Introduction

Roadblocks to Learning: Understanding the Obstacles that Can Sabotage Your Child's Academic Success
by Lawrence J. Greene

You've Watched Your Child Struggle And Suffer.
Now Help Him Or Her Overcome...
Roadblocks to Learning

This comprehensive and easy-to-understand guide explains more than seventy types of learning impediments and counterproductive behaviors - including dyslexia, depression, test-taking phobias, ineffectual problem solving, teacher-child conflict, and hyperactivity - that may be affecting your child. Armed with clear-cut information, including the definitions of terminology and jargon used by professionals, you'll learn to identify your child's needs, make informed choices, and set reasonable goals. You'll discover:

• The six general categories of learning deficits-Academic, Applied Intelligence, Behavior, Perceptual Processing, Psychological Issues, and Speech and Language-and how they may apply to your child
• Common symptoms and underlying causes-all cross-referenced
• Procedures for having your child tested and making sure your child receives effective help
• Pros and cons of specific remedial programs and special education programs
• Strategies for becoming a formidable advocate of your child's legitimate rights under the law, and much more!

A Book That Can Change Your Child's Life

Did you know?

• As many as 30 percent of American children are underachieving in math, spelling, reading, and writing because they do not learn in the same way that their classmates learn
• A struggling child's self-image can be indelibly damaged if timely, first-rate remedial assistance is not provided
• Defeated learners unconsciously lower their expectations and aspirations and then perform consistently with these lowered standards
• Informed parents can level the playing field when they fight the system and are far more likely to get help for their children from the school than passive parents
• Marginally performing students are typically neglected and receive little or no learning assistance
• Most struggling learners are not immature, developmentally delayed, or intellectually deficient
• Deficient organizational, time-management, goal-setting, and study skills are major sources of underachievement
• Parents can pinpoint specific language arts, grammar, and math skills deficits and, in many cases, provide effective assistance at home

At any given time in American classrooms, 7 million children are struggling academically. This translates into approximately 15 percent of the school population. Yet in most school districts only 3-4 percent of these marginally performing students are actually being provided with formal learning assistance.

In the world's wealthiest and most technologically advanced country, vast numbers of students have abysmal academic skills. This sad state of affairs is documented by nationally administered achievement tests that indicate that underachievement has reached epidemic proportions. The scores testify to the fact that millions of American children with normal-to-superior intelligence are unable to read effectively, spell accurately, do basic math, and write comprehensible, grammatically correct essays. That the average eighthgrader in a city such as Los Angeles is reading at the fourth-grade level attests to the gravity of the problem.

Given the dismal level of student achievement in school districts throughout the United States, there can be little doubt that our educational system is failing to meet the legitimate scholastic needs of a large segment of the student population. Far too many potentially capable children with learning difficulties are receiving a subpar education. These youngsters are struggling to learn effectively and are clearly working below their full potential. Despite compelling evidence that many American students are failing to acquire decent academic skills, the educational system is either oblivious to the plight of these underachieving children or unable or unwilling to address the fundamental problems. The repercussions from the instructional inadequacies threaten the very fabric of our society.

After having spent more than thirty years as an educational therapist, diagnostician, curriculum developer, university instructor, counselor, child advocate, and school consultant and after having diagnosed and treated more than 14,000 learning-disabled children, I have had innumerable opportunities to witness the repercussions of the failure to provide struggling learners with needed learning assistance. I have seen firsthand the disastrous academic and emotional consequences when students are allowed to founder in school; the frustration, demoralization, and psychological scarring; the damage that results when parents are oblivious of, or apathetic to, the perils and discover too late that their child is in crisis. I have also witnessed the self-concept and spirit of potentially capable youngsters disintegrate because they cannot learn in the same way as their classmates.

At the same time, my years on the educational front line and in the trenches have provided me with another more positive perspective. I have seen dramatic improvement in the skills and self-image of struggling children when their parents confront the issues headon, become informed, and intervene effectively. I have also seen how the life of academically demoralized children can literally be transformed when they are provided with timely, first-rate remedial assistance and appropriate parental support.

My experiences have shaped my thinking and have led me to a firmly held philosophical position. I am unequivocally convinced that every child of normal intelligence is genetically programmed to learn, absorb information, and acquire the requisite skills to survive, compete, and prevail in a demanding, highly competitive world. The natural instinct to learn is voracious and is one of the unique characteristics hammered into the DNA of the human species. This inborn passion to acquire knowledge does not die easily. It must be extinguished through neglect, deprivation, degradation, insensitivity, lack of access to required remedial services, and/or abysmal teaching.

When the educational needs of poorly performing students are disregarded, emotional damage is inevitable. As struggling children become increasingly discouraged and demoralized, they are all but certain to conclude that they are hopelessly incompetent and that academic success is not a viable option. Once they acquiesce to their scholastic "limitations," they will begin closing doors that they may never again be able to reopen.

The most potent antidote to this waste of human ability is to provide parents with the information they need to understand their child's learning difficulties and make informed choices about their child's educational needs. Parents who conclude that their child requires specialized assistance and that their child's school is unwilling or unable to provide effective help must be prepared to function as proactive advocates of their child's legitimate educational rights. To do so effectively, they must understand the issues.

The basic premise of this book is that the American educational system has a compelling obligation to help all children who are struggling to learn, not just those who have incapacitating learning disorders. Ironically, students with less severe learning difficulties that might otherwise be easily and quickly remediated typically receive little or no formal assistance. In far too many instances, their deficits are overlooked, misdiagnosed, or dismissed as inconsequential. Once children conclude that they cannot succeed in school, they will respond by lowering their expectations and aspirations. The consequences can be life altering. Children will demand less from themselves and for themselves, and their talents may never be actualized. Rewarding careers may never be launched, and vital contributions to society may never be realized.

Make no mistake - something is profoundly amiss when children shut down and spend twelve years treading water in school. The academic and emotional disintegration parallels the effects of a lifethreatening, metastasizing disease. If the illness is to be kept from spreading, it must be accurately diagnosed and effectively treated using the best resources available. Timely intervention is vital. To disregard the symptoms guarantees disaster.

Copyright © 2002 by Lawrence J. Greene, All rights reserved.

About the Author

Lawrence Greene, a graduate of the Stanford University Graduate School of Education, is an educational diagnostician and therapist with over thirty years' experience in special education. The author of thirteen books, his study skills and strategic thinking programs have been used in thousands of schools in the United States and Canada.