School Study Tips

Thanks for your post and welcome to FriendsOfQuinn.com

Although my son does not have VCFS, he has symptoms of mild dyslexia and written expression disorder (although not diagnosed as it does not interfere enough with his school work). I have found, in his case, that incorporating many different study skills helps him. For example, when learning a list of spelling words, sometimes we sing the words, sometimes he jumps up and down while repeating the words. We also use mnemonics to help in studying lists, creating silly sentences for him to remember and cue him to help.

For example, if he needs to learn a list of things (such as explorers), I will use the first letter of each explorer (take Columbus, Magellan, Balboa, Cabot). I would make up a sentence like "Charlie Makes Brownies and Cookies". My son is more apt to remember this sentence than the names of the explorers. He then has a reminder system in place to help him recall the names of the explorers. He can also use the sentence to help him figure out what he is missing. (I tell my kids to write this sentence on the top of their test paper immediately, that way they have a better chance of remembering it, before frustration from the test sets in.)

Twenty explorers is a lot to remember, I don't think I could do with straight memorization, but using different tools like this might help. Make up songs to help remember lists, use flashcards, and incorporate as many as the senses as you can into studying.

I am also giving you some links to some additional information that may be helpful:

Study Skills Tips

Classroom Accommodations

Common Signs of Learning Disabilities

Managing Learning Disabilities

I hope this information helps

Eileen