The summer is often a carefree, happy time when “kids can be kids”. Experiences such as summer camps, time with family, trips to museums, parks, and libraries etc. are fun activities, and valuable to every child’s health and well being. However, with the summer can also come “summer learning loss”. Children experience learning loss when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer. This means that some of what they have spent time learning over the preceding school year evaporates during the summer months. 

Some of the most interesting facts that I came across explain that all students fall behind academically during the summer months. Children and youth lose an average of two months of grade level equivalency in areas such as math and reading.  For those students with special education needs their learning loss is often more pronounced. However, summer learning loss is something that you can help prevent. When parents provide learning opportunities over the summer their children have the advantage of basic skills practice, and they return to school in the fall ready to learn. That is not to say that “summer leisure” should be replaced by “summer school”. That is to say that 15 minutes or half an hour every other day or on the weekend can really help with memory, reading and writing skills.