Parenta Magazine March 2020

“
If you finish a task for a child then you
are teaching them that you can do it
better than they can. Have patience and
let them figure it out for themselves.
“
drawer? Is there room in
the drawer? If children can’t
physically do the task that is
expected of them, then they
won’t become independent
at it and you are setting
them up to fail.
Don’t do it for them!
I know this seems obvious
but us adults are always in a
hurry. As a parent I certainly
am. If you finish a task for a
child, then you are teaching
them that you can do it
better than they can. Have
patience and let them figure
it out for themselves.
Model it. We all know that
children watch everything
we do. Show them that you
can do things for yourself
and encourage them to do
the same. You can do this
both in real life situations
and in role-play.
Use visuals. If a child
is still learning a skill,
then giving them verbal
instructions is great, but it
may be difficult for some
children to process these
instructions, especially if
you are using too much
language. Plus, the words
have gone as soon as
they have been spoken,
so the child is left trying
to both remember as
well as process what was
said. If you display these
instructions visually using
visual symbols or photos,
then a child can take their
time to process them, follow
them and keep checking
back if they need to.
Praise, praise, praise.
I’m sure you do this anyway,
I hope you do! I can’t stress
this enough. Children
love attention, especially
positive attention so give
lots of it when they achieve
something new.
Give positive and
constructive feedback.
If a child is trying hard
but not just managing a
new skill independently,
it’s helps to give them
constructive feedback
amongst positive feedback.
In teaching, there is a
marking method called ‘star,
star, wish’ where you say
two brilliant things about
a child’s piece of work and
then one thing they could
work on next time – the
thing that you ‘wish’ them to
do next. There is no reason
that this can’t be applied to
verbal feedback.
Peer support – elder
children supporting
younger children. We
know that young children
love to watch, and be like,
older children. What better
way to teach new skills than
by having other children
model it? Get them involved!
Gina Smith
Gina Smith is an
experienced teacher with
experience of teaching
in both mainstream and
special education. She
is the creator of ‘Create
Visual Aids’ - a business
that provides both homes
and education settings with
bespoke visual resources.
Gina recognises the fact
that no two children are
the same and therefore
individuals are likely to
need different resources.
Create Visual Aids is
dedicated to making visual
symbols exactly how the
individual needs them.
Website:
www.createvisualaids.com
Email:
gina@createvisualsaids.com
Encourage parents
to share what
children are doing
independently at
home. It may be that the
child is able to do more
than you had realised. You
could get parents to share
achievements as a ‘wow’
observation, so that you
can both celebrate it, and
have the same levels of
expectation both at home
and in your setting.
So there we have a few tips
for encouraging children to
do things by themselves.
They don’t just apply to
practical things such as
getting dressed, but also
apply to just ‘being brave’
and having a go at new
things by themselves. Teach
children that it is ok to go
wrong – the important thing
is that we tried!
Good luck and have fun!
parenta.com | March 2020 31