Teaching the “Success Attributes” to Children with Learning Disabilities

by Chip Calwell

Two groups of researchers found identical traits possessed by people who were defined as “successful” and also possessed a learning difference. In a third study by the Frostig Center in Pasadena California supported these findings.

As a therapist and dyslexic adult I have become aware that it takes much more to be a happy and successful person with a learning difference than just academic remediation. It takes the whole person!

For the past year I have been teaching the children in my private practice and at the Hutson School the “Success Attributes” with very positive results. Most importantly, the children seem to “get it”. Although I am in the early stages of developing this program, the results have been so positive that 1 want to share some general ideas of how to help your child develop his/her own “Success Attributes”.

The “Success Attributes” as defined by the Frostig Center are:

1. Self-awareness — knowing your strengths and weaknesses
2. Proactivity — Self-advocacy and the belief that they have the power to affect change in their lives.
3. Perseverance — learning how to persist in steps towards success when encountering failure
4. Goal Setting — the ability to set realistic and obtainable goals in a step-by-step fashion.
5. Use of Effective Support Systems — finding help from people and technology to get around the disability.
6. Coping Strategies — recognizing stress and using various strategies to cope.

I will take each of these attributes and share some of the strategies I have used to develop them.

Self-awareness
There are many ways you can help your child identify their strengths and weaknesses. Have the important people in your child's life; parents and family, teachers, friends, as well as the child them self identify their strengths and weaknesses. Howard Gardner's work on the Multiple Intelligences offers many guides on identifying your child's strengths. Compile information about your child's strengths and weaknesses and review them with your child. Start by asking them how they think people perceive them. Don't be afraid to talk about weaknesses. They are as important to know as their strength.

Next, ask your child to think of situations where they use their strengths. Also have them identify situations to avoid. I use the example of myself of being caught in a burning building and asked to call the fire department. Being dyslexic and scared while trying to dial the telephone would be a poor use of my abilities. I would be much better helping to find an escape route.

Identifying professions that would fit your child's abilities is also a useful and activity. Also recognizing the ones to avoid is a good exercise. Again I use myself as an example. My strengths make me a good therapist, but my weaknesses would make me a lousy accountant.

Proactivity
To help your child believe that they have the power to affect change in their lives have them keep a journal of how he or she makes decisions. This may have to be written by the guiding adult. They should note both good decisions and bad decisions. You should emphasize that this is research and learning not criticism. When your child encounters a particular problem in one of their activities, i.e. football, bike repair, friendship conflicts, learning a new task, review what worked, what didn't work and why. Reviewing books, stories, movies, and television shows about people who have made good and bad decisions can also be useful. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, by Jean Covey has some good exercises in the chapter covering proactivity.

Perseverance
It is particularly important for children with learning disabilities to learn how to be persistent in their efforts when encountering failure. Again, having your child journal self-observations is a good technique. You can also help your child recognize times when they are persevering. Catch them in the act and talk about it with them. Sports, board games, building games and outdoor activities are all good situations to observe and then review how persistence works or the lack of persistence leads to failure. You can also you're your child find examples of perseverance paying off in TV shows, movies and books. The Little Engine that Could, in video or book is an excellent example for young children.

It is important that they understand the process of perseverance. By this I mean how they change their approach and keep trying and trying until they find their way around a problem.

Goal Setting
It is important for your child to learn how to set realistic goals. The learning activities I do with the children at the Hutson School give them some practice. I have them estimate the number of times out of ten they can get a beanbag in a coffee can. I have them do this a couple of times and then review how close their estimates are to their actual performance. This helps them get a sense of a realistic goal.

Then we work on setting academic and personal goals. I have the students break these goals down into steps by drawing a ladder with the end goal at the top of the ladder and the start of the goal at the bottom. They write the successive steps to their goal on the rungs in between. I encourage the students to make their goals both specific and measurable. A small reward is provided at the completion of each small step towards the identified goal. The big reward comes at goal completion.

Using Effective Support Systems
Help your child identify the people and things in their lives that help them compensate for their disability. These can be teachers, friends, computer programs, books on tapes etc. Discuss how these people help them accomplish their goals. Again, any media examples that arise can be reviewed and discussed. The Voice Recognition program Pm using to write this article would be a good example.

Coping Strategies
Teaching your child to recognize stress and develop ways to cope is a very valuable success tool. As Hutson School kids say: “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. Absolutely the best program for teaming coping strategies is found in The Optimistic Child, by Martin Seligman. This step-by-step program helps your child identify and then attack their negative thinking patterns that lead to depression and defeat. In clinical trials conducted over a three-year period, children who learned the program resisted a relapse of depression better than children on Prozac. You may want to buy the book and try it yourself.

In summary, teaching the “Success Attributes” to your child will help him/her feel he has some control and power over their life. And you can help them by pointing out when they are actively happening in his or her life. Remember this is a lifelong process. So get started!

I would like to close this article with a quote from a dyslexic participant in the Frostig Center 's research. “I have failed many times, but I am not a failure. I have learned to succeed from my failures.”