Some ideas that might help to facilitate or monitor progress:

• Use a practice schedule – set some sort of expectation for practice represented on a visible chart that they can show you. You may have to teach them how to practice and/or discuss obstacles they face at home. Rather than problem-solving for their specific environment, offer general suggestions that might work well and allow the student to select what’s best for them.
• Use a system of rewards, making sure that it is specific to what motivates that individual.
• Repeat concepts and work on things, sometimes for much longer than you typically would. They will give you cues about their level of engagement.
  Break down concepts into smaller chunks. This can include working on one measure of a song at a time, learning one chord that you work on for multiple weeks, etc. Smaller bits of information are often more manageable than learning a lot of material at once. Then, these building blocks can be combined later to make a musical whole.
• If the student remains engaged and the parent is pleased with the lessons making music together in the space of the lesson and your patience in teaching musical concepts and techniques is what it’s really about. In other words, the focus is on the process of making music over the musical product.

Open communication with parents regarding their child’s progress is key, especially in tricky situations. It can make a world of difference in your confidence and comfort level if you make a point to connect with the parents each week to let them know what happened in the lesson. This can include both the successes and the areas of difficulty. For example, “Tom enjoyed stomping his feet to different rhythms, but played piano when I was talking and refused to play most songs.” Please keep in mind that it is not your job or responsibility to diagnose a child. Stick to the objective facts and work with what you’re presented with. Don’t be concerned about knowing everything or labeling your students.