4 Parenting Tips: How to Overcome Blame, From Special Education Personnel

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Are you the parent of a child with autism that has been blamed for your child's behavioral difficulties? Have you been told by special education personnel that your child's learning disability, is your fault? This article will discuss a study of school psychologists about blame for children's learning difficulties. And also, give you tips, on how to overcome the blame, placed by some disability educators.

Several years ago, I heard about a study where school psychologists were asked who they blamed, when a child had learning difficulties. The basic outcome of the study showed that 100% of the psychologists that were surveyed, placed the blame on the child or the parents. Not one school psychologist blamed the school district, teacher, inappropriate curriculum, lack of resources, or inadequate instruction, for children's learning difficulties. Parents must overcome this blame, so that they can advocate for an appropriate education, for their child.

Tip 1: If a school person tells you that your child's behavior, is because of something that is going on at home, stand up to them. Tell the person that you do not believe that this is true. If your child has autism, they may have a lot of behavioral difficulties due to their disability. Most families are not perfect, but most times do not "cause" a child's behavioral difficulty; especially if the child's behavioral difficulty is at school.

Tip 2: Try and figure out what your child is telling you by their behavior; perhaps the work is too hard, they are trying to avoid the work etc. Try and figure out the ABC's of Behavior; A stands for antecedent (what was happening before the behavior), B stands for Behavior (what was the specific behavior), and C stands for the Consequence (what did the child get out of the behavior). By focusing on the behavior, and not the blame you will help your child. 

Tip 3: If your child is struggling with academics due to a learning disability; make sure that they are receiving research based instruction, which is required by No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Children with learning disabilities need a reading program with five principles: Simultaneous multi sensory, systematic and cumulative, direct interaction, diagnostic teaching, and analytic instruction. Check out www.ortongillingham.com for more information.

Tip 4: Tell the special education person, that your child has the right to a free appropriate public education, and you will be holding them accountable for that. Be honest, and bring up any school related reasons that you believe your child is having academic difficulty. Many schools continue using outdated curriculums that do not work.

You can overcome the blame that some disability educators try and place on your or your child. Continue to focus on your child, and their needs, and this will help you overcome the blame. Your child is depending on you!

Tips for Getting a Well-Rounded Education for your Child

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One of the best ways that you can help your child succeed academically is by helping them to get a well-rounded education. While some education takes place inside the classroom, the home can also be a good learning environment and there are things that you can do to help encourage your child to get a solid education and begin a life-long learning process.
  • From an early age, read to your children. When they are old enough to read, encourage them to spend their time with books and explore the different genres of books that are available. Reading has many benefits for children that are just now being studied. One of the biggest advantages that people who have been avid readers since childhood have is that they have an expanded vocabulary. If you want to help your child prepare for a college education, having a good vocabulary is very important to simply get into college. As an adult in the workforce, being able to clearly articulate your ideas, feelings, and concerns is also a huge strength.
  • Encourage your child's area of interest, and help guide them towards other areas of interest. If your child is interested in dinosaurs, help them learn all that they can about them and suggest related subjects, such as fossils, geology, or biology and help them learn all that they can about these areas of interest. Intellectual curiosity is very important to succeeding in higher eduation and later in the workforce.
  • Help your child find a hobby that they can do in their spare time. Many children enjoy music lessons, sports, or even baseball card collecting. Developing personal interests and hobbies is an important part of developing as a well-rounded and educated person.
  • Become aware of what your child is learning in the classroom, and stay involved with his or her class work and class projects. Attend parent/teacher conferences and work with your child on his or her homework. If you dislike having your child in a public school, consider looking into private schools, or find a Park City Montessori school. No matter what type of classroom environment, stay involved and supportive.
  • Encourage your child to interact socially with other children that have similar interests. This might involve signing him up for Boy Scouts or her up for a softball team. Other clubs such as Girl Scouts, 4H, and many other different clubs can also be a great resource for getting your child involved.

Personal Financial Education Tips for Parents

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A personal financial education and helping develop skills in money management for college students will help students avoid many of the problems their peers will face. Consider these statistics. According to the Center for Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy "81 percent grossly underestimated the amount of time it would take to pay off a credit card balance making only the minimum payments". What's more, 54 percent reported having overdrawn their bank account.

Below are four ways we can take the first steps to providing our children a personal financial education and provide skills in money management for college students.

Mindset. With all the negative news out today one of the most important things we can provide our kids is help developing the right financial mindset. There is a variety of money management for college student's courses available that miss this important element of providing our children a practical financial education.
Since most school's and courses dont teach 'mindset' - it's left up to parents to ensure their children are protected. One of the ways that young adults can build their financial futures is to eliminate all negative thoughts on money. It's important to share with our children that the majority of wealthy people started with nothing and built up thanks to real world personal financial literacy training. Understanding and providing our kids with the right mindset is the first step in a practical financial education course.

Two important questions that we can ask our kids so their mindset is focused on their financial future include:
- Describe the lifestyle you want to live? - What is the investment associated with that lifestyle choice?
Start Building Credit Early. One of the simplest personal financial education lessons we can teach is showing our kids how to build their credit. Classes on money management for college students are great however it is important our kids know about credit long before school.

On an averaged priced car having good credit, as opposed to bad credit, can save you over ten thousand dollars. It is important that personal financial education courses show our kids how to build their credit while they are young.

Once your child has money saved, a working budget and can control their spending they can get a secured credit card. Student credit cards, when used properly, can be a tool to help build their credit. They can start to purchase inexpensive items and pay off in full each month. That shows creditors that you're mature enough to handle the responsibility of credit, and you make your payments.

Finding a Cause. No personal financial education program and courses on money management for college students is complete without lessons on giving back. By doing something that creates a positive change in the world and motivates our kids to succeed in all areas of their life. So not only does doing the right thing help others, eventually it helps the Good Samaritans too.

Set up the proper accounts. Another important element of personal financial education courses and classes on money management for college students is having the right account set up. Each student should set up their checking account, savings account, IRAs, and brokerage account immediately.

All these accounts can be set up to work automatically. So when bills are paid automatically, money is saved & invested for you automatically. This helps you keep a consistent investment plan in place and hopefully will help you achieve long-term financial security.

By providing your kids a personal financial education they will have the skills to make the most of their life. Help them a get a head start to achieving financial freedom and eliminate their money worries forever.