Difficulties that arise during school learning due to biological factors are classified in ICD-10 as problems in mastering school skills and processing cognitive information. We are talking about disorders associated with dysgraphia, dyslexia and dyscalculia.
Characteristics of these deviations:
- have an early period of occurrence;
- congenital (cannot occur as a result of previous injuries and infections of the brain);
- specific or primary (cannot be caused by learning disabilities, the presence of a disease or mental retardation).
Most disorders occur due to the child's sensory integration difficulties.
Studying is difficult for a child
He has a hard time understanding the material and cannot adapt to the pace of learning for a very long time. Such children often cannot cope with tasks (even the simplest ones) on their own. Representatives of this group are indifferent to grades, in class they are easily distracted by extraneous things, are poorly controlled, restless, get lost near the board and often cannot answer the teacher’s questions.
Psychological reasons
- increased anxiety, impaired motivation, difficulties in relationships with the teacher, the child’s development according to the “play type”, and so on. In such a situation, it is necessary to orient the child toward learning, to interest him, and to show him that studying can be fun. It is important to understand the child’s problems, place more emphasis on playful forms of learning, and hire a tutor.
Children who have not developed field traits
They are not interested in anything, do not listen to the words of the teacher, and study poorly. Such a child is not interested in acquiring knowledge, he does not try, and does not complete tasks. He almost falls asleep in class and looks very tired after school. He does all the work extremely reluctantly.
Psychological reasons
- slowness, low energy, lack of motivation, and so on. It is worth adhering to the recommendations that were in the first case. It is advisable to choose a gentle training regimen. If a child does any work, then you need to evaluate its quality, not its volume.
Disappointment in the chosen profession
Entering a university immediately after graduating from school, many young people choose their future profession without fully understanding all its pros and cons (which exist in any profession). The level of education also does not always meet expectations. It is no secret that there are still many teachers in universities and colleges who do not know computers or modern technologies and simply read the same lectures every year from notes that have turned yellow with age.
There is a desire to transfer to another university or quit studying altogether.
How to decide: in such cases, it is better not to rush and think everything through. Usually it is possible to find a compromise option, for example, get additional education at courses or in college, master an additional or related specialty, etc. You can also enroll in a master's program at another university.
Children who are eager to learn
Despite all efforts, the effectiveness of their training is very low. The child is very hasty, speaks without thinking about his words, and often does the wrong homework. This kid has a mess in his briefcase and on his desk. He forgets things all the time, is absent-minded, inattentive and overly dreamy.
Psychological reasons
- increased energy, improper organization of activities. When raising such a child, it is necessary to pay attention to developing planning skills, teach them to develop skills, and maintain the most friendly relationships possible.
Children who are constantly afraid of making mistakes
Or do something wrong. They are characterized by passivity, indecisiveness, they are sensitive to comments, and suffer from bad grades. For them, failure is a common occurrence. Such a child is often silent at the blackboard, even if he knows the topic. Does tests poorly.
Psychological reasons
- personal anxiety, problems in relationships with the teacher, and so on. With such a child, it is necessary to follow the recommendations described above. Sometimes you may need to consult a psychologist.
Speech at the seminar of educational psychologists “Problems of learning through the eyes of a school psychologist.”
Speech by Maltseva E.S. educational psychologist
MKOU "Zamostyanskaya Secondary School"
“Problems of learning through the eyes of a school psychologist”
Not so long ago, people knew almost nothing about psychology as a science. It was believed that a Soviet citizen, and especially a child, had no internal problems. If something doesn’t work out for him, his studies have gone wrong, his behavior has changed, then this is due to laziness, promiscuity, poor upbringing and lack of effort. The child, instead of receiving help, was evaluated and criticized. Needless to say, how ineffective this strategy was.
Now, fortunately, many teachers and parents are ready to explain the difficulties a child has at school by the presence of possible psychological problems. As a rule, this is true. A child, like any person, strives to fulfill his own needs, wants to feel successful, needs security, love and recognition. But a variety of obstacles may arise on his way.
Nowadays, one of the most common problems noted by almost all teachers is hyperactivity
children. Indeed, this is a phenomenon of our time, the sources of which are not only psychological, but also social, political, and environmental. Let's try to look at the psychological ones; personally, I only had to deal with them.
Firstly, children called hyperactive are very often just anxious children. Their anxiety is so high and constant that they themselves are no longer aware of what and why they are worried. Anxiety, like excessive excitement that cannot find a way out, forces them to make many small movements and fuss. They fidget endlessly, drop something, break something, rustle something, tap something, rock it. It is difficult for them to sit still, and sometimes they can jump up in the middle of a lesson. Their attention seems scattered. But not all of them are truly unable to concentrate. Many study well, especially in subjects that do not require accuracy, perseverance and the ability to concentrate well.
Children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder require more engagement and benefit from smaller classes or groups where the teacher has more opportunity to give him personal attention. In addition, in a large group, such a child is very distracting to other children. During educational tasks, it can be very difficult for a teacher to maintain the concentration of a class in which there are several hyperactive students. Children prone to hyperactivity, but without an appropriate diagnosis, can study in any class, provided that the teacher does not increase their anxiety and does not constantly upset them. It is better to touch a hyperactive child when sitting him down than to point out the obligation to be disciplined a hundred times. It is better to be allowed to go to the toilet and back for three minutes from class, or to run up the stairs, than to call for attention and calm. His poorly controlled motor excitation passes much easier when it is expressed in running, jumping, that is, in wide muscle movements, in active efforts. Therefore, a hyperactive child must move well during recess (and sometimes, if possible, during class) in order to relieve this anxious excitement.
It is important to understand that a hyperactive child has no intention of demonstrating such behavior “to spite” the teacher, that the sources of his actions are not at all promiscuity or bad manners. In fact, such a student simply finds it difficult to control his own excitement and anxiety, which usually goes away by adolescence.
A hyperactive child is also hypersensitive; he perceives too many signals at the same time. His abstract appearance, wandering gaze misleads many: it seems that he is absent here and now, not listening to the lesson, not involved in the process. Very often this is not the case at all.
Even a good psychologist, let alone a teacher, is not so easy to deal with a child’s hyperactivity. Psychologists often work with problems of anxiety and self-esteem of such a child, teach him to listen, better understand and control the signals of his body. A lot of work is done with fine motor skills, which often lag behind the rest of development, but by working on which, the child better learns to control his gross motor skills, that is, his larger movements. Overactive children are often gifted, capable and talented. They have a lively mind, they quickly process information received, and easily absorb new things. But at school (especially elementary school), such a child will be in a deliberately losing position due to difficulties in penmanship, neatness and obedience.
Hypractic children often benefit from all types of modeling with clay and plasticine, playing with water, pebbles, sticks and other natural materials, all types of physical activity, but not sports, because it is important for them to make any muscle movement, not just the correct one. The development of the body and the opportunity to throw out excess excitement allow such a child to gradually enter his own boundaries, from which he previously always wanted to jump out.
It has been noticed that hyperactive children absolutely need space for such vain manifestation of themselves. If at home it is strictly forbidden, through constant reprimanding or other educational measures, to behave in this way, then they will be much more hyperactive at school. Conversely, if school is strict with them, they will become extremely active at home. Therefore, parents and teachers need to keep in mind that these children will still find a way out for their motor agitation and anxiety.
Another equally common problem in modern schools is reluctance to learn.
or lack of motivation, as psychologists say. This, as a rule, matures in middle school and reaches its apogee by the beginning of high school, then gradually, with the awareness of the connection between the quality of knowledge and the picture of one’s own future, it declines.
A child’s reluctance to learn, as a rule, has nothing to do with the fact that he is “bad.” Each of these children has their own reasons for not wanting to study. For example, early love, which takes all your attention and energy to experiences or dreams. These could also be problems in the family: conflicts, impending divorce of parents, illness or death of loved ones, difficulties in relationships with a brother or sister, the birth of a new child. Perhaps failures with friends, inappropriate behavior of others, due to their personal or family crisis, are to blame. All this can take away the child’s energy and attention. Since many troubles may turn out to be protracted, or half-hidden, and therefore impossible to resolve constructively, over time they devastate the child, lead to failures in school, as a result, even greater depression appears, and the circle closes. It is often difficult for parents to take responsibility for unresolved problems at home, and they take it out on the child, accusing him of laziness and unwillingness to learn, which, as a rule, only worsens the situation.
Perhaps the child does not want to learn out of a feeling of protest towards how he is taught, who teaches him. He may unconsciously resist parents who force him to study, and because of bad grades they limit him in some ways (they don’t let him go out, don’t buy what they promised, deprive him of holidays, trips, meetings and entertainment). Parents and teachers often do not understand that even if there is a mandatory
universal education, knowledge can
only be acquired voluntarily
. As the proverb says, you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot force it to drink. You can teach by force, but you can learn only by wanting to. Pressure and punishment in this matter are much less effective than interesting and exciting learning. Although, of course, it is easier to put pressure and punish.
Another reason for the lack of motivation to acquire knowledge: low self-esteem of students. Constant criticism and fixation on failures do not help everyone move forward, learn and grow effectively. Many people (depending on their psychotype and character) are deprived of energy by failure. Constant failure to meet someone’s requirements gives rise to total self-doubt, lack of faith in one’s own strengths, and the inability to discover one’s resources, abilities and desire to achieve success. Such children can easily “give up” and come to terms with the stigma of a passive and incapable “C” student, whose motivation, of course, will be buried under the weight of failures, other people’s negative assessments and their own helplessness to change anything. At the same time, it is quite obvious that there are no hopeless or absolutely hopeless children; each has their own resource, their own talent and a huge, but sometimes carefully hidden, need to be noticed.
Another reason why children don't want to learn: the way they learn. Passive types of learning, when a student can only be a recipient, a listener, absorbing a certain amount of information and then presenting it (not always assimilated) in test papers, reduce the child’s own learning motivation. Lessons that lack at least some interactivity are practically doomed to passivity and disengagement for the majority of students. Information that does not become knowledge is forgotten within a few hours. Knowledge acquired without involvement and interest is forgotten within a few weeks or months. Education that does not provide the opportunity for personal participation and does not arouse personal interest is doomed to meaninglessness and rapid oblivion.
Most children find it difficult to be equally interested in all school subjects. There are individual inclinations and preferences. Perhaps, parents and teachers should not insist that the child joyfully, with great enthusiasm and, most importantly, success, study, for example, the Russian language, although he has technical inclinations. Or, no matter what, he received “A” grades in mathematics, being interested in drawing and sculpting.
A psychologist, together with a teacher and a parent, can help such an unmotivated student find his interest, deal with family difficulties, increase his self-esteem, resolve difficulties in relationships with others, realize his own resistance, discover talents and begin to enjoy school.
Another problem that seriously complicates the life of almost any teacher is the inappropriate behavior of students.
Many teachers complain about rudeness, rudeness, provocations, and disruption of lessons. This is especially true in grades 7–9 and, of course, also has several grounds and reasons.
We talked about one of them - the inevitable tendency, when going through an adolescent crisis, to separate from the entire adult world, accompanied by manifestations of various forms of aggression. Teachers often take hostile attacks from students very personally and, as they say, “close to their hearts.” Most of the teenage “freaks” are aimed at the adult world as a whole, and are not aimed at a specific person.
Sometimes sudden comments in class cause a violent reaction in the class that is not always necessary for the teacher. This is a manifestation of a teenager’s demonstrativeness, the need to be in the center of attention all the time, which is explained by the child’s characterological characteristics, which at a certain age became accentuations (that is, very pronounced personality traits). And again, the behavior of such a demonstrative teenager is not aimed at destroying the teacher’s authority and is motivated not by the desire to offend or humiliate him, but by the need to satisfy his own need for attention. In such situations, they act in different ways: you can strictly put him in his place, ridiculing his desire to be an “upstart,” or, conversely, with humor and understanding, use the student’s demonstrativeness for peaceful purposes: in performances, projects, speeches, shows. The satisfied need to be the center of attention will significantly less interfere with the lesson.
Again, if in a family with a strict upbringing the demonstrativeness of such a child is “repressed,” then school will become the very place where this quality of character will inevitably manifest itself.
In some cases, school is the place where the child releases accumulated aggression. As a rule, everyone: teachers, classmates, and the teenager himself suffers from such unfair behavior. It can be quite difficult to understand this if the child does not want to trust one of the adults, which does not happen often, since aggression is an indicator of fear and mistrust.
Sometimes a teacher encounters an aggressive outburst in the classroom due to his own injustice, disrespect, or incorrect comments addressed to students. A teacher who is absorbed in the content of the lesson and does not notice the processes taking place in the class (boredom, showdown, passion for an unrelated topic) will also not avoid an aggressive attack: for ignoring the needs of the class.
Children, as a rule, also test new teachers with a simple provocation to determine the stability of psychological boundaries. And not at all because they are embittered “fiends of hell”, they need to understand who is in front of them and navigate the situation of uncertainty. A teacher who reacts sharply to provocations with shouting, insults, and resentment will be subjected to aggression again and again until he is able to defend his boundaries with dignity and respect for himself and the children.
As a rule, it is difficult for a teacher to help a teenager deal with inappropriate behavior, since he himself becomes a participant in what is happening. An adult's resentment or anger prevents him from discovering and eliminating the causes of aggression. It is much easier for a psychologist to do this because, firstly, he was not included in the incident, and secondly, he knows about the peculiarities and complexity of the teenager’s personality. A psychologist is able to build a non-judgmental, equal contact that will help the child better understand the origins of his hostility, learn to manage his own behavior and express his anger in acceptable circumstances and in an adequate form.
Strong emotional displays can be a problem for teachers
children: tears, fights, hysterics, fears. Often educators experience great confusion when faced with such situations. In each such case, there is, as a rule, its own backstory. Often only the tip of the iceberg is visible. Without knowing everything that is hidden under water, it is easy to make mistakes. In any case, without finding out all the causes of the incident, it is better to avoid any conclusions and assessments. This can hurt the student due to injustice, worsen his condition, and deepen his psychological trauma.
The basis for such behavior can be a wide range of events: from purely personal and very dramatic, to illusory ones that take place only in a child’s imagination. In order for these reasons to be voiced and eliminated, the child sometimes lacks trust and a sense of security.
If children trust the teacher and are able to open up their pain to him, express their emotions, you need to listen to them without judging or criticizing, talk, show understanding, give the child the opportunity to show his feelings: cry if he cries, get angry if he is angry, be afraid if he is afraid. And only after that, together find a constructive way out of the situation, find the resource that is necessary to overcome difficulties, encourage, support, and share experiences. Sometimes teachers immediately proceed to the last stage: consolation and finding the right solution. In this case, the child may feel misunderstood, his grief or fear may remain unrequited, he will not be completely consoled and is unlikely to find a reasonable way out of the situation in which he finds himself.
If a teacher does not have a trusting relationship with a student who finds himself in a difficult situation, it is worth entrusting him to the adult with whom communication is most beneficial. A psychologist can also be such a person, because he is not involved in the teacher-student relationship, but, as a rule, has important information about a given child, knows how to establish contact, inspire trust and get out of a difficult situation.
Another layer of problems: learning difficulties.
The inability of individual children to meet the requirements of the school curriculum can also be caused by various reasons: physiological, medical, social, psychological.
A student may, for example, have an individual pace of perception and processing of information. Often, the average pace that is inevitable in school can prevent children from meeting the general requirements of the system. Guys with a phlegmatic temperament, for example, do everything slowly but thoroughly. Melancholic people sometimes lag behind because they are focused on their experiences and trying to do everything “super well.” For choleric people, the pace may seem too slow; they inevitably begin to get distracted, wanting to save themselves from boredom by disturbing other children. Perhaps only sanguine people are most adapted to the average pace, provided that today is not the day of their energy decline. Changes in weather, quality of food, rest and sleep, physical well-being and past illnesses can also significantly affect a child's ability to comprehend material or answer test items.
Some children are unable to concentrate in large classes. Someone is knocked out of a state of psychological stability by the constant change of teachers, frequent changes in the schedule, continuous innovations and changes in requirements.
Psychological reasons also include: difficulties in communication, a difficult family situation, low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence, high anxiety, strong dependence on external assessments, fear of possible mistakes, fear of losing the respect and love of parents or other significant adults. Neuropsychological: underdevelopment of certain areas of the brain and, as a consequence, a lag in the normal development of mental functions: attention, logic, perception, memory, imagination.
A school with a personal, personalized approach to learning is able to organize assistance for a child with learning difficulties: conduct consultations and classes with certain specialists, vary the composition and number of students in the class, dividing them into mini-groups of a certain level, and conduct individual lessons if necessary. All these activities provide an opportunity to cope with the challenges of the educational process without feeling like a failure and an outsider, unable to follow everyone else.
Dreaming children
They often think about something of their own, inventing new stories for non-existent characters in their heads. Such a child tries by any means to attract the teacher’s attention, ask stupid questions, or draw something. The “dreamer” is distinguished by deceit, laziness, absent-mindedness and instability of academic success.
Psychological reasons
- need for attention, mild anxiety, lack of learning motivation. Such a child needs to be helped in his studies, encouraged to succeed, given a chance to prove himself in something, for example, in some kind of sport.
Children who always and everywhere want to stand out
But excessive demonstrativeness leads to frequent violations of the rules of conduct. The kid turns into a buffoon, he is uncontrollable, and shows average academic performance.
Psychological reasons
- need for attention, desire to stand out. Such a child needs to be looked after like a flower. It is better to refuse comments and punishments. Children who belong to this group often become actors. This needs to be used - send your child to a drama club and you will see the results.
The main thing is not to be afraid of difficulties. If you approach the problem correctly, you can establish contact with your child and instill in him the necessary love of knowledge.
Health problems
Doctors say that no more than 15-20% of modern schoolchildren are absolutely healthy. Naturally, at the beginning of independent life, these problems for students may become aggravated. And the stress that almost always accompanies the beginning of independent life does not contribute to their solution.
Poor ecology has its influence, especially in megacities, and constant sitting at the computer.
How to solve: there is only one way out - to establish a routine, lead a healthy lifestyle, not get carried away with alcohol and smoking, exercise regularly and do sports, and generally spend more time in the fresh air, sleep at least 7 hours a day. And, of course, do not get carried away with fast food, after which you will also have to get rid of excess weight. In general, follow the saying “a healthy mind in a healthy body.”
