Poor grades at school are one of the warning signs that all is not well with your teen. Whether the reason for the academic struggles comes from an inability to keep up with the course material or sudden apathy, the results are the same; contention between teens and their parents and damage to individual confidence and self-esteem.
If it is clear that your teen needs educational intervention, you should first turn to tutors or a rewards and consequences system while you try to determine why your son is suddenly having trouble. Academic deficiencies are often the result of other emotional or behavioral issues and finding the root of the problem can be difficult, especially since teens are notoriously resistant to confiding in their parents during the adolescent years. Knowing what kinds of things might be in play with your teen is a crucial first step to figuring out how to solve the problem. Some of the reasons your son’s grades could be suffering include:
- Depression – On some level, depression is extremely common during the teen years and is the sort of behavior that parents should keep an eye on, but not particularly worry about until it begins to affect their child’s schedule or grades on a consistent basis.
- Bullying – It is an unfortunate fact that many teens stay silent about being bullied because of shame or fear. A drop in your child’s academic performance can indicate that he struggling at school in emotional areas.
- Substance Abuse – Experimentation with drugs or alcohol can manifest itself in a new lack of interest in school.
- Learning Disability – Some mild learning disabilities are manageable during the early years, but show themselves more as the academic curriculum gets harder or interaction with peers gets more complex.
It is important to remember that a mild fluctuation in grades is not uncommon for teens as they learn how to deal with new surroundings and readjust themselves to suit new material and social situations. You should be more concerned about a sudden lack of motivation or a consistent drop in performance. Your teen’s teachers should be your first stop since they can give you more valuable insight into your child’s daily class performance and interaction than he will tell you himself. If your combined efforts to help your teen raise his grades fail to yield any results then it may be time to consider more intensive intervention to get him the guidance he needs in an environment that he can respond to.
Full time residential treatment programs like Liahona Academy specialize in helping teens overcome their personal issues in order to improve their self-esteem, communication style and academic performance. Through the help of experienced therapists and a carefully crafted curriculum, teens are able to address the challenges they face without the triggers and distractions they experience in their daily lives. For more information on our program and the ways that Liahona Academy can safely and effectively help your teen turn his life around, please contact us today at 1-800-675-8101 for a consultation.
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