Dear Loved Ones,
Good news! Better times are coming!
Just like the natural downswing that happens in the third month, there's a miraculous reawakening in the fourth month.
There are some tricks we can use to encourage that spark back to life. We basically set them up and get out of their way. "Get ready to be amazed."
Just when hope is almost lost, a spark of motivation appears. What is happening here? Either summer plans are being discussed (spring) or holiday decoration are appearing (fall). All signs that the end of semester is near. Your student will show signs of progress, but not quite to full capacity yet. Just as the newness of the early semester brought focus, so does the last minute push at the end of the semester.
The End of Semester Push phase, supercharges their brain networks. Suddenly three weeks of work are done in three hours. The closer to the end of the semester they get, the easier the work seems. It leaves us all puzzled as to why they couldn’t just do that in the first place.
What To Expect
Expect the end of semester bounce back to be amazing and celebrate it. Just as the strong start left you glowing with pride, the end of semester push will also amaze you. It’s really when the magic happens.
Expect that you will get better with every semester, and so will they. Effectively supporting struggling students starts with expecting the expected, then planning the strategies to catch them before the challenges surface. We can do this.
What Can We Do?
School work has been either not getting home, not getting finish, not getting done correctly, not getting....well, I could go on. Our students have to successfully achieve ten separate, executive function based, steps to get an assignment completed and submitted. That's a lot of opportunity for mistakes.
Tapping into the ever existing drive towards independence is the secret to success here. We will use that strong will to propel progress. Our struggling students will have opportunity to earn their way towards greater independence. It's a win/win for all of us.
Accessing (and using) their interest based nervous system, we will get strategic with incentives. Incentives are a powerful strategy.... if you do it effectively. We will tap into the most effective types of incentives: earned, collected, achieved, or won.
