Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

Homework can benefit good readers and writers. But for children who struggle with reading and writing and have difficulty working independently, traditional homework, homework assigned to whole classes and not personalized to match their skill and comfort level, can backfire. Parent reports and the limited research examining the homework problems of struggling learners, suggests that traditional homework often overwhelms, frustrates, and devastates them. As Lawrence Greene observed, the reasons are straightforward:

The prospect of doing homework can be intolerable to children who feel academically incompetent, frustrated, demoralized, and incapable of doing the assigned work. After having spent a miserable day in school, their teachers and parents now insist that they go home and spend an additional two or three hours being miserable. That many of these children try to evade their academic responsibilities is understandable. There is little incentive to children to record their assignments diligently when they believe that they will receive poor grades on their homework no matter how hard they try and that studying for tests is a futile exercise.

If your child struggles with homework, it’s critical that you meet with his teachers to modify his homework. If they don’t modify it to meet his skill and comfort level, if they don’t assign him homework that with moderate effort he can routinely succeed on, he may lose his motivation for school, get angry at the thought of homework, and despondent about his future. His stress and fear my well show itself as one or a combination of what researchers call the fight-flight-freeze response. To resist homework, he may start fights, fidget incessantly with his sneakers or pencils, look into space incessantly, scribble incorrect, irrelevant answers as he thoughtlessly rushes through the assignment, sit and cry. From his point of view, his behavior is rational. He’s reacting to an impossible, intolerable situation in which he can only lose—and he knows it.

To help you help your child’s teachers understand how to modify his homework to promote success, this and two future columns will describe what they can do. As a parent who has a good idea about what’s likely to work with your child, your role is to problem solve with them, and, if they’re unsure of how to help, make suggestions. These columns will offer suggestions you can discuss with your child’s teachers.

As you make suggestions, keep in mind that suggestions are just that—they’re not demands, they’re not orders. And even if your child’s teachers make suggestions with which you disagree, treat his teachers with respect—their job is a lot more complex and harder than most people think, and they, like all of us, need understanding and support. Work to understand their suggestions. See if they can be modified to improve the likelihood of success. If they might work, suggest a 10-day experimental period, with an evaluation meeting on the 11^th day. If they’re unsuccessful, and his teachers found you highly knowledgeable and cooperative, you’ve probably increased their willingness to try your suggestions.

If however, they will not modify your child’s homework to foster his success, you need to gear up for formal advocacy, which probably means documenting everything and sharing your concerns with higher authorities. It may mean hiring an education advocate or attorney—it’s that important. To learn more about the education laws that might help you and strategies for advocating for your child, read chapters 7 through 13 of our book, Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds (www.reading2008.com).

Now, of course, comes the practical concern and question. First, the concern: “I don’t have a master’s degree in special education or reading disabilities. I know my child, but that’s it. I’ve never taught or studied the literature on homework.” Now the question: “What should I suggest?”

Below are nine suggestions from an article that Patrick McCabe and I wrote for the Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation. Some of these may work for your child and his teachers. If homework destroys his motivation for school, angers him, or evokes despondence, some of these may reverse the course. If he’s on the verge of the flight-fight-freeze response, some of these may eliminate it.

1. Assign homework at or near the struggling learner’s independent reading level. At this level struggling learners can correctly and easily read 99% or more of words and correctly answer 90% or more of items. Success is immediately apparent. Avoid assigning homework at the struggling learner’s instructional level. At this level, successful completion requires immediate teacher guidance and assistance, which is unavailable. Without prompt help, struggling learners often practice and strengthen errors.
2. Assign homework that matches the struggling learner’s ability to concentrate, set goals, organize his work, monitor his progress, write a 100 word paragraph, and figure out how to overcome difficulties he might run in to. In other words, assign homework that matches his self-regulatory abilities. If he can concentrate on academics for a maximum of 10 minutes, don’t assign homework likely to take him 15 minutes.
3. Initially assign homework with which the struggling learner is unlikely to have difficulty. Mark the homework for punctual submission and content. Gradually increase difficulty but never beyond the struggling learner’s ability to succeed with moderate effort.
4. Begin assignments in class and observe how struggling learners handle them. If struggling learners experience difficulty, modify assignments to eliminate problems. Ask struggling learners how they would modify assignments to achieve success.
5. Task analyze complex homework assignments and assign simpler units likely to engender success if the learner makes a modest effort.
6. Assign streamlined homework assignments. For example, if David’s class is assigned 20 problems and it’s likely that he can complete 5 of them correctly, assign him the first 5 problems or every 4th .problem (i.e., problems 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20).
7. Assign homework that helps struggling readers master content without dependence on reading. For example, if Brian finds the class’s reading homework about the Battle of Gettysburg too difficult, have him watch the first half hour of the DVD Gettysburg, or have him listen to his parent read a description of the battle. The request that Brian’s parents read to him should be made only if the activity does not cause conflict, Brian finds it supportive, they are willing, and they have the time.
8. Distinguish between practice, preparation, extension, and creative homework assignments. Emphasize the type of assign­ment the struggling learner is most receptive to and most successful with. Many struggling learners with reading problems do best on practice and preparation home­work assignments. Practice assignments provide opportunity to for struggling learner to become more fluent with the materials, concepts, or skills they already learned in school. Preparation assignments ready struggling learners for concepts that teachers will soon present in class. These assignments should not include difficult reading. For example, struggling learners can cut out assigned pictures from magazines and discuss the pictured concepts with their parents, or their parents can read and discuss relevant stories or newspaper articles with them. Despite fine intellect, struggling learners with reading difficulties often have trouble with extension and creative homework as­signments like “Write an essay explaining how Robert E. Lee might have reversed the course of battle at Gettysburg?” This requires the integration, organization, application, and generalization of knowledge and skill.
9. Chart homework success. For example, Kelly received grades of 80, 90, 95, 75, and 85 on her daily assignments for the week. She and her teacher charted these grades on a histogram (bar graph), which her parents in­itialed. Kelly was then given the choice of choosing the assignment she liked most and placing it in a special homework album or sending it home with a congratulatory comment from her teacher.

These suggestions share this goal: To make homework manageable and increase the likelihood that struggling learners will anticipate success.

References

Greene, L. J. (2002). Roadblocks to Learning. New York: Warner Books, p. 109.

Margolis, H., & McCabe, P. P. (1997). Homework challenges for students with reading and writing problems: Suggestions for effective practice. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 8(1), 41-74.

Howard Margolis, Ed.D. © Reading2008 & Beyond  www.reading2008.com