The holidays and new year are an exciting time usually filled with fun and laughter. It is a great time to include your special needs child in the festivities so they can enjoy themselves during this period. While the holidays are a festive period, not everyone is happy, with many people even falling into loneliness and depression.
It is important to keep this in mind, to not take it for granted that everyone will automatically enjoy themselves. This is especially true for special needs children as they tend to be quite sensitive to changing routines and rapidly changing environmental stimuli. While we might see festive lights, sounds, smells, colours, and noises, a special needs child may see this as something overwhelming. Especially the amount of people that the child may encounter may be excessive and trigger a panic.
While this period can be chaotic, it can still be made enjoyable provided you tame the unpredictable into the predictable.
Creating a Calendat of events
If you sit down and create a calendar of events with your special needs child, they are involved in the planning. It is a way for them to pre-empt what is coming, to expect it, and to be ready for it. By the time these events and activities come around, they aren’t sudden and disruptive, but expected and the child will be able to enjoy the activity rather than be stressed.
To do this, set some times to create the calendar. Designate specific days for certain activities, and talk through what is going to happen on those days. If you are planning to take the child shopping, you should start slowly and work your way up over several days. Jumping straight into a full holiday crowd would likely be too much for the child to handle, so plan accordingly and ensure your activities and plans can account for the crowd that they can comfortably accept.
If you are planning on decorating a tree, plan it with the child in advance, and have all the materials ready. Remember that holiday activities, although fun, can also be stressful and trigger arguments, so the better you plan, the more relaxed and ready you can be to carry out your decoration.
If you plan to have people over, talk to the child about this so they know who is coming and what to expect on certain days.
As the calendar of events come around, mark them off with your child so you both know what to expect. In this way, you can create a routine that makes the chaos of the holidays more predictable and manageable for your child.
College of Allied Educators has a range of courses to train you how to better understand and teach special needs children and children with learning disabilities so they can get the most out of life.
Advanced Diploma in Special Education
- The 12-month Advanced Diploma in Special Education trains educators and parents in the identification, diagnosis and treatment of these needs and the basic principles and practices of effective teaching and learning. The programme is highly practice-oriented to ensure that what you learn in class can be applied to children with special needs under your charge.
- The 6-month Diploma in Education (Special Needs) part-time programme provides an essential introduction to the various categories of exceptional children and educational programmes available. The course will also train you to confidently design and implement an Individualised Education Plan or IEP to aid in specific areas such as language and communications.
- The 6-month Diploma in Disability Studies (DDIS) part-time programme is designed specifically to train potential candidates to teach children with a wide range of disabilities, including those with various degrees of intellectual, physical, behavioural, psychological, and sensory problems, or a combination of these.
Diploma in Learning Disorders Management
- The 6-month Certificate in Learning Disorders Management and Language Development part-time course is designed specifically to train potential teachers, parents and caregivers to identify, detect and support children with learning and speech difficulties.
- The 12-month Diploma in Learning Disorders Management and Child Psychology part-time course is designed specifically to train potential teachers, parents and caregivers to identify, detect and support children with special needs, such as Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Dyspraxia, and Dyslexia.
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