Research shows that working on the following skills with children who have learning disabilities leads to more success as an adult.

Help your child to:

• Become self-aware by helping to list his strengths, weaknesses, and special talents both in school and outside of school.
• Become self-confident. You can build self-confidence by helping your child to build success at home, encourage favorite activities and by helping to make progress at school.
• Learn to advocate (ask for what you need to be successful). Help to make a list of statements to use.
• Learn how to make decisions and take action to achieve goals. Talk about taking responsibility for choices.
• Build perseverance. Your child can learn to keep going despite challenges and delays. Help to build flexibility and also help with changes in plans when things are not working.
• Set goals. Set short and long term goals together, write a timeline and make adjustments as needed. By learning when to modify the goal or adjust the timeline, your child can increase successes.
• Learn how to ask for help. Work together to build and use a support system. Practice by role-playing asking for help from friends, teachers, relatives.
• Learn how to handle stress. Use words to identify feelings and help your child learn to recognize specific feelings. Find activities that reduce stress.