Lazy, Unmotivated, or Struggling? Five signs that your child or teen may need outside help

 When it comes to school or homework, have you ever thought or been told that your teen is lazy or unmotivated?  Or that they just don’t care?  In my over 35 years in education, I have yet to see a truly lazy or unmotivated student.  


Students will do well when they can.  When they cannot, there is something getting in their way.  Think of it like a roadblock - it’s generally removable, but first it has to be recognized.


Here are five signs that your child or teen is struggling and needs help to remove to roadblocks to confident, efficient, independent learning:

1. Homework takes far longer than expected
2. Exhausted after school
3. Easily distracted during homework
4. Needs excessive help / Performs well with help but poorly on tests
5. Avoids, resists, or anxious about school or homework

Here are some things every parent should know about their struggling learner:

1. When you struggle with listening or reading, it will affect your attention.  Loss of attention is often a symptom of a learning challenge, but may not be the real issue.

1. It takes excessive energy, motivation, and attention to compensate for a learning challenge.  It is almost impossible to maintain this level of mental focus indefinitely, causing students to become fatigued, tune-out, or have inconsistent performance.

1. Laziness, and lack of effort are NOT the reason smart students struggle in school.

1. Because they are often quite bright, students may be able to compensate just well enough to make it look like they can do the work better than they actually can.  This is confusing to parents and teachers, as kids seem to get it one day and not the next.

1. Contrary to popular belief, most learning and attention challenges do not have to be permanent.  The neuroscience research in the last 30 years has shown us that through intensive and targeted brain training, the brain can literally re-wire to process information more effectively.  

This kind of training is not the job of the schools and not the focus of traditional tutoring, but our experience with thousands of struggling students has shown us that by identifying and developing the weak underlying learning / processing skills needed to support efficient learning, most learning and attention challenges, including learning disabilities and dyslexia can be corrected.


Key Underlying Skills for Ease in Learning
The skills needed for learning can be placed on a continuum - imagine a ladder - with academic and school subjects up at the top.  Building up to and supporting those skills are whole sets of underlying skills (such as memory, attention, auditory and visual processing) that need to be in place - like the rungs on a ladder.  When the underlying skills are weak, it can cause you to have to work harder and longer than expected and it will most likely affect your attention.


Cognitive Learning Therapy Addresses the Root of the Challenge
If we want to permanently change a learning challenge, we have to identify the lagging underlying skills that are not supporting the student well enough and develop them through intensive and targeted brain training.  In our experience over the last 35 years, we have found that through this kind of cognitive learning therapy, most learning and attention challenges, including dyslexia can change permanently.


What to Do
Call 877-774-0444 or visit StowellCenter.com to speak with a Stowell Learning Center consultant about your child.  




Jill Stowell, M.S.
Author:  At Wit’s End A Parent’s Guide to Ending the Struggle Tears, and Turmoil of Learning Disabilities
Founder and Executive Director – Stowell Learning Centers

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