Cutting-edge Psychoeducational consult

When a child does not know how to read, we teach them. When a child doesn’t know math calculations, we teach them. But why do we punish a child when they don’t know how to behave?

In the light of the Abuja school bullying case, whenever you are enrolling your child in a school, regardless of the school reputation, should demand and scrutinize the school’s policies or documents on:
a) Child Protection: This document or policy details the school procedures for safeguarding and protecting your child from violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The safety of the student is the focus across board and everyone is keen at identifying any issue that posses a threat to the students.
b) Anti-bullying: This document or policy details the school’s stance on bullying and how the issue of bullying is addressed or handled. If you ask a school for this document and the school says “we don’t have because there is no bullying in our school,” you just found a school that’s in self deception and lack proactive measures to issues that concern your child. This kind of Schools will likely deny incident of bullying if it happens.
c) Positive Discipline: This document or policy will explain how the school inculcate positive behaviors in the students and handle misbehaviors. You don’t want a school that is reactive in her discipline approach because that damage would have been done.
d) Social-Emotional Lessons: This document explains what social/ emotional skills are introduced to the students. In this technology age where students are loosing grip on their emotions and feelings, you need a school that will help your child develop better understanding of his/her emotions/feelings for strong self-awareness and empathy for others.

If you need a professional to help you clarify these documents and their contents as well as engage the school to verify the fidelity of the implementations; please contact us Cutting-edge Psychoeducational consult. Don’t leave the safety of child to chances.

Another dose of grace over your child.

‪As you nourish your children’s body and mind, also nourish their spirits. You have a duty to give children a head start in life with your words and declarations and there is no better word to declare than the word of God. Declare God’s word- promises, covenants and prophecies ahead of them and see life respond to them positively.‬ Here is another opportunity for you.

Is your language contributing to the struggles that your child academically or behaviorally? Get you child the needed help possible, don’t just push them.

What is view on self control and self regulation? How do you handle your child’s behaviors?

As you nourish your children’s body and mind, also nourish their spirits. You have a duty to give your children a head start in life with your words and declarations and there is no better word to declare than the word of God. Declare God’s word- covenant, promises, and prophecies ahead of them and see life respond to them positively.

In my previous post, I wrote about the Christmas party, Santa, and the children. I warned parents, teachers, and adults about the danger of forcing children to sit on Santa's lap or share personal space with Santa. It breaks my heart to see these pictures all over social media. These are children fleeing from dangers and threats. This mother Christmas is clearly scary, threatening, and very unusual from the regular images that children are familiar with. As such, it should not be surprising to see these children run away from the so-called father Christmas. The question is, must we traumatize children in the name of having a Christmas party or fun? We can do better!
Human brains, particularly children's brains, are pattern-seeking organs, and because this "mother Christmas" is different from the regular father Christmas that we all are used to (out of pattern), it is not out of character for these children to have been scared/frightened/threatened and wanted to run away.
In this event, it would not be surprising to have some adults blaming these children for being scared. It is a sad reality in our societies that adults set up children for failure consciously or unconsciously, and when they fail, guess who gets the blame? Yes, you guess right, the children. We can do better!!
As adults, we must strive to remove all threats/dangers/uncertainty, perceived or real, from our children's environments for them to thrive, learn, and grow effectively and efficiently.
Do well to provide advance notice or the correct information to the children when there is a change of plans, routines, or schedules and generally what the children are used to.
Again, we can do better!!!

Your favorite School Psychologist/consultant.

Christmas parties are already happening in our schools, and Santa is a big part of such Christmas parties for some schools and even churches or other organizations.
Yes, there is going to be a lot of fun for the children, but please take note of these points:
You should not force your child to sit on any Santa's lap. If your child does not want to go to Santa or have physical touch/affection with him, please respect their choice.
Don't say your mates are doing this; learn to recognize their discomfort.
Recognize that some children are likely to be anxious when faced with an unfamiliar face and forced to share their personal space with someone they don't know.

When you force them, you ignore their discomfort and choice, and it teaches them to ignore their own discomfort or choice, which is the groundwork for being taken advantage of and abused.

This also goes for parents who force their children to hug uncles and aunties. Please stop it.

Please appreciate them for recognizing their personal space and protecting it.

Learning Disabilities Part 3

When a student struggles with letter recognition, reading (accuracy, fluency, or understanding), writing, and math computation, it is not a good professional practice to assume that the child is lazy or not putting in enough effort. When you push the student to try harder without identifying the barrier hindering the learning process, the student eventually becomes frustrated and hates the subject. That's why some of us hate mathematics today. It was not because we could not learn and understand math then but because those math teachers, God bless them, were not helping the matter. This does not imply that when a student struggles with academic skills, it's automatically a learning disability issue. No! It simply means that when a student is struggling to learn and master a particular academic skill, we, as teachers, school administrators, or heads and parents, must first seek to identify and understand what the potential problems are and eliminate them or provide accommodations/interventions that can help alleviate them. Research has shown that students behave better when provided with academic tutoring or support. The following story will help illustrate my point better. Please follow along.
A few days ago, we were eating amala with my nieces. The 3-years old usually prefer someone to feed her, but she fed herself this particular day. How? Well, apparently, something was hindering that process for her. It was cutting the amala herself into smaller morsels that she could swallow without messing up her hand. So, my wife helped her cut the amala into tiny pieces that she could take and eat. My wife further demonstrated to her how to take the pieces of amala and dip them in the soup. Finally, with a couple of encouragement, she finished the amala, even though she initially requested water and talked all through the time.
Interestingly, nobody complained about her asking for water or talking while eating. Instead, the focus was on her eating the amala herself. After she must have mastered this part of eating amala or other swallowed food, cutting the food herself can then be introduced. Eventually, she will be able to eat amala successfully without much struggle.
Similarly, when a student is struggling with a particular academic skill, you identify the most problematic part of the skill, simplify, reduce, or eliminate that part and let the student keep enjoying learning at their level. Whether you are dealing with academic or behavioral difficulties, you must identify and focus on the most significant challenge, leaving less significant ones to focus on later.
Moving back to learning disabilities, the following are the types of learning disabilities:
Dyslexia: difficulties with reading (accuracy, fluency, and understanding) and spelling.
Dyscalculia: difficulties with math computation, mental math, and working with numbers or figures.
Dysgraphia: difficulties with handwriting (speed or legibility) and finger movement to write.
Nonverbal Learning Disability: difficulties with understanding signs and symbols.

General Interventions for Learning Disabilities
The following are general interventions for LD; however, individual student cases should be examined to identify which interventions will work:
Activities should be explicit and unambiguous when teaching the letters of the alphabet.
When teaching decoding, begin with small, familiar words.
Have students clap out syllables and listen for and generate rhymes.
Announce reading assignments well in advance.
Offer to read written material aloud when necessary.
Have students use both visual and auditory senses when reading text.
Present material in small units.
Use graphic organizers to connect ideas.
Read and share stories with students.
Provide students with chapter outlines or study guides highlighting critical points in their reading.
Provide a peer tutor or assign the student to a study group.
Allow the student to use a tape recorder.
Use specific language and state expectations.
Point out unfamiliar words, revisit them, and explore their meaning.
Teach students to use contextual clues to figure out the meanings of unknown words.
Build background for reading selections and create a mental scheme for text organization.
Set a purpose for reading – to gain meaning from the text.
Provide notes or outlines to reduce the amount of writing.
Provide a partially completed outline that allows the student to fill in details under major headings.
Allow the use of a laptop or other computer for writing assignments.
Provide computer with spell check, grammar, and cut and paste features.
Reduce copying that the student must do (e.g., offer pre-printed math problems).
Have wide rule paper, graph paper, and pencil grips available.
Do not count off for poor spelling on first drafts, in-class assignments, or on tests.
Have students proofread written assignments using a checklist (not immediately after writing).
Shorten writing assignments and allow extra time if necessary.
Have students complete writing tasks in small steps.
Use of manipulatives throughout instruction.
Teach students to draw pictures of word problems.
Allow the use of fingers and scratch paper.
Use diagrams and illustrate math concepts.
Schedule computer time for drills and practice with math facts.
Practice new strategies until students are comfortable with them.
Use materials such as games for exercise, which are interactive and motivational

Please see the following sites for references
www.do2learn.com/disabilities/CharacteristicsAndStrategies/.Accessed 22 Nov. 2022
Learning Disabilities Association of America

Thank you for all you do for those wonderful kiddos in your class or care. We appreciate and love you. From the bottom of our hearts, we say THANK YOU!
Yours sincerely,
Olaoluwa Olamiju
For Cutting-edge psychoeducational consult

Please share, like, and comment if you have gained any information or knowledge from this write-up.

We are always here at Cutting-edge psychoeducational consult for:
teachers' training on behavioral management and modification
Students' assessments
behavioral support system
educational consultations
education