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PLAY Pen Article
Let's Learn To Think Like A Computer!
Helping cognitively young children learn to use computers.
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Decisions, Decisions!
By: Becke Anderson, Parent and Family Services Specialist, Special Edu
Guide for parents.
Following my own advise as a parent (eating crow?) has been a great learning experience for both me and for my children. Parenting is a lifestyle in which we start out with very specific ideas of what our children will become. We finally learn that we can (1)only point them in the right direction, (2)they have to make their own choices in life, and (3)they must deal with the outcomes of those choices. My job as a parent is not to set goals for my child. It is to help him understand how to set his own goals and how he can work to reach those goals. I can help, but I cannot "do it for him". If he decides he wants to become the world's best banjo player, I can help him buy the banjo and drive him to music classes. But he will only learn the instrument if he practices it. The same is true whether the goal is making friends, tying his shoes, learning to read, or getting a job. I am only here to guide, to walk beside and encourage, to cheer successes and bandage wounds. I must not push from behind, or he will stumble forward. I must not "blaze the trail" before him, removing every rock of difficulty from the path, or he will not learn to remove them for himself. Parents are the first and most important advocates a child will ever have in life. We spend more hours with our children than do teachers, doctors, counselors, or anyone else. We must seek and use the knowledge of others who work with our children, but as parents we must use that knowledge with care. Each person working with my child has wisdom in a specific area of life ... educational needs, physical needs, emotional needs, etc. I must select with care from what they have to provide to meet the needs of my child. Make the best decisions you can, based on the information you have, and enjoy your children. Remember that being a parent is not just what we teach our children, but it is also about what our children teach us about ourselves. May they always teach you joy.
Welcome to Dragonfly USA.
PLAY Tip
Crystal Drop Ball: Sensory Integration and Balance
Try sitting the child cross-legged on a ball. Hold their hips firmly, and slowly roll the ball from the center out in the forward directions on a gentle angle.
Watch to see how (and if) the child compensates for the new angle of their trunk. We want to see the chin tip back towards level with the floor. This signifies the understanding that "upright" is not always determined by the position of the hips relative to the floor, but rather is cued by the relation of the inner ears to the floor.
Prompt the child to "sit up straight" both with verbal and demonstrative cues. Once the rolling forward is mastered, work on backwards, side-to-side, and in a gentle circular motion. The see-through ball adds extra fun!