The Prepared Preschooler

By Courtney Moore

A quick reference guide for parents of preschoolers (age 2-4) with guided activities to help with behavior, communication, and daily skills. Great for children with disabilities (autism, developmental delay, speech delay, cognitive delay, etc), and for parents of typically developing children who want to help them develop important pre-school skil

• Language: English
• Publisher: Realize Moore Consulting
• Release date: Sep 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9780578966229

Book preview

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Chapter 1: Behavior

Structure and routine help shape your child's behavior and are imperative when working with and raising children. Children thrive on routine and knowing what comes next. Keeping a set routine throughout the day will give your child a sense of power because they know what is happening and what is expected of them. If you give your child a direction (put that away), and you don’t follow through to make sure it is completed, you have no credibility with your child. If your child does not follow the direction the first time, you need to physically help your child complete the task. Using hand-over-hand is a great way to get your child to understand what is expected. Three types of behavior modification are incentives, redirection, and time-out.

Incentives

Incentives in my day were called bribes. This is giving a child something desirable in exchange for an action. This can be anything from a fruit snack or a chocolate treat to extra time outside or extra time reading before bed. Incentives work when the child wants what you have. Using incentives is perfectly acceptable, but you can’t use them forever. Say you want your child to clean up the toys on the floor. You present the snack bag (that they do not get at any other time during the day for any reason) and explain the IF/THEN scenario. If you clean up the toys, then you get the snack. You can give one piece for every one toy that is picked up and put away (if necessary), or if the child picks them all up, then they get the whole bag. If the child will pick up the toys for the small bag of snacks, do this two or three more days in a row. On day four, then you offer the child one bite for every two things that are picked up, and so forth. You start stretching the reward out, so the child must do more and will actually get less. Once a child will change his/her behavior, to get something that you have, you need to use that to your advantage. This is a great time to work on potty training, trying new food, cleaning up toys, or anything that may cause your child to tantrum. Keep the snack bag in clear sight of the child, but do not give it to the