What supplies or tools can be helpful for students' with learning differences?
Back to school is here and prepping kids for the transition can be quite a challenge. There are always standard supplies but I would like to share additional tools that I find helpful across grade levels.
For Organization/Time Management/Focus:
1. Accordion Binder
I highly recommend that students use an accordion binder that is color coded for each subject. This file folder should ONLY include current homework, or assignments that need to be turned in. All other work can be safely filed away or put in their binder.
2. Visual Timer:
Some kids always want to "see" how much time is left, or how much longer they need to work on something. This little gadget is a great way for them to set timers for themselves for a task and can help keep them going.
3. Visual Board
Having a spot in the house, whether it's the living room, kitchen or bedroom is a great way for kids to keep track of assignments and/or tasks. I have one I use for us as a family, but an individual one can also be placed in your child's room. It does require updating so it's important to provide reminders.
4. Wobble Seat
Kids can get squirmy and it's hard to always sit still. These are often used in classrooms but are also great to have at home.
For Reading:
5. Highlighters
This may seem pretty obvious but highlighters are an excellent tool. Students should be taught how to use them for annotating and building reading comprehension skills.
6. Reading Rulers
These are great for helping students with tracking when reading. Kids love using these and it prevents them from getting overwhelmed by all the text on the page.
7. Post It Flags
,These bright colored post its' can be used for flagging pages when reading a novel, and when color coding notes.
For Writing:
8. Slant board
If you have a child with dysgraphia they often complain of fatigue from writing. This is a great tool to relieve some of the pressure by stabilizing the wrist.
9. Dry Erase Boards
These are always a hit, whether it's for doing math problems or using it to brainstorm ideas. Even in the classroom I found that kids felt more comfortable working out problems on the white board than with pencil and paper.
10. Triangle pencils
An excellent product which promotes better pencil grip and eliminates how hard students press down on the paper.
11. Specialized notebook paper
Do you find your child still struggles with spacing? This helps students maintain spacing between letters and words, and can even be used for math!
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