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Incidental Learning

Incidental learning is perhaps one of the most effective teaching strategies. It allows the child to learn in a non-pressurizing environment and helps him to learn about generalization- adapting the skills that he knows in any setting that he is in.

However, very often we as adults miss out on the many opportunities presented to us for carrying out incidental teaching. We are so entrenched in our own learning system that education happens only in the classroom, that we fail to see the natural environment as a valuable teaching tool.

Natural environment versus controlled setting.

A controlled setting is an environment that is manipulated so that activities within it can yearn results that are not affected by external factors. For example, a lesson is held in the classroom so that students do not get distracted by outside noises and thus may concentrate better.

A natural environment contrary to a controlled setting, involves activities held outside of a manipulated setting. For example, instead of conducting the sketching lesson in class, the art teacher brings her students to the park to complete their drawings.

While there are advantages in learning in controlled settings, we tend to overlook the positive effects a natural environment has in many aspects of education. One of the merits of a natural environment is the opportunity for incidental learning. For example,

1) A community visit to the zoo is fun for the children but it also teaches them about animals and the various concepts that are associated with the animals.

2) A grocery shopping trip can be more than just stocking up on home necessities but also be a lesson about social rules (queuing up, wait for turn),  different categories of items and money counting skills.

3) Playing a game with the family teaches about following rules, social cues and manners and encourages social interaction such as sharing.

4) Going to the gym not only promotes gross motor skills and motivation but also provides opportunities to teach action words and verbs.

The possibilities and advantages of incidental learning in a natural environment are endless. Of course, incidental learning can be done in a controlled setting too. However, there are so many things the natural environment has to offer. Why restrict ourselves and our children to just the structured and standard routine? In fact, we want to inculcate a sense of flexibility in our children's daily life as discuss in my Flexible Thinking Series and the natural environment is always a helpful ally in achieving that goal.

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions that you would like to share with me and other readers out there , please do not hesitate to email me at davensim@triumphantkids.com.

Also, visit my website, www.triumphantkids.com to find out more about the services that I provide.

The flexible thinking series: Part 1

Teaching flexible thinking through shapes and colours

For this part of the Flexible Thinking Series, I am going to suggest some methods we can use the concepts of shapes and colours to encourage flexible thinking.

1) Identifying different shapes that can be spotted in a picture.

 Ask the child what shapes he can spot in the picture. Then, trace the shape with a coloured pen or pencil to make it more concretely for the child.

2) What can we draw with a 'shape' exercise. Ask the child to choose a shape. Then inform the child that you are going to use the shape to draw things that you can think of together. "What can we use the triangle to draw?" Start off by showing the child what you mean, " I know! We can use the triangle to draw a roof!" Continue with the prompt till the child gets an idea of what the exercise is about. Then gradually let the child take charge.

After drawing some items with the shape, have the child colour the pictures but only part of the pictures that are the shape you were talking about - in this case, only the triangles. After the colouring, praise the child and go through with her the things you have drawn with the shapes. The purpose of the exercise will seem even more concrete with the shapes being coloured.

3) Colouring pictures of items that have different colours. For example, colouring two apples in a picture," Jane is eating a green apple and billy is eating a red apple". Let the child choose the colours, for example,  of different shirts, "John is wearing a -- shirt and Fabian is wearing a -- shirt". Make up stories for the child to follow so that he has the cue to choose, "It is a rainy day. What do you think the clouds look like? Pick a colour."

4) Playing with paint or water colours. Letting the child mix the paints to get different shades and types of colours can be a fun and exploratory experience for the child.

There are so many ideas we can use with shapes and colours to teach flexible thinking and creativity. I am sure you can come up with lots of more interesting ideas while playing and working with your child. The most important thing when it comes to creativity is having fun and exploring the endless possibilities you can create with your child.

I hope you have liked the Flexible Thinking Series so far. If you have any suggestions or comments regarding the series or anything in particular, please do not hesitate to email me at davensim@triumphantkids.com.

Also, please visit my website, www.triumphantkids.com to find out more about the services that I provide.

With deepest rewards,
Daven

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Time to focus! Concentrate!

Often times we find it hard to get a child with autism to focus and concentrate on what he is looking at, listening to or doing. Whatever the cause for the lack of attention, it is important to inculcate the discipline to pay attention. Lack of concentration can result in poor achievement rates in whatever a person is doing. Poor attention skills are also one of the many reasons why one is unable to communicate efficiently.

There are exercises we can do to help children work on their concentration skills. Here are a few suggestions.

1) Maintaining eye contact. Getting the child to maintain her line of vision by following an object. Make it into a game. For example, you can shift the coin slot around the table and challenge her to slot in as many coins as possible.

2) Hand- eye coordination. There are so many games and toys out there in the market that promote hand eye coordination. For example, magnetic dartboard, ball and hoop and miniature bowling set.

3) Spot the difference. Engage the child in a game of 'spot the difference' between two identical pictures. Begin easy by using very basic and obvious pictures before moving to more advanced ones. You do not want to cause the child to lose interest or get bored easily. Another variation of this game is finding an object in a whole picture in which the child has to scan the whole picture visually to find the hidden object. You can also set up a treasure hunt game by hiding an object in a specific area that the child has to look in.

4) Listening comprehension. Tell the child a very short story. Start with only a few short sentences. For example, "John is going to the market. He wants to buy apples", to which you ask, " where is John going?" and " what does John want to buy?". Gradually progress to longer sentences and more questions. The key here though is not to overwhelm the child with too much information at one go. Ease the child into the fundamentals of listening carefully.

5) Reading comprehension. Read a simple book with the child. Depending on the child's focus level, you might want to read a few pages ( in some cases, one page) at a time. Ask simple questions pertaining to the pages read. Practicing this reading comprehension once a day might really propel your child towards better focus.

I hope that these suggestions give you a general idea on what exercises you can do with your child to work on his concentration skills. Remember, it is beneficial to practice concentration skills everyday or consistently to see results. Practice and exercises with your child can be as interesting as you want and make them to be.

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions that you would like to share with me and other readers out there , please do not hesitate to email me at davensim@triumphantkids.com.

Also, please visit my website, www.triumphantkids.com to find out more about the services that I provide.

Till the next post, I send you my deepest regards,
Daven.

The Flexible Thinking Series: An Introduction.

The importance of stretching one's mind.

One of the problems children with autism face is rigidity in thinking. This might lead to learning difficulties and often times difficulties with communication and social interaction. Creativity in thinking is important both academically and socially. Lacking creativity, one might find looking for solutions to problems and interacting with others challenges that could be resolved if only thoughts are more flexible.

However flexible thinking is not something that one masters overnight or in a few sessions of therapy. Flexible thinking is an on going training of the mind, an exercise that has to be continually done and the skill consistently practiced and applied in everyday life. I would like to call flexible thinking as the soul of creativity. Can anyone stop being creative? Of course - because the mind has stop thinking flexibly.

It is no longer enough to just think. While thinking has to be encouraged at all times, thinking flexibly has to be emphasized.

What are some advantages of flexible thinking?

Reduce incidents of anxiety and temper tantrums. A child who is less rigid may be more willing to try out other options than melt down just because standard routine has been disrupted.

Better learning behaviour. A child who is less rigid in thinking may be more willing to try out other options of using a skill other than the methods he is used to for learning. for example, a child who thinks flexibly is more willing to draw a circle using the clockwise motion as opposed to the anti clockwise motion which he has been so used to.

Promotes better social and interactive skills. A child who is more flexible in thinking may be more willing to accommodate the change of rules in games. A child who is less rigid may also be more sporting when it comes to losing a game.

Can you think of more advantages that flexible thinking might bring?

Flexible thinking is a powerful brain tool that is going to benefit anyone and everyone but in order to harness the power that is of flexible thinking, we have to teach the child when as young as possible. Not to say that it is not helpful if we start later but it is always good to get a head start.

There will be more posts regarding flexible thinking coming up on the Triumphant Kids blog. I am going to discuss more about what can be done to teach flexible thinking. I hope that the suggestions will benefit your child in many aspects of his or her life and learning journey. So do watch out for more 'Flexible Thinking Series' posts brought to you only by the Triumphant Kids Blog!

Till then, if you have any queries or comment, please do not hesitate to email me at davensim@triumphantkids.com.
Also, please do visit my website to find out the services I provide.

Deepest regards,
Daven