Understanding the sensory aspect of books for children with ASD

It can be frustrating to get kids engaged in reading and even harder for children on the spectrum. As a children’s author, here’s my best tips: Don’t attempt to read books at bedtime when they’re tired and cranky. Find a time that works best for them. Choose sensory friendly books with lots of white space and engaging stories or subjects they’re familiar with. Getting them to look at the pictures first before reading will foster discussion and interaction. Allow fidgety behaviour and if they can’t sit still, walk around while reading. Let them touch the book before you start and be slow and deliberate when turning pages. Keep your voice low and calm, adding facial expressions and repetitive head movements as you read the same book again the next day. This process may have to be repeated many times but don’t give up. The reward is well worth the effort.

Kids, change, and the power of picture books

 Kids, change, and the power of picture books

Picture Books can be great tools for you to use to help your child understand change and new or frightening events, and also the strong emotions that can go along with them. When children are able to think about the text and make connections between the new information presented in the story and their store of background experiences, it allows them to be active and thoughtful about their own anxiety. Children can use picture books to make connections between familiar knowledge and incoming information in order to make predictions and inferences about characters, their motives and actions, as well as story events in order to learn that change is a natural and normal part of life. 

Christmas can be overwhelming for kids with Sensory Processing Disorder

Do you have a kid with SPD?  I do, I have 3!

Sensory overstimulation is common among kids who were premmie babies. Light and sound are the most common triggers, but they can be overstimulated by movement, scents, touch, taste, vibrations and electromagnetic fields.

For some kids, taking a few minutes time out will reset their system. For others, it doesn’t work that way. It can range from uncomfortable and intolerable. 

Sudden strong overstimulation triggers an immediate surge of adrenaline, anxiety and sometimes nausea. Lower levels can creep up and the consequences can last a couple of days. 

Now, imagine if this was you...at Christmas. The lights, sounds and busy crowds start way before the 1st of December these days. Christmas is meant to be the most wonderful time of the year, but for some kids, it’s a constant battle to process the world around them.

What can we do to help?

It’s difficult to avoid, and really not fair to miss out on the fun of Christmas. Gradual increase in tolerance often comes with exposure and age, in a sensory friendly environment. This Christmas, if you are having an event at your work or home, maybe provide a tent or quiet corner for kids to retreat and reset. 

If you see a child having a meltdown, don’t always assume it’s bad behaviour. It could be the world is just too bright or too loud at that moment. Respect a parent who is limited in what they can do to stop it.

We will be hosting a book launch on the 1st of December at Little Gnome for my latest picture book, Little Gnome’s Christmas Wish, a book about a little gnome with sensory processing disorder who loves Christmas but struggles with the lights, noise and crowds. 

Children of all abilities are welcome to come and share an inclusive sensory friendly experience of the real meaning of Christmas, spending time with friends and family who love you and accepts you for who you are.

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/sensory-friendly-christmas-book-launch-tickets-73523888931?ref=eios

Stop telling me what's wrong with our kids

Nearly every day, I see an article online about what's wrong with our kids, from teenage boys to toddlers. Speaking from the view point of a mother who has both at the same time, I am so disappointed that this is the only way they seem to be perceived: as a problem that needs to be fixed.

My grandmother passed away recently. She was a woman who faced many challenges in her life and didn't always make the right decisions when it came to the best interests of her children, but she was passionate about always loving them for who they are. I learnt so much about the challenges of parenting from her and I will be forever grateful.

Our children are doing amazing. They are growing up in a world that is moving faster than any other time in history. No previous generation has had to adapt to the amount of technological, economical and climate change that they will have to do in their lifetime. As far as I am concerned, they are adapting incredibly well and in most cases, no thanks to us.

If we criticise our kids about being more sensitive, more distracted and harder to fit into a mould than previous generations, then we are being absolutely correct but incredibly unproductive. Why does that have to be bad thing? Children are constantly bombarded with real world concepts that we were sheltered from when news was only watched on television at night and only by grown ups. Children are expected to cope with the real world issues without in most cases having an age appropriate context to understand what is happening. We can't shelter our kids from the world. It's everywhere they look; TV, computer, phones and even at the petrol station when you are filling up the car, but we can treat them with the respect they deserve and have conversations with them and give them the tools that need to live in a world that doesn't sleep. I would much rather have a son who felt he could express his feelings to me, both good and bad, so that I could better understand his situation and hopefully give him the tools for further safe expression and continued communication, than make him feel that overwhelming emotions made him weak or inferior somehow and that expressing those feelings is wrong.

If I had a choice between reading a book or playing a game on my iPad when I was their age, I would have chosen iPad, and I love books. The lure of modern technology comes from smart marketing, inadequate arts funding for interactive creative projects and a bunch of dinosaurs who are still trying to compete with immediate, individualised, integrated programming and display an appalling lack  of the imagination and foresight required to embrace what could be an amazing partnership between the new and the old. When parents are so distracted themselves, not only by having to be a two income family just to make ends meet, and then catching up with the younger generation by trying to understand the technology and social media they use with such ingenious prowess, that any time left should be to focus on the children. This is where we as parents fail them, by scheduling in after school and weekend activities from sporting, music and extra academic lessons to fill the white noise that deafens you as a parent of a child that you can't connect with. Connection with our kids is what's missing, and that's where we are failing them and not the other way around.

If we could just spend more time teaching our kids about critical and creative thinking, using the technology they are comfortable with, then they can hold the key to their own salvation. The insatiable need we have to give our kids labels is making them think that if they don't have one, there must be something wrong with them. It's not normal to be normal anymore. We've taken everything that was done with the best of intentions and twisted it with political purpose or economic gain. Even play based learning, extra help in the classroom and children's mental health issues have been skewed so far from the essence of their original purpose that they end up in most cases doing our kids more harm than good. Our education system, child protection agency and health care system are broken and the good people within these organisations that are trying to do the best for our kids are fighting a losing battle. All of these things are our of our kids control and another example of how they are constantly reacting to the world around them in order to survive. There is no time to think.

I understand that our kids aren't perfect, but what more can you expect from an imperfect world? As a parent, I'm not going to beat myself up about that, mainly because I don't have the time or energy to dedicate to what society thinks of me or my children, but mostly because the time I do have is better spent letting my kids know how proud I am of everything they are achieving and how much I'm looking forward to seeing the men they will become. I also let them know how sorry I am that the world they have to grow up in, the world that my generation was meant to fix, is a world full of 'ifs' and 'buts', without a clear answer of why things are the way they are or a united, safe and secure direction for the future. I believe with all my heart that the next generation, when we give them the support they need, not the criticism they definitely don't deserve, then and only then will they be the ones who really can make the world a better place.

Top Tips for How to Read to Kids Who Don't Like Books

We have all heard the age old mantra that children should be read to from birth and this is true, in an ideal world. There is such a thing as a child who simply doesn't want to be read to, who can't sit still long enough or has trouble processing words and pictures at the same time. These children need to be introduced differently to the world of books and progressively to reading, in their own time and on their own terms. Just because they don't have a natural affinity with books, doesn't mean they should miss out on the benefits of Sensory Storytelling.

My youngest son, Tom, was born at 28 weeks. He has recently been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder. He doesn't play with other children, he doesn't watch TV and most of all, he doesn't read books. As a picture book author, not being able to share books with him just about breaks my heart. So, I have been working with him to find some age appropriate, sensory friendly ways to help him discover and embrace the magic of books.

Children who are not interested in books can be put off by many things, some seemingly more significant than others but all of them need to be acknowledged and addressed. Every child is different, but let’s take Tom for example. Firstly, the size of the book bothers him. Bigger is not always better. He will open the book to a page but won't allow or initiate page turning. Even at 18 months old, everything still goes in the mouth. He doesn't like being read to with the book in front of him, but will listen if I am behind and eventually come to me when he is ready. We have never had a successful bedtime storytelling session whereas with my older two boys, we read a book or ten together every night.

My best tip would be don’t attempt to try and read books to a disinterested child at bedtime. They are tired and cranky, and you might be too. Find a bedtime routine that works for them and run with it. Don’t feel guilty if you are not reading to them at night. The second tip is to keep it simple. Choose three books about subjects your child is familiar with and let them choose which one they would like you to read them. 

• Let them touch the book before you start reading.

• Establish a comfortable personal space 

• Be slow and deliberate in your movements, especially when turning the page and pointing to words

• Keep your voice low and calm, limiting expression to what is needed for understanding to begin with and then adding facial expressions and repetitive head movements.

• Look at the pictures in the book first before going back and reading the words if they are still interested. The pictures themselves will foster discussion and interaction.

• Allow fidgety behaviour and if the child is unable to sit still, stand up and walk around while reading.

This is a process and may have to be repeated many times before they become responsive to what you are trying to achieve. Don’t give up. The reward of parent-child bonding over a picture book story is more than worth the effort.

What ways do you have of engaging reluctant readers? I'd love to hear your tips.

Storytelling As A Form Of Expression For Children With Special Needs

Storytelling As A Form Of Expression For Children With Special Needs

By Monisha Iswaran

Putting the effort into teaching your child with special needs how to engage with activities such as storytelling will benefit them considerably in the long run. It is one medium through which they can find an outlet for some much needed self expression. Understanding stories and learning how to retell them to an audience (even if that audience is only mum and dad sometimes), can help with reading, writing, self-confidence and numerous other skills that are essential as your little ones grow up.

The great thing about storytelling is that you are able to match the level of difficulty to your child’s ability. There are a wide number of children’s books available, which suit kids of different reading capabilities. You want to make sure you increase the difficulty of the books your little one reads by small increments - enough so that they are continually challenged and learning, but not so much that they feel discouraged and begin to resent reading as an activity. Once they have become familiar with the simple storyline, get them to retell the gist of it back to you. Similarly, you’ll want to increase the level of detail you expect from them bit by bit. When they first begin this activity, is likely they will only recap the story in a basic one line summary, or perhaps tell you a little about the main characters. That is totally fine! Although you may have to start out by asking them lots of prompting questions, the need to do so will slowly dissipate as they gain confidence, and hopefully begin to recall more from what they have read.

Another wonderful aspect of storytelling is that it is an activity you can engage in literally anytime, and anywhere. You don’t even really need a book present - you could have your little one practice by telling you a story about something that happened in school that day. If they are confident with the activity, they can even make something up and develop their imagination at the same time.

If it’s hard to convince your little ones to get excited about storytelling, combine it with an activity they already find fun! Swings are a great investment, as your kids will no doubt enjoy playing on them, but they are able to multitask while swinging back and forth. You could even make a game out of it, by saying “for each line of the story you tell me, I’ll give you one big push”, as they rock back and forth! Cots are extremely useful, as once you put your little one down for a nap or at their bedtime each night, you can recap the day’s happenings in storytelling form. If they are about to drift off to sleep, you can take a turn at reading to them or telling a story. That way they hear your version as an example, and we all know that’s how kids learn best.

The best thing about storytelling is that you can truly use it as a confidence-booster for kids. Particularly in the case of children with special needs or those with learning disabilities, issues such as self esteem and believing in their own capabilities are extremely important for their development. Activities that involve public speaking, language and can be adjusted to their current level of learning are perfect for doing so. Not to mention, getting lost in a love of reading and storytelling can be a fantastic form of self-expression and the perfect escape from the struggles of everyday life.

As a parent, encouraging your child to participate in such activities, especially in your household, outside of just school is particularly important such that your little ones start to identify storytelling as more than just something they have to do, but rather a hobby they can turn to when they feel down, or just need an emotional release. The benefits are numerous, it’s easy to implement and there aren’t any downsides - so what are you waiting for? 

https://www.mydeal.com.au/

Engaging Children Through Reading to be Critical Thinkers

Engagement through reading occurs when caregivers can help children by using interpretive tools to select, connect and organise information int he text to construct real meaningful interpretations of their own lives. The context of reading and the culture of literacy on a family and social level can also influence engagement. Reading with your child, not to your child, is important on a cognitive, metacognitive and motivational level. Children who have been engaged in reading from a young age do better academically and are more attentive students. During organic engagement, attention and mental processes are focused on the book and the learner is completely absorbed in the task of reading and in a state of flow. Although a child may be looking directly at the pages in a book and may appear to be engaged, they may only be going through the motions. Engaging your child during reading means sustained and personal commitment to create understanding.

 

Children are more likely to be engaged in reading when they believe they are capable of understanding, when it is interesting and when they feel it is important to them. This is why, as I have mentioned before in my previous blogs, that engaging children with reading books must come after they have a firm grasp of the relevance of words and communication in their day to day lives. This will help them to self regulate their attention and effort, relate new information to existing knowledge and monitor their own comprehension, making them more likely to have the physical and mental ability to hold their attention long enough to be successful readers.  It also makes it easier for them to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information, link familiar knowledge to incoming information and organise sequences from the story, making them critical and creative thinkers.

 

In order for engagement in reading to occur, caregivers must provide instructional conditions that support it. A family culture that provides for child interaction and caregiver modelling of cognitive processes promotes the notion of reading as a transactional process where meaning occurs as the child’s expectations and experiences are in transaction and content of the text. Reading should be viewed as an interpretive process rather than as an exercise in listening and sitting still. Children should be encouraged to use strategic comprehension processes such as predicting, relating to prior knowledge and asking questions about the text in a reader-response collaborative discussion.

 

Too often, children’s experience of human interaction emerges as an unpredictable negotiation between being an individual and being asked to fit in with the expectations of others. They are asked to be passive participants in their learning. To engage children in reading, a more active stance is required. Children should be encouraged to use their own individual interactions with the text as they attempt to make sense of it so they can craft their own interpretations. As caregivers model interpretive tools, children become accustomed to seeing them used to derive a meaning from the text and develops an inherent reflexivity in its use as a tool to nurture engagement.

If you have any other ideas on why you agree that reading is an integral part of developing critical and creative thinkers, I would love you to contact me or comment below.

www.michelleworthington.com

Top 5 Tips for Building your Child's Vocabulary

Vocabulary is extremely important to a child's literacy development. especially if they struggle to communicate. Having a broader range and understanding of what words mean and do can help even the most reluctant reader and speaker into exploring the benefits of a wide knowledge of language. Most people make the mistake of thinking that reading to them and getting them to read aloud is the first place to start, but this is in fact the end goal. When children see the purpose and priority behind where words fit in their day to day lives, they are more responsive to engaging with literacy activities that foster a love of reading.

1. Use Rich Oral Language

Children learn to speak through listening to and engaging in talk. Young children whose parents use high level, rich, meaningful conversations when not only speaking to their children, but also speaking to each other, will give the best chance of absorbing a higher vocabulary and reading achievement.

2. Use Broader Concept Words

When talking about a particular subject, instead of trying to teach words individually, use groups of words in sets that are conceptually related. For example, when speaking about a farm, use words related to life on farm, different families of animals and how those concepts relate to their day to day life.

3. Introduce New Words

By relating new words to words that children already know helps to not only expand the word in context, but helps them find congruent ways to figure out the meaning of words. Use the word they already know, like 'funny' and then add a different word in the same sentence like 'hilarious' to introduce a new word. When this is encountered repeatedly and diversely through meaningful activities, conversations and texts, the new words become part of the child's world.

4. Make It Relatable

There are so many fun and engaging ways to draw attention to the words all around us. Playing with words through songs, humour and raising consciousness can be empowering for children. They can feel like they are developing a sense of understanding and power over the part of themselves that communicates with others which can be incredibly powerful.

5. Have Fun With Words

Words should be cherished, nurtured, celebrated and loved. If children can see how much fun you have playing around with words, they will be more motivated to take the initiative and seek out opportunities to engage with them throughout the day. When children are self motivated, they learn faster and foster a life long love of reading. Reading to them and having them reading aloud is most beneficial when they have achieved this level of understanding. Then the real fun begins...forming a lasting bond with your child through sensory storytelling and amazing, empowering, encouraging picture books.

If you have any other tips you would like to share, please don't hesitate to contact me.

https://www.facebook.com/michelleworthington.author

Top 10 tips for Connecting with Toddlers through Reading Time

Here are my top ten tips for Connecting with Your Little Ones.

• Build a foundation of communication and word structure for your child by helping them to become familiar with common sounds, words and language that you use throughout the day.



• Introduce them to the value of books by incorporating them into playtime as well as a bedtime routine.



• Talk about what you have read. Help your children understand that ideas need to be discussed and thought about critically and creatively. This will help show them that words can be communicated to other people in different ways to pass on the message. If you have read something you don’t agree with, discuss that as well. Children need to learn that everything this is written is not necessarily the truth.

• Find ways in everyday activities to spark your child’s imagination. Stimulate curiosity and help his brain development by using words creatively. Don’t be scared about using ‘big words’. Vocabulary is key to improving communication in young children.



• Use sounds in fun ways. Make silly made up sounds and vary your pitch and tone when talking, reading and singing songs together.



• Help your child learn the difference between ‘real’ and ‘make-believe’. Imaginative play with toys and books is a great way to switch from real life scenarios to make believe world building. Encourage made up stories but be clear about when the time is needed for truth.

• Picture books can be great tools for you to use to help your child understand change and new or frightening events, and also the strong emotions that can go along with them. The library is an amazing resource for finding diverse books.



• Stop and listen when your child is trying to tell you something. Maintain eye contact. Try to stay as still as you can. Your child will develop early literacy skills like the ability to listen to and understand words faster if they feel they themselves are being listened to and understood.



• Teach your child the importance of following simple instructions by writing shopping lists together and getting them involved with easy cooking recipes or reading aloud to them as you are cooking so they can see the importance of written words.

• Foster a sense of humour by sharing laughter every day. Laugh out loud at silly jokes, something accidental or unusual that happened or silly sounds. Learning to laugh is important for a child’s communication, literacy and emotional development. Best of all, the sound of your laughter will make them the happiest of all.





If you have some great top tips, I would love you to contact me.


www.michelleworthington.com
https://www.facebook.com/michelleworthington.author
twitter michelle_author
instagram michelle.author

Top 5 Tips to get ASD kids reading.

Here are my top 5 tips to encourage young ASD children to fall in love with reading.

1.Let them pick what to read. Our local libraries love us. We almost always leave with 10 children's books. It works for us because it allows Tom to have a choice of what he wants to read based on whatever new obsession he has t hat week. I love the idea of teaching children to choose books on their own, regardless of their reading level. I love anything that encourages independence and I work with whatever motivated Tom to pick up that book, even if it is way above his comprehension level. Books are about so much more than words and pictures. They are about forming connections

2. Focus on sight words. Do everything you can to make them fun and playful but don't worry too much if they aren't picking it up straight away. This is a long term strategy for reading that needs to start early, way before they walk into a classroom. The more letters and words they recognise, the easier reading will be. It's not rocket science, it's repetition.

3. Make books available at play time, not just bedtime. We have books everywhere at our place. We keep them in in the playroom, in the kids’ bedroom and in the car. Bedtime is a lovely time to share stories but it is more about the senso ry stimulation they receive from being close to you than a learning experience. ASD kids respond well to using books as part of extending their play time by integrating literacy into their daily routine.


4. Read aloud. Even if it seems like they aren't listening, part of their brain is responding to the sounds of your voice. Varied tone, intonation and volume are important. Most importantly of all, it doesn’t have to be from a book. Read the paper, read the cereal packet, read the instructions on the packet meal for dinner. Get older siblings, grandparents or anyone who is willing to read aloud and then initiate a conversation with them about what they are reading. This encourages critical and creative thinking and associates books as a valued resource to facilitate easy conversation and connection with others.



5. Let them see you reading. ASD kids can be visual creatures who love to mimic others. If they see you reading, they a re more likely to do the same. Talk to them about what you are reading. Find a word they might recognise. Read varied books, magazines and online articles so they can see you use reading and books in your everyday life as an adult and they will grow to understand that even though reading might be difficult now, it will be a skill they will need when they get older so they will be more encouraged to stick with it.

If you would like to contact me, I would love to hear your top tips.

Website
www.michelleworthington.com

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/michelleworthington.author

YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/user/mworthingtonauthor

Fairy Belle reads The Wheelchair Adventure