General Instructional Guidelines
Ideas and Resources for Home
We all know that being
a parent is one of the most rewarding challenges one could ever have.
Being a parent of a son / daughter with special needs can be the most
challenging. Sometimes you may feel like you are all alone, but take
heed, you are not alone. Most communities have formed support groups
where your concerns can be heard and questions can be answered. (See
the Parents Section for some Networking Resources. You may want to
check www.parentnet.com for additional help and information.)
Looking at your son / daughter and the area of concern can be broken
down into steps. You may have heard it before; it’s all about choosing
your battles. Actually, we can break it down a little more than
choosing your battles... but those really are important words to be
heard and though about. Let’s look at sorting your problems according
to priority. Say you have three laundry baskets. One is for whites; one
is for light colors, and one if for jeans. The whites in basket one are
very important. You want your whites to be very white, bright, and
stain free. Basket two contains your light colors. You also want these
pieces of clothing to look good. It is not as hard to keep your colors
looking good in comparison to your whites but they do need a bit of
special care. Now basket three contains your jeans. Jeans kind of have
a life of their own. They have character; they are very casual, and
definitely not as important as whites and colors. Let’s say you have
some sorting out of some certain behaviors your child exhibits. Basket
A is the one for which safety, health, or properties are of major
concern. You want to handle this problem right now even if it means a
meltdown for your child and it could take some time. Basket B contains
things you want to work on over a period of time; it can be used as a
training ground for the child to solve problems. Basket C
contains issues that don’t need immediate attention and perhaps can be
dealt with at a future time, other concerns are more important.
Now we are using creative thinking, we are thinking outside of the box, we are carefully choosing our battles.
(Adapted from Dr. Ross W. Greene and his book, The Explosive Child)
- Suggested Home Motor Activities
- Day-to-Day Home Routines
- Activities and Ideas that are Calming, Alerting, and Organizing
- At Home Sensory Activities
- Points For Parents To Ponder
- Checklist of Some Symptoms Identifying Sensory Integration Dysfunction
- Sensory Diet / Accommodations
- Changing How Alert You Feel
- Identifying Difficulties In Self Care Skills