| Tips for Successfully Inviting your Child to Explore More Interests
As guides to our special needs children we help them develop more interests, meaning we direct their attention, concern and curiosity to a variety of topics and experiences. Often children who learn or communicate differently have difficulty engaging with new experiences. You might pick one or two of the following tips for success and employ it today.
ˇ Eliminate distractions in the area. That includes TV, video games and toys or items that the child prefers.
ˇ Be attractive! Seriously. Ask yourself, "Do I look like I am interested, enthused and enjoying this experience? Would I be interested in doing this with ME?"
ˇ Create anticipation. Describe how it looks, smells, sounds and feels. If you child has limited language, use single words, but infuse your comments with excitement.
ˇ Show, demonstrate, describe your experience - but don't lecture.
ˇ Don't turn the encounter into a test. Don't ask the child questions that you know she knows the answer to.
ˇ Go slowly. When you think you are going slow, go slower. Speak slowly. Pause often as you guide, just to share about the process with the child.
ˇ Give your child a meaningful role. No matter what you are doing or what the child's age is, give them a job in the process.
ˇ Break the encounter into small steps and if needed spread those steps out over the day or week if needed.
ˇ Leave the child wanting more. Keep encounters brief. Even if it seems like the child is interested don't stretch it out. Children, who are developing typically, will be able to attend to a task for 2- 3 times as long as their age in years. So a 3 year old will likely have an attention span of 6 - 9 minutes. Children with special needs may attend for shorter periods of time. Doing more may result in the child not continuing to be interested in that encounter in the future. Always err on the side of brief.
ˇ Connect the encounter to previous experiences the child can relate to and recall.
ˇ Talk about the encounter after it is over. Review pictures and videos of the encounter and share what your experience was at the time. Wait quietly for your child to respond.
ˇ Don't give up. It may take repeated experiences for a child to understand how to participate in this particular interest or realize the fun of sharing interests together.
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