Academic underachievement represents a significant problem faced by many children. This guide for parents is based on a framework called "Building Blocks of Learning" that enables parents to evaluate their child's pattern of learning and to pinpoint strengths as well as weaknesses. By using strengths to bolster weaknesses, continuing damage to children's self-esteem is prevented. Each chapter of the book contains highlighted strategies along with practical suggestions that have been tested with students and families. The book is divided into three parts. Part I, "Learning Problems and Your Child," contains chapters: (1) "The Building Blocks of Learning"; and (2) "Assessing Your Child's Learning Skills." Part II, "Foundational Blocks: The Learning Support System" contains chapters: (3) "Attention and Impulse Control"; (4) "Emotions and Behavior"; (5) "Self-Esteem"; and (6) "The Learning Environment at School and at Home." Part III, "The Building Blocks of Learning," contains chapters: (7) "Your Child's Motor Skills"; (8) "The Mechanics of Reading and Spelling"; (9) "Reading Comprehension and Writing"; (10) "Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division"; and (11) "Math Problem Solving." Four appendices present resources, D'Nealian numbers and letters, affixes, and a list of 1,000 words that make up 90 percent of written language. (EV)