There are various ways in which child can be trained in various areas of his/her life by identifying and following such ways to facilitate development
Promote your child’s independence and self-reliance
Understand the preparedness of the child for training independence in various areas of his/her life
See the interest of the child and choose relevant areas which will give him a sense of competence and mastery in a given activity.
Make it an interesting and exciting activity
Encourage by recognizing and appreciating every small step in doing an activity
Support tacitly not making it obvious so that the child feels he/she has done it
Getting your child to help you at home
Putting things in properly defined places
Role modelling through siblings and parents
Explain and seek support from the child as if you really need his/her help
Do not bother about the mess the child may create, enjoy it for some time. Do not make corrections in the presence of the child
Identify areas of help for which child is somewhat prepared according to his/her prior learning
Make your instructions as concrete as possible
Provide active learning experiences
Exploring environment that is relevant to life of the child according to his current functioning level
Clarity of learning goals keeping capacity building in mind in various areas of development
Designing activities that invoke application of learnt knowledge and skills and building new skills, e.g. teaching relationships in a family through pictures, stories, real life observations.
Deepening the understanding of various objects, situations, emotions through real life observations
Use stories to enrich your instruction
Simple introduction of the topic
Identify concepts that can be introduced through stories
Build stories around personal experiences
Introduce socially desirable/undesirable behaviours
Build on the existing knowledge base
Introduce new vocabulary
Ways to enhance brain functioning
Important events and incidences to be explained
It should always be in a dialogue mode where we encourage the person to come out with his/her own ideas, perceptions, understanding etc.
Stimulate executive functions of the brain by encourage choice making and taking decisions in everyday living
Enhance image formation in the brain through identification and collecting pictures by cutting magazines and newspapers etc. support in making a booklet of the cut-outs of the objects and places etc. which is according to the interest and stage of the person. Relate them to the personal life of the person
Engagement with activities involving gross and fine motor coordination
Written By : Shanti Auluck, Chairperson, Muskaan PAEPID