Exploring Music for Students with Learning Disabilities

Exploring Music for Students with Learning DisabilitiesEvery student is unique and deserves the very best education possible, which is why I created the Exploring Music Curriculum. Children with learning disabilities, no matter what they are, present unique challenges for the parents and educators that love them and want them to succeed.

There are lots of things you can do to enhance your child’s learning, but here are some of the things that will help make your child’s education easier.

How to teach children with learning disabilities

Give them a chance to observe first before getting serious and give them a chance to get used to the new material, technique or routine. Some students will pick up a new routine without hesitation. When new students try my DVD-based curriculum, some moms have noticed that their students do better when mom or dad is the ‘student’ for the first lesson and the child observes. If they want to participate, they are free to do so, otherwise, they can just watch and be in the room.

Consider a DVD-based curriculum. While I might be a little biased, I believe that DVD curriculum that is interactive and encourages student involvement can be some of the best for students that learn differently. With an interaction-based DVD curriculum, you are involving different learning styles, including:

  • Kinesthetic & Tactile learning  where the student moves by doing things physically is perfect for DVD curriculum where the student is asked to dance, move and perform actions as part of the lesson
  • Auditory learners will be able to hear the lesson which can be listened to as many times as the student needs.
  • Visual learners can see the lesson, which can be paused or re-watched as the learner has a need or interest

The other beautiful thing about using a DVD curriculum is that as a homeschooling parent you can control the environment to make sure that the setting is ideal for however your child learns best. Maybe your son can’t sit still, so let him stand in the middle of the living room! Maybe your daughter prefers a quiet place where the lights are not too bright – find a quiet corner and play the DVD on a laptop… the options are only limited to your imagination!

Encourage interaction, but don’t force it. It is hard when you want your child to be responsive but they aren’t, but some of their lack of participation might be that your technique is not using their learning style or maybe they need time to process before they are able and willing to articulate things relating to the lesson. Sometimes, this will mean having some one-sided conversations where you discuss things with your student without meaningful reply. If your student is not very verbal, then find another way for your student to communicate how they have learned. There are wonderful suggestions on Pinterest, so I won’t reinvent the wheel here.

 

 

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *