Motivation: The Key to Academic Success
Motivation is the key to success. Just as the actor asks a director, "what is my motivation, for this scene?" the child turns to teachers, parents and peers to discover the "why" of learning. Motivation is often defined as a need or drive that energizes behavior towards a goal.
Motivation, as parents and teachers know, often varies depending on the setting, the people involved, the task and the situation. A child with a learning disability may be a very reluctant reader who resists reading a science assignment or water in a science class. The key for each learner is to find that which motivates. Unfortunately, other factors often intervene to lessen a student's motivation. Some of these factors are:
Fear of Failure:
Children can be afraid to complete work because they are afraid to make mistakes. They do not want to look foolish in front of their peers, teachers, siblings or parents. A child with a learning disability might, for example, constantly distract the class with wonderful humor, but never complete an assignment or answer a question in class. The humor covers his reading difficulty and is a cover-up for his inability to complete his work as well as most of the student in the class.
Lack of challenge:
Children can be bored with schoolwork. This may be for good reason. A gifted student maybe "unmotivated" in a class that repeatedly explains a concept s/he already understands. A child with a learning disability may be bored if the material available to study a concept is written far below the child's cognitive ability. The child with learning disability may also be unmotivated if it is apparent that the teachers attributes a lack of potential success to the child based on the label of learning disability. If the teacher, in the case, does not challenge the student, the student may discern the teacher's apparent assessment of ability and simply not demand more stimulating content.
Lack of Meaning:
A student may simply believe that the schoolwork is not important because s/he cannot see how it relates to everyday life. This can be especially troubling for a student with learning disability. A student with a visual-motor problem, for example, may find it very difficult to organize math problems in order to assure the correct answer. The student always gets the problem wrong because the columns of a long addition problem are mixed up. That student knows the calculator can do the problem correctly in a second. The students are likely to see no meaning to a class on addition, division, or any other math concept.
Emotional Problems:
A child with an emotional problem may have difficulty learning because s/he cannot focus in class. Anxiety, fear, depression or perhaps problems related to home could interfere. Children with learning disability often have emotions related to the frustration of the learning disability or other related emotional patterns that limit motivation for schoolwork.
Anger:
Some children use schoolwork, or lack of schoolwork, as an expression of anger towards the parents. This is often called a passive-aggressive approach. For example, if a child feels intense pressure to succeed academically, a factor that the student cannot control, the student may yell or argue with the parent. Rather, low grades are earned. This is something within the student's range of control. The more the parent tries to control and structure rein forcers, the lower the grades fail.
Desire for Attention:
Unfortunately, some children use lack of academic success as a way of getting parent or teacher attention. Too often in today's rapid paced world parent may not give children who are doing well the attention they need. Children that come home, do their chores, complete their homework, and achieve academically can be ignored simply because they are not seen causing problems. Children who act out or who seem "helpless" with schoolwork often can gain support and attention. Attention for children is a powerful motivator. It is important to periodically review what types of behavior earn a child attention at home or at school.
Children with learning disability can find learning, difficult, and painful process. Students with learning disability are often frustrated in learning situations. Memory problems, difficulties in following directions, trouble with the visual or auditory perception of information, and an inability to perform paper-and-pencil tasks (i.e. writing, compositions, and note-taking, doing written homework, taking tests) and other problems can make learning a truly " unmotivating" chore. Children with learning disability often think their lack of school success is not worth the effort. Since their grades often seem lower than those earned by other children do they may not see a relationship between efforts expended in school and academic success. Thus, to motivate them to achieve academically can be especially challenging.
How Can Parents Help?
Parents are central to student motivation. The beginning of a new school year is very important. Children with learning disability often struggle with change. Parents can help get the year off to a good start.
1. Provide a warm, accepting home environment.
2. Give clear direction and feedback.
3. Create a model for success.
4. Build on the student's strength.
5. Relate schoolwork to the student's interests.
6. Help build a family structure that fosters consistent work towards the goal.
7. Help the student to have some control over how and when he learns.
8. Emphasize the child's progress rather that his or her performance in comparison to the other students in the class.
9. Remember to reinforce the behavior you want
10. Uses rein forcers wisely. Recall the intrinsic motivation works best. Follow a child's interests, when possible, rather than spending time building elaborate reward systems.
