6 obstacles to academic success!
Children's academic success is of great importance for almost every family as it plays a major role in the quality of life. However, not all children can be successful at school. Pointing out that attention deficit is among the most important causes of academic failure, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emel Sarı Gökten warns families about the situations that prevent children's success.
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Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Hospital Child - Adolescent Psychiatry Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emel Sarı Gökten made important evaluations about the situations that negatively affect academic success in children.
Support your child in this process "without beating"
"Academic success has a very important place in today's society as it determines the quality of children's future lives. However, not all of our children can be academically successful," said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emel Sarı Gökten,
"In these cases, we should support academic success as much as we can and without harassing the child, but we should also provide more support for the child to develop in areas where the child is talented and strong. In this way, the child will not be traumatized, his/her self-confidence will improve, and he/she will have a job and hobbies that will positively affect his/her quality of life in the future."
What are the conditions affecting children's academic success?
Noting that there may be many reasons affecting children's academic success, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emel Sarı Gökten listed the conditions that affect success as follows:
"Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder: At first glance, families may react as 'My child is not that active, but he/she is very distracted'. The point to keep in mind here is that not all children with this diagnosis need to be very active. Many distracted children are not overly active, there are many children who are complained of talking too much instead of being active. For example, these are children who talk during class and have difficulty calming themselves down despite repeated warnings from their teachers. One of the most important causes of academic failure is attention deficit. Often the parents of these children say, 'We think his perception is clear, but he can't concentrate on the lesson or reading'. However, attention deficit is actually a problem that can be prevented and the academic success of the child can be kept at a good point, that is, there is a treatment and the child can reach a better level of academic success. The first line treatment option for attention deficit is medication. Medications are not substances to be feared or harmful to the child, as is popularly said. Although they have side effects like any other medication, there is no need to be afraid as long as they are started by a specialist and followed up at regular intervals.
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Specific Learning Disorder: Although some children are normal or above normal in terms of intelligence, their school success disappoints their parents. Because when their children, whom they did not see a significant difference compared to their peers when they were growing up, start school, it is always later and more difficult for them to learn letters, learn to read and start reading fluently than their peers. These children confuse some letters, write them upside down, read words incompletely or incorrectly. Many of them have difficulties in learning simple arithmetic operations. This condition, which has subcategories such as dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia, often negatively affects the academic success of the child. In addition to school education, these children should receive one-to-one special education in their areas of weakness.
Mental retardation: Another important cause of academic failure is mental retardation. Children with mental retardation show delays in many developmental stages from the first years of life. They have difficulties in overcoming important milestones in motor functions such as crawling and walking and in cognitive areas such as starting to speak and learning. Parents often notice that their children are behind their peers in certain areas from an early age. During the school years, these children need to be supported with special education. In fact, many families recognize the problem even before they start school, so special education starts at a much earlier age.
Anxiety disorders: Some children tend to be very emotionally anxious even though they have a normal learning speed and ability. Sometimes this increases so much that the child is unable to control the anxiety. In this case, the child's school success is negatively affected. An anxious child has difficulty concentrating on his/her studies and feels like something bad is going to happen at any moment. Anxiety impairs sleep quality, and it may be difficult to fall asleep. The daytime school functioning of a child who does not get enough quality sleep is also negatively affected. Anxiety disorder is a psychiatric illness and must be treated. Appropriately treated children's anxiety subsides and their academic functioning improves.
Obsessive disorder: Although obsessive disorder is more commonly known as an adult disorder, it can also occur in childhood. The child struggles with thoughts and fantasies that come to his/her mind against his/her will and disturb him/her. To get rid of these thoughts and fantasies, the child finds unique methods, such as checking more, counting meaningless numbers, repeating a word five times in his/her mind. But these methods do not solve the problem; on the contrary, they exacerbate the disorder. Most children with obsessive disorders experience a decline in academic achievement. In order to prevent damage to academic success and to return the child to a healthy and functional state, the disorder must be treated."
Pay attention to whether your child has a physical health problem
Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Hospital Child - Adolescent Psychiatry Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emel Sarı Gökten concluded her words as follows:
"These are the psychiatric conditions that cause low academic achievement. However, before all these reasons, it is necessary to consider whether there is an eye defect, hearing problem or other organic problem that may cause children to fail. If the academic achievement of an organically healthy child is low, then we need to review the reasons mentioned above."
