Failing Doesn't Make You A Failure

How To Support Your Child At School When The Going Gets Tough.

- Caitlin Geng

Seeing your child fail at school can be heart-breaking, whether they’re in primary or high school. We tend to experience our children’s setbacks as if they were our own, which sometimes leaves us in a confusion of emotions: why didn’t they work harder or take school more seriously? But failing at school can be indicative of a number of issues, and it’s important to find out what they are so you can provide your child with the right support to get them back on track.

Educational psychologist Claudia Abelheim says problems achieving at school can be attributed to many different reasons, with the kid’s age and where they are in their school career playing an important role.

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‘At this age it’s important to establish why the child is failing – whether it’s an emotional issue or an actual cognitive difficulty that’s preventing the child from performing at his best,’ says Claudia. She suggests taking them for a psycho-educational assessment by an educational psychologist to find out what’s going on and how to offer the best support at this stage of their schooling. ‘If it’s a cognitive difficulty, the assessment will be able to give more specific detail into what the challenges are,’ says Claudia. ‘It will also pick up whether there are underlying emotional or psychological issues interfering with the child’s schoolwork.’