It’s so easy for those who evaluate us and our kids (like teachers, bosses, specialist staff) to focus on what needs ‘fixing’. There is a narrow definition of normal these days.

But, there’s also a whole movement focusing on what you are great at, or your strengths. There’s some psychologists who would say that focusing on and building your strengths should be everyone’s goal.

So what does that mean if your child has a learning difficulty and they are constantly faced with challenges? A whole lot of heartache for your and your family.

If all kids need to be focusing on their strengths to build their confidence and their understanding of themselves, then for kids with learning difficulties, this is especially so.

But, if your kid is anything like mine, convincing them they have abilities is not easy.

Basically, you need to:

• Identify your child’s strengths
• Talk about what strengths there are generally so kids develop a positive filter and learn to recognize strengths themselves.
• Talk about your kids specific strengths. How you have noticed they have done well.

 

There are some resources to help though:

• Headstrong Nation has a great strengths assessment for free.
• For a cost, there’s some strengths cards for kids.
• Understood has a checklist of strengths.
• For adults, the VIA is the main assessment, and you can modify the website for dyslexia and other issues – yay!
• The Gallup Institute has the StrengthsExplorer for children aged 10-14 and the StrengthsQuest for children aged 15-25.

So there’s a start. If you have found any good resources for identifying and talking about strengths, feel free to add it below.