10 Signs Your Child Is Struggling in School and May Need Help

The school year has just begun, but you may already be noticing signs that your child is struggling academically. Perhaps homework is taking much longer than expected; reading, writing, or math assignments are becoming increasingly frustrating; or your child is having trouble staying organized and keeping up with schoolwork.

While it’s normal for children to need some time to adjust to a new teacher, routine, and set of expectations, persistent academic difficulties shouldn’t necessarily be dismissed as part of the adjustment period.

Identifying these challenges early can help prevent small difficulties from developing into larger learning gaps as the school year progresses. The sooner you understand where your child is struggling, the sooner you can find the right targeted support to help them strengthen their skills, become more independent, and build confidence in school.

How can you tell if your child is simply adjusting to a new school year or may need additional academic support? Here are 10 signs your child may be falling behind in school.

1. Homework Takes Much Longer Than It Should

The amount of time it takes your child to complete their homework can be an early indication of how well they are managing grade-level expectations.

If short assignments consistently take hours to complete, your child may be struggling with the academic skills required to complete the assignment. They might also be having difficulty understanding the directions, or they may have attention or executive functioning difficulties.

Try to observe whether your child:

• Needs a lot of prompting to complete their homework
• Takes much longer than expected to finish their assignments
• Becomes easily frustrated when completing their homework
• Needs you to clarify directions
• Struggles to work independently
• Tries to avoid assignments that involve reading, writing, or math

Some academic struggles are normal, especially at the beginning of a new school year. However, if these challenges continue or begin to interfere with your child’s ability to complete their work, they may deserve closer attention.

Students who struggle with organization, task initiation, time management, or completing homework independently may benefit from executive functioning coaching in NYC. Learn more at Best Executive Functioning Coach in NYC: How to Choose – EBL Coaching.

2. Your Child Is Struggling With Reading or Is Avoiding Reading

If your child struggles with reading, they may try to find ways to avoid it.

Young children may resist reading aloud. They might also guess at unfamiliar words or rely on pictures and context clues instead of actually decoding words. Older students may try to avoid reading assignments. They may skim their assignments rather than reading carefully, or they may have difficulty remembering what they read.

Signs of a reading challenge might include:

• Slow, laborious reading
• Trouble sounding out unfamiliar words
• Frequent guessing at words when reading
• Skipping or replacing words
• Challenges with spelling
• Poor reading comprehension
• Avoidance of reading tasks

Students with dyslexia and other reading challenges may benefit from Orton Gillingham tutoring in Manhattan, which provides systematic, multi-sensory instruction in reading and spelling. Learn more at Orton Gillingham Tutoring in Manhattan for Dyslexia & Reading Success.

3. Writing Assignments Are Becoming a Struggle

Writing demands increase as children progress through school. Students are expected to do more than just spell words and write sentences. They must organize their thoughts, develop paragraphs, provide supporting details, revise and edit their work, and complete increasingly complex writing assignments.

Some students can clearly explain their ideas when speaking but have difficulty expressing those same ideas in writing. They may know what they want to say but struggle to organize their thoughts, get started, or put their ideas into complete, well-developed written responses. When these difficulties persist, additional writing support may help children strengthen their written expression skills and become more confident writers.

Look for writing difficulties such as:

• Trouble getting started on writing tasks
• Short sentences or paragraphs
• Poor sentence structure
• Weak organization of ideas
• Spelling, capitalization, or punctuation errors
• Challenges with developing paragraphs
• Difficulty organizing ideas before writing
• Frustration with writing tasks

These difficulties can become more noticeable as the school year progresses and writing demands increase.

If your child consistently struggles with written expression, writing tutoring for learning disabilities can provide targeted support with sentence construction, organization, paragraph development, and written expression. Learn more at Why Smart Kids Struggle with Writing and How Writing Tutoring Helps.

4. Your Child Is Struggling with Math Skills

Forgetting some math skills that were taught during the prior school year can be normal. However, if your child has forgotten key concepts or continues to struggle even after those math skills have been reviewed, there may be gaps that need to be addressed.

Watch for challenges with:

• Basic math facts
• Addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division concepts
• Fractions or decimals
• Multi-step calculations
• Solving word problems
• Retaining previously learned concepts
• Selecting the correct operation
• Articulating how they arrived at an answer

Math demands increase as students progress through school and concepts build upon one another. By addressing foundational gaps early, you can make it easier for your child to learn the new concepts that will be introduced later in the year.

Learn more about dyscalculia and math struggles at What Is Dyscalculia? Signs, Symptoms & Treatment for Children – EBL Coaching.

5. Your Child Struggles with Organization and Assignments

Some students can easily grasp new academic concepts but struggle with their executive functioning skills.

Your child might finish a homework assignment but forget to turn it in, study the wrong material for a test, lose important papers, or start their assignments right before they are due.

Signs of executive functioning challenges can include:

• Forgetting assignments regularly
• Losing papers and materials
• Forgetting to use a planner or calendar
• Waiting until the last minute to start assignments
• Underestimating how long tasks will take to complete
• Difficulty getting started on tasks
• Needing frequent reminders from parents

As your child’s workload increases, these executive functioning challenges can make it harder for them to keep up with schoolwork, even when they understand the material.

6. Your Child Understands the Material at Home but Performs Poorly on Tests

Your child may seem to understand the material when studying for a test but still consistently receive lower grades on tests and quizzes. If this happens, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your child isn’t trying hard enough.

Some students simply need to learn more effective ways to study. Others may have difficulty with memory, focus, reading comprehension, test-taking strategies, or understanding and following multi-step directions.

Simply rereading notes or looking over a textbook may not be enough. Many students benefit from learning specific study strategies, such as self-quizzing, using memory techniques, creating study guides, breaking information into smaller parts, and spreading their studying out over several days. These strategies can help students feel more prepared and confident when it’s time to take a test.

7. Your Child Is Losing Confidence in School

Try to pay attention to changes in the way your child talks about school.

When they make comments like “I don’t know,” “I’m bad at reading,” “I hate writing,” or “I’m just not smart,” pay attention, as these kinds of comments sometimes reflect more than just temporary frustration.

When children consistently struggle with schoolwork, they may begin to lose confidence in their abilities. They may become hesitant to try challenging tasks or give up quickly because they are worried about making mistakes or not being successful.

The right academic support should be more than simply getting homework done. It should help children build the skills, strategies, and confidence they need to approach schoolwork more independently and feel successful in the classroom.

8. Your Child Is Becoming Increasingly Anxious About School

Academic struggles may not appear on quizzes or tests right away.

Some children start to complain about school, become easily upset when doing homework, worry excessively about quizzes and tests, or try to avoid certain classes or assignments.

If this behavior occurs regularly around specific academic tasks, you may want to look into whether your child may have an underlying skill deficit that is contributing to their stress.

If a child finds reading extremely difficult, for example, they may become anxious when asked to read aloud. A student who struggles to organize their thoughts may avoid writing tasks. Addressing underlying academic challenges early can help reduce the frustration surrounding them and prevent continued challenges.

9. Your Child’s Teacher Is Already Expressing Concerns

If your child’s teacher gives you feedback early in the school year, don’t ignore it! They might mention that your child is having difficulty keeping up, completing independent work, following multi-step directions, reading at the expected level, writing organized responses, or grasping new math concepts. If that’s the case, try to gather more information.

You may want to ask questions like:

• Which skills are my child struggling with the most?
• Is my child performing below their peers?
• Have these challenges been observed consistently?
• Have any interventions already been tried? If so, which ones?
• What can I do at home to help?

The more specific information you have, the better you’ll be able to understand where your child is struggling and what type of support may be most beneficial.

10. The Same Challenges Keep Appearing Year After Year

Pay attention if your child’s struggles are repeating year after year.  Perhaps they struggled with spelling last year and continue to struggle with it this year. Maybe their teachers have consistently mentioned difficulties with reading, writing, math, focus, or organization.

When the same challenge continues across grades, just waiting for your child to “catch up” likely isn’t the best approach.

Consistent academic challenges may indicate that your child needs more targeted instruction than they are currently receiving.

Don’t Wait for the First Report Card

Some parents wait until the first progress report, parent-teacher conference, or report card before seeking additional help for their child. If your child is struggling, don’t delay taking action! Try to be proactive rather than reactive.

Grades are only one indication of how a student is doing. Study habits, self-confidence, independence, teacher observations, and the amount of effort exerted can all provide important information well before the first progress report arrives.

Early intervention also can help address specific areas of weakness before the demands of school continue to increase.

Finding the Right Academic Support

The best support for your child depends on what they are struggling with and their overall academic profile.

A child with dyslexia may need explicit, research-based, multi-sensory reading instruction, such as Orton Gillingham tutoring. A student who has dysgraphia or struggles with writing may benefit from structured tutoring in sentence construction, paragraph development, writing organization, and self-checking.

Students with executive functioning difficulties may need direct instruction in planning, organization, time management, and task initiation. Other students may need targeted math intervention to help them develop foundational concepts before progressing to more advanced math concepts.

Instead of just focusing on homework help, effective academic intervention should identify the skills your child is struggling with and teach them strategies to help them become a stronger, more independent student.

If you’re wondering whether your child’s struggles are significant enough to warrant additional support, you may also want to read about signs your child may need a tutor. Learn more at 7 Signs Your Child Needs a Tutor: How to Know When to Get Help – EBL Coaching.

Academic Tutoring for Learning Disabilities in NYC and New Jersey

EBL Coaching provides individualized, one-on-one academic tutoring to students in New York City and New Jersey, including at our Upper East Side Manhattan and Englewood, New Jersey learning centers. We work with students throughout Manhattan, Bergen County, and surrounding areas who have dyslexia, ADHD, executive functioning challenges, learning disabilities, and other academic needs.

Our instruction is customized to each student’s unique learning profile and can focus on reading, writing, math, organization, time management, executive functioning, and other areas of academic development.

For students with reading and spelling challenges, EBL Coaching offers systematic, multi-sensory instruction using the Orton Gillingham approach. Students who struggle with writing, math, organization, or executive functioning receive targeted strategies designed to address their specific areas of need.

The beginning of the school year is an ideal time to identify academic challenges and give your child the appropriate support. By addressing difficulties early, you can help your child strengthen their essential skills, keep up with academic expectations, and tackle the rest of the school year with greater confidence and independence.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I tell if my child is falling behind?
To gauge whether your child is falling behind, look for consistent patterns rather than an occasional difficult assignment or low grade. Spending an excessive amount of time completing homework, showing repeated difficulty with certain academic skills, avoiding assignments, teacher concerns, weak test performance, or increasing dependence on parents may suggest that additional support may be helpful.

Should I wait until the first report card before seeking a tutor for my child?
If your child is struggling, try to avoid waiting until the first report card before seeking a tutor for them. If you are noticing consistent academic difficulties, you may want to find support before report cards are issued. Early intervention may prevent small challenges from becoming more significant difficulties as the school year progresses.

What type of tutoring is best for a child with a learning disability?
The tutoring your child receives should be individualized to their specific learning needs. Students with dyslexia, for example, often benefit from explicit, systematic, multi-sensory reading instruction, such as Orton Gillingham tutoring. Students with executive functioning challenges may need direct instruction in organization, planning, time management, and task initiation.

What are early signs of dyslexia?
Potential signs of dyslexia can include trouble sounding out unfamiliar words, slow or laborious reading, guessing at words, poor spelling, challenges with remembering sound-symbol relationships, and reading avoidance.

Can executive functioning struggles make a child appear to be falling behind?
Yes. Some students understand academic material but struggle to manage their homework assignments, remember due dates, organize their materials, start tasks, plan out long-term projects, or study efficiently. These challenges can negatively affect their academic performance.

Where can I find learning disability tutoring in NYC or New Jersey?
EBL Coaching specializes in providing individualized tutoring to students with learning disabilities, ADHD, autism, executive functioning difficulties, and other learning challenges in New York City, New Jersey, and surrounding areas. The instruction uses research-based, multi-sensory techniques and is customized to each student’s specific academic needs and learning profile.

About the Author

Dr. Emily Levy is the founder and director of EBL Coaching and has more than 20 years of experience helping students strengthen their reading, writing, math, study, and executive functioning skills. She has worked with thousands of students with dyslexia, ADHD, learning disabilities, and other academic challenges.

Dr. Levy is the author of the Strategies for Study Success student workbook series, the Flags and Stars Orton Gillingham student workbook program, and the Flags and Stars Multi-Sensory Math student workbook series. She speaks nationally at educational conferences and frequently appears on podcasts as an educational expert. Her expertise has also been featured in publications including Newsweek, Autism Parenting Magazine, The Epoch Times, and Macaroni KID. Read more about Dr. Levy at About Dr. Levy ADHD treatment New York City.