Children with autism learn, behave, socialize, and communicate in ways that are different than their peers of the same age. The spectrum of autism is wide; some kids can speak clearly, while others are completely nonverbal. Certain children need intensive help with daily living skills, while others are more independent.  It is important that children with autism receive specialized services to help strengthen their areas of weakness. However, when services are scarce, or when your child is also receiving them at school, you can further support skills development at home with the ideas detailed below.

Create a Schedule

Individuals with autism thrive on routine. Changes in that routine and new, unexpected events can throw them off and lead to negative behaviors. Try sticking to a regular schedule at home for meals, wake up time, bed time, therapy, after school activities, and other daily activities. You should also create a visual schedule that your child can see. It should beia large chart indicating the time for each event, along with a description and corresponding picture. For instance, you might write 7:00 am wake up (with a picture of someone waking up), 7:30am breakfast (with a picture of someone eating breakfast), 8:00 am school (with a picture of a school), 3:30pm speech therapy (with a picture of a child receiving therapy), 6:00 pm dinner (with a picture of someone eating dinner), and so on. The more structured and consistent the schedule is, the better.

Use Rewards

Children with autism respond well to regular and consistent rewards. Every time you see your child doing a good job on a task (like completing a homework sheet or putting their dish in the sink), praise them and give them a reward such as a sticker or special prize. Try not to wait too long to offer the reward; the more frequent the rewards come, the better. Also, try to individualize the rewards based on your child’s interests. Some children like physical toys while others prefer watching a television show or playing a video game. Some kids are even fine with just a hug or a nice praise.

Try Play Therapy at Home

Many children with autism struggle to interact and play with other kids. Instead, they often play alone and repeat the same motions over and over again. While play therapy by a professional is likely the best option for developing play and social skills, you can also help your child build these skills at home. To do so, start by laying out a mix of toys in front of your child, like cars, trains, dolls, and animals, or even squeaky toys or bubble jars. Have them look at all the toys and decide which one they want to play with at that time. Later, you can try to engage with them using a more interactive game. You can also be more directed in your approach by presenting toys that offer specific learning opportunities. For instance, present your child with a baby doll to help them learn life skills like dressing and undressing the doll, bathing it, feeding it, and so on. You can also use kitchen toys (including a pretend kitchen) to build play, social, and life skills. Have your child say the names of different foods, make a meal, and then discuss the meal with you. You can ask pointed questions, like “What’s for dinner tonight?”, “What vegetable are we eating?”, and “Is there anything for dessert?” Playing with play doh can strengthen your child’s muscles, which can help with writing, and allow them to be creative in forming shapes while also improving their cutting skills.

Play Games!

Playing games is a great family activity that can also help your child with autism build important skills. For instance, to build sequencing and following directions skills, try playing Simon Says – where kids follow commands that engage gross motor movements. Commands might include “Simon says, hop on one leg” or “Simon says, touch your nose.” So as to build speaking and listening skills, you can play the game Conversation Cubes. This game includes thirty-six cubes; each with a conversation starter question on it, like “What do you like to do in cold weather?” and “What foods do you like?” Players can answer the questions orally to build oral language skills, or you can even use them as writing prompts to help your child get started with a writing piece.

Children with autism respond well to services from professionals during, and often outside of, school.
However, the additional support you provide at home can help them further develop their social, academic, and general life skills.

The post Parental Resources for Autistic Children During Post Pandemic Times appeared first on EBL Coaching.

A local education expert shares advice for helping your child feel confident and successful in math.

Some kids are seemingly born with a natural knack for math. They understand addition and subtraction concepts at a very young age and love the thrill of solving complex word problems. Other students, however, feel they are simply not good at math and perhaps never will be. Yet whether the teaching approach at your child’s school is traditional or progressive, math is here to stay, and students will need to solve increasingly complex math problems as they move through school. Use the tips below to help your child feel confident and successful in math.

Master the Basics

Without mastering basic math fundamentals, students will inevitably struggle as the material becomes more complex. To prevent these future challenges, allocate time at home to helping your child build key math foundations. For preschool-aged children, practice number ‎recognition, counting, patterns, sequencing, and shape recognition, as an “intro” to math. Try cutting out individual numbers and having your child put them back in order to work on sequencing, or play a matching game with shapes, where players must flip over and match two cards containing the same shape.  When your child is older, practice skip counting (counting by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s, etc.) using objects at home, such as marbles, toy cars, or Lego pieces. You can also use flash cards to reinforce addition doubles, then addition doubles plus or minus one (i.e., if I know 2+2 equals 4, then 2+5 must equal 5). Reinforce numbers that make 10–an important element of Common Core math–such as 8 plus how many more makes 10. Building

Complete Homework

Homework is typically designed to reinforce concepts that are taught in class. It is important that your child completes his math homework regularly, since practice ensures that he understands a given concept before a new one is introduced. If your child struggles with a particular homework assignment, encourage him to seek clarification from his teacher, or you can help explain it to him–just use a method that is consistent with the way he learned it in school. By completing homework regularly and addressing any challenging concepts, you can prevent future challenges your child may have down the road.

Use the Computer and iPad as Resources

Most kids jump at any opportunity to use a tech device. While their preference may be playing a game of Candy Crush or Cookie Jam, there are some great math-specific iPad apps and websites that can help your child understand and practice math concepts. Yummy Math teaches students how math applies to the real world, multiplication.com offers facts practice, and PBS LearningMedia provides videos to clarify certain math concepts‎. As for apps, Counting Caterpillar gives pre-K kids practice counting and sequencing, Math Master reinforces patterns, shapes, time, and fractions, among other key skills, and TouchMath Adventures provides a multi-sensory approach to building math skills.  ‎

Integrate Manipulatives

By integrating hands-on manipulatives, you can help your child understand key concepts, rather than simply knowing how to calculate solutions. When teaching counting, use toothpicks, paper clips, buttons, or the like. Practice fractions using a real pizza–remove two out of the six slices and ‎ask your child what fraction of the pizza was removed and what fraction is left. Use play (or real) coins and bills when teaching money, tiles when teaching shapes and geometry, and spinners for learning probability.

Connect Math to Real Life

For many students, math seems abstract and completely disconnected to real life. Who is really going to multiply 264 by 36 in the real world anyways? Help your child see how math can apply to day-to-day activities to help peak her interest. For example, when shopping at the supermarket, ask your child how many apples you are buying if you put 3 green ones and 4 red ones in your cart, or how much the box of Cheerios will come to if it is 10 percent off. When playing with Legos, ask your child how many total studs there are if she has one piece with four studs, one with two, and another with six. Rememeber to keep it real, and keep it fun!

Math can pose a significant challenge to many students. They may feel utterly confused and frustrated at times. Yet with these tips, your child will feel more confident, successful, and excited about math.

The post 5 Tips for Math Success appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Math is immersed in our daily lives. When we weigh fruit at a supermarket, receive change at a store, or measure flour for a favorite brownie recipe, we are using math concepts. When children reach grade school they begin to “formally” learn mathematics. Yet even at a very young age, children can develop an understanding of basic math principles in fun and engaging ways.

Try the ideas below with your preschool age child:

1. Sequencing. Sequencing is an understanding that events and objects occur in a specific order – an important precursor to both math and reading. To practice sequencing at home, have your child gather a group of toys and put them in a pile. Then, using sequencing words, ask your child to order them. For instance, you might say, “In one line, place the green truck first and the yellow car second. Place the purple block third. Finally, place the green ball last in the line.” You can also create your own sequencing cards describing events in a story. For example, tell your child a story about a girl who wakes up, brushes her teeth, eats breakfast, and goes to school. Then make 4 picture cards describing these events, mix them up, and have your child put them in order.

2. Grouping and Sorting. Make a trip to the supermarket academically productive by teaching your child grouping and sorting. For example, grab an assortment of red, green, and yellow apples and several plastic produce bags. Ask your child to put all of the green apples in one bag, red apples in another, and so on. You can also select a group of tomatoes or plums and have him put the smaller ones in one bag and the larger ones in another. At home, have him sort crayons in containers based on color, blocks in boxes based on shape, or balls in baskets based on size.

3. Time. The concept of time can be a tricky one to grasp at a young age, but these age-appropriate exercises can help your child develop a basic understanding. Try setting a timer to help your child understand how long certain tasks take to complete. For example, time her as she brushes her teeth, eats breakfast, or gets dressed. Talk about which task took longer, how much longer one task took than the other, and so on. Also discuss with her what time she does certain activities. For instance, she might wake up at 7:00am, go to school at 8:30am, and eat dinner at 6:00pm. Discussing time in this manner with help your child begin to understand the concept.

4. Shapes. ‎Have your child play with different shapes to learn both their names and how they feel. Try cutting out basic shapes using felt (triangle, rectangle, square, diamond, etc.) and put them all in a box. Have her take one shape out of the box and tell you its name. Also ask her to describe how many sides it has and how it feels. This kinesthetic approach will help the names and visual representations stick in your child’s long term memory.

5. Estimation and Prediction. Teach your child estimation using every day items at home. For example, have him create a stack of magazines and a stack of books, and, before doing so, ask him to predict which one he thinks will be taller.‎ You can also draw a large square on a sheet of paper and have him estimate how many Cheerios he can fit in that square, then actually fill the square with Cheerios.  Have him compare the actual number by counting them (another important math skill!) to the estimated number.

Math is an important skill that is weaved into almost all aspects of our lives. Even at a very young age, children can learn fundamental math concepts through play and engaging activities. It’s never too early to start learning the basics!

The post 5 Ways to Build Your Preschooler’s Math Skills appeared first on EBL Coaching.