Some children, whether they are born preemie or not, have difficulties with some aspects of thinking. This section provides some recommendations for specific skills that are important for learning.

When attempting to intervene or accommodate for a students’ difficulties in the classroom, whether it is memory, attention, or executive functions, it is important to consider the classroom culture as well as teaching style. Ideas that will benefit more students have a better chance of success

Strategies for Phonological Difficulties

Non-verbal reasoning skills are used to analyse and use information based on visual and abstract reasoning rather than relying on verbal and language types on abilities.

Children who are impulsive often show

• Picking up relationships and patterns between items
• Recognising, forming, and understanding various concepts
• Complex problem-solving, drawing inferences from information, and forming concepts
• Applying problem-solving strategies to new tasks
• Applying knowledge to different situations, i.e. generalising
• Using visual and abstract reasoning to solve problems that are new
• Following concepts that don’t have a strong language component

Strategies at School

• Provide the student with verbal instructions to all tasks, for example if showing a student how to do something, explain the process in words as you action each part of the task.
• Present concepts verbally in a straightforward way and confirm comprehension.
• Encourage the student to engage in “self-talk” as they perform various tasks.
• If using charts, tables, and diagrams provide verbal explanations.
• If using figurative language, explain the concept, as it may be taken literally for students with difficulty in this area.
• Teach verbal strategies that enable students to organise their work into logical steps, for example step-by-step instructions for solving maths problems.
• Explain assignments and class tasks in a logical step-by-step fashion.
• Specific questions are better than open-ended or inference based questions.

Technical Reference List

Lagae, L. (2008). Learning Disabilities: Definitions, Epidemiology, Diagnosis, and Intervention Strategies. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 55(6), 1259.