When do I start teaching my child?
As a BCBA, I believe strongly in early intervention. As a mother, I believe strongly in early intervention. People tend to think this means you should intervene ONLY if your child has some form of disability (ASD, Down’s, ADHD, etc). FALSE! It is never too early to intervene. We hear it all the time from our friends, family, and doctors that children develop at their own pace. TRUE, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t intervene sometimes and encourage them to learn new things along the way. This does not mean sit down with them and drill them on new skills. It means to participate in their play, show them new ways to play, talk to them about their play. Do this literally from day one. Their brains are like sponges, it is amazing what they retain!
This seems simple and you're probably thinking “Duh, don’t all parents do this?!” Nope, they don’t. It amazes me how many parents sit idly while their children “develop” on their own. A few years later, those are the children who are needing extra help with academics, behavior in school, or making friends.
Being a behavior analyst, I had to put my words to action in the home. No matter where our daughter was, at home, grandparents, playground, she was always learning. We labeled everything she did. We pointed out colors, letters on signs, you name it. We also always worked on motor skills. TRUE she would sit and crawl and walk when she was ready, but why not help build those muscles needed for those skills and encourage her to try. We set up various situations for her to practice these skills while she was playing. She has been ahead on almost all developmental milestones, and I truly believe it's because we didn’t just let her develop at her own pace, we INTERVENED and ENCOURAGED. Truth be told, she is lazy and not very determined, and without us doing that she probably would have not met milestones when she should have. We were called crazy by friends and family, but five years later I see what it did for her and I don’t regret it.
Now that we have a son, we are doing the same thing. He is slower at catching on. It takes him A LOT more practice and that is OK! We are still going to intervene and encourage him.
I also hear that doing these things takes the baby away. FALSE. We enjoyed the baby in them. Not every moment is a teaching moment. Enjoy the drooly noises and the babbles. Enjoy those snuggles. Enjoy those babies. Take time in the day or a whole day and just let them do them. But I will say, the days I am intervening in their play, are the days that we connect the most and they are the happiest. They like us playing with them. They like learning. So don’t just let them develop at their own pace, put yourself in there and encourage them!
How can ABA help?
We can help access your child’s skills and see what they could use some extra practice in.From there we would make a plan where our therapist help your child learn these new skills and also give you the tools to help them with these in the home and community.
