Teaching your child

Tutors & Teachers ¦

Sample Lesson ¦

Contact Us

Teaching Your Child at Home - Where to Start??

There are many challenges to raise a child, and these are significantly increased when your child has learning difficulties. From their first and following assessments, to their education plan, you, as parents are there every step of the way. Your child will meet many people during this time, healthcare professionals, tutors, therapists etc, but you as parents, remain constant.

The relationship you have with your child is unique, and your approach to teaching your child at home is important to consider:

Teaching children with learning difficulties can at first seem to be a daunting task, and it is indeed a challenge. Every child has different skills and abilities, and we can use these abilities to start a home teaching programme.



Problems can occur when you attempt to teach your child. This could happen because your child is used to your relationship as it is, and they may protest the change.
This can lead to undesired behaviour for the child and inevitably, frustration for the parent.

Many families want to help teach their child basic skills at home and need advice as to how to start.

'Most parents assume the role of either educator or advocate for their child.
In either role, the parents typically provide the best perspective on their child's developmental history, current needs and learning style.'
Catherine Maurice 1996.

Firstly, it is important to follow an assessment made by your Early Intervention Team, Psychologist, Home Tutor or Teacher. The Assessment of Basic Learning and Language Skills (ABLL's) James L Partington, Mark L. Sundberg, is a useful assessment as it examines a broad cross-section of a child's skills. The results of this assessment will inform the person teaching a child how to design an accurate appropriate curriculum to suit the learning needs of each individual child. This is a recommended assessment, and different teams have their own strategies and assessment protocols.

There are various examples of assessment, from basic to advanced that can be carried out prior to designing a teaching program at home. If you don't have a formal assessment, you can still begin a basic skills teaching program by looking at the basic skills your child has.

Although we can offer you advice and hints and tips on how to get started, we also know that every family is different, and communicates in different ways. Therefore, the advice we offer is basic ideas that would be helpful to most people. If you find a different or additional way of teaching that suits you and your child, stick with it.

Before you begin a teaching programme, consider the following:

1. How does your child request items?
2. Does your child use language / label items when asked what they want?
3. Will your child sit on chair and engage in an activity?
4. How long will your child engage in an activity?
5. Does your child imitate movements when asked?
6. Can your child select items when asked?

This can be done using different play activities that your child enjoys. When you have considered the answers, and depending on the outcome, you can start to pair the basic skills your child has, with the elements you wish to teach. For example, you may have to begin with offering your child reinforcers (see glossary) and praise just for sitting on a chair for a few minutes. Or, your child may sit and work for a while, and so praise is given during teaching or playing.

Interspersing play activities (such as play dough) and teaching activities (such as labelling picture cards) is a great way to improve your child's concentration. An example of this is using a sand timer. Try 2mins play dough, then 2mins picture cards. (To see how this type of programme works, go to the free demo of our Hometrain course.)

Be sure that the skills you wish to introduce match the skills your child has. Make your activities achievable at the start and above all - Have Fun!

If you set your goals too high, the motivation your child has to learn will be low. If you produce interesting and quick (bite-sized) activities that your child can relate to, this will increase their motivation, and increase the probability of further learning.

I find that when a child is playing, you have positive engagement and motivation, and this is a great time to encourage your child to learn and develop useful language skills.

The Hometrain course is designed to help teach basic skills and language to children with learning difficulties. It breaks down a range of skills and gives lesson plans to teach at home in a simple, fun way. A full range of specially designed resources come with the lesson plans too.

Keep a record!
Learning Together also includes a Teaching Record that is completed every 8 weeks, and a weekly diary page, designed for you to easily make notes after teaching.

If you want to know more about our course, go to 'Learning Together' explained.

Also included on subscription, is a free pack called 'Ten Ways to Teach Everything' - which includes lots of ideas and techniques to help teach children basic skills.
For more advice on teaching your child, send your question.

Top of page.
Go to Homepage.