It’s that time of the year again where everyone is starting to get into the festive end-of-the-year mood. Family, friends, adult, and kids will all be looking to join in the festivities and fun; but it’s this time can also be a difficult time for some children as they may not know how to fully participate and enjoy themselves.
We can’t always assume everyone will be able to have fun and enjoy themselves. It’s easy to take it for granted, but for children with special needs, the noise, sights, and sounds may be too much for them to deal with. It can end up causing a lot of anxiety and stress for them. It’s good to keep them in mind when we go about our celebrations. They deserve to enjoy themselves as well, and there are ways to help them enjoy this period.
Creating a Calendat of events
If you sit down and create a calendar of events with your special needs child, they are involved in the planning. It is a way for them to pre-empt what is coming, to expect it, and to be ready for it. By the time these events and activities come around, they aren’t sudden and disruptive, but expected and the child will be able to enjoy the activity rather than be stressed.
To do this, set some times to create the calendar. Designate specific days for certain activities, and talk through what is going to happen on those days. If you are planning to take the child shopping, you should start slowly and work your way up over several days. Jumping straight into a full holiday crowd would likely be too much for the child to handle, so plan accordingly and ensure your activities and plans can account for the crowd that they can comfortably accept.
If you are planning on decorating a tree, plan it with the child in advance, and have all the materials ready. Remember that holiday activities, although fun, can also be stressful and trigger arguments, so the better you plan, the more relaxed and ready you can be to carry out your decoration.
If you plan to have people over, talk to the child about this so they know who is coming and what to expect on certain days.
As the calendar of events come around, mark them off with your child so you both know what to expect. In this way, you can create a routine that makes the chaos of the holidays more predictable and manageable for your child.
College of Allied Educators has a range of courses to train you how to better understand and teach special needs children and children with learning disabilities so they can get the most out of life.
Advanced Diploma in Special Education
- The 12-month Advanced Diploma in Special Education trains educators and parents in the identification, diagnosis and treatment of these needs and the basic principles and practices of effective teaching and learning. The programme is highly practice-oriented to ensure that what you learn in class can be applied to children with special needs under your charge.
- The 6-month Diploma in Education (Special Needs) part-time programme provides an essential introduction to the various categories of exceptional children and educational programmes available. The course will also train you to confidently design and implement an Individualised Education Plan or IEP to aid in specific areas such as language and communications.
- The 6-month Diploma in Disability Studies (DDIS) part-time programme is designed specifically to train potential candidates to teach children with a wide range of disabilities, including those with various degrees of intellectual, physical, behavioural, psychological, and sensory problems, or a combination of these.
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