When Homework Troubles Indicate It’s Time for Cognitive and Psychological Testing

If you’re the parent of a child who attends school — either in-person or virtually — you’re probably already used to the flurry of activities that they go through every day. There are new friends whose names you need to remember, appointments with teachers, and of course, there’s all of the homework that needs to be done.

When it comes to homework time with your kids, it can be either incredibly rewarding or incredibly frustrating. You feel rewarded when you’re sitting and figuring something out with your child, and then you finally understand a concept or problem that they’re working on.

But then there come the times when you can feel frustrated because your child feels frustrated as well. These are the times when it seems that they have difficulty paying attention. Sometimes even just starting homework seems impossible.

Why Is Homework So Hard?

If you feel like your child gets frustrated with his homework or schoolwork often and you wonder why, two common disorders might be contributing: The first is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD. The second is a learning disability.

ADHD and Homework

Signs of ADHD in a child may include difficulty sitting still, getting started, staying organized, or sustaining their focus/attention for extended periods of time. They might have significant difficulty engaging in doing their homework, or start it only to abandoned it midway.

Learning Disorders and Homework

A learning disorder, on the other hand, is usually focused on a single area rather than everything at once. Your child may have difficulty in one specific area of academics, even though they are good at other areas. For example, your child does well in math but at the same time struggles with reading words. Or it can be that your child can read well but specifically has problems with spelling the words or writing them.

If you think your child has any of these symptoms and has difficulty in school and with homework there are easy methods to find out what exactly they’re having problems with. Sometimes ADHD is the cause; sometimes learning disorders are the cause. And sometimes a child has both ADHD and a learning disorder.

The Role of Cognitive Assessments and Psychological Tests

At Next Step, we are equipped to give you helpful cognitive assessments and reliable psychological tests to identify your child’s strengths, weaknesses, and growth areas. These psychological tests are designed especially for children, and can give a complete picture of their learning processes and intellectual and academic functioning.

Such tests can provide extremely useful information that can help guide teachers and parents in their work with children, serve as a guide for interventions and needed accommodations, and greatly increase your child’s chances for success in life.

Remember, you can learn more with your children when you learn more about them.

If you would like to book an appointment for cognitive assessment and/or psychological testing with one of our professionals, give us a call at 502-907-5908 or fill out this form.