For decades, tutoring has been perceived as the number one solution for many families to help their children catch up with academic work or to overcome learning difficulties. For some kids, though, simple tutoring might not prove enough or effective for overcoming chronic challenges with learning.
If your child is struggling in their studies and you need to make a decision whether to go for tutoring or something more advanced, consider the following points.
• Your child needs help with only one specific subject
• Their difficulties arose because they have just moved to a new school
• They can get understand the concept if it’s explained just one more time
• They have missed some classes due to an illness or family responsibilities
• Are generally doing well or within average but need a boost in particular classes
If your child’s learning difficulties are limited to the above factors, tutoring might be the right option for them.
While tutoring for kids is the perfect solution in certain situations, it might not always be the best long term and effective strategy. For a very high percentage of children who struggle in their studies, it is due to weaknesses in the underlying skills needed for learning.
If you’re wondering if your child falls into this category, consider the following questions:
1. Does your child have chronic difficulties with learning, struggling with more than one subject for an extended period of time?
2. Are they too slow and don’t seem to be able to finish their school or homework on time?
3. Do they have poor reading capabilities that don’t seem to get better with conventional remedial methods?
4. Are they unable to retain new information?
5. Do they constantly fidget and need to be reminded to pay attention?
6. Do they work hard but get very little results, especially in tests?
7. Do they feel they’re stupid, not smart, or can’t make it no matter how hard they try?
If you’ve answered yes to any of the above questions, it means that your child’s learning difficulties result from poor cognitive skills and can only be overcome by fixing the cause, in other words, by training the brain and strengthening their cognitive abilities.
Whether you choose tutoring or brain training for your child, it is important to make your decision as soon as possible, since delaying such things could exacerbate your child’s difficulties.