Everyone is good at something. Real life experiences in areas of strength help to balance the feeling of failure. Encouraging and developing other areas of interest offer another way to motivate during difficult tasks or when working in difficult areas. The love of a computer or football, can be used to help make task bearable.

I’m off for the summer. Please come visit in September when I will start again.

Positive comments and small successes can begin to repair motivation, but motivation can not be maintained if the tasks required are not felt to be achievable. For many students with language-based learning disabilities, repeated failures have destroyed motivation and undermined competence. Small encouragements may not be enough, so breaking down challenging task into manageable pieces can encourage students to continue to make an effort.

Today I just thought I would post this great website about social thinking. There is a lot of useful information.

Just as negative comments and experiences destroy motivation, positive comments and a series of little successes can begin to repair motivation. Encouraging words like “Wow, you put a lot of effort into your work” or “I like the way you worked on that” regularly will go a long way to acknowledge the strengths and build some confidence. It is easy to tell someone what they have done wrong, but for many it is surprisingly difficult to think of positive comments.

There is motivation that comes from within and motivation generated from external rewards. Working for money is an example of external motivation. Volunteering is an example of internal motivation. We all are motivated in a variety of ways. When working with a young adult with a learning disability motivation is often a primary issue. After years of failure, motivation can often be lacking. Until motivation is uncovered, progress is limited. Often in addition to creating an environment of success, external motivators can also help rewards verbal or material can improve motivation. Creating an environment of success is part of the foundation of a therapeutic relationship.

First, remember that no one chooses failure. As adults, we choose to work and do things in areas of competency, but as children, we are asked to be good in many different areas. Children do not have choices. We want them to read, write, do computations, and prepare for college. Our schools do not teach any garbage men or construction workers. These days college is our only goal. Not to say that garbage men, landscapers, construction workers, beautician, and janitors, to name a few hands on professions, do not need to read, write, and express their ideas, but should only one type of educational experience be the norm?

There use to be apprenticeships with direct hands on teaching of a craft or trade, but few professions are learned that way today in the United States. For students that need hands on experiences to learn, our educational system can be hostile and an impossible mountain to climb, crushing not only self-esteem, but hopes and dreams as well.

If a young adult is not motivated in school because of prior academic experiences, who is responsible for motivating them? Should the child be responsible for self-motivating or is it the teachers’ or parents responsibility to motivate them?

Day after day, some students with language based disabilities meet academic failure,”F’s” and “D’s” on assignments, demeaning comments, confusion etc. Over time, that student will stop putting in the effort. No one likes to fail. Yet, as a parent, it is your job to educate your child. How do you motivate them? What do you do?

What about video games and videos? I loved the Leap Pad “Letter Factory” series and other DVD’s by Leap Frog, but I did not see any benefit in my child’s reading ability or knowledge that was a result of her watching those DVD’s. Although the series is well done, she did not automatically apply what she learned watching the videos to her reading knowledge. She loved the Leapster game and we have some cartridges that involve literacy skills. It is somewhat helpful for rote learning for math, however reading. It has not been has helpful for reading. We have a computer game called “Mia’s Big Adventure…” It has been a good game. We have used “Bob” phonics series, “Dora” and “Diego” phonics series, and of course Dr. Seuss.

My biggest lesson I learned from my continued reading journey with my daughter is that I need to calm down and relax. She is reading. She has a great imagination and can visualize what is happening in a story without pictures. Visualization is an important skill that is necessary for good reading comprehension. Most of all I learned I need to stop being competitive and pushing her to learn skills she is not ready to acquire. (Okay, after reading I think I can do that)

I found a great adventure game my daughter liked called “Mia’s Big Adventure Collection the Search for Grandma’s Remedy.” My daughter likes to play, and the game reinforces necessary reading skills including rhyming, word recognition, phonics, and more. Just a word about DVD’s and video games, it is difficult for kids to learn any language skills simply by watching or playing a game. In order to learn they need to interact with the material often playing or watching is a passive experience not in active learning experience.