Yvonnie Bailey- DavidsonDear Counsellor:
My son is having difficulty in reading and writing. He is seven years old. What measures can I take to remedy the situation?
Joy
Dear Joy:
Learning disability is a common problem among our Jamaican students. It is my experience that many of the children in need cannot afford private services so they lag behind educationally in the schools.
Your child needs to be assessed for reading and writing disability. The assessment involved testing various learning skills and achievement tasks to determine the level of functioning of your son.
Many children who are unable to read and write make tremendous improvement with simple intervention strategies. In my experience, the involvement of students, parents and teachers pays great dividends. The student needs a mentor, a role model and a guide to provide guidance, motivation and direction. Your son needs a male mentor and role model. It is a common saying that we follow each other. If you have someone who likes to read and write then the student will want to imitate that person. The student should engage in certain behaviours that will increase reading and writing. They should like to take up a book, look at pictures and tell their own stories. Storytelling is an excellent educational activity which will encourage reading. The student should tell stories and write stories.
HELP
Parents can help the students by seeing that homework is done correctly and neatly. You should read books with your son, especially stories that he likes. Whenever parents read to their children, the children develop their listening skills as well as their creative initiative. The students learn words to describe situations as well as sentence structure. I will encourage you to read to and with your son.
Lastly, you should have dialogue with your teacher about your son's inability to read. The teacher should give your son more individualised attention and devise classroom instructions to target the academic level of your son. The teacher should prepare an individualised educational plan for your son and implement this programme. Meet weekly with the class teacher to compare notes and assess progress.
With encouragement, praise and reward your son will improve and become a happier person. Please try these suggestions and I guarantee that the reading level will improve as others have done. You are using time tested method to improve reading.
I have
mood swings
Dear Counsellor:
I have a depressive condition and I have low self-esteem and self-worth sometimes. What can I do to cope?
Johanna
Dear Johanna:
It is normal for individuals to have times when they are happy and times when they are sad. Some people, however, have severe mood swings that require the doctor to treat with medication and therapy. Life is stressful and people use various methods to cope. Some people deny that they are having symptoms while others intellectualise about the problems of life. Your condition requires that you see your doctor on a monthly basis for therapy, support and medication. Many people have a similar mood disorder so you should not feel alone. There is a support group called Mensana which is very helpful for people with your condition.
Depression is a very common condition and can be caused by the stresses of life. Some people, however, find that there are no identified stressors and they get bouts of depression. You should not act on your negative thoughts.
Positivity and positive thinking helps a great deal. You should count all your blessings and rejoice in those things that are going well for you. There are always people who are in a worse plight than us so you need to think of healing and forget about negative things. Negativity leads to unhappiness, so associate with people who are positive and encouraging. You should not indulge in a 'pity party' as this will make your situation worse.
I should emphasise that healing is possible so you should not give us hope. You need to be compliant with the doctor's instructions and most of all trust in God.
Dr. Yvonnie Bailey-Davidson, El Shaddai
Medical Centre; yvonniebd@hotmail.com.
