What you need to know
Depending on needs of the individual child, therapies including physical, speech, and occupational, have been shown to increase the child’s motor planning, processing, and integration skills.
What you can do
Some recommendations from therapists include
- Breathing – advise the child to take a deep breath if speech is erratic
- Tracing – Allow the child to trace letters repeatedly
- Repetition – repeat exercises several times to enhance muscle memory
- Functional Training – practice exercises that mimic everyday movements
- Modeling – place the children next to peers so that they can model behavior
- Sensory Table – use of sensory table to work with different mediums
The classroom environment can also affect the child’s progress
- Structure – maintain a similar classroom structure and schedule
- Sequence – transition subject topics in the same pattern each day
- Instruction – one-on-one instruction with significant repetition may be very helpful
Look for patterns/behaviors in the classroom that can be reinforced in the home.
Have an open communication policy with parents, other clinicians and educational professionals.