Category: Blogs-Dealing With Special Kids

Screen Time – A New Challenge For Gross Motor Skills

The Covid Pandemic has changed a lot of things in our daily lives and the way regular activities are conducted on a day to day basis. Since the mobility is drastically reduced and lot of communication and dealings are happening virtually; the screen time for any individual has increased big time and so is it for the children who attend their classes online. Ideally the screen time should be not more than 2 hours per day however now it is increased to 5 to 7 hours minimum for these children to attend their classes, leave aside the other adults and professionals.

I would like to share the aspect of what kind of challenge is this particular situation creating for the Gross motor skills? For that let us first understand what is Gross motor skills? Gross motor skill is the coordination between the mind and body, the gross muscles of the body have their movement as per the instructions of the brain. Many researches have already shared that physical activities of your body are equally important in the academic achievements and is incorporated in the school activities and curriculum. But now since virtual classes are conducted it is a challenge to continue with the same kind of engagement for gross motor skills. The working memory of an individual is directly connected to the physical activity that one does. And so also focus, concentration, other achievements are connected to the physical activities.

Hence today I will be sharing with you some activities for growing children that will help you to overcome the challenge faced with gross motor skills for your children at home. The University of Harward has done lot of research on how necessary is gross motor skill development during the early years of the child. In school there are many other activities along with gross motor skill development that will be take care of. However it is very important for the parent also to focus on this one factor at home as well. Activities that can be included in gross motor skills at home can be :-

  • jumping (on a trampoline) If you do not have trampoline, then a spring mattress also will do. You can keep it in a corner in the house. Jumping on it will really be a stress buster for your little one. Jumping can also be done with a low height stool and the child can go up and down of that small stool.
  • You can take red and green coloured tapes (non-electric) and make a design (like a grid) on the floor. You can make them walk and run in those lines. These activities are lots of fun. They are not only learning to walk and do the physical movements but also it creates an impression in their minds about the horizontal lines, vertical lines and slanting lines which si a very significant concept of common patterns.
  • A spin ball activity – tie a ball with the cord to the ceiling and the child can swing and catch the ball which also will give the gross motor movements.
  • You can ask your child to stand on one leg and tie the shoe laces of their shoes

It may sound not so impressive but it is very important to teach the child in their early years kicking, jumping, running, crawling, flipping over the body, hoping, skipping, etc. It should be mandatorily conducted on a regular basis. Parents just need to organize at least 20 to 30 minutes a day for these activities for the children. If during this period, it is not provided then the child will have issues in focus and concentration in the later years.

We might have heard about Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia, dysgraphia, etc. Dyslexia is a learning language disorder. But I will talk today about Dyspraxia and Dysgraphia. Dyspraxia is regarding the children who have difficulty in using the gross muscles and the mind-body coordination with which the body movements. They are clumsy, hesitant to interact with other children and hate sports and field activities but they love to be seated as they have a challenge with their gross motor skills.

Dysgraphia is regarding the children with have a difficulty with small muscles usage to do the fine movements of the fingers like writing, colouring, pasting, cutting, etc. and similar fine motor skill challenges.

We have to ensure that we support our children and give them the opportunity to develop both the motor skills through innovative and creative methods. These activities are all interconnected and required for the overall development of the children in their early years.

 

So parents, be more watchful and use these tools and techniques which are available at home and will help your little child develop well. And you will see that you have a less anxious and less aggressive child at home as their frustrations are all releases out through these activities as they do not know how to manage their emotions at that age. We need to ensure 30 minutes of the day is dedicated to developing the gross motor skills of our children daily.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

Do you have a child in your class who seems to listen but does not follow instructions? And is always on the move?
Are you confused why are some of the students not behaving the way they should?
Does your child throw tantrums and you do not know how to handle it?
Is your child unable to make friends?
These are all behaviors and any behavior can be changed or modified. The entire science of understanding and modifying the behavior is called Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), popularly also known as ABA therapy. It is the most scientifically driven procedure for behavior modification. Here are some tips to understand and help modification of behaviors.

Do you have a child in your class who seems to listen but does not follow instructions? And is always on the move?

Are you confused why are some of the students not behaving the way they should?

Does your child throw tantrums and you do not know how to handle it?

Is your child unable to make friends?

These are all behaviors and any behavior can be changed or modified. The entire science of understanding and modifying the behavior is called Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), popularly also known as ABA therapy. It is the most scientifically driven procedure for behavior modification. Here are some tips to understand and help modification of behaviors.

So, let us understand what is the ABC of ABA?

  • A stands for Antecedent. When any behavior occurs there is a situation that precedes the behavior which is called Antecedent (what happens before, what triggers the behavior). Antecedent is very important to understand if we are looking at modifying the behavior of a child / adult / autistic child / non-autistic child.
  • B stands for Behavior that occurs after antecedent.
  • C stands for consequences. Consequence is what happens after the behavior occurs. Consequences can also be classified into reinforcement and punishment. If we want to change or modify the behavior then it is of utmost importance to understand the concept of reinforcement and punishment.

Reinforcement is used to increase the occurrence of a wanted behavior. There are two types of reinforcement – Positive & Negative.

Punishment is used to decrease the occurrence of an unwanted behavior. Punishments, traditionally are considered not to be used unless very necessary as it leaves a scar on the psyche of a child. And there are two types of punishments – Positive & Negative

If you learn to use reinforcements and punishments, then you are able to modify anyone’s behavior. So for all those parents, teachers and caregivers who want to induct good, desirable and socially acceptable behavior in the children, they must understand the science of using reinforcements and punishments

Let us understand the types of reinforcements and punishment:-

Positive punishment – Positive punishment means adding something that the child does not like in the schedule after the occurrence of an unwanted behavior. E.g. Max a student who gets poor results so every time when max brings home a poor result the mother will ask him to wash the dishes after dinner. So she added something that Max does not like? So to avoid this Max will start getting better grades. And thus he decreases the behavior of bringing poor grades. This is called positive punishment.

Negative punishment – Negative Punishment is taking away something the child likes to decrease an unwanted behavior. E.g. a child if misbehaves in class then the teacher will deny a PE period for him. So if the child does not want to miss the PE period then he will make sure that he behaves well in class. Thus the undesired behavior in class is reduced. This is negative punishment.

Positive Reinforcement – To increase a wanted behavior by adding something that the child likes is called a positive reinforcement. E.g. If a child displays a good behavior such as greeting guests or talking nicely with others, and the parent gives a favorite eatable or visit his favorite place or extra play time. So this will make the child continue the wanted behavior in future. This is positive reinforcement.

Negative reinforcement – Negative reinforcement is to take away something the child dislike to increase wanted behavior E.g. Teacher gives a task to Roby to be completed in 5 minutes and if he does so she will not send him for swimming as Roby dislikes swimming. So to avoid the swimming Roby finished the task in 5 minutes. This is negative reinforcement

Try using the reinforcements and punishments with the children and you will be able to achieve amazing results. The important thing is that you need to be consistent with your implementation to obtain the desired results.

Are you facing a challenge dealing with the children with special needs at home?

With the ‘Stay at Home’ compulsion, I am sure many parents might be going through frustration, as they have to manage kids with different level of challenges at home. Different children are impacted at a different level, it could be mild, moderate, and severe or some may even be profoundly impacted. Hence as a parent, we first need to understand the level and need of our child.

Next, it is most important to change our mindset, as we take it for granted that ‘these kids with challenges cannot manage to learn on an e-learning platform’.  In fact, being an educational psychologist I have tried and tested online learning with our lovely children and was truly happy to see how beautifully various online training programs work to support these children with challenges and help them developing their knowledge and skills.  With the present generation, I believe that e-learning is much more effective than in-class learning. So, do ensure that even these children get an exposure as any other children does.

So, the key to this is, a little bit of research on Google, to find out what sort of online learning support can be provided for the children with special needs at home. One click and you will see a menu of amazing online learning programs and online therapies too. Then, why do we refrain these lovely children from having access to what they deserve and what they need? So make the most of all the available online support like, online behavioural therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, etc.

As you manage to identify the need of your child and give him/her the experience of online learning support it will not only help him, but even help you to develop the necessary skills, as you will be a silent supporter at the back-end. Thus, ultimately it will nurture you as a parent too. And I strongly believe that no one can be a better teacher/therapist than a mother.

Thus being a passionate educational psychologist, I have assured that my team of experts and educators is well equipped and prepared to give the best possible online learning support to these lovely children. And considering the fact that these kids are at home in their comfort zone, we have given them the flexibility of time, which allows the learner to choose any of the available time slots between 9.am to 8.pm. from Sunday to Thursday.

Apart from this, I am sure there might be many hyperactive kids at home, who probably happen to be restless when they are not engaged in any productive activity. The best thing to calm down such a child is to give him/her enough opportunity to utilize their physical energy, in activities like trampoline jumping, skipping or bouncy ball jumps and if nothing just make him aware that he has a corner for himself, where you can lay a mattress and allow him to jump, roll and bounce until his energy is totally drained out. Then let him drink water and get back to his e-learning desk. This will even help him to have a better focus while learning. Do look up for online behavioural therapy programs too as they are really helpful and effective.

On the other hand, I would strongly recommend all the parents to utilize this period and well equip themselves, by learning through a few online courses that are meant for parents and teachers to help them deal with various challenges that they face while handling their kids at home or helping them to develop their knowledge and skills.

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How to Identify & Treat Dyslexia among children

Children with dyslexia are actually very smart, creative, innovative and extremely imaginative. Since they have a different learning ability, they need to be taught the way they learn. They are picture thinkers and they learn by looking at pictures. There are various systems and methods that help people to cope with this difficulty.
If you are born dyslexia your brain remains dyslexic but then there is a method which can bring both kids and adults to come to dyslexia. Dr Alka believes that dyslexia can be corrected for a lifetime if proper learning systems and methods are followed. She runs a training program at Eduscan which is for the duration of 35 hours which is based on the Ron Davis dyslexia correction method. Here they work on the following:
1. How to fix the energy levels of kids: For dyslexic children with ADHD (Attention deficit/ hyperactive disorder), it is important to manage their energy levels.
2. How to focus and concentrate: Here, the focus of kids is improved by using a kush ball method.
3. How to read correctly: Clay is given to children and they are taught how to make three-dimensional letters. With these letters, they start to work on correcting their spellings and eventually start to read.

It is extremely important that the teachers are educated about these methods of learning. They are the first ones to identify these difficulties in kids. If we are trying to teach kids in Latin, but they are able to learn only in Greek, then the teachers should be the ones to identify such difficulties in kids. Also, parents who are not closely involved with the learning and development of their children won’t even know that their child is going through this difficulty. Therefore, early intervention in your child’s learning abilities is important and makes a lot of difference!

About Dr. Alka Kalra

Dr. Alka is a community development authority (Dubai) certified psychologist and a professional counselor. She believes that each child has unique skills and strengths and is particularly passionate about children with learning difficulties. Through assessments (personality, aptitude and intelligence) and tailor made courses at Eduscan, not just for children but also teachers and parents, she has positively touched the lives of numerous children.
She regularly shares her views on parenting and child rearing practices on TV, radio and on Eduscan’s social media. She has been appreciated and awarded various titles including,

  • Top Indian Achiever Super 100
  • “Woman of the year” by International Women Association
  • “Lady of the year” by Indian Ladies association
  • “Lioness of the year” by Lions Club International
  • All India Best Cadet ‘Gold Medal’ by Prime Minister of India Late Indira Gandhi

How to Deal with Slow Learners

Children with dyslexia are actually very smart, creative, innovative and extremely imaginative. Since they have a different learning ability, they need to be taught the way they learn. They are picture thinkers and they learn by looking at pictures. There are various systems and methods that help people to cope with this difficulty.
If you are born dyslexia your brain remains dyslexic but then there is a method which can bring both kids and adults to come to dyslexia. Dr Alka believes that dyslexia can be corrected for a lifetime if proper learning systems and methods are followed. She runs a training program at Eduscan which is for the duration of 35 hours which is based on the Ron Davis dyslexia correction method. Here they work on the following:
1. How to fix the energy levels of kids: For dyslexic children with ADHD (Attention deficit/ hyperactive disorder), it is important to manage their energy levels.
2. How to focus and concentrate: Here, the focus of kids is improved by using a kush ball method.
3. How to read correctly: Clay is given to children and they are taught how to make three-dimensional letters. With these letters, they start to work on correcting their spellings and eventually start to read.

It is extremely important that the teachers are educated about these methods of learning. They are the first ones to identify these difficulties in kids. If we are trying to teach kids in Latin, but they are able to learn only in Greek, then the teachers should be the ones to identify such difficulties in kids. Also, parents who are not closely involved with the learning and development of their children won’t even know that their child is going through this difficulty. Therefore, early intervention in your child’s learning abilities is important and makes a lot of difference!

About Dr. Alka Kalra

Dr. Alka is a community development authority (Dubai) certified psychologist and a professional counselor. She believes that each child has unique skills and strengths and is particularly passionate about children with learning difficulties. Through assessments (personality, aptitude and intelligence) and tailor made courses at Eduscan, not just for children but also teachers and parents, she has positively touched the lives of numerous children.
She regularly shares her views on parenting and child rearing practices on TV, radio and on Eduscan’s social media. She has been appreciated and awarded various titles including,

  • Top Indian Achiever Super 100
  • “Woman of the year” by International Women Association
  • “Lady of the year” by Indian Ladies association
  • “Lioness of the year” by Lions Club International
  • All India Best Cadet ‘Gold Medal’ by Prime Minister of India Late Indira Gandhi