HomeschoolOT

“When Your Child Is Struggling, Look for Patterns Before Solutions,” by Sarah Collins, Homeschool OT

When something is hard for our kids, we naturally want to fix it. If handwriting is messy, we practice handwriting. If shoe tying is hard, we practice tying shoes. Sometimes that is exactly what a child needs. But as an occupational therapist and homeschool mom, I’ve learned to ask another question: Where else am I seeing this? One Hard Thing Doesn’t Tell Us the Whole Story.

Let’s say handwriting has become a struggle. Your child complains that writing takes too long. They lean across the table, constantly reposition themselves, or avoid assignments that require writing. Now zoom out. Is tying shoes also difficult? Do they avoid buttons and zippers? Is using a knife and fork together awkward? Do they avoid climbing or activities that require both sides of the body to work together?

That doesn’t mean all of those challenges have the same cause. And it certainly doesn’t mean we should diagnose our children based on our observations. It simply means we have a pattern worth getting curious about.

Homeschooling Gives Us a Unique View

One advantage of homeschooling is that we see our children across their entire day.

We see them writing and doing math, but we also …

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