Organizing Your Home for a Child with Special Needs
We are busy people. We have so many commitments that we need to use schedules to help us keep track of our various responsibilities. Photographic and written activity schedules serve precisely the same function for children, youths, and adults with autism. Schedules remind them of the tasks that must be accomplished so that they, like us, need not to depend upon other persons to instruct or “nag” about things that need to be done.
It is important that parents take the time out to organize their home environment. Everyday is a challenge with any child. Your child’s disability may add erratic behavior, extra therapy sessions, and formalized home exercises that can strain the most composed family, both mentally and physically (Activity Schedules for Children with Autism 1999).
Josephine Giardina is one of our Special Education teachers at Holistic Learning Center. She has a passion for helping families organize and create a structured environment within their homes so that everyone feels like they are a part of the family team. In her years of experience working with children with special needs she has seen the benefits of taking the time to organize your home so daily life can run smoothly. Josephine finds that using a picture schedule will help your child understand when activities will change, and what the behavioral expectations are for each activity.
Services offered in your home:
- Developing a daily routine and checklist with use of picure cards for washing, tooth brushing, getting ready for school, morning routine, and other chores
- Organizing a specific place for your child’s possessions
- Creating a schedule for children to follow when they come home from school and for weekend activities
- reating a sensory area for children where they can go and find lotion, pillows, oral motor toys, music, and more
- Creating an educational area where children have access to books, puzzles, games, and arts and crafts
Please call the center to arrange a consultation appointment in your home with Josephine at (914) 793-9100.
A Space of Their Own Article published by Susan Varsames M.Ed. in Parent Guide News Manhattan, January 2013.