Special Needs Tips
Read these 3 Special Needs Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Child Education tips and hundreds of other topics.
Visual Processing
Children who need help with visual processing may benefit from the following:
*Pegboards-the eye-hand coordination of fitting pegs into holes will help strengthen the visual processes. Brightly colored pegs that can be stacked in repetitive patterns will also build pre-reading skills.
*Puzzles-visual discrimination and patterning skills are buildt by repetitive puzzle building.
*Shape sorters-also develop eye-hand coordination as well as fine motor skills
Fine Motor Skills
Children who need help with fine motor skills will benefit from toys that exercise the small muscles in the hands as well as eye-hand coordination.
*Pegboards-large pegs are easy to grasp, yet still require the small muscles in the fingers to control the placement of pegs into holes.
*Building blocks-for beginners, non-slippery (foam) blocks will balance on top of one-another more easily than slippery wooden blocks (which may cause more frustration than encouragement).
*Shape sorters-like pegboards, will provide the eye-hand coordination and small muscles to fit shapes into their proper holes.
Early Childhood Screenings: What You Should Know
Getting speech and language screenings for your preschool age child has become much easier over the past ten years.
If you have a Head Start preschool facility in your area, it's highly recommended that you enroll your child if possible. Not only will your child benefit from screenings for speech and language, but they will also receive hearing, vision and dental screenings at no cost to you.
If this facility is not in your area, you can contact your local health department for information and referrals for speech and language screenings. They can assist you in finding the right professional to suit your needs and help with getting appointments for your child.
| Guru Spotlight |
| Jennifer Mathes, Ph.D. |
