Prepare your child for elementary school
Starting school is a monumental moment in a child’s life! Make sure your child enjoys his first educational experiences by preparing him for it! To have a successful and happy start to school, there are several key communication skills that will help your child adjust. While all children develop at different rates and all children have the right to be accepted for who they are, these are some of the key areas in which you, as a parent / caregiver, can help prepare your child. Here are the key things your child must have understood before starting school to keep up and even excel:
– Language development: the child speaks confidently, has a good vocabulary, has been exposed to books, and exhibits pre-reading skills and a desire to read.
– Social maturity: the child makes friends easily and is able to cooperate with others; You feel safe, confident, and independent about activities rather than thoughts (for example, you can go to the bathroom alone).
– Behavior and discipline: the child accepts and respects authority, is obedient and can sit still and listen.
– Health: the child is in good health and has also acquired certain physical abilities. It also has the ability to cope with personal hygiene.
– Desire to learn: the child is curious.
– Specific skills: the child can use equipment (such as scissors or a pencil); count, recognize letters, know their address and write their own name.
To get started, do some quick checks to see how ready your child is for school:
Can your child:
– Listen to stories, learn rhymes and recognize and name colors?
– Play, share, take turns and adapt to do things differently?
– Cope with change and face challenges?
– Get dressed, pull down and pull up your pants, wipe your butt and wash your hands?
– Talk socially and express your needs?
– Run, jump, catch, balance and dance?
– Cut, paste and use pencils?
– Do you recognize numbers and start counting?
Information on the B4 School Check, a checklist that Plunket of New Zealand recommends that all four-year-olds go through, can be found on this website: http://www.kiwifamilies.co.nz/articles/is-your- child-school -Ready /
How a speech therapist can help
Below are the key communication and social skills with which a speech and language therapist can help prepare your precious child for school.
Communication skills:
Initiate and maintain conversations with adults and other children.
Speak clearly and audibly and maintain eye contact.
Speech is understood by others who are not familiar
Speak without yelling or whispering
Answer inferential questions, eg why? Whats Next?
Describe recent experiences
Recite rhymes and sing songs.
Retell stories
Understand requests / instructions and seek clarification
Perform three directions in sequence
Listen carefully and answer questions in a group setting.
Talk to each other with your classmates and participate in the conversation.
Interrupt conversations appropriately
Join a conversation appropriately
Social skills
Confront a person when they are speaking and give them “eye contact.”
Comply with requests, cease activity when requested
Control frustration and avoid tantrums
Wait patiently for several minutes for the attention of an adult.
Sit at a table and work for 10 minutes (with help)
Separated from parents
Start an activity independently
Ask for and accept help if needed
Play in an activity for 20 minutes or more
Play cooperatively with friends for 20 minutes or more
Share your own toys with friends
Take turns in a small group game without help
Understand the needs and feelings of others.
Emotional skills
Cope with change
Can be separated from parents easily
Fulfill requests to end an activity when prompted
You can share your own toys
Take turns in a small group without help
Has reasonable control over emotions.
You can defend yourself on the playground.
You are responsible for your own possessions
Intellectual skills
You can work independently on an assigned task.
You can order and combine elements according to simple attributes (size, function, color)
Able to maintain attention in a group setting
Draw a recognizable picture of your family.
Name basic shapes and colors
Able to count objects up to 10
