What’s inside this article: Five easy ways for parents to encourage their child’s learning journey at home by building life skills like communication, positive social interaction, and emotional resilience.
If you’re getting your child ready to start school, this might be new to you. It can be tricky for a parent to know the best way to prepare their child. This is hard enough for a parent of a neurotypical child, so add a neurodiverse child to the mix, and it can be extremely difficult.
Routines are your best friend when it comes to getting your child ready for school. The earlier you start this, the better it will be for both your child and yourself.
Learning always starts at home, and children are learning and taking in information from the moment they’re born. Take a look at the article below to find some easy ways to encourage your child’s learning journey.
Read With Your Child
Starting from infancy, you should spend time reading aloud to your child every day.
Starting early encourages a lifelong love of books and promotes language development. Even if it feels like they aren’t paying much attention, they’re absorbing more than you might think!
As children get older, it is important that you don’t give up reading with them. The older they get, the more vital it is that they pick up the skill of reading.
There are many benefits of reading to your child:
- Boosts language development: Expands vocabulary and understanding of language patterns.
- Strengthens parent-child bond: Creates special time together, enhancing emotional connection.
- Improves executive functions: Improves memory, concentration, and critical thinking skills.
- Promotes imagination and creativity: Sparks curiosity and encourages imaginative thinking.
- Develops listening skills: Kids build focus and attention by listening to parents read.
- Prepares for school success: Children whose parents read to them regularly are better readers and do better in school.
- Builds a love of learning: Encourages a lifelong interest in reading and exploration.
Make sure you choose age-appropriate books to read with your children; you don’t want to pick up a Stephen King horror book for a three-year-old.
Children often start to memorize books as parents read them again and again. Then, as language skills develop, they can start ‘reading’ along as these become familiar to them. Reading is fundamental and encourages your child to begin learning phonics, which will eventually lead to their being able to write and spell.
You can also help your child develop life skills and social-emotional skills through books. Researchers found that the brain activity that occurs when we read fiction is very similar to experiencing that situation in real life.
This means reading about a situation or concept helps children work out how to solve it in reality.
Check out this list of books about emotions for kids and my favorite Julia Cook books for social-emotional learning.
Let Them Lead During Play
Younger kids, and even older children, love to play and create fun games using their imaginations. If your child wants to grab their dolls or cars and do some pretend play with you, then let them take the lead.
I know it sometimes feels silly, especially when kids keep changing up the rules on you mid-game. But, this shows that you can actively engage with your child, making them feel valued because you are doing as they say with their own game.
There are important milestones of play as children get older. You might already know some of these or need to learn about them. However, watching how your child plays and interacts with others can indicate what stage they’re at socially.
Solitary play happens when children enjoy playing on their own, they will typically have no concept of sharing or playing with others.
Parallel play typically happens from age two onwards, but it’s common in autistic children of all ages. It involves children playing alongside each other but not necessarily playing together.
Associative play is where your child may start to engage with other children while playing and join in with the same toy. For example, a play kitchen or garage.
Co-operative play can happen anytime from age four and is the most interactive stage of play. Children will engage with each other and create various games to play together.
Another type of play is spectator or onlooker play. Quite a lot of children adopt this style and will observe what other children are doing before joining in. This allows them to learn the rules and objectives without actively asking what they are.
Giving your child every opportunity to enjoy these stages of play helps develop social skills and practice interacting positively. It’s great for them to have some practice with this before starting school.
If your child is autistic or has ADHD, they may struggle with social skills and making new friends. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible; it will just take longer, and expectations should be set based on their abilities, not their age.
Praise, Praise, Praise
It’s important to provide positive reinforcement and praise to children every day.
Praise and positive reinforcement are important for kids because they help shape behavior and build confidence and a positive self-image.
Here’s why:
- Encourages positive behavior: Positive reinforcement highlights desirable actions, making kids more likely to repeat them.
- Builds self-esteem: Genuine praise helps children feel valued and capable, boosting their confidence.
- Reinforces learning: Acknowledging effort and achievements strengthens the learning process and encourages perseverance.
- Promotes emotional resilience: Positive feedback can help kids cope better with challenges and setbacks.
- Promotes intrinsic motivation: When kids associate positive feelings with accomplishments, they’re more likely to engage in tasks for personal satisfaction rather than external rewards.
- Develops a growth mindset: Praising effort over outcome teaches kids that improvement comes from hard work and persistence, encouraging a love of learning.
Balancing praise with guidance helps children understand their strengths while encouraging them to improve in areas where they need support.
Why Some Autistic Children Don’t Respond As Expected to Praise
Some autistic children don’t respond well to praise. As soon as an adult offers positive feedback, they may start to act out or shut down. This is due to a variety of reasons related to how they process social cues, sensory input, and emotions.
Here are some key factors:
- Difficulty interpreting social cues: Autistic children may not fully understand the intent behind praise, especially if it’s given in an overly emotional or exaggerated way.
- Sensory sensitivities: Praise can sometimes involve physical touch (like a hug) or enthusiastic verbal expressions, which may be overwhelming or uncomfortable for a child with sensory sensitivities. Loud or sudden praise might cause discomfort rather than positive feelings.
- Dislike of attention: Some autistic children don’t enjoy being the center of attention. Praise, especially in front of others, may cause anxiety or stress if it draws too much focus on them.
- Preference for routine and predictability: Unexpected praise may disrupt a child’s sense of routine or order. If your child thrives on structure, spontaneous praise might feel unpredictable and unsettling.
- Praise style mismatch: Some autistic children prefer more specific and direct feedback rather than vague or general praise like “good job.” They may respond better to clear, factual feedback that acknowledges their efforts or achievements in concrete terms.
However, autistic children still need and deserve positive reinforcement and recognition for their efforts and accomplishments. If you understand why praise makes your child feel overwhelmed or uncomfortable, you can find a way to offer praise in a way that’s better received.
For example, my child prefers getting positive feedback and acknowledgment in private. So, his teachers can do that after class rather than in front of the other students.
Communicate Effectively
One important thing you can teach your child is how to communicate effectively. This will be so helpful if they find themselves struggling at any point during their learning journey.
It’s important to teach self-advocacy so they can communicate with their teachers that they are having a hard time and need a break. Remember, this communication doesn’t even need to be through speech; it could be a physical cue or, a gesture, or even sign language.
It’s also important for you to communicate effectively with your child. Demonstrating effective communication will lay the foundation for them to develop this skill as well.
Children do their best to copy what you say and do in the early stages of learning; they are like little sponges taking everything on board. Make sure you pay close attention to how you are speaking and communicating with others, especially if you have little eyes on you.
Share What You Enjoy Too
Children need to learn the balance between sharing their own interests and engaging in the interests of others. While it’s natural for kids to want to take the lead, it’s equally valuable for them to experience participating in activities that might not be their first choice.
This helps teach flexibility and patience, both of which are essential for building strong peer relationships as they grow. Building this skill early means your child will be less likely to struggle with socializing later.
For example, if a child always expects to choose the game or activity, they might struggle to connect with others when the focus shifts to something different. By encouraging your child to sometimes follow others’ lead, you’re helping them develop key social skills like compromise and understanding.
This doesn’t mean they have to always enjoy or excel at the activity, but it teaches them the importance of collaboration and considering the interests of others—important building blocks for friendships.
Through these experiences, your child can better navigate social settings, understand different perspectives, and create deeper connections with peers who may share or even introduce them to new interests.
In conclusion, preparing your child for school and helping them along their learning journey is about more than just academics. It’s about building life skills like communication, social interaction, and emotional resilience.
By establishing routines, encouraging a love of reading, offering praise, and teaching your child to both lead and follow in play, you’re laying the foundation for a positive and successful school experience.