Who knew a simple picture could be such an educational power house?
Each day I present Parker with two or three pictures that represent an item on his schedule for the day.
Block building? Markers? Trains? Stringing beads? Matching?
Parker can then choose which activity he wants to participate in first. This helps to develop both speech and cognitive skills. It also gives Parker the feeling of having control of what goes on in his day.
Did you know that a great way to cement a new concept into a cute little mind is to give a kid a chance to do a movement activity afterwards?
Something like swinging.
Or bouncing. On a great big ball.
Today I’d like to introduce you to a special needs teaching formula. This is how I introduce any and all new concepts to Parker. This is how I build the foundation. Once the foundation is built, I can build off of that with more abstract and more fun activities.
Level One
*Present two choices. Say yellow and red.
*Ask child to “Give me (red), please.”
*Wait five seconds.
*Repeat.
*Wait five seconds.
*Top the right hand object (in our case the color red), then repeat “Give me (red) please.”
*Wait five seconds.
*Then proceed to hand over hand.
Level Two
*Switch the placement of the two items. Repeat level 1.
Level Three
*Put the two colors down in front of your child. This time you will repeat the steps in Level One, except asking for the other object. (If I had been asking for red first, I would be now asking for yellow.)
*When one color is mastered use the first color (the one mastered) and present every other color one at a time consistently asking for the target color.
Teaching a child with Down syndrome isn’t like teaching a typical child. Things that a typical child just kind of absorb, a child with special needs must have broken down for them.
Remember, we all have our own individual learning style. Identifying your child’s style will make you a stronger teacher and your child a stronger learner.
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