Today while Frankie was at "school", we did a project in the parent group. It was called a "First, Then" board. We laminated paper, the first half has a "First", the second half has a "Then". At home, you could use this with your child and velcro on pictures. Under "first" you could have a picture of cleaning the toys, and under "then" a picture of having a snack. So the "first" is an unpreferred activity, and the "then" is the preferred activity. It sounds like a good idea to teach children to do certain things that they may not want to. And they can have warning about what is coming next.
When I was making it, I was thinking that is sounded like a good idea, but Frankie is quite good about doing something willingly before his preferred activity. The other mom in the group with a visually impaired child said she might want to get a bigger font for the words. It then dawned on me, that yes, the words were too small and that Frankie does not learn things easily visually! He is smart and most of the things he knows he has learned through listening. He is an auditory learner. This got me thinking about how there is so much learning that is taught visually, and I need to make sure Frankie gets to learn how he does best!
2 comments:
I remember using the first this, then that concept. It works so well. Have you considered putting real objects on a Velcro board? (Maybe a favorite toy on one side, and a milk carton/plate/spoon on the other and labeled in large print.) You could get the tactile sensory input that way too. Or instead of a board, perhaps you could use two boxes for the 'first this, then that' objects. I wonder if that would make it more meaningful. I have been thinking of doing something similar with my own 2-year-old.
That is a good idea, Kelly. I think the tactile piece would be important!
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