Post #15 Wellbeing & learning: quick tips to structure learning

Key to the success of new learning opportunities is STRUCTURE. Today's post builds on yesterday's & suggests tip to structure learning activities so your child is successful. 

Home learning provides opportunities for your son or daughter to learn about new topics, learn in new contexts (home, garden, kitchen...) and to gain satisfaction when they are successful. We know that learning contributes to wellbeing, but for autistic children and young people learning activities may need specific types of structure for them to succeed and enjoy. Yesterday's post suggested ways to include new learning activities on the daily schedule. Today's post considers ways to organise the learning activity to make it meaningful for your son or daughter and to support them to succeed. 

Many of our children have trouble organising themselves and their activities. Whilst the daily schedule shows what activity is next, they may then need some additional structure to help them to organise how to complete the task and the task materials. This structure is called a work system and was developed as part of the TEACCH approach. The degree of organisational structure required will depend on individual needs and strengths. The following tips suggest different work systems which can help your child to be organised and to organise task materials.

1. Basic left-to-right organisational system
This system is not very different to ones we all use at home, for example when washing up we may have dirty pots stacked on our left, and we stack clean pots on the drainer on our right (this depends on your sink and drainer orientation of course). 

Some children and young people find this way of organising themselves to complete activities helpful. SO, to provide this structure place the activity materials on your child's left, they complete the activity and then place in a finished container on their right. Here is an example of this in a classroom:

In this case the child has three tasks placed on their right (the number of tasks can will depend on your child's attention span). Each task is completed and placed in the finished box on the right. 

For youngsters who are concrete learners, individual tasks can also be structured in a left to right way, for example:

Note that these types of activities use the child's interests and so are motivating and make learning enjoyable. You can replicate a left to right system for any type of activity in the home. For example, place toys on the left - when your child has finished playing with each one, teach them to place them in a finished container - this could be a plastic container as above or a cardboard box. Art & craft activities can be organised in the same way, as can cookery activities in the kitchen. This type of organisation may need some time to learn, so do persist - it then becomes a familiar organisational routine which makes the activity clear and builds independence and self-esteem. (Note that the examples above are home-made, look for items around the home which you can turn in to activities, you do not need to spend money on expensive learning materials).

2. A matching system

Some children and young people can make good use of a matching system which indicates the order  in which to complete activities. Label tasks with, for example, colours, shapes or numbers and provide your child with corresponding colour or number matching cards.

You could also use your child's interests for matching labels, such as their favourite super-hero characters - label activities with the characters and make cards for a corresponding list - teach your child to take the cards starting at the top, match to the corresponding labelled task, complete, place in finished and take the next card/task.

Again, you can use a matching system for any activity, not just for school type work! 

3. A Written system

If your son or daughter reads, a written system can be ideal to help them to organise their tasks and complete activities in the required sequence. In this case, write a list which includes each activity to be completed. This type of list is used by us all, often referred to as a To Do List - many of us rely on these, particularly when we have lots of tasks to remember. We also get a sense of satisfaction as we cross off each item when we have completed it :)
So, for a young person whose schedule looks like the one below, they may also need a written or TO DO list detailing the tasks for each activity. Note that the 'to do' list can be incorporated on the schedule as in this eaxmple, or could be provided separately.

21.04.20

English

Break

Maths revision

Lunch

Computer time

Physical exercise

Play station

Plan tomorrow’s schedule

Some youngsters may like weekly 'to do' organisers, for example:

Written systems can be used for any activity and are particularly helpful for youngsters who find it difficult to retain detailed sequences of instructions. A written list can also reduce the amount of time you 'nag' them about what to do next!

To sum up, work systems, or organisational strategies, such as these can help your son or daughter to be more successful when they approach activities or tasks. Use whichever system is most meaningful for your son or daughter. Try using the system for other activities, such as cooking, sensory circuit or obstacle course, or musical activities. Using an organisational work system builds confidence, independence and self-esteem, so these strategies are important for promoting wellbeing. Using a system like this teaches your child to monitor how they are progressing with an activity, how much they've done and how much more they have to do, and emphasises when they are finished - which gives a great sense of satisfaction - just like us! Once the system is mastered, completing activities can become more enjoyable and the sense of purpose and achievement which your child experiences may well result in good feelings :)