Nice news...Our Bishop decided not to release us as a Primary Presidency just yet...we are serving for another 6 weeks until our sacrament Presentation is over. I’m glad I get to enjoy my Primary calling a little longer and now I will be prepared for the release come the middle of November.
We held a really good board meeting during the week that was focused on children with special needs. We invited all Presidencies and the Ward Council as our Bishop felt it was important that the whole ward was educated about Autism and ADD. Too often people don’t understand or know why the boy sitting in the third row in sacrament won’t sit still, or why he hit someone in the hallway for no reason at all or why he keeps calling out rudely. It was a really informative evening .
I was assigned to take 5-10 minutes of the meeting and to share any activity I could come up with related to ADD & ADHD. I found three games that are really good for children with ADD, but they are also useful for any child. One is to improve memory, the other is to improve behaviour and the other is to improve how a child completes a task.
1.
This idea was shared by a father of two children, both with ADHD and was used to help his children learn to get along with one another.
Use plastic cups, one for each child and one for you. Place five dimes in each of the children's cups. Make sure you have a few rolls of dimes on hand. Try to catch your children being nice to each other (or even civil). Each time they say a kind word, help someone else, not talk back or simply not hit each other (depending on your situation), add a dime to their cup. If they do yell, hit or speak meanly, take a dime away and put it in your cup. Decide in advance a day to end the game and then let your children spend their money on something.
This could also work in your Sunday school class, using marbles instead of money. Once the child got a certain amount of marbles a reward could be given (suggestions; a certificate, a trophy, being picked up and taken out for an ice-cream, etc etc)
2.
Use construction paper (or the back of a board game) to create a race track and then get your son to pick out his favourite hot wheel car. Based on your expectations, decide how many spaces you want to have. If the task you are trying to improve on for example, is completing homework, and you want to include: completing homework, putting supplies away, and putting homework in schoolbag, you could use 15 spaces. (One space for each task times five days in a school week.) Each night your child would have the opportunity to move their car 3 spaces. Place the "board" and the car in a spot where it will not be disturbed except when your child is moving the car. Also leave the game in a spot where they can see their progress. If they reach the winners line at the end of the week they can have a reward.
3.
by Daniel T. Moore, Ph D.
Many children have problems with memory.
The purpose of this exercise is to increase your child's ability to remember instructions that are given to him/her. Some children cannot remember two, three or four instructions simultaneously. Often they will forget even single commands. Play this game often to strengthen your child's short term memory and help them become less distracted when following commands.
Start the game by telling your child about the game. If desired, other siblings can participate. The game's object is to see how many commands the child can successfully complete. Most children can get up to four, so four commands is a good starting point. For example, you may suggest: "First bring me a tissue, second, put the dish rag in the dirty laundry, third, turn on the light, and fourth, put the magazine in the magazine rack.
If the child is able to do all four, give him/her lots of verbal praise. Really make a big deal at being able to complete four commands. Next, ask the child if he/she is ready to do five commands. Make up five more simple commands. If he/she completes all five, give a lot of verbal praise. Keep playing the game until the child forgets one of the commands. It is not important that the child complete the simple commands in the order that they were given.
When the child forgets one of the commands, the game simply ends for that day. Congratulate the child in getting the amount of commands he/she was able to do. This is the child's current record. Next time the goal will be to beat the child's record. If more than one child plays the game, parents must stress for each child to beat their own record and not worry about how the other siblings are doing. A valuable principle can be taught when you stress competing against yourself rather than comparing yourself with others. If your goal is to improve your child's short term memory, this game should be played at least daily, six times a week. Once 12 simple commands are remembered on a consistent basis, the child is ready to learn complex commands. Complex commands are activies that require several steps (e.g., wash the dishes, carry out the trash). A good goal for a child is to be able to remember four complex commands.
Do not be authoritative about playing the game. Keep the game fun. You can add incentives to get the children to enjoy playing it. For example, you could say that if everyone breaks or matches his/her own record, the family can go to McDonald's or rent a video.
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