Strategies to Support Your Neurodivergent Child with Academics This School Year

Supporting your child with homework can be a big challenge. Tensions can run high, which in turn can lead to a negative learning experience for your child and, not to mention, yourself. This can be especially difficult when you have a child who is behind academically, as there is an added pressure for them to catch up. If you are looking for ideas on how to better support your child’s academic success across learning environments, consider the strategies below.

Foster a supportive learning environment at home

Create a routine around homework: Consistency is key in building habits and routines as it lends to predictability and stability. Set the expectation that homework is completed at the same time every day in the same space, so that your child understands the expectation and, over time, can begin to initiate the routine on their own.

Consider the environment: Set a space for learning. This space should be quiet, away from distractions like the TV or other individuals in the household who are engaging in tasks outside of homework. You may also consider providing your child with noise-cancelling headphones to help them access quiet if you have a busier household. Also, take note of the lighting, aiming to set the learning space in a room with natural light. Exposure to natural light helps regulate circadian rhythms as well as increases serotonin production in the brain (a natural stress reducer!).

Consider sensory needs: If your child benefits from movement while they learn, is there alternative seating available, like a wiggle seat or rocking chair? Perhaps having a band on the chair for bouncing feet, or small handheld fidgets may promote focus for your child. At the onset, set boundaries around the usage of these items. Be clear that these items are to support learning, and if they are being used for play, other items may be considered as a more effective learning tool. Consider if your child is hungry or thirsty. If so, offer a snack and drink with homework to increase focus. Perhaps they have a favourite snack or drink that they access during homework time to make it feel less daunting (though be cautious on the sugar content, as we know this can affect concentration!)

Provide genuine praise: When you notice your child actively engaged in their homework, or that they have completed a task, provide them with authentic and descriptive praise. For example, “You completed your first task. You are so focused right now! That’s amazing!” Here, you are telling your child exactly what they are doing well and what to continue doing more of in the future.

Use a strength-based approach: Consider your wording when you are explaining concepts to your child. If your child is making errors, rather than saying something like, “not like that,” try saying, “I wonder what will happen if we try it this way.” Framing the helping statement in this way brings a sense of curiosity and collaboration, which helps to sustain motivation to continue trying even when things are tough. If your child often makes statements like, “I’m bad at this” or “just don’t get it”, empathize with them but highlight what they are good at. For example, “I hear that you’re frustrated and feeling down about this exercise. But I’ve noticed that even though this is hard, you keep trying, and that persistence is key to learning! So, I’m confident that you’ll get this soon!”

Model co-regulation: Homework time can get tense, especially when there are learning challenges. Show your child what it looks like to stay calm in frustrating situations by using simple self-talk like, “I feel frustrated with this task, I’m going to take a deep breath”. Keep your voice steady, soft and predictable while supporting your child as best as you can. If tensions rise along with your voices, model a return to calm. For example, “Things got tense here, let’s reset by counting to 5 and together try again.”

Tips to Increase Executive Functioning Skills

Break down tasks: Tackling a large project, assignment or a grouping of tasks can be overwhelming. Your child may not even know where to start with planning their time. At the onset of homework time, sit with your child and help them come up with a plan to break down the tasks. Help them to identify the big task, then divide it into clear, short actions. For earlier learners this might look like giving them one instruction at a time to help with processing. This is an important exercise as you are modelling the skill to your child. Initially, you may show them how to break the tasks down by saying something like, “ May I show you how I would plan this out?” or “Would you like me to demonstrate how to break this down?”

Include them in the process by asking to be a part of it, rather than telling them. This will help foster a sense of collaboration, instead of making them feel like they are doing something wrong or are just “not good at this”. After a little while, encourage them to be part of the process. Invite them to bring their ideas to the table. For example, “Last week, I showed you some examples of how I’d break this task down. Do you have ideas on where you want to start today?” Slowly fade out your support as you see success with this skill increase. The goal is for your child to independently succeed in managing their own plan to tackle their work. Keep reading the next section for how to support breaking down tasks.

Use visual aids: Set a timer to support focus on the task. Having a set time may help your child to prioritize the task at hand without their mind wandering to what else they’d like to be doing because they know when that will happen. A visual schedule may also be helpful in supporting your child to manage their time while they complete their homework. This can be written on a whiteboard or a piece of paper for children who are able to read, and for those who do not yet have this skill, a picture schedule can be used. With your child, help them to decide the order in which they will complete their tasks. Including them in the process will help gain their buy-in and, in turn, their motivation to sustain attention to the task. Consider your child’s motivation and attentiveness when scheduling their time.

Would it be best to schedule the easiest things first to build up momentum to the harder tasks? Or would they do better with getting the tough task out of the way when their attention is best and then move to the easier tasks as their focus wanes? Encourage them to cross off the items on the list they complete or move the item to an “all done” section to promote motivation with task completion.

Organization is key! Ensure all the items your child needs to complete homework are available. Perhaps there is a dedicated area where this is kept, and the expectation is for your child to retrieve it as part of their homework routine. Or, if it is a struggle to get your child to the homework table, you may find it easiest to have these materials readily available on the table for homework time, so they simply have to plop themselves down in the chair. Your child may find it helpful to have dedicated binders for each subject that are clearly labelled. Or, if keeping track of multiple binders is a challenge, perhaps a better option is one large binder with clearly labelled dividers for each subject.

Advocate Actively

Communicate openly: Maintain open lines of communication with your child’s school team. Indicate to them how often you would like updates, as well as what kind of updates you would like. Keep these expectations realistic, for example, once every week or two, as it is important to be mindful of their time and need to support all of their students.

Attend IEP meetings: Meet with your child’s teachers to learn about the supports available to your child. Understanding the resources available helps you to understand how your child is being supported in the classroom. Additionally, having conversations with teachers about what is helpful for your child in the classroom helps you to be consistent with the same strategies at home when it comes to homework time. If you currently receive behaviour analytic services, the Registered Behaviour Analyst on your child’s care team can be available to support IEP goals and meet with your child’s school team.

Seek External Support

Consider behavioural or academic support from a Registered Behaviour Analyst: ACT Learning Centre provides intensive academic support through Direct Instruction programming both individually and in a group setting. ACT is currently accepting registrations for our Small Group Academic Support program.

This group program provides structured, evidence-based support in reading, math and writing for neurodivergent learners in a supportive and strengths-based learning environment. This group is designed for students performing at approximately grade 1–5 levels in reading, math or writing, regardless of their chronological age.

Each weekly session is 3 hours, divided into three 1-hour blocks: Reading Mastery, Connecting Math Concepts, and Spelling Mastery OR Expressive Writing. Families may register for the whole session or select the block(s) in which their child needs the most support.

If you are interested in learning more about ACT Learning Centre’s Small Group Academic Support program or to register, please click here.

Written by: Lauren McKercher-Halkai, R.B.A