Necessity is the mother of...

I am the least creative parent on the planet. All that arts and crafts, nifty ideas stuff does not flow from this head. And, when I find arts and crafts and other things to make, it must be easy to read and do. (I’m not the one for assembling presents either).

When you have daily contact with your child, you really don’t know what progress they’re making or how they are slipping behind. I discovered the latter one Sunday as she participated in the children’s message. The language was just soooo complicated. Questions were whizzing by and she had this blank look on her face. I realized that much of the verbal noise (speech) was just sailing over her head and I couldn’t translate for her. The challenge was to find a Sunday school environment that met our needs – visual aids, manipulatives, simple language, music. Seems simple enough – not.

Non-creative mom that I am, I went looking for materials that met all of those needs. Yippeee!  I found them. An area religious store carried a range of books for preschool and kindergarten Sunday school classes. I purchased three items that were very helpful – Read and See DVD Bible, narrated by Max Luxcado and others; Easy Christian Crafts – bible stories through simple arts & crafts activities; Bible Stories to Color & Tell – great reproducible activities to make and color; Big Book of Bible Story Art Activities – stories in simple English with relevant creative activities.  The biggest hit for the child: the DVD Bible. It had pictures, simple language, and songs. Moreover, the words for the song appeared on the screen so she could learn to ‘read’ while she sang the songs.

The biggest hit for the non creative parent – Bible Stories to Color & Tell. This book made working with her in a medium that she understood very easy.  There was no frustration for me, even less for her.    So, I had to make a change – my church didn’t have the Sunday school environment that would be helpful to my child so I had to find one that did. We’ve been doing Sunday school at another church for two years – the class is medium size, there are several teachers, they have worked with children on the Autism spectrum, they sing AND for major religious events there is a children’s program. The last item is important because it allows her to see, hear, feel, and experience her learning through the dramatic arts. Creative and visual arts are a critical medium for learning and self expression for many children on the spectrum.

Making Resources: I said I’m not creative so I make no excuses for the homemade resources that I produce. They may not have the glossy, hi-tech finish but they work!!! Early childhood learning involves a range of concepts – shape, size, position, questions (to ask and to answer), numbers, letters – and that’s just the ones I remember off the top of my head. So, when faced with the challenge of understanding the difference between big and little, I used things around the house. I used a picnic basket and I filled it with items from the real kitchen and the toy kitchen.

The BIG and LITTLE basket: egg carton (real and toy); plate, cup, can, milk carton, spoon. The basket simply sat in a corner until we were certain that she understood the concept. Occasionally, we’d take the signs out (big – little) and have her sort the items in the basket. Or, I’d say “can you find the little can?” “can you find the big can?”. There’s enough information about manipulatives and learning. I made mine as I needed them. There’s a sense of accomplishment when you create something and it serves as a learning resource.

Working with ASD children requires patience, gentleness, creativity and resourcefulness. In order to support your child’s learning and development, you may find it necessary to make your own resources and make changes to some of your routines.  Even as we prepare for 2nd grade, there is still a need to develop new resources.  I'm a little anxious about the 2nd grade science fair (Science FEAR I call it).  The whole notion of scientific thinking, creating a science fair project and explaining it, scares me.  Can we just say, I didn't like science so how am I supposed to help my child?

 

Science and science fair prep:  So what do I do? We're practicing asking questions.  I've found some $1.00 resources from Creative Learning Creations, LLC.  They even have a science fair projects resource that is quite nice.  They give you a fact - teach you some science vocab.  Give you steps to follow (helps build understanding about how to approach science) and finally you get to draw pictures of before and after.  That's a resource I bought - the resources to support Science review, geography, history, and social studies - those I created.  I'm so proud of them.  They're simple but effective and that's the whole point - they have to be effective. 

 

So take a look at the resources that exist.  If they don't help you, figure out what the learning need is and if you can make your own.  (Or, find someone who can design learning resources). 

 

Necessity is the mother of invention.