Small Steps, Big Differences: A Toolkit for Parents of Children Who Fall Through the Cracks

By Hilary Craig

Each one of us learns in a different way. Traditional teaching approaches dont always suit the variety of different ways people learna conflict that can damage confidence and sometimes lead to failure. The key question that faces parents and teachers is how to help those who learn differently find long term success. In Small Steps, Big Differences: A Toolkit for Parents of Children Who Fall through the Cracks, author Hilary Craig challenges this question and offers parents strategies to help.

The resources provided within this toolkit are framed around the core belief that all children can make progress, even if traditional learning and teaching methods in the classroom are inadequate for the way they learn. This toolkit provides support to those parents who recognize the unique abilities and talents in their children and who want practical tools to enable them to learn and succeed. Hilary Craigs experience, insight and strategies for helping children learn effectively, provide a valuable resource to accompany classroom learning. In this toolkit, she also addresses the four essential skills for effective learning: memory, listening, attention, and social skills; and strategies to develop each of these, with the final goal to build confidence.

Small Steps, Big Differences is an invaluable resource for parents to help their children increase their chances for learning success.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Mar 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9781482891478

Hilary Craig

Hilary Craig is an internationally recognized expert in learning, education, and child development, with three degrees and many qualifications in learning. As a teacher, she realized some children were falling through the cracks and needed support. Although originally Irish she and her husband now live in Malaysia, where she runs the Hils Learning Centre.

Book preview

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Copyright © 2014 by Hilary Craig.

Artist of the Painting on the cover Marvin Chan

Photograph by Olivia Oon

Interior Graphics/Art Illustrated by Sarah Jane Hartney

ISBN:          Hardcover          978-1-4828-9146-1

                   Softcover           978-1-4828-9145-4

                   Ebook                978-1-4828-9147-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

To order additional copies of this book, contact

Toll Free 800 101 2657 (Singapore)

Toll Free 1 800 81 7340 (Malaysia)

[e-mail]

www.partridgepublishing.com/singapore

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: Learning Differently and Learning to Cope

Chapter 2: The Starting Point

Chapter 3: The Learning Passport

Chapter 4: What Can You Do About It?

Chapter 5: Memory

Chapter 6: Listening

Chapter 7: Focus and Attention

Chapter 8: Social Awareness

Chapter 9: Confidence

Appendix 1

Page 1: What Your Child Can Do

Page 2: The Child’s List

Page 3: How Does Your Child Learn?

Page 4: The Essential Suitcase

Books We Have Used

About the author

Acknowledgments

This book is the result of a lifetime working with people representing a huge range of abilities and age groups—my own child, privileged children in international and private schools, incarcerated prisoners, recent immigrants, illiterate adults and students within my own center, Hils Learning in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The influences on my work are many and varied and have led me to the determination that there are too many individuals who do not flourish in our school systems and we need to rethink our whole approach to education. We are losing too many of our finest minds, because they do not fit, but more worryingly we are creating too many problems.

I have learned methods, techniques and acquired insights most of all from my son, my four grandchildren, my students and their families and from the work of others. In particular, I would like to mention those who provided me with inspiration and ideas and strengthened my ability to support the individual: Ron Davis, Tony Attwood, Temple Grandin, Daniel Tammett, Steve Chinn, Michelle Garcia Winner, Carol Dwerk, Brock Eide and Susan Hollar. I also owe a huge debt to those colleagues who supported a very insecure teacher: Dorothy Lancaster, Valerie Rixson, Barbara Munro, John Parsons, Jane Campbell, Lynn Poston, Eileen Daunt, Larry Adey and many more too numerous to mention. A special mention must go to Sarah Hartney for all her hard work illustrating the book. A big thank you to Marvin Chan for allowing us to use the painting for our cover. The final word must go to all of the amazing dedicated staff at Hils Learning, in particular Dot Henshaw and Marina Tei, who wholeheartedly supported this effort and urged me to write this book.

Introduction

I am the parent of a child who encountered difficulties in school and I have also been a teacher of almost forty years. I felt the need to write this guide for other parents raising children who learn differently. These children are everywhere, in every classroom and every school. Many spend their entire school days struggling to cope with the demands of school. They are a kaleidoscope of abilities and often—because of their different ways of seeing the world—have creative and inventive approaches to life. Our present education systems may not work for these children and to ensure that they do not lose confidence in themselves and fall between the cracks, they need to have strong, knowledgeable parents.

This small volume is designed as a starting point for those parents. They are the people who come into my learning center, Hils Learning in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They try very hard to be brave, but they are feeling battered and bruised because their children are not performing to the ideal. They need to know that some of the world’s finest minds did not fit the education model of their times. They need to know that school in the early years is represented by two subjects—mathematics and language—and it is those two subjects that determine a child’s success. They need to know that strong, supportive parents can do a lot to keep the child’s confidence intact and it is this confidence that will carry the child forward. They need to help their children develop the skills necessary for living in our world.

Our children are growing up in a world very different to that of their parents. The changes that have occurred in the past twenty years have been taking place at a dizzying speed and we have no idea how they will affect future generations. We can only guess what skills our children may need in the world of the future. However, there are some things that will not change. We will still be dealing with unique, individual children who need to exercise their memory. Technological gadgets will provide the memory for phone numbers and the like, but children will still need to remember casual conversations when making a decision. They will still have to listen to and process instructions. They will need to pay attention so that they can understand fully what they read and hear. This is essential to avoid making mistakes. Finally, the ability to interact peacefully with others and to communicate easily with others will probably matter even more as our world becomes more crowded. These four skills will help to make our children confident individuals who will go on to be the leaders and creative minds of the next generation.

So much has already been written about this topic by skilled practitioners and academics that I put pen to paper with great timidity. Every day I learn new things. Every day I meet new people. Every day I am challenged to adjust, change, rethink and revise my ideas. This book is simply an attempt to give harried parents a place to begin, a set of helpful ideas and the support of knowing that they are not alone.

Hilary Craig

Chapter 1

Learning Differently and Learning to Cope

Families with children who do not appear to be learning as well as expected have many questions. Parents worry because the child is underperforming in school, has social or behavioral problems or they simply are not satisfied that all is as it should be. Some parents have taken the step of formal assessment and have discovered that their child has a diagnosis, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia or a combination of these. Some of the children have not had formal assessment, but regardless, all these parents come to us with the same question: What can we do to help our child?

This book is my attempt to answer that question. As a parent, I have experienced the fear they feel for their children’s futures. I hear their anxiety and I am aware of their need for more knowledge and help. Although none of us has all the answers and there are no magic solutions for each individual child, this book can offer some ideas and suggestions that may be of help.

For the purposes of this book I shall refer to the child as he or she in alternate chapters. It should also be noted that the names of all the children in this book are fictional.

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Each one of us is special and each one of us has special needs.

People like certainty. It is human nature. When we are sure about the world around us, we