We get plenty of e-mails here at HappyChild about Accelerated Learning and many of them are about parents' concerns for their children and their ability to learn. Here is a typical example from one of our visitors:

"I'm worried about my 5 year old daughter, and I don't know if I'm simply being neurotic (and potentially damaging)."

As I am neither a child psychologist nor a parent (although I have done a tremendous amount of work with young people and children) I am not in a position to offer any specialist advice in these areas particularly in respect to individual cases or circumstances. What I am able to provide are some general (and hopefully reassuring) thoughts and suggestions for parents like the one who sent me this e-mail.

The first thing that I suggest that this concerned parent do is to speak to her daughter's teacher. Let's face it, these people have a vast amount of experience with children of that age and will be able to give a very good indication of how normal her daughter is. Of course what is "normal" to one teacher may well be very different to another educator's understanding of that term but in general, teachers will be able to provide reassurance. If you are unhappy with any assessment that you are given, always get a second or even third very independent opinion but only if you doubt what you are told, not because you do not like what you are hearing. Bear in mind that children do develop at very different rates and some may not bloom until their teens.

Comparison with other children and even with the parent's own performance at that age is potentially very damaging particularly when it is against specific skills that others or themselves may have excelled in. The logical-mathematical and linguistic emphasis of education prevalent when those who are old enough to be parents were at school is beginning to shift in light of research by a number of notable authorities on the issue of Multiple Intelligences (see the Amazing Brain fact, "Multiple Intelligences).

This knowledge has been around for several decades now but is only beginning to be integrated on a large scale in the more progressive schools and educational establishments. If this little girl is not performing as well as the parents expect in one or two of the intelligences, then it is highly likely that her strengths lie elsewhere although it is just as likely that parental expectations may be a little too high. I suggest that a read of The Learning Revolution by Gordon Dryden and Dr Jeannette Vos will explain much about this area of learning.

One of the most encouraging aspects about this request for help is that the little girl felt she had a "silly brain". Now the statement in itself is not the encouraging part, it is the fact that one so young can analyse and comment upon her ability to think – something I have seen very many supposedly educated adults struggle with. It is also encouraging that it is evident she has a good long term memory.

Clearly this is a concerned and very level-headed parent who wants the best for her daughter and who is frustrated by not being able to understand the challenges that her daughter appears to be facing. I would suggest that the challenges being experienced are not caused by anything wrong with the little girl but given her age, it is highly likely that her school and perhaps home learning environments are not conducive to her way of learning.

When a 5-year-old has to "work hard" then there is something wrong with the learning environment (and different children will thrive in different environments so comparison with classmates is counter-productive). Learning, particularly at that age, should be fun and so I recommend that this parent should introduce as much fun and enjoyment into her learning at home as she possible can. She should support her daughter by offering appropriate encouragement ("you can do this" rather than "you must do this") and continually rewarding her successes.

So in response to this parent's questions:

(1): Get a copy of the Learning Revolution to understand more about different learning styles and multiple intelligences.
(2) and (3): Correction is probably the wrong word to use and certainly is not something to apply to your daughter. Adaptation is the word to consider and apply that word to the learning environment.
(4) It is always right to be concerned about your daughter's education but as long as she is healthy, happy and enjoying her learning, there is really no need to worry. The best thing that I can suggest along these lines is to find out more about accelerated learning from HappyChild and also to read some of the books in the review section (Start with the Learning Revolution as I have suggested above).

As a basis for encouraging the development of numeracy in the young, the free maths resources on line at HappyChild will give a good start. The addition worksheets help with learning basic number bonds, and (for children a little bit older) the times tables and division worksheets provide an excellent grounding, structured in a way designed to be easy for children to absorb. Latest addition is fractions, presented in the form of "Bart & Miss Walker stories".

Basic literacy is covered in the free-to-print reading system, "Bricks & Mortar", also available at HappyChild.

To ask about any aspect of Accelerated Learning, e-mail michael2008 (at) happychild.org.uk . Due to Michael's hectic schedule, he may not be able to write back, but will do his best to cover the main issues raised, in future articles [more about Michael on the page here].

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