Your ADD teen heads to the mall where he likely looses track of time. He sets his watch alarm for time to head home. He has fun with friends. Your expectation is met.
Telling Time with Schedules for Tweens and Teens
I want my child to say more that one word. I want him to talk!
My child is twelve years old. She needs to learn real life skills.
Watches and Clocks Schedules are great tools for teaching time. Perhaps your tween is deaf. You want her to pick up her room before supper at 6:30. If her schedule shows the times and expectations, there is no confusion.
- 6:00 Pick up your room
- 6:30 Eat supper
Maybe you have teen who is ADD. He would be likely to loose track of time at the mall. He sets his watch for the time to head home. He had fun with his friends. Your expectation of being home on time is met. Everyone is happy.
There are two types of clocks and watches.
Digital Digital clocks and watches display the numbers. They are, of course, the easiest to read. They will probably be the first kind of time that your child learns to read. While digital clocks and watches are great and possibly the right choice for some, it is important to learn to read analog clocks, if at all possible. Consider Junior, who has a learning disability, driving to work. He forgot his watch, and he is approaching the bank clock which is analog. Can he read it?
Analog Analog clocks are the circle ones with hands - very simply said. Sometimes they are the only clocks around. How can Junior learn to tell time on an analog clock?
- Get commercially made games and workbooks that teach time.
- Use analog and digital time on the schedule.
- Hang an analog and digital clock next to each other near the schedule.
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.
