Factors of motivation

Factors of motivation!!!

Motivation, as parents and teachers know, often varies depending on the setting, the people involved, the task and the situation. A child with a learning disability may be a very reluctant reader who resists reading a science assignment or writing the homework assignment but eagerly absorb all the teacher shows about vaporization of water in a science class. The key for each learner is to find that which motivates.

Unfortunately, other factors often intervene to lessen a student’s motivation. Some of these factors are:

Fear of failure

Children can be afraid to complete work because they are afraid to make mistakes. They do not want to look foolish in front of their peers, teachers, siblings, or parents. A child with a learning disability might, for example, constantly distract the class with wonderful humor, but never complete an assignment or answer a question in class. The humor covers his reading difficulty and is a cover-up for his inability to complete his work as well as most of the students in the class.

Lack of challenge

Children can be bored with schoolwork. This may be for good reason. A gifted student may be "unmotivated" in a class that repeatedly explains a concept s/he already understands. A child with a learning disability may be bored if the material available to study a concept is written far below the child's cognitive ability. The child with LD may also be unmotivated if it is apparent that the teacher attributes a lack of potential success to the child based on the label of LD. If the teacher, in this case, does not challenge the student, the student may discern the teacher's apparent assessment of ability and simply not demand more stimulating content.

Lack of meaning

A student may simply believe that the schoolwork is not important because s/he cannot see how it relates to everyday life. This can be especially troubling for a student with LD. A student with a visual-motor problem, for example, may find it very difficult to organize math problems in order to assure the correct answer. The student always gets the problem wrong because the columns of a long addition problem get mixed up. That student knows the calculator can do the problem correctly in a second. The student is likely to see no meaning to a class on addition, division, or any other math concept.

Emotional problems

A child with an emotional problem may have difficulty learning because s/he cannot focus in class. Anxiety, fear, depression or perhaps problems related to home could interfere. Children with LD often have emotions related to the frustration of the learning disability or other related emotional patterns that limit motivation for schoolwork.

Anger

Some children use schoolwork, or lack of schoolwork, as an expression of anger towards the parents. This is often called a passive-aggressive approach. For example, if a child feels intense pressure to succeed academically, a factor the student cannot control, the student may yell or argue with the parent. Rather, low grades are earned. This is something within the student's range of control. The more the parent tries to control and structure reinforcers, the lower the grades fall.