Need Help from SEITS

amother ↓

Sun, Nov 28 2010, 8:41 am

I recently began working with a three year old child in her home. I work with her for almost two hours a day. Her ability to attend for long periods of time are limited. While she is very bright her expressive language skills are very poor. I am at a loss as to what I should be doing with her for the two hours. I have games and books geared towards improved language but after 10-15 minutes she doesn't want to sit anymore. I bring dolls and pretend play items which she enjoys but again after a short while she looses interest. While I have been a SEIT for many years this is my first home based job and without the structure that a school or program affords I am at a loss. Any suggestions?

seeker

Sun, Nov 28 2010, 10:21 am

What to do with her should depend on what her goals are. It is perfectly normal to switch activities every 10-15 minutes; come overprepared so you can change the pace whenever she starts getting lost. Though if you feel that her attention span is really much too short, you can work on that as its own goal - perhaps by having her count how many pages of a book you read in one sitting, and trying to raise the amount. If the parents are OK with it I'm not above using nosh to help things along sometimes - e.g. once a day for every page of a book or turn of a game that she attends through, put a chocolate chip in a cup, then count how many she got, then let her nibble. Maybe a visual schedule or prompt that shows what has to get finished before moving on can help keep her focused? E.g. a picture of a craft (or craft step) completed that she knows hers will look like that BEFORE hopping to the next activity.

Not really knowing your kid, all I can really offer is my sympathy - home based jobs are definitely a lot more work than school!

↑ amother ↓

Sun, Nov 28 2010, 10:47 am

Use the opportunity of being at home to work on home related routines. Include an eating time together, cleanup routine, etc. Think about the school day routines for that age and use that too- story time, pretend play, focused learning abc time, art time. Also, sometimes you need to just observe for a while too see what is not working in order to make a good plan. Reread the iep, make sure to focus on what's needed, both directly and integrated with other activities. Once you set things up, the time will fly.

↑ amother ↓

Sun, Nov 28 2010, 1:35 pm

Thanks for your replies. Her goals are language based as well as social/play . While I have numerous activities , books and games to encourage speech and imaginary play, she is not interested in doing that for two hours. There are times where she just wants to jump on the bed (her mothers ok with that). When she does, I count along with her jumps or pretend she is a rabbit, but I feel like I am not doing my job. I will try to implement more of a schedule. Even if it doesn't help her, maybe it will help the time move quicker as I sometimes feel like I am there for hours.

↑ amother

Sun, Nov 28 2010, 4:15 pm

oy - do I sympathize. I had a home case my self this summer. SEIT is not made for the home. IMpossible to work on social skills as there are no other children to play with. Is there a backyard? Change of scenery sometimes helps. Good Luck!

runninglate

Mon, Nov 29 2010, 8:29 pm

try to vary between sitting, moving activities, etc. for example, you can use a morah music cd to work on following directions. u can't reasonably expect a three yr old to sit and focus for two hours. and don't feel guilty about a bit of off time. in the classroom, there are always times when u do nothing bec. of whats going on, so I wouldn't worry. hatzlocha.