Special Ed Kids Learn Time
Telling Time with Schedules - Part 2
Someday my child needs to be able to do things like telling time. Right now, she is not really talking.
Time Words Schedules are great tools for teaching time. They give a picture of what will happen. (Hopefully you will also have real pictures on the schedule.) Schedules also give a structure for learning time words. Perhaps your child is deaf. She understands the pictures you have placed on the schedule, but she does not have the words to talk about the schedule. Here are some words to start with:
- First, next
- Wait
- Finished
- In the morning
- Lunch time
- In the afternoon
- Supper time
- After supper
- Bed time
- Day
- Night
- Today
- Yesterday
- Tomorrow
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.
- This week
- Last week
- Next week
These are also good starters for autistic children and those with Down syndrome. Remember to target only one especially if your child is just starting to communicate.
Time Questions
Perhaps your child is beyond the single word stage of communication. You will want to work on questions and answers. Here are some starters at that level:
- What is next?
- What time is it? (The answer could be telling you the activity or the actual time.)
- Where will we go tomorrow?
- What is after supper?
- What will we do first?
- What day is swimming?
- Who will come next week?
How will you get your child to answer these questions? At first you will need to model what you want your child to do. You will want lots of practice with the same questions. Remember that this may seem like over kill to you with little or no proof that it is working. But it does takes MANY times of exposure of a word or question in isolation before the child learns it.
The best plans are only as good as we follow them. Some of you have sent feedback that your children (baby, toddler, child, tween, teen) just don't want to cooperate.
Watch for my next article:
Note: All children in this article are fictitious and represent general characteristics of the disability.
© 2006 Lynn Moore No portion of this article may be copied or distributed without the written consent of the author.
