Children who need to express themselves but are limited on how they can express can be difficult when considering outside activities that would interest him/her. As I previously stated, I think it is important for the child to be able to enjoy the extra curricular activity, but how do the parents know what exactly he/she would like if communication is limited/not available. On the other hand, I think that the parents will know some sort of interests just by living with the child and being around him/her all the time. Picking activities can also be challenging if the child has a physical disability which limits him on what he can do even if it interests him.
I found this article that explains picking activities to do, which I find interesting. It says to have unplanned time to explore different options for the child. Start younger, and then when the child gets older, the parents will have more of an idea of what the child is interested in. This article says that in choosing the activities, there cannot be a lot of new rules and situations can be overwhelming.
http://www.netplaces.com/parenting-kids-with-special-needs/extracurricular-activities/choose-activities.htm
April,
ReplyDeleteI feel as if the parents could also observe what the child is interested in watching on tv or what they might choose to play with at home as another idea of what might helpful in choosing activities for them to do as a family. If the child has a physical disability they could go to the zoo or even to see a movie together.
Unplanned time to explore different options for the child sounds like it would be very helpful in finding activities for the child and family to do together. This could go along with what I said about observing the child and finding out their interests.
This was a great post about many different options and ways to motivate and get the families involved!