Your Guide to Activities & Resources for Unique Learners

Resources for Children With Special Learning Needs 

If your child finds it difficult to maintain focus or has challenges reading, writing, or working with numbers, there are numerous free resources available online. Explore the following sites for information, advocacy, and support services, including ADHD support, dysgraphia resources, dyslexia learning strategies, dyscalculia resources, executive functioning skills, and more:

• Learning Disabilities Association of America: Special education information and resources for families, students, and teachers, including ADHD, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and dyslexia
• Learning Ally: Reading support and audiobooks for students with dyslexia
• Libby: Free app for ebooks and audiobooks to support students with reading challenges
• Flippity: Tools to facilitate study skills in children with learning differences, including fun quiz shows, virtual games, and flashcards
• Quizlet: Resources to aid learning, including digital flashcards and practice tests to help with study and memorization 
• Orton-Gillingham Method: Innovative, multisensory approach to help students with dyslexia and related differences learn to read and spell

Activities for Children With Special Learning Needs 

When it comes to activities for children with special needs specific to learning, there are many ways to keep them interested and motivated. 

“Because students with learning differences don’t think inside the box, we try to meet them where they are outside of the box and focus on their strengths instead of focusing on their areas of weaknesses,” shares Angel Taylor, Director of Admissions at Wesleyan Christian Academy, home to the Enrichment Center for children with learning differences in Grades 3-12. “We believe that we learn the way we learn because that is God’s perfect plan for our life.”

In an effort to support the individual needs of children with learning disabilities, Angel suggests these activities and tools, used at the Enrichment Center:

• Bouncy bands/flippity bands: Quiet fidget bands placed at the bottom of a child’s chair are designed to help children with ADHD focus by letting them bounce their feet on the band
• Bike desks: Pedaling at their desk can allow students to move in the classroom and provide a useful outlet for hyperactivity, which could enhance learning
• Arm spelling: Children touch different parts of their arm to recognize each letter in a word
• Beaded bracelets: Students can learn math functions by creating bracelets, such as the prayer bracelets children make at the Enrichment Center
• Manipulatives: Items such as blocks and interlinking plastic monkeys can be used to help students learn math and counting
• Four corners game: A fun way to help children learn and expend energy by asking them a question and then having them run to a corner of the room when they answer it
• Shaving cream spelling: A type of Orton-Gillingham activity in which students use shaving cream to spell letters and words at their desk or table

Angel also notes that smaller class sizes can facilitate learning in school. For example, students in a 6-8 student classroom could have the freedom to stand at the back of the class if they need to get up and move. They’d be able to do this without disturbing a larger group of children, such as you’d find in a 20-student setting.

Naturally, small classes and an individualized learning environment are what you’ll find at the Enrichment Center at Wesleyan Christian Academy, where we believe God created each child’s mind to learn differently. If you have a child with learning differences and are seeking an environment where they’ll thrive with activities tailored to them, come discover our community, serving families in Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford, and Randolph counties.