay together with your child while drawing, painting, or making something else, and in this way your child will get the opportunity to learn many things which they might not have come up on the other hand. You can help them in understanding different scenarios of different tasks.

Singing and Dancing - Music is the way to peace. Encourage your child to sing or play some music instrument. Singing and dancing is an art as well as the best way to overcome stress. Get involved in some drama or play, which will help in exploring the creativity in your child.

Also read: Helene Goldnadel Discussing The Importance of Field Trips For Child Development

Learning Styles in the Classroom for Creative Kids by Helene Goldnadel

Once you have discovered your child's learning styles and multiple intelligence, there is a good chance you will discover they are at odds with the way lessons are traditionally taught in the school system. How can you go about making sure your child gets the best opportunities to learn? Here are some strategies discussed by Helene Goldnadel a life coach and child development teacher:

Get To Know Your Child's teacher - This should be your first and most important step going forward. Teachers want their students to succeed but in most cases the deck is stacked against them. Standardized testing, rigid curriculum, cost cuts, large class sizes, and lack of support are all challenges that teachers face every day.

Getting to know your child's teacher gives you and your child an advantage. It lets the teacher know you are involved and concerned about your child. You can pass on valuable information - such as your child's different learning styles and issues they may be having that the teacher is not aware of.

Scheduling a face to face meeting with your child's new teacher each year should be a priority. Call and find a time that is good for them. Dropping in or trying to discuss your child at the end of a school day is usually frustrating and not successful as the teacher needs a clear head and schedule to absorb and address your concerns.

Come Prepared - Make the most of any meetings you have with teachers by being prepared. Create a list of the issues you want to address and have an idea of what outcomes you would like to see. It shows you are proactive and, if you offer solutions instead of just a whole bunch of problems, you are more likely to get what you want.

If your child is having difficulty in school because of their preferred learning style or multiple intelligence, look for solutions that are easy to implement in the classroom. See if there is any flexibility in how projects are done.

If your child is an auditory learner, see if they can do a presentation as opposed to a written report. If they are Kinesthetic see if they can get up and stretch from time to time. Incorporating stretching exercises, even for a few minutes at a time throughout the day, makes all students learn better. If your student is visual, practice good note taking skills at home and have kids write down any instructions they receive verbally. This will help them process the task at hand.

Offer Assistance - If there are any ways you can get involved, teachers are generally very grateful for the help. Does your child's class have parent helpers? Sign up!

See if there is any material the teacher needs that you (or a parent association, or community member) could help provide. There are lots of free resources out there that teachers don't have the time to track down. Many teachers operate on a tight budget, and any "extra" things such as art supplies or teaching aids that do cater to other learning styles are usually bought out of the teacher's own pocket. It gets expensive to be a good teacher.

If there is a skill you have that you can share that might benefit the students, see if you can come in and teach a lesson. If your child is Kinesthetic you could teach a quick lessons on exercises you can do while sitting in their seats (look up instructions for exercises to do while flying for ideas). This wold be great for students who have to be active while they are learning.

Find Out What You Can Do At Home - Ask your teacher for suggestions on ways you can help your child learn better at home. See if they can recommend any extra resources for you. It might take your child a little longer to finish their homework if you have to present it in a way that fits their learning style but it is worth it!

Also read: Emotional Regulation and Effective Learning

How You Can Advocate For Your Child With A Learning Disability?

What exactly is an advocate? An advocate is someone who speaks up for someone else, or who acts on behalf of another person. As a parent, you know your child better than anyone else, and you are in the best position to speak for him and act on his behalf.

Here are the ways discussed by Helene Goldnadel, you can do that:

1) Realize from the beginning that advocating for your child takes a lot of time. Advocating involves a great deal of research, meeting time, and communication. That’s a given. But the end result will be a successful, responsible, happy young adult who will be able to survive the pitfalls of the real world.

2) Be informed. The more you know about what is going on with your child, the more comfortable you will be in helping others understand him. Here are some ways you can become informed:

• Read all you can about learning disabilities (especially your child’s learning disability).
• Attend conferences. That’s a great way to learn and make contact with other people faced with similar issues.
• Ask questions - seek answers.
• Join a support group if there is one available. You can learn a lot from a support group.

3) Become familiar with the rules and regulations that apply to your child’s special education program. You request copies of the regulations from your local school district office (the special education office, if your district has one) or from your state Department of Education. If you have difficulty understanding these rules and regulations, don’t be afraid to ask the special education director or your child’s special education teacher to explain them to you.

4) Work together closely with the professionals who work with your child. This should be done in a positive, cohesive way in order for the child to gain the maximum benefit. Get to know these people - talk with them on a regular basis. Volunteer in the classroom. Don’t be afraid to ask for a meeting with the teacher(s) if you see something going on at home that can be helped at school, or vice versa.

5) Keep track of the paperwork that is given to you at the team meetings. This is valuable information that should be kept in an organized place so that you can refer to it easily. If you aren’t sure how to do this, talk with the special education director or special education teacher. They have a system to keep the records organized in the office. Perhaps they would share that with you.

6) Don’t be afraid to communicate with the professionals. Be prepared when you go to the team meetings, and don’t be afraid to calmly and assertively state your views. Take notes into the meeting with you so you won’t forget the questions you want to ask or the points you want to make. Remember, the professionals need insight from you as much as you need insight from them. The more communication you have, the more powerful the educational team to help your child.

7) Don’t be afraid to ask questions. The field of special education is as complex as your child’s needs. Asking questions doesn’t mean that you are stupid. It just means that you are interested in your child’s education and well- being and want to be an informed parent. You will most likely hear the professionals asking lots of questions as well!!!

8) Keep the lines of communication open with your child. Talk with him about his life both in and outside school. Allow him to express his frustrations, his successes, his disappointments, his hopes, his likes and his dislikes. The better you know your child and what is going on with him, the better you can help other people to work with him.

9) Know your child’s strengths and weaknesses and share them with the professionals. Children with learning disabilities, although they have weaker areas, have many strong areas, too. By highlighting these areas, it makes it easier for the professionals to use them as tools to strengthen the weaker skills. It helps them see the child in a more positive light, and it helps them relate to the child. And it helps your child’s self-esteem to know that the teachers see good things in him.

10) Help your child learn to advocate for himself as early as possible. As time goes on, and your child has heard you advocate for him, he will be able to understand how to advocate for himself. If he’s heard you say positive things, not only does it increase his self-esteem but it gives him the confidence to speak up for what he needs. Teach him how to communicate how he learns best, what he needs to help him get the most from his classes, and how he feels when confronted with certain issues, such as testing and peer pressure. Give him the power to make his life a success.

You can help your child be able to be a successful, happy, responsible student, well on his way to being the same kind of adult. Advocate for him.

Read also: Subliminal Mind Learning Explained by Helene Goldnadel

Making a Child Learn From His Mistakes

You have just cleaned your room and soon after that your children spilled over and spoiled your new bed sheet, left the bread crumbs and stains on the floor. What would you do? Yell at them and give them a time out. Or ask them to clean the room immediately and snatch away their favorite toy? Or would you forgive them for their mistake and forget it?

Well it's not at all easy to forgive their mistake. After all they should learn to keep their house clean and better not do such things again. But for a moment think about it. Is yelling do anything good? Is physical punishment going to teach them not to repeat the mistakes?

May be, sometimes it helps but not always. Then what can be done to make the children reduce their number of mistakes. For that we need to understand below mentioned points discussed by Helene Goldnadel a life coach:

• First thing, as a human we are prone to make mistakes and so are kids. We are actually over expecting if we think that the kids will not commit any mistakes or not repeat them. They are bound to do something new and in the process make new mistakes. This needs to be accepted to keep your head cool.
• Secondly, kids are too curious and impatient to wait for you to come. They just want to get into the depth of things, do their own research and surprise you of their findings.
• Children are not so good at concentration and get distracted at slightest thing. Like while keeping the dish in the sink, Joe gets attracted to the new bottle on the shelf. And he board on to find out. He may hurt himself if he loses his balance or may be ends up breaking up something in the kitchen.
• Kids make mistakes often in spite of your warnings. This can be a kind of attention seeking behavior and to show off their anger or disgust.

In all the above situations, strict behavior, spanking or screaming by parents will have long- term adverse effects on the child. He may stop listening to the instructions and turn defiant. He may also lose interest in learning new things which is also not healthy for child development.

So if all these methods do not work then maybe you need to change your method of dealing with your child. It's better to forgive him at times and make him learn in gentle and loving way.

Also read: Untapping Your Child's Hidden Potential

Common Misconceptions about Learning Disabilities

Various forms of learning disabilities are known to affect students from all across the globe. And yet, the children who suffer from learning disabilities tend to face discrimination in one form or another throughout their childhood. Even individuals who are considered to be tolerant and understanding can become prejudiced when it comes to dealing with differently-abled children. Educating these children is no easy task, with several special education schools have been established over the last decade. These schools have taken it upon themselves to provide education to differently-abled children.

Several misconceptions cloud the real meaning of a learning disability. Some of them discussed by Helene Goldnadel are below:

Learning Disability is similar to other disorders

Learning disabilities are not one single thing, but rather a category that covers a variety of disorders that can potentially become obstacles for success. It's an all-encompassing term that points to weaknesses in areas such as reading, writing, spelling, math, and social skills, just to name a few, and is theorized to result from defective or disorganized ways that information is processed in the brain. Individuals with a learning disability do not necessarily suffer from low intelligence, a lack of motivation or other such factors. Their underachievement is, at least initially, unexpected and unexplained, which is why the term is often misunderstood. The special education schools understand this, and thus deal their students and their disabilities using professional strategies that are designed to handle them in the most effective manner.

Learning disabilities can be easily diagnosed

There is no easy or definitive way to diagnose a learning disability. There's no blood test or X-ray that can be done as part of a child's annual checkup that can detect a learning disability. Even the most advanced medical technology and equipment cannot predict a learning disorder. However, it is known that sometimes LD runs in the family, and a family history of educational deficiencies can be an indication of risk. Furthermore, teachers and caregivers need to offer continuous, detailed information about the child's progress while attending a special education school and how well they respond to given instructions. Performances have to be documented by specialists on evaluations designed to utilize academic skill and the ways that the child processes information. Many other factors such as attention, behavior, and medical history also need to be considered.

Learning disabilities are an indication of low IQ

Below-normal academic performance is not an indication of low intelligence quotient, and does not arise from learning disability. These processing disorders occur for reasons other than diminished reasoning capacity. Factors like poor vision, hearing problems, environmental or cultural factors do not play a part in it. Children with LD have the mental capacity to do well, but since their brains are wired in a different way, they struggle to accomplish tasks that are necessary to success in school and in life. Special education schools consider these factors among many others, and need to make sure that their curriculum revolves around their students' interests, and not the other way around.

Also read: Helene Goldnadel on Child Learning Styles