Help Me, Help You

Help Me, Help You

Asking for “help” is a skill that sometimes can be difficult for children with language disorders. Instead of using their words they may:

1. Take your hand to the object (like taking your hand to the doorknob to open the door)
2. Give you the object (like giving you the bubble container to open)
3. Cry/scream

Here are a few steps you can follow to help your child ask for “help”:

Read More

Beat The Heat: The Mall

Beat The Heat: The Mall

Going to the mall can be a great place to take your kids on a long summer day when they may otherwise be jumping off the walls in the house.  The mall is filled with so many opportunities to teach your child life skills, safety, play skills and social skills but let’s face it, it can be overwhelming.  I’m not sure about you but my head typically spins at the mall on a busy Saturday when I’m attempting to battle the noise, the lights and THE PEOPLE.  By the time I leave, I can guarantee that I have aches in my feet and back paired with a big ole headache.  Then I usually need time at home to collapse on the couch and recover.  Can you imagine what a child with autism must feel like?

Read More

Teaching Requesting - Part 2

Teaching Requesting - Part 2

Requesting is a social communication skill that is often difficult for children with language disorders or children with ASD. Within our last blog we went over some tips on how to work on requesting during mealtimes. This week we are going to focus on PLAY times!
 

We want to make sure that your child has natural requesting opportunities throughout their day. So think about how your house and your daily routines are set up. Does your child have to request a toy before playing with it or are his/her toys always available to them? Are all of your child’s toys out on the floor for them to play with? If so we want to get these toys out of reach. Before you start organizing your space, think about the following questions: Where does your child play? What are his/her favorite toys? What toys do you want them to play with but they don’t? What toys are too big/heavy to move? Here is what we suggest:

Read More

Teaching Requesting - Part 1

Teaching Requesting - Part 1

Requesting is a social communication skill that is often difficult for children with language disorders or children with ASD. We are going to focus on how to work on requesting at home within two different areas: food and toys. This blog focuses on FOOD!
 

We want to make sure that your child has natural requesting opportunities throughout their day. So think about how your house and your daily routines are set up. Does your child have to request food at meal times (some or all)? Think about how many meals your child eats with you per day? You want to aim to work on requesting at meal times two times a day. Working on requesting during snack time is a great idea. You don’t want every mealtime to be focused on requesting because that is not natural. Sometimes we get to pick what we want to eat and sometimes we don’t, Mommy or Daddy picks for us.

Read More