When a student is struggling with academic difficulties, what is the best way to overcome these difficulties? The first thing a parent wants to know is why her son or daughter is struggling with academic difficulties to begin with. Is there a troubling pattern or trend?
There are numerous reasons why a student may struggle academically. Some are obvious, such as mental retardation. Some are not so obvious, such as depression. Sometimes academic struggles are symptoms of a larger problem; sometimes they are not. Academic struggles can be mostly grouped into short-term and long-term causes, although some causes, such as depression, can fit into either category. In addition, academic struggles can be grouped by whether their origin is academic or non-academic. Several common reasons for academic struggles, stratified (divided) by time period and source type, are listed below. (See Table 1.)
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| Causes of Long-Term Academic Difficulties | Causes of Short-Term Academic Difficulties |
| Academic Causes | Academic Causes |
| Poor academic foundation | Communication issues with Teacher |
| Poor study habits | New and difficult subject matter |
| Learning disabilities | Too heavy of an academic workload |
| Low Intelligence Quotient (IQ) | |
| Lack of specific subject matter interest | |
| Frustration with some subject matter | |
| Poor learning environment | |
| Non-Academic Causes | Non-Academic Causes |
| Depression | Depression |
| Drug/alcohol addiction | Drug/alcohol addiction |
| Too many distractions | Too many outside activities |
| Lack of resources | Lack of resources |
| Poor time management | Being spread too thin |
| Chronic illness | Acute illness or injury |
| Working too much | Working too much |
| Lack of motivation/initiative | Low motivation |
| Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) | New romantic relationships |
| Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) | |
| Poor organization | |
| Taking opportunities for granted | |
| Poor work ethic | |
| Lack of discipline | |
| Bad friends |
The solutions for short and long term academic difficulties are as diverse as their causes. It is important to correctly identify the cause of the difficulty before contemplating a solution. To do so may require the parent to have heart-to-heart discussions with the student, to analyze their behavior, to conduct parent-teacher conferences, to consult medical professionals, or to conduct testing through qualified testing professional. Once the parent correctly identifies the cause of the academic difficulty, then a plan of action for solving the difficulties can be implemented. Common causes and solutions for both long-term and short-term academic difficulties are listed below. (See Table 2.)
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| Causes of Long-Term Academic Difficulties | Solutions for Long-Term Academic Problems |
| Academic Causes of Long-Term Academic Difficulties | Solutions for Academic Causes of Long-Term Academic Difficulties |
| Poor academic foundation | Spend time with teacher brushing up, or consult with a qualified academic tutor. |
| Poor study habits-not knowing how to study effectively. | Academic tutoring to learn effective study techniques. |
| Poor study habits- knowing how to study but not doing it on a regular basis. | Use progressive carrots and sticks. |
| Learning disabilities | Get student tested by a qualified behavioral psychologist, psychiatrist, school counselor or other qualified personnel. Specific measures will depend on the nature of the disability. May require drug intervention, therapy such as would be conducted by a speech therapist, developmental psychologist, or other therapist. Keep in mind that special needs children still have a guaranteed right to education, and may be eligible for extra aid under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and other protections offered at the state and local level. Public schools generally are allocated funding for special education and/or special needs children. Borderline cases may benefit from traditional academic tutoring. |
| Low Intelligence Quotient (IQ) | While every student can improve their academic performance, not every student has the brainpower to become a physician, scientist or a university professor. Parents need to be realistic about goals to be attained when dealing with a given student, or taper goals to realistic expectations. If you are not sure about your student’s capabilities, have them tested by qualified personnel. |
| Lack of specific subject matter interest | People are frequently drawn to some subjects more than others. But much of “not liking a subject” is about struggling with a subject. Academic tutoring by a qualified tutor can make a tough subject easier to digest. |
| Frustration with some subject matter | Get help, from teachers, study partners, or a qualified academic tutor. |
| Poor learning environment | Consider changing the learning environment. This may mean changing schools, changing teachers, changing the type of school, changing tutors, getting a tutor, changing majors, reorganizing a study room, eliminating distracters, or doing whatever else might be needed to improve the learning environment. |
| Non-Academic Causes of Long-Term Academic Difficulties | Solutions for Non-Academic Causes of Long-Term Academic Difficulties |
| Poor work ethic | Use carrots and sticks to encourage a better work ethic. |
| Lack of discipline | Determine whether poor discipline is due to a lack of knowing how to study, or a lack of willingness to maintain good study discipline. If the cause is lack of knowledge on how to study, get professional help from a qualified tutor who can help with study skills. If due to a lack of willingness to adopt good study habits, use a progressive system of carrots and sticks to encourage appropriate study discipline. |
| Too many distractions | Consider possible distracters your student is facing. Consider TV, boys/girls, computer use, internet, instant messaging, music or video websites, and the like. If you are not sure what the distraction is, ask your student what is distracting them, or if you are not sure, ask them to write a time diary for how they are spending their time, and periodically spot check them to ensure accuracy. A qualified academic tutor, or a developmental psychologist, may help to be able to determine what the distracter is. Put the distractions in a metaphorical, virtual “box,” until the student has completed his work. Take some time to evaluate distractions that your student may be encountering. If you are not sure, look at some of the common distracters listed above. |
| Poor time management | Get the student a calendar to place all assignments in. Have him break down his day into 30 minute blocks. Check in frequently with the student’s teachers to ensure the student is on track. Limit fun activities until work is complete. If unsuccessful, consider hiring a time management consultant or academic tutor. |
| Poor organization | Examine your student’s binders, notebooks, and workbooks to ensure that he is keeping his work organized. Limit fun activities until work gets and remains organized. Hire an organizational consultant or a qualified academic tutor. |
| Lack of resources | Does your student have all the resources he needs to be successful? Look at your student’s syllabi at the beginning of the semester and ensure that he has all required materials. |
| Depression | Counseling and/or drug intervention. Try to identify causes of depression, if occurring due to an outside cause |
| Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) | Mild Cases: Limit and compartmentalize distractions. Separate “fun time” from “work time.” Avoid video games. Learn an instrument or play a sport, especially sports for ADD boys.
Severe cases: Drug therapy. |
| Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) | Mild cases: Channel excess energy into productive activities.
Severe cases: drug therapy. |
| Chronic illness/disability | Consider getting assistance through the Americans with Disabilities Act. This may entitle your student to extended testing time and other aids to his academic success. |
| Lack of motivation/initiative | Use progressive carrots and sticks. Have student evaluated for depression. |
| Taking opportunities for granted | Have student start paying rent and get any kind of job, even a “McJob.” Working, whether in school or for income, is a necessity in life. The sooner your student learns that, the better. The military is also an excellent option for parents to consider. |
| Working too much | Reduce work hours, if possible. If not possible, look to reduce extracurriculars or class load, or improve time management. |
| Drug or alcohol addiction | Consider enrolling your student in AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) or NA (Narcotics Anonymous). Get information on a possible intervention. |
| Bad friends | “We are no better than the company we keep.” If a student is surrounded by bad friends, he will act as they do. Consider banning or limiting bad influences. |
| Causes of Short-Term Academic Difficulties | Solutions for Short-Term Academic Problems |
| Academic Causes | |
| Communication issues with Teacher | Academic tutoring. Also consider setting up parent-teacher conferences to assess communication problems. |
| Difficult subject matter | Spend extra time with teacher. If this does not help, consider academic tutoring. |
| Too heavy of an academic workload | If possible, reduce class load, extracurricular activities, employment, and/or social activities. Work on effective time management and organization. |
| Non-Academic Causes | |
| Depression | Counseling and/or drug therapy. |
| Too many outside activities/being spread too thin | Reduce outside activities until the workload becomes manageable. |
| New social obligations/activities interfering with academics. | Discuss ways to balance school and social life. Reduce social activities until academics are under control. Tie in “fun” time with meeting academic benchmarks. |
| New romantic relationships | Condition time spent with boyfriend/girlfriend on meeting academic responsibilities. |
| Acute illness or injury | Deal with the primary illness or injury. Communicate with teachers to keep them apprised of the situation and to help keep track of missed work. You will be surprised at how many fair-minded teachers there are out there, so long as you communicate with them. |
| Working too much | Reduce work hours, or if that is not possible, reduce academic load to a manageable level. |
| Low motivation | Use carrots and sticks to increase motivation. Try to determine if there is another underlying cause such as depression. |
| Drug or alcohol addiction | Consider enrolling your student in AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) or NA (Narcotics Anonymous). Get information on a possible intervention. |
So, to reiterate what we’ve established so far, it is important for the parent to try to figure out the cause of the academic difficulties, and to assess whether the causes are more short term or long term based. A relevant question is whether there is sudden change, or if the process seems to be part of a long-term process. As stated above, it is also helpful to know that academic problems can have their root in academics, such as having a hard teacher or class, but also in problems not based on academics, such as trying to do too much simultaneously.
If the cause of the student’s problem is academic in nature, a good place to start is with the student’s teacher. The student should take advantage of any opportunities the teacher offers to get extra help. The student should determine what areas of difficulty he/she is having, and bring specific questions to the teacher or professor during office hours. Questions should not be formulated along the lines of, “I don’t get it,” but should be specific and relevant. Frequently, professors or teachers are happy to meet students even outside of office hours, by appointment. Since most teachers write their own exams and quizzes, and write the guidelines for projects and lab assignments, they are probably the single best resource for a student struggling in a given teacher’s class.
However, sometimes it is the characteristics of the teacher himself that may be causing the problem. For example, the teacher may have a heavy accent that makes it difficult for the student to understand him. Or the student may have trouble understanding the content being communicated by the way it is communicated. For example, some teachers go off on long tangents that make it difficult for the student to understand what is important from the discussion. Further, some professors may speak in such a dry and monotone voice that everyone tends to fall asleep in their lecture, or “zone out.” When such communication issues exist between the student and the teacher, it may not be helpful to seek out assistance from the teacher when the teacher’s style is to blame him for causing the student to need extra help to begin with. So what to do then?
One option is to seek out the assistance of a study partner or a study group. Sometimes the combination of minds working together can attain a greater understanding than one student working alone. Sometimes having a sounding board in the form of a study group or study partner is all one needs to help lift the fog of lack of understanding. Sometimes shares misery is enough for a good laugh and maybe all that is needed to keep one motivated enough to suffer through a tough course or professor.
If the study partner or study group option does not work out, another possibility to consider is whether the school has free peer or faculty tutoring available. In addition, students may want to consider getting tested for learning disabilities, such as ADD or ADHD, which may qualify students for free tutoring through the school’s disability support services. Sometimes, employers or the VA benefits office offer tuition assistance or complete financial reimbursement for tutoring services. So, if you can get free tutoring services, or get someone else to pay for it, that obviously may be something to consider.
However, sometimes all options have been explored or tried to no avail. At that point, consider hiring a qualified academic tutor or tutoring firm. There are certain factors one should consider when determining to hire. One factor is tutor value, which measures educational benefit per dollar spent. No one wants a tutor who only charges $5.00/hr. but is unfamiliar with the subject matter, and most students do not want to spend $500/hr. for tutoring services, even from a Nobel Prize winner. Of course, the ideal is an individual who is well-qualified but still reasonably priced. Next, tutoring services should be convenient. You shouldn’t have to drive 40 or 50 miles at the busiest time of the day for tutoring services. Ideally, you shouldn’t have to drive at all. Third, you want tutoring services to be delivered in manner that it professional. Professionals show up on time, conduct themselves with propriety, don’t cancel appointments arbitrarily, are well prepared, organized, have a plan and method of attacking the subject matter, and do their job in a fine workman-like manner. Fourth, the tutor should be academically qualified for the subject they are tutoring. Academic qualification does not necessarily mean that the tutor has a bunch of letters behind his name, although of course having such letters may be evidence of academic qualification. . Instead, it means that the tutor has a firm grasp on the subject matter in question. Fifth, the tutor should be a good communicator. This means that the tutor can explain the material in a way that is easy for the student to understand. Some people are smart but are unable to communicate effectively; these are not effective tutors, even if they are academically qualified. Finally, the tutor or tutoring firm should adhere to the highest standards of business ethics; “bait-and-switch” schemes do not qualify as meeting the highest standards of business ethics. These factors can be summarized as follows:
- Value
- Convenience
- Professionalism
- Qualifications
- Communication
- Ethics
Logos Tutoring sets these six criteria as its goals. Logos Tutoring offers great tutoring value conveniently located at your home or work, by a qualified professional, skilled in the art of communicating with students, delivered according to the highest standards of business ethics. In fact, we are so confident that you will be satisfied with Logos Tutoring’s delivery of tutoring services that we offer a Money-Back Satisfaction Guarantee for all of our tutoring services. Additionally, Tutoring Enterprises℠ is a member of Houston Better Business Bureau and ascribes to all of its standards and policies, and has agreed to mediate any customer disputes through the BBB, but as of this writing, we have never had to use this service, because we treat our customers right.
So if you decide that academic tutoring is right for you, make sure that you hire a firm such as Logos Tutoring which attains the six goals of value, convenience, professionalism, qualifications, communication and ethics.
If you determine that another route makes better sense for helping your student overcome his academic difficulties, such as pharmacological (drug) therapy for depression, we strongly encourage you to translate knowledge into action and get your student the treatment he needs. Lastly, we hope that you have found this guide provided by Logos Tutoring to help your student overcome academic difficulties useful. Email your comments to info@tutoringenterprises.com.