Not long ago, the "Learning Difficulty" clinic of the Pediatric Hospital of Fudan University was on the hot search. Many netizens were interested in it and expressed their lateness to see each other - "How does it work?" "Come and see for me" "If I It was good when I was a kid.”…
The outpatient clinic opened for more than two years suddenly attracted attention. Zhu Daqian, director of the Department of Psychology at the Pediatric Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, admitted that "I didn't expect it".
She told reporters that after the outpatient clinic "fired", the most direct change brought about was that more people came to the plus account.
Some children who are less severe and not yet called "difficult" also follow their parents.
"If the heat of attention can lead more families to scientifically understand learning difficulties and improve parent-child relationships, it is also a good thing."
What is learning difficulty and what factors can cause learning difficulties?
Can learning difficulties be cured?
What is it like to visit the Learning Difficulty Clinic?
With these questions, the reporter came to the Pediatric Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University to visit.
Can learning difficulties be "cured"?
The Pediatric Hospital of Fudan University opened the Department of Psychology as early as 1998.
In September 2020, the hospital opened a learning difficulty clinic, mainly because there were many parent-child conflicts related to learning in the psychological clinic, but whether the child was unwilling to learn or was really unable to learn, the reasons should be subdivided.
Zhu Daqian introduced that outpatient clinics for learning difficulties are set up in many hospitals across the country.
However, because parents have different understandings of this, many times they come to the hospital for treatment only when there is a more serious situation and there is no way out.
Things have clearly changed over the years.
"From my own experience, I used to have mental retardation and ADHD patients, accounting for about 70%. In the past five years, there have been more cases of emotional disorders."
"Find out the reasons. In fact, in many cases, parents don't need to worry." On the afternoon of the interview, Zhu Daqian treated a child.
"This junior high school student is not actually a learning difficulty. After talking with him, he also realized that his main problem is inability to concentrate. We analyzed that this is related to the long-term online class. So I made an appointment with the child, We will meet again a month after school starts in September. After the chat, the children are relaxed and the parents are very happy.”
Zhu Daqian believes that it is necessary to have a scientific and comprehensive understanding of "learning difficulties".
"Learning difficulties are the result of poor learning status and poor grades under the influence of many factors. According to domestic and foreign studies, the incidence of learning difficulties is about 20%, and the number of boys is higher than that of girls." Zhu Daqian introduced "There are many reasons for children's learning difficulties, in addition to family education reasons, learning difficulties may be caused by various neurodevelopmental problems, emotional and mental disorders, cultural and environmental adverse factors, etc."
Among children with "learning difficulties" caused by neurodevelopmental problems, "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder" is the most common condition in outpatient clinics. These children have difficulty concentrating due to incomplete neurodevelopment, resulting in easy distraction, daze, Fear of difficulties affects academic performance.
Another common situation is that although the child has normal intelligence, there is a developmental delay in a specific learning ability, which in turn affects the corresponding academic performance.
These two types of children are often misunderstood as "elementary school scum" or "little slackers" who don't like to learn. In fact, after formal treatment, including drug therapy, behavioral therapy, and professional rehabilitation training, the situation of these children can be Greatly improved, and can even counterattack from "student scum" to "student tyrant".
Zhu Daqian especially reminded that about one-third of the children who visited the outpatient clinic with learning difficulties had some emotional and mental and psychological disorders, such as "school adjustment disorder" and "anxiety and depression".
Especially in children who come to see a doctor in middle school, the proportion of emotional problems is high.
"Many children's loss of interest in learning and their confrontation with adults are misunderstood by parents and teachers as 'adolescent rebellion'." Zhu Daqian said, for such children, we will mobilize the children's families and schools to give them psychological support and cooperate with professional Medications and psychotherapy can also achieve good results.
What is it like to go to the outpatient clinic?
Every Thursday afternoon, the "Learning Difficulty" outpatient clinic of the Children's Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University is open, with a limit of 20 people.
These days, the outpatient clinic has been full.
After the "learning difficulty" clinic receives the child, the doctor will conduct detailed interviews with the family to understand the child's learning and living conditions, as well as the child's own emotional and developmental status, and fully collect information to identify possible problems.
Then, based on the interview results, some standardized assessments and inspections are prescribed to identify the child's difficulties and obtain some quantitative indicators.
After completing the examination, the doctor will help parents to interpret the examination results, distinguish whether the child "can't study well" or "unwilling to study well", help parents to understand the problem, and choose suitable treatment methods together with parents.
After the treatment starts, through regular follow-up visits, the doctor will continue to adjust the treatment plan to ensure that the child achieves a better learning effect.
Zhu Daqian said that families who come to see a doctor usually benefit from it, because through a series of interviews and examinations, parents can distinguish whether their children "can't study well" or "unwilling to study well", and they are usually relieved and worried about future education. The direction has a clear goal.
In the outpatient clinic, some children who are considered to be "learning difficulties" actually do not have much difficulties themselves, but do not achieve the ideal learning state under the influence of parents' inappropriate educational methods or inappropriate learning environment.
For example, some families arrange too heavy a study load for their children, and there is no time for exercise and play.
Some families have a noisy learning environment, and it is difficult for children to devote themselves to learning quietly.
Zhu Daqian said that in this case, he will patiently guide parents to adjust their educational methods and help children develop their learning potential.
"Learning Difficulty" Requires Scientific Understanding
"In the past two years, the 'Learning Difficulty' outpatient clinic has seen and helped more than 1,500 children with learning difficulties, and there are many successful cases of treatment." Zhu Daqian told reporters.
"We once met a child with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at the same time. He could only get a dozen marks in the Chinese test, and his math score was on the verge of passing. He lost his temper when he wrote homework, and was very tired of learning. After evaluation After identifying the difficulties, we helped parents formulate a plan for gradual improvement." Zhu Daqian introduced that because the child has severe attention deficit, drug treatment should be used first to improve the child's attention.
At the same time, it cooperates with behavioral therapy to guide parents to adjust educational methods and do some attention training.
We also encourage parents to help their children learn important knowledge points and make up for their own reading deficiencies by explaining and reading together.
At the same time, we cooperate with doctors in the rehabilitation department to provide rehabilitation training for children with dyslexia.
Under such a plan, parents first realize that their children have been very hard to study with such difficulties, so their attitude towards their children has changed from criticism and scolding to understanding and help.
After communicating with the school teacher, the teacher can also understand the child's difficulties.
This creates a supportive environment for the child, who is less afraid and averse to learning.
After a few months, the child can obviously study more attentively. Although the reading speed is still relatively slow, he can actively try and work hard to complete the learning tasks. He has exerted his own advantages in mathematics. close to passing.
Zhu Daqian was deeply impressed by a child who had just entered the third year of junior high school.
Parents reported that their children were addicted to games, sleeping in class, not listening to lectures, and procrastinating homework at night.
Children who were originally active in learning and excellent in grades are like changing individuals.
After interviewing the child, she found that the child has been plagued by severe depression for the past year, and has lost interest in learning and sports. Every day, she feels low, lacks energy, and even has negative thoughts.
In addition, the child's parental relationship is not very harmonious, and the child has some conflicts with friends at school. These factors have aggravated the depression.
"After discovering these problems, we communicated with the family to make parents willing to let go of their worries about learning and first help their children to adjust their emotions. When the children's emotions are adjusted, their original learning ability will naturally be brought into play." Zhu Daqian said .
A year later, the child successfully resumed his studies, his grades also improved steadily, and he was admitted to his favorite high school.
Zhu Daqian introduced that there are also some children who are found to have extensive neurodevelopmental problems after evaluation, such as mental retardation, and may not be able to make great changes in intellectual development.
These children often struggle to keep up with their normal learning progress in regular classes, and parents put in a lot of effort with little success.
At this time, we will guide parents to adjust the direction of education, reduce the excessive pursuit of academic performance, and focus on the development of other abilities of the child, so as to help the child grow into a person with the ability to live independently.
"In general, learning difficulties are something worthy of attention and need scientific understanding." Zhu Daqian said that learning is important, but parents can't just focus on learning.
When children encounter learning difficulties, they should be more helped to find the cause and see where the problem lies.
Identifying the difficulties can provide effective intervention and support.
(Reporter Yan Weiqi of this newspaper)