Time for Help: When Does Your Child Need a Tutor?

You want your child to be the best that he can be. As such, you readily provide him with everything that he needs. But despite all of these, you notice a marked dip in your kid’s performance at school.

Like most problems, school-related issues do not come out of a vacuum. In most instances, there are signs that your child is struggling. And as a parent, you should be able to identify when your child needs help with his schoolwork.

But what are these signs that you should watch out for or the situations that you need to pay close attention to?

1. Low grades

Whether the dip in school performance came suddenly or gradually, low grades can be a cause for serious concern and merits your immediate attention.

When this happens, the best person to speak to would be your child’s teachers. Because they deal with your child on an almost daily basis, they are in the right position to tell you about the potential causes for his low grades.

Sometimes, children lag behind in just one subject, like math. Other kids have trouble with their ability to focus, which adversely affects their performance in the classroom.

Knowing the potential causes of your kid’s poor grades is a vital step toward taking the proper action.

2. Poor time management

Some kids are notorious for putting off the performance of their assigned tasks until the last minute.

However, children who have chronic procrastination issues usually face a more significant problem. That larger problem can be related to time management, struggles with a specific subject, or even learning disabilities.

3. Confusion

Confusion can arise either because the concepts taught inside the classroom are difficult for your child to grasp, or simply because he does not want to put in the hard work needed to understand these.

If your child always expresses his anxieties about upcoming exams, calling a professional for help will allow him to keep pace with his classmates.

4. Lack of confidence

When more challenging concepts are introduced in class, it is normal for students to feel some lack of confidence.

But if your child says that she can’t keep up with his classmates or always gets stumped by a particular subject, a tutor can prop up his confidence and approach new topics with a measure of readiness to rise up to the challenge.

5. Learning disorders

Compared to their peers, children who have been diagnosed with learning disabilities like ADHD, visual processing, or dyslexia need to work doubly hard just to keep pace.

With the help of tutors specializing in children with learning disabilities, your child can tackle schoolwork with greater ease.

Benefits of Hiring a Tutor

When you discover that your child is struggling in school, your initial response might be to step in and assist him in his schoolwork.

That may not always be the best response. For starters, between work and home, you might have too much on your plate. And as your child progresses in school, more time is needed to perform and complete tasks.

Second, you may no longer be familiar with the concepts taught in school. In some instances, you might also be unfamiliar with the new methods used in instruction.

This is where a specialist, like a math tutor, can come in and help.

Apart from improving a child’s academic performance, tutoring offers a few advantages for students and their parents;

  • Tailored learning experience

Sometimes, teachers cannot meet all the learning requirements of their young wards simply because of the sheer number of students in their classes.

Through tutoring, your child can get a learning experience customized to suit his needs. Plus, your kid can get the undivided attention he needs to overcome the challenges he faces in the classroom.

A tutor can also provide bored children the stimulation their curious minds need.

  • New habits and attitudes

By working with a tutor, your child acquires and develops new study habits, which can serve as a foundation for future academic success.

And with new habits in place, your child can become more skillful in approaching school tasks while taking into account his other activities and his learning pace.

Although it may sound counterintuitive, students who have been guided by tutors develop into responsible and independent learners.

  • Improved confidence

Confidence comes from doing. When your child overcomes the stumbling blocks he faces, he becomes more confident in his abilities, which cascades to different facets of his life, both in and out of the classroom.

This newly acquired confidence can also prove to be invaluable as your child progresses in school, and can prepare him for life as a college student.

STEM seasonal camps and tutors offer great opportunities for boosting your kid’s in-school learning. However, when your child is struggling, the essential thing that you need to do first is to determine the root of the problem. That is the only way you can find the best solution to help him.

AUTHOR BIO

Maloy Burman is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Premier Genie FZ LLC. He is responsible for driving Premier Genie into a leadership position in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education space in Asia, Middle East and Africa and building a solid brand value. Premier Genie is currently running 5 centers in Dubai and 5 centers in India with a goal to multiply that over the next 5 years.