Rett University would like to share some tips for homeschooling that can be applied to your loved one with complex needs, as well as helping your other children.
- Create a schedule – Try to plan your day or week with your loved one. Make sure to include lots of fun, communication, and interaction.
- Always remember – The higher the cognitive demand, the lower the motor demand and vice versa. When working with “high-cognition” tasks, make sure that motor demand is as easy as possible. For example, when completing a math problem, utilize yes/no answers and partner-assisted scans for them to answer. This reduces the demand for motor response and allows them to focus on the academic task at hand.
- Have a goal – Develop goals for the day or week and maintain focus. For example, a goal of “more communication” should have activities that are rich in communication opportunities. If your focus is on independent reading, have activities that promote it for your loved one.
- Include siblings and others in the house in learning activities. Make it fun and engaging for all. As a side benefit, much learning and sibling bonding occurs in these moments and they create great opportunities to communicate.
- Break things off in small chunks. You DO NOT have to cover every subject each day. Do what you can – take fun breaks, play games, and enjoy the moments.
- Be patient with yourself and your loved one. This is new for everyone, and no one expects perfection.
- Give yourself grace. Most of you are in a brand-new situation as a teacher to your loved one. As we stress in our consults, it is OK to make mistakes, OK to not know, and OK to ask for help as we navigate our new normal.
- Choose joy! This is an unprecedented time, but it brings opportunity (and time) that we may not have had before. Create memories with your loved ones… build forts in the living room, play board games, take nature walks, go back to a simpler time before life became so busy.
“If you do not enjoy a moment, you lose it forever. If you enjoy it, it is yours forever.”
― Debasish Mridha
