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Association for Special Children & Families Sunday Message
June 1, 2020
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How are you and your family doing? It has been a long few months with many new challenges and concerns we feel unqualified to handle. Many of you are exhausted, confused and worried about the future. We know you are doing your best and we hope our Sunday Message helps you handle these situations.
Know that you are in our thoughts and hearts as we search for ways to support you. We are doing our best to connect with you and offer support, information and guidance.
Let us know if you find this information helpful and if you have some tips to share.
Looking forward to seeing you soon.
Your friends at ASCF
Angela, Julie, Rachel, Lilly and Catherine
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Help your kids wearing masks
Here is a great pamphlet for kids "I Can Stay Healthy by Wearing a FaceMask.
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Parents: Supporting Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Adjusting to the "new normal" isn't easy. With all you have to do, it can be confusing, tiring, and stressful. Take a deep breath and try to take one step at a time! Remember that supporting your child's learning doesn't mean that you have to take on the role of the teacher. You don't have to recreate the school day. And you don't have to teach an entire lesson.
So what do you have to do? What does "support learning" actually mean? It means that you:
- Create a time and space for your child to learn
- Encourage your child to learn and to do any work that is assigned
- Answer your child's questions or provide help when needed
- Support your child socially and emotionally
This might sound a bit overwhelming. But with just a little planning and a few helpful resources, you can do this. Below are a few things to keep in mind as you go.
Create a time and space for your child to learn
- Create a learning space
- Set a routine
- Create a plan to manage behavior
Encourage your child to learn and to do any work that is assigned
- Stay in contact with your child's teacher or school
- Support learning opportunities provided by the school
- Create learning opportunities for your child if they are not provided by the school
- Support your child in reading if he or she is struggling
- Support your child in math if he or she is struggling
- Answer your child's questions or provide help when needed
Support your child socially and emotionally
- Reduce your child's stress
- Help your child stay connected to friends and family
- Encourage your child to be active and have fun
Support your child with a disability
- Keep in contact with your child's school
- Support your child's individualized learning needs at home
This resource offers tips to support your child's learning at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Go to The IRIS Center. (2020). Parents: Supporting learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Retrieved from
https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/c19/
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See these 3 Helpful Tips for Families of Children with Significant Cognitive Disabilities During the Pandemic and Beyond
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Tip 1. Engage your child in motivating activities to sustain attention and active involvement.
- Weather: Go outside to check the temperature. Get your child to observe daily temperature changes. Help make temperature comparisons, higher or lower readings. Also, involve reading the detailed daily weather forecast on the phone/laptop.
- Language and Literacy: Read stories together daily. Use role play and have fun pretending to be different story characters. (e.g., pretending to be animals, story characters, facial expressions of emotions -happy/sad/ surprised/scared, etc. Build your child's vocabulary associated with personal grooming, cooking and (Identifying various food items, cooking utensils, measurement tools, wash cycles, cleaning supplies, mirror, comb, brush, etc.)
- Create a personal life story: Help your child to create timeline of events with photos and text about herself/himself (or a story associated with Covid-19 crisis). Provide index cards with text to go in the story. Your child can put it in the right order and pair it with the corresponding photos.
- Math: Play games using dice and dominoes. Get your child to identify the higher and lower number, add, subtract, multiply and divide through rolling two dice.
- Math-Measurement: Weigh a couple of items using the kitchen scale or just hold it in their hand and make a guess. Have your child determine which one is heavier and which is lighter.
- Nature and Science: Go for a 'Nature Walk', find leaves, twigs, seeds, tree bark, etc. Have your child touch and manipulate a leaf. Place it on a tree picture/model. Grow A Garden: Plant seeds (coriander, mustard, flower seeds). Plant seedlings in paper cups and watch it grow.
- Create a personal life story: Help your child to create timeline of events with photos and text about herself/himself (or a story associated with Covid-19 crisis). Provide index cards with text to go in the story. Your child can put it in the right order and pair it with the corresponding photos.
- Math: Play games using dice and dominoes. Get your child to identify the higher and lower number, add, subtract, multiply and divide through rolling two dice.
- Math-Measurement: Weigh a couple of items using the kitchen scale or just hold it in their hand and make a guess. Have your child determine which one is heavier and which is lighter.
Nature and Science: Go for a 'Nature Walk', find leaves, twigs, seeds, tree bark, etc. Have your child touch and manipulate a leaf. Place it on a tree picture/model. Grow A Garden: Plant seeds (coriander, mustard, flower seeds). Plant seedlings in paper cups and watch it grow |
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Tip 2. Enable
- Use concrete objects, pictures, photos to assist in getting your child's attention and to engage with the task. It will also help with later recall.
- Provide tactile and visual (picture icons) supports that correspond to your child's needs. Continue to use the technology supports to promote your child's communication and physical access in engaging with the activities.
- Use activities that connect with real life application (e.g., nature walk, growing things, weather and calendar activities, personal story, etc.).
Make sure your child is actively involved and participating in the activity and that you are not physical prompting and manipulating your child's movementskid |
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Tip 3. Encourage your child' self-dependence through performing a variety of tasks with minimal prompting and assistance from you.
- Allow your child to make choices (e.g., selecting clothes to wear, games to play, the kind of sandwich topping, what he wants to do first, math or language activity, etc.).
- Involve your child in personal grooming activities. Do not expect perfection.
- Facilitate social interactions with family and friends through video conferences. Get your child to assist you with cooking and cleaning activities.
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As a parent, you are constantly helping your child learn something. Maybe it's how to ride a bike, do chores, or get along with others. Supporting learning isn't a new role. Now you're just supporting a
different type
of learning.
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Every child is different. Some kids need more physical activity, others some time to just sit and get lost in a book. Some need more structure, others more flexibility. You know your child best.
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Adjust the schedule to meet your child's needs. This may be particularly helpful for students who struggle with learning or for children with disabilities.
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Supporting your child's learning doesn't mean that you have to take on the role of the teacher. You don't have to recreate the school day. And you don't have to teach an entire lesson.
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Your child watches how you respond to situations. The more anxious you are, the more likely your child will be anxious. During this time, try to remain positive and practice good habits, such as connecting with others, taking time to have fun, and getting enough sleep.
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You are not expected to replace your child's teacher or therapists. Your role is to support your child's learning. Do what you can and
let the rest go!
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Disclaimer:
The Association for Special Children and Families does not provide or give Legal or Medical advice. ASCF does not endorse or recommend any one specific diagnostic or therapeutic regime, organization, opinion or methodology mentioned in this newsletter. We are not responsible for the content or information on any website given and do not endorse or recommend the views expressed as we have no control over the nature and content of those sites.
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Contact Information
Assn. for Special Children & Families
POB 494, Hewitt, NJ 07421
973-728-8744, 973-728-0999 (Helpline)
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