Improving Motivation and Study Skills in Right-Brained Children
Children with behavioral, academic, social, or other challenges often have an imbalance where they predominantly use one side of the brain. If you suspect your child is more right-brained, he or she probably has trouble with executive functions.
One of the most important functions of this type is motivation, which is helpful to have when it comes to academic success. If your child seems unmotivated or struggles to complete homework, these study tips might help.
Make It Easy to Stay Organized
Right-brained children often procrastinate, because they are feeling overwhelmed. You can help them look forward to getting started instead of dreading work by providing organizational tools. This could mean setting up a spot for them to do their homework, complete with paper, pencils, notecards, sticky notes, and other items they might need to use. Simply having the proper supplies ready can result in self-motivation in kids, cutting down on the chance they will interrupt their study session to go find a pencil or paper.
Another way you can help right-brained children is to make a calendar or to-do list. You can use a white board or notepad for this. Either way, according to The National Center for Learning Disabilities, just breaking up large goals into small tasks can reduce the stress your child might be feeling about studying. Allow him or her to check off each task after it's done. That alone can be a great motivator among kids.
Play to the Strengths of Your Child
Most right-brained children are very visual. You can take advantage of right-brained learning skills like this by using visual tools to teach, such as a chalkboard or white board. You can also focus on creating flashcards out of colorful notecards that can grab your child's attention and help instill the material in his or her mind.
In addition, many students are able to retain information better when it is presented in a meaningful way. For example, if you expect them to memorize the names and locations of countries, consider creating a fun song or phrase about how each country relates to the other. If you are teaching a list of words for right-brained children to remember, try to find a common thread between the words. Detecting patterns in the words can make learning possible and even fun, leading to self-motivation in kids.
Encourage Persistence
According to GreatSchools, your child needs to know the value of being persistent. Some right-brained children who have trouble in school just give up because they believe they are not smart. If you sense that your child is about to give up or thinks of himself or herself as not good enough, it's time to instill the importance of trying harder.
It is crucial for right-brained children to know that intelligence is not fixed at birth. Just because they do not have the typical left-brained skills that are so useful for school does not mean they can't still succeed. Letting them know they are good enough and that they simply need to be persistent, in addition to using these study tips, can help them stay motivated.
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