How to Help Your Child with a Language Based Learning Disability

As the parent of a child with learning differences, I know the stress special needs can have on homeschool moms. However, the new book, Helping Your Child with Language-Based Learning Disabilities can be a resource to help you and your child succeed.

I remember years ago helping a good friend of mine homeschool her ADHD child. This child and I butted heads a lot. He was a great kid, but OH he was SO hyper. Couldn’t sit still, and required constant redirection.

Not the picture perfect homeschool child that my girls were. I remember telling her she was a saint for homeschooling a boy with ADHD and I could just NOT do it.

And then came my boy. He was on the go all the time. Never stopped. He broke three bones before kindergarten. He lacked impulse control. He could not sit still to learn. Learning to write was difficult. He would misspell his name. Regularly. He had a hard time communicating his needs. Initially, I thought his learning differences was because he was a boy. But, the older he got, the more I realized it was so much more than that.

We were able to accomplish very little no matter how hard we worked at school. I switched from my normal method of homeschooling, to play based, and a more unschooling approach. It still seemed to be going a lot slower than school with my girls had. But, again. He was a boy. I was told it was supposed to be this way.

As the age of notification in my state approached we added multiple recommended resources to our homeschool. We took lots of breaks and added hands-on activities for just about every subject. But, instead of seeing an improvement, I noticed my loving son was struggling even more. He would tell me how hard things were. I would get frustrated, he would get frustrated, and homeschooling lost every ounce of joy.

It was at this point that I began to seek help and received his diagnosis. He was diagnosed with Apraxia, ADHD, Dysgraphia, and Dyslexia. That’s a whole lot of terms that I did not completely understand.

I was compensated for this review of Helping Your Child with Language-Based Learning Disabilities. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own. Scroll down to listen to a podcast episode with Dr. Franklin and enter to win a copy of the book yourself!

I wish I would have had this book, Helping Your Child with Language-Based Learning Disabilities: Strategies to Succeed in School and Life with Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia, ADHD, and Processing Disorders.

It would have saved me so much time and frustration for me and my son. No special needs diagnosis is easy. As parents, we struggle with how to help our kids, add in the stress of educating them and it can be more than a mom can bear at times.

What is a Language-Based Learning Disability?

Daniel Franklin, Ph.D., comes to us as an adult who struggled himself with a language-based learning disability. What is an LBLD?

Language–based learning disabilities or LBLD are “heterogeneous” neurological differences that can affect skills such as listening, reasoning, speaking, reading, writing, and math calculations. It is also associated with movement, coordination, and direct attention. ~Wikipedia

Dr. Franklin explained it to me as anything that impedes the language, or the ability to communicate. This is without a doubt my son. And seeing him struggle is heartbreaking.

The Relationship-Based Approach is Important

But, as a parent who is also his teacher, I have struggled with taking off my teacher hat and being a mom. I have pushed at times way more than what I should have. This book encouraged me to look at his LBLD differently. To look beyond the diagnosis and into the heart of my child.

After I received the book I began to devour the chapters that were related to the needs my son had. These topics included:

What is a Language-Based Learning Difficulty
A Kinder Way to Support Your Child
Forming a Strong Bond with Your Child (I REALLY needed both of these chapters)
Dyslexia: Unable to Read in a Reading World
Dysgraphia: Unable to Write in a Writing World
Managing ADHD and Executive Function Deficits

All of these chapters spoke to me, and left me with real strategies I could implement immediately to help my child in school, improved the way I was working with my child, and overall helped strengthen the bond between me and my son. That is HUGE.

I could tell Dr. Franklin was speaking from someone who had been where my son was and was teaching from experience. I could FEEL his love for children with LBLD throughout the book and knew his goal was to truly help me and my son succeed in school and in life.

Take a minute and watch this video from Dr. Franklin, it literally brought tears to my eyes.

As I shared in the podcast episode below, this video spoke to me because it reminded me SO much of my son. As I spoke with Dr. Franklin and read through his book, Helping Your Child with Language-Based Learning Disabilities, the truth that kept standing out to me is an encouragement,

All children can learn, and all children should have the opportunity to learn ~Daniel Franklin, PHD

Creating a Supportive Teaching Environment

Over and over again in this book, we are reminded to remember the individual that is our child, while also learning strategies that can be used to help any child who is having a hard time learning a concept or subject, even if he or she does not have a diagnosed learning difference.

Dr. Franklin takes his 30+ years as a teacher and leading educational concept and shows us as educators how to have a supportive teaching environment and how to work one on one with our students to help them reach their full academic ability. Through Dr. Franklin’s work, the “Unteachable” Documentary and Helping Your Child with Language-Based Learning Disabilities, he advocates for teaching and learning in the context of a healthy relationship.

The healthy relationship aspect is huge I believe for us as homeschool moms. The stress of educating a child with LBLD is real, but we NEVER want to allow that stress to interfere with the RELATIONSHIP we have with our children. This book can help each and every one of us have a more supportive teaching environment. Grab your copy today!

I enjoyed this book and the ideas behind it so much, that I also took the time to chat with Daniel Franklin, PhD on my podcast. In this episode, we chat all about language-based learning disabilities. We also chat about a very special teacher that he mentions in the book, and what we can all learn from her. I appreciate how Dr. Franklin is helping and encouraging special needs parents all over the world. Whether you have a child with special needs or not, you will leave this podcast episode feeling more joyful and encouraged as a homeschool parent.

Here are a few questions we address in this episode:

What is a language-based learning disability?
How does a child get diagnosed?
What can we as parents do to help and support our children?
How is homeschooling a better environment for a child with a language-based learning disability?
What advice and encouragement do you have for the parents who are playing the role of teacher and mom?

LISTEN HERE

If you’d like to connect with Dr. Franklin you can do so below, he’d love to hear from you!

DanielFranklinPhD.com
FranklinEd.com
Grab Dr. Franklin’s book, Helping Children with Language-Based Learning Disabilities
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