The Flexible Thinking Series Part 2: The Many Facades of Sounds

Flexible thinking activities allow the child to grasp the idea that there are many variations to a single concept. In this part of the series, we are going to explore how sounds can be used as a fun tool to promote learning to variations of a concept.

(Sound is everywhere and very often, children with autism are caused to feel anxious by incoming sounds and noises that are unfamiliar to them. By teaching them about the various transformations of sounds, they may be able to learn in the long run that the unfamiliar sounds they are hearing could actually be related to ones that they are familiar with).

Sound Discrimination:

Play the sound and let the child guess what sound it is. Then play variations of the same sound. For example, the sound of one person clapping, the sound of many people applauding and the sound of fast versus slow clapping. 

Play Pretending with Imitation of Sounds:

      Have the child pretend to be an animal or doing an action while making its sound. For example,   

1.  Pretending to be a lion and then making roaring sound, growling sound and any other loud, angry sound.
2. Pretending you are driving a car, “Vroom, vroom”, “Rrrrrreh vroom” and “beep beep”, “honk honk”.
3. Pretending you are a musician playing different kinds of instruments and making sounds from them.

Same Tune Different Lyrics.

Use same tune for different songs. You can replace the lyrics to a song that your child knows to make a song of your own. For example, while playing with toy car, sing “The car on the road goes vroom, vroom, vroom…” to the tune of Wheels on the Bus. Teach your child lots of different tunes and then gradually incorporate singing into playtime. Encourage your child to think of a tune to sing together so that you can make up lyrics together while playing.

That's all for now. If you have any comments and suggestions, please drop me an email at davensim@triumphantkids.com. Also, please do visit my website for more details about the services I provide in Singapore. Together we can empower your child towards a brighter future.

Till the next post, regards,

Daven.  

Motivation is Key!

Very often, we ask the question, "How to we encourage learning?"

Thus for this post, I shall discuss with you the key to encouragement of learning - Motivation.

The Rationale Behind Motivation .

We all are motivated in one way or another to fulfill our duties in life. We work for a salary. We complete our assignment on time to score a good grade. We go back to school for higher learning to achieve better career opportunities. We work through the hours, waiting for time to knock off. Everyday we are motivated by different kinds of reinforcements to keep us working or fulfilling our duties no matter who we are.

The token system is one of the most common form of reward structures that is being used by professionals and parents. Actually, everyone uses it in one way or another. The token system may exist in our daily life in more abstract forms. For example, we work to earn money and the salary we accumulate can then be spent on things we like or want.

Why the token system?
1) Children need to know what they are working for. Many children with autism who have no understanding of time will need more concrete information on when and how they will be able to get what they want.

2) The token system also facilitates the learning of rules. Following rules is another abstract concept. It cannot be seen, felt or touched. It is a concept that many people fail or refuse to follow if there exists no consequences. There has to be motivation in order for rules to be followed. For example to win a game and feel good about yourself or to win a prize, you will have to follow the rules of the game you are playing. So to feel happy getting what he has requested for, the child needs to follow the rules by earning all the tokens first.

3) Teaches delaying of gratification. Very often we are faced with children who simply can't wait. It is not that they can't, but because they refuse to. Impatience is a reaction to a situation in which you cannot get what you want when you want it. And patience is not an innate virtue we are all born with. Instead, patience is a behaviour we learn, practice and maintain throughout our lifespan. Teaching your child to be patient is key if you want your child to do well in all aspects of his or her life. In an upcoming post, I am going to discuss how a reward structure can facilitate teaching patience.

4) Encourages your child to think. In a previous post, we talk about how making choices encourages your child to think. If you have missed that post or need to refresh your memory, click here. Also It encourages flexible thinking.  As the child get familiarized with the token system and how it functions, the adults can tweak the system around to help the child accommodate different forms of reward structures. We will be talking more about reward structures in the upcoming post.

So be sure to visit this blog real soon as I will be discussing the various form of token systems and reward structures that you could use to help motivate your child.

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

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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