Libby Public School Series: Accommodations how to use them at home

Covid 19 turned our lives upside down. You are no longer just a parent, overnight you have become a teacher, Physical or Speech therapist and Counselor. How do you balance this, and what does it mean in reality. I can only imagine the confusion and chaos this may have brought to your home. You can only do so much.
Today I will be talking about the most common accommodations I use with the students I work with.


Accommodation(s); The act of accommodating; state or process of being accommodated; adaptation https://www.dictionary.com/browse/accommodation
What does that mean in the context of school?  Children who have an IEP (Individual Education Plan) generally have their own set of challenges and goals that they are working on. To implement these goals and to get their needs met there is a section in the IEP that describes what strategies, accommodations and or other services a child may need to be successful in school. These supplementary aids and services are expected to be followed through with by all personnel working with the student in all settings.
Some of these accommodations can readily be transferred to the home setting, others are not. The accommodations that I will be discussing below are just some of the more common ones, however the list is certainly not all inclusive.

• Preferred Seating; Using seating to accommodate a child to learn may be sitting next to you or in front of you. The intend may be to have the child sit close to the teacher to allow for frequent check ins to help or to gain their attention. The child may sit in the back to avoid him or her turning around to see what is happening. They may sit upfront as to not distract themselves or kids in front of them.  
• Alternate Seating; Alternate seating refers to the type of seating and location. Learning does not have to occur at a desk or kitchen table. You can sit on the couch, sit on a ball, lay on your belly. Be in the kitchen, living room or when it is nice in the yard. Maybe you want to stand or walk around with your child. 
• Sensory Breaks; These are breaks that allow the child to recharge and refocus, give there senses a break especially the eyes, ears and body. Sensory breaks include wiggle breaks, which can be a video, silly dance, a few exercises ie jumping jacks, sit ups or a run/walk around the yard. Get a drink of water eat a snack, protein tends to give energy to work, sugar will give a sugar high followed by a sugar low. https://minds-in-bloom.com/20-three-minute-brain-breaks/
• Environmental accommodations; Is the room to warm, cold, bright, dark, cluttered, quiet or noisy.  In order to learn you need to be comfortable to be able to function. Every person needs something different, and your needs may differ from your child's. However you can start by taking yourself as a  guide. Do you like to work in a warm or cold room. Is the room light or is it to dark, natural light tends to be better for focus and concentration than artificial light. Are noises distracting or do you play music in the back ground and if so what kind of music. Be aware the more noise sources rhere are, the harder the brain has to work to filter them. ie The outside noise, the distractions from your phone notifications, music playing and the tv  playing loud in another room may not be the best set up for learning. 
• Check and re-Check for understanding; When you give your child directions, how do you know if they understood what you are requesting. You could have them repeat back what you said, however repeating a statement does not automatically translate into understanding. It tells you your child can imitate you. If you want to know if the child understand have them tell you the expectation in their own words. 
• Chunking of Assignments; I am sure the packets of work that have been coming home can seem overwhelming to you. It is for your child as well. One page of work can seem overwhelming causing anxiety, frustration and possibly a battle of the wills. Children do not have a very long attention span, people do not have a long attention span.If we can get 20-40 minutes (depending on the age) of solid work  out of a child in one setting they are doing very well. Break the work up in smaller sets of time. You can also chunk the amount of work. Divide a full work sheet into 2 or 4 smaller assignments. 

Children thrive on structure and predictability, these next three accommodations all provide that in some form or another. If you can set the expectations in advance and provide structure to your child's learning. The structure does not necessarily mean that each day and activity has to be the same, however each learning activity may be set up in the same way, these are call routines. This can alleviate a lot of stress and frustration. Keep in mind if you have not done this before there may be an initial steep learning curve with some frustration which will pay off in the long run though.

• Pre-Setting for Transitions; To build in the predictability for your child you can use pre-setting for transitions. This could be as limited as stating what is going to happen; " in 5 minutes we are going to ....., then in 1 minute we are going to". You could also use a timer to count down to the transition. Pre setting can also be done in more of a conversation type manner; " tomorrow is Monday that is a school day we will be getting up in the morning and work on your reading and math".
• First, Next, Then; This strategy can be modified to just about any activity. It sets the expectation or steps to complete the task or expectation. You can use this to move from activity to activity; " first we will read a book, next we will have snack and then we will play". Another option would be to use it within an activity; " first you write your name, next you will write a sentence about the story we read, then you draw a picture about the story. 
• Visual Schedule; A visual schedule takes some of the pressure of the adult telling the child what to do and the possible power struggle that may create. The schedule is guiding what needs to be done. It can increase the child's independence they can rely on it rather than a person as to what to do next. It also provides a visual aid of the structure and the transitions. A visual schedule can teach more flexibility, for instance the time you do school work may be the same but the activity is different, or the activities throughout the day may be the same, school, play and lunch but the time and order is a little different. A visual schedule can be done as a whole day, which I would not recommend, a half day, a chunk of time or steps within an activity. Depending on your child's skill level they can help set up the schedule, it can be written or done with pictures. sample images of visual schedules

This List is not all inclusive, these are just some ideas. Pick and choose what you think might work for you or your child. Some things may work and others you may find do not work for you and your child. Sometimes it is a matter of trial and error. What works today may not work tomorrow. Take it one day at a time. Just remember you are a parent first, not a teacher or therapist, you do what you can. 

Related Libby Public School Links

Libby Public School Speech Language Pathologist

Libby Public School Counselor Newsletter