Your child may be having SLD (Specific Learning Disorder).
If you observe any of the following for more than six months despite targeted help, reach out to a psychiatrist.
1) Inaccurate, effortful and slow reading
2) Hesitance, reluctance, and resistance to reading
3) Making guesses on the bases of first letters on reading
4) Sound out familiar words but has difficulty constructing sound out of its components
What would a psychiatrist do?
The first thing a psychiatrist would suggest is an IQ (Intelligent Quotient) Test - it will show a discrepancy between intellectual and academic achievements
How will the psychiatrist help you?
- Carry out psychoeducation: refers to the process of providing education and information to people diagnosed with mental health conditions (like children diagnosed with SLD) and to their family members
- Manage and evaluate ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), anxiety and depression
- Targeted Intervention in the form of:
1) Basic Reading Ability Programme (teaching phoneme to grapheme correspondence)
2) Metacognitive Strategies for decoding unfamiliar words and comprehend connected text
Remember it is important that you recognize early and intervene as it may not only cause direct academic problems but may affect self-esteem and be a reason for mental health problems like anxiety, low self-esteem and depression.