Current research indicates that parents experience a wide variety of intense and conflicting emotions when endeavoring to deal with children who learn differently. Educators and parents should work together on these issues with a spirit of sensitivity, cooperation, and common sense of purpose. In order to create such an environment, parents, educators, and other professionals must gain an understanding of and sensitivity toward each other's life experiences. This understanding is crucial in order to communicate effectively to better understand and help a child who struggles in school. This workshop is designed for parents and professionals. Among the topics to be discussed are:

• Parental Acceptance of learning problems
• Effective communication strategies with children
• Conducting meaningful and productive parent/teacher conferences
• Uses and abuses of competition in the mainstream classroom
• Initiation of a "work ethic" in the classroom
• The doctrine of Fairness
• Learning as a quantum experience
• Dealing with conflict
• Teaching the "hidden curriculum" of social skills
• Multidisciplinary vs. transdisciplinary approaches to the team meeting
  

Objectives:

• The learner will be exposed to the Westhead/Smith studies related to parental reaction to the LD diagnosis.
• The learner will understand several techniques to improve home/school communication.
• The learner will understand the impact of Learning Disabilities on siblings and the extended family.