Children and Learning
by DeAnne Joy, MPNLP, LCSW

How would you like a way to help your child to feel more successful at home, at school, with friends?

How would you like to feel less stress in your life and have a better relationship with your child?

What if your child knew simple, effective strategies that will enable him to learn easily and quickly?

It has been my experience that virtually every young person that I have worked with has had the desire to do well, to be accepted by their peers, to feel pride from their parents, and to feel good about themselves. If they are not doing well in school or with learning, it is not because they lack the desire to learn. The number one problem that I find children and adolescents facing is that they don't have effective strategies for learning the information that is being taught to them.

When children feel that they don't learn well, it often affects their self-esteem significantly. As a result, many young people will not only experience problems around learning, but also self-esteem issues, emotional and behavioral problems, social skills problems, anxiety, depression, or family issues. Virtually every aspect of their life is affected.

Our public schools, unfortunately, often work from the assumption that a student already knows how to learn and therefore focus on teaching content rather than on the process of learning. Most students learn as they go along, figure out what works, and modify their strategies as they go. Many, though, have never learned effective strategies for learning; they often use strategies that take a long
time and simply do not work, and they struggle in school. Students need strategies for how to learn, not just what to learn so they don't have to continue to struggle.

The most effective learning strategy for academics is a visual learning strategy. Tasks such as learning spelling words, math facts, memorizing facts and data and learning vocabulary words are learned more easily and quickly if the student learns them visually. When students learn visually, they tend to be more interested and learn quickly and easily. When they don't learn visually, they tend to
struggle. The very first thing to address is the student's perception of his ability to learn and use his mind effectively.

Once he realizes that he has the ability to use his mind effectively, then we can teach him precise, effective strategies for how to learn. When he has effective tools for learning, it dramatically enhances his perception of his own ability to be a successful student, his performance in school, his self-esteem and relationships with friends and family, just to name a few. When a young person understands (for many, for the first time in their lives) that he IS intelligent, that he IS a good student, that he CAN learn easily and that there is nothing "wrong" with him, that has a dramatic impact on every aspect of his life! Now we can move on to teaching strategies for mastering thoughts and emotions and taking action on goals.

DeAnne Joy is a speaker, trainer, coach and licensed therapist in Southern California. She is the founder of D. Joy Enterprises and is dedicated to teaching young people and adults world-class learning and success strategies. If you are interested in learning more about the specific strategies that are used to assist students in gaining a whole new experience of learning and success, contact DeAnne Joy at 661.310.7981 or info@deannejoy.com, or visit http://www.deannejoy.com