Thursday, September 26, 2013

Visual skills in children



There is a difference between vision and visual skills. One may have good vision but poor visual skills, and vice-versa. Many times when child is unable to write, draw properly, his parents find themselves at their wit’s end running from one optometrist to another. With the eye-sight in place, they don’t know what to do. The underlying reason could be one or more underdeveloped visual skills.

Visual skills are of many types, like visual discrimination, visual motor coordination, visual perception, visual sequencing, visual memory, visual analysis and synthesis etc.

In any activity, many visual skills work simultaneously. But many activities have one main base skill. We need to first find out which activities are difficult for the child. This helps us in finding out the visual skills that need to be enhanced.


Few activities and their related visual skills:

Visual skill
Chief activities
Visual motor coordination
Beading, lacing, threading, cutting, pasting, coloring
Visual perception
Mazes
Visual tracking
Copy-writing
Visual closure
Completing the figure
Visual sequence
Pattern, join the dots, what comes next
Visual analysis and synthesis
Puzzles
Visual memory
Recalling written material, pictures, objects, routes
Copying text/figures

While each activity involves more than one visual skill, the above mentioned ones are the chief skills. Thus if a child is unable to do beading and has proper vision, his visual motor coordination may be poor and may need to be enhanced. Similarly, if a child is unable to copy text from the board in school, he may be having poor visual tracking skills or poor visual memory.

Here are some activities mentioned to generally strengthen the visual skills of a child.
1.     Do activities that involve beading, dabbing, lacing, threading, cutting, pasting, finger printing. Sticking ‘daals’ on a line or cutting on lines is also helpful.
2.     Grid copying (of lines, shapes, figures). You make a grid with design and give a blank grid to the child for copying. It can also be used for visual memory where the child sees the grid and makes it from memory in his blank grid.
3.     Real object drawing. You give an object to the child and he has to draw it.
4.     Picture copying. You give a picture to the child and he has to copy it
5.     Activities on sequencing (what comes next, patterns etc)
6.     Odd one out. You show few objects in a row and the child has to figure out which figure is the odd one out in that row
7.     Reading with dots: write few sentences on a sheet. Each line should have only one sentence. Put a green dot at the beginning and red dot at the end of each line. The child puts finger on the green dot, starts reading by finger guidance and stops when the finger reaches red.
8.     Text copying: write words in a column on a sheet. Ask the child to copy them. Progress to sentences, then paragraphs later. You may use dot method here also to indicate the beginning and end
9.     Object memory: a)you show few objects to the child. Mix them with more objects. He has to pick only those he has seen earlier b)you give an object in his hand. You mix it with other objects. You blindfold him and ask him to pick that object from the lot
10.                        Route memory: ask the child to describe you the route from one place to another, with the left/right turns, shops, landmarks, etc
11.                        Mapping: you ask the child to look around the room carefully. Blindfold him. Now ask him to describe the room again. You may do it for those rooms/shops also where he has gone frequently.
12.                        Word memory: you show a word to the child, remove the sheet, ask him to tell the word. It can be progressed to 5-6 words in a row/column. Same thing can be done with numbers (word span and number span)
13.                        Picture memory:a)you show a picture card with 4-5 objects drawn on it. You show another picture card with 4-5 more objects drawn on it. Child has to find out those he has seen earlier b) you show few pictures drawn in a row/column, keep the paper aside and ask the child to tell the pictures in the same order (picture span)

Note: This is not an exhaustive list or a diagnostic tool.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

activities to improve and enhance concentration


Due to various factors (T.V, video games, chocolates, aerated drinks, low iron levels, behavioural issues, neglectful parenting, ADD/ADHD, etc) many children face the problem of poor concentration. Their focus shifts from one thought to another in a span of few seconds. They find it difficult to complete their homework or sit quietly in a restaurant.
There are many activities that can be done to enhance your child's focus and level of concentration. 
Some of the interesting and highly effective focus enhancing activities are:
  • Sorting (raajma, chana, popcorn can be all mixed together in a big bowl and the child can be asked to put raajma in one small bowl, chana in another and popcorn in mouth!) 
  • Playing with clay, kneading dough (most kids can spend hours rolling, cutting and messing with clay/dough/aatta)
  • Beading (these are now available in market too. At home you may take old shoe lace and ask the child to put beads through it. Putting bangles through a stick will also serve the same purpose)
  • Cutting and pasting (simple and yet highly enjoyed)
  • Coloring (especially water coloring, which can create stress in most parents!)
  • Digit/alphabet cancellation (a sheet with various numbers is given to the child and he has to strike out all of a particular number)
  • Paper modelling/craft work 
  • Stitching (threading lace into a design which has holes in it. You can make holes in a paper and give old shoe lace to run through the holes) 
  • Finger printing/ vegetable cuts printing, to make patterns
  • Copying simple shapes 
  • Dot to dot activities 
  • Tracing in sand or on sand paper 
  • Using stencils for drawing            
  • Pressing on exercise balls with eyes closed 
  • Playing musical instruments like Casio  
  • Playing with wooden puzzles of various concepts like shapes, colors, size, numbers, alphabets etc 
  • Sorting the odd one out from a group of figures based on concept. Eg. Moon, sun, star, pencil(Visual concepts). 
  • Marking the odd one out based on size, number etc(Visual discrimination). 
  • Arranging numbers/alphabets/objects in the ascending or descending order(Visual progression).
  • Learning Karate
  • Playing tongue twisters
  • Figuring out the missed out numbers/alphabets during a recitation. When you leave out a number, the child should call out the number you left out. (auditory progression)
  •  Recalling and re-telling stories
  • Memory games (you say few numbers, child has to re-tell them)
  • Pairing game (you say a word, child has to give another word which he thinks is related to the first word. Eg. Pen-pencil, cow-milk etc)

These should be done in a very relaxing environment, without stressing on the child that they are being done for some reason. These can be modified to suit the age levels.
These activities have been found to be very effective in enhancing focus and concentration in children.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Ways to develop interest in reading in your child



Learning to read is not a 1-step milestone that can be categorized into knows-to-read days and doesn’t-know-to read days with a ‘eureka’ moment. It is a very gradual process. It involves various steps that need to be covered. It involves various pre-reading skills that need to be mastered.

Most children master the art of reading, sooner or later, with help or without help. But what generally fails to develop in them is the passion to read. They read because they ‘have to read’. They don’t read because they ‘want to read’. 

Our children don’t see us reading much. The love for novels is almost restricted to hard-core book lovers in this fast-pace life. Magazines are passé. General junta reads newspapers, signboards and bills. In fact newspaper reading is also metamorphosing into news reading on .coms. 

Children of this generation feel that we don’t really need to learn to read so much. Learning to read has no survival value to them. They perceive, from our behavior, that reading doesn’t belong to the list of must-have skills. They don’t realize that we are silently reading so many things around us. They don’t realize that we wouldn’t be able to survive if we couldn’t read. 

To make it more difficult for our children, they have just too many distractions. There are T.V, computer, tablet, i-pad, play-station and many alike to pull them from books. There are DVDs of all concepts and all stories, which are far more appealing than boring books of the same concepts and stories.

So our children haven’t failed to develop interest in reading. We have failed in helping them develop the same. It is tough and challenging. It is not to easy to use simple alphabets and numbers to stimulate these sharp young minds. 

Before you choose to hit the panic button, let’s see if few of these suggestions help you in generating that fun, interest, passion in reading, in your child.
  • Scrap book: for smaller kids, there can be a page dedicated to one sound. If there is a b-page, a collage of photos of ball, balloon, baby, bib, boy, bear, beach etc can be used. For bigger kids, a scrap book of themes can be made and the child can be asked to keep looking for words and pictures in books/magazines/newspapers and, cut and paste them in the book. (cutting not to be done without asking you, of course) 
  •  Hopscotch: draw the grid on the floor and write a word in each box. You call out a word and the child has to jump to that box. Fun doubles when child calls out and you jump 
  • Board-game: create your own board-game by drawing grids and writing small instructions like “jump” or “smile”, where the players have to roll the dice and follow the instructions. 
  • Notes: write notes generously and stick them around the house. Small love notes like “Mumma loves you” near study table or instruction note like “brush for 2 minutes” in the bathroom will be whole-heartedly welcomed by your child. 
  • Hunt: tell your child that you have hidden a few alphabets written in separate chits in a room. All the alphabets put together will make a particular word and he needs to find the chits. As he finds all the chits hidden from various corners of the room, put them together and ‘brainstorm’ which word it can be. For bigger kids, words can be hidden and found to make sentences, or a list of objects can be given to them and they need to find those objects from different parts of the house and collect them at one place. 
  • Letter: in the era of e-mails and SMS, hand-written letters are almost obsolete. But the thrill of sending and receiving letters is not. One feels elated to receive a letter or a greeting card. Encourage your child to write/draw something for a close relative. Make sure to post it. Request the receiver to send a reply. 
  • Grocery list: you make this day in and day out, either on paper or in your head. But your child doesn’t know about it. Why not involve him too! It’s a great way of teaching the utility of reading and writing. 
  • Shopping: when you are in the store with your child, you may ask him to look for ‘tomato ketchup’ while you hunt for something else. Ask him to check the expiry-date of the product. Ask him to tick off the item from the grocery list. 
  • Story drawing: you may give some word-cues, which can be used to draw a picture. Later, the child may narrate a story based on the picture. Bigger children can be given sentences to read and draw, to create a scene, on which they can base and narrate a story. 
  • Reading together: simple and yet effective. Read a comic book together. The giggles and snickers come free with that. 
  • Reading out: again, simple and effective. When you read out a story to your child, he learns a lot about the correct way of reading, besides feeling ecstatic for being your centre of attention for full 15 minutes
Especially for grade 1 onwards
  • The night reporter: have your child write 4-5 important events of his day before bedtime. Ask him to read it like a news-reporter to everyone.
  • Cooking: cook with a recipe book open. Have your child in the kitchen. Ask him to help you out with the ingredients, measurement and steps. Children love to cook with parents, especially if they feel that they are directing the whole thing.
  • Playing detective: write a letter in codes to your child. Hide the decoding formula somewhere in the house. Give him hints to find the formula. When he finds and decodes the letter, reward him with something
  • Karaoke: read and sing-along! Learn and have fun. Whether your singing skills are anything to write home about or not, the act of reading the lyrics together and singing is simply rejuvenating.
  • Directions: when you are out with your child, ask him to read the name of the shop, street to ‘help’ you out with the directions.
The activities can definitely be simplified or made more complex to suit the age/need of each child.
Happy reading !!


Thursday, February 14, 2013

play ideas- for tiny tots


Keeping a 1 year old one busy is quite a task! Mothers have been known to have lost weight and patience, running around with and after the toddler the whole day. Toddlers, who have just skilled the art of walking and running, are best known for their ‘restlessness’. Parents often find themselves exhausted just keeping the young one busy with a suitable toy. A particular toy may become boring after a while. So parents end up emptying their wallets in keeping the toy-room full at home.

While there are many toys available in the market for this age group, there are many things you can do at home, without really draining out your salary into toy shop’s account. 

You should try with a rough routine to follow for your young one. You need not wait for the child to go to school for a routine to start. A little bit of routine helps the child to expect ‘what next’. This reduced restlessness. You may make a pictorial time table on a piece of paper and stick it on wall/fridge at a height where your toddler can see. It shouldn’t be very complicated. Just the time for major activities like brush teeth, bath, eat, nap, play, sleep. Pictures should be simple enough for your little one to understand. It may seem very daunting in the beginning, but a little bit of organized playtime definitely goes a long way in channelizing the toddler’s energy along with enhancing his cognitive skills. Not to mention, it also goes a long way in restoring the sanity of a frazzled mom!

Activities for your 1 year old one!
  •  Reading stories to the child (the content of the story doesn’t matter as much as your intention to read)
  •   Looking at board books/ cloth books/ pop-up books together
  • Singing rhymes to the child
  • Scribbling with big crayons or chalks (the size of adult-male thumb). You may use papers, or a lap-slate or an easel for the same.
  •  Catching-throwing-kicking a soft large ball (a soft-plastic or cloth ball should do)
  •  Traditional active-rhymes like “Simon says”, “now I see a”, “mulberry bush”, “ring-a-ring-o-roses” (initially while you sing and perform, the child may ‘perform’ with you. Later you may sing or put the CD and the child can dance to the songs)
  •  Walking together in park (It’s a great source of information for your toddler, who is observing many things around as you are explaining.  It’s a great source of bonding too.)
  •  Digging sand/soil in the garden or sand-area with plastic shovels
  •  Playing with play-dough or natural-dough with food colors
  •  Playing with shapes/size/color puzzles
  • Throwing soft balls into a basket kept at a distance.
  • Painting the walls of the shower area with old shampoo mixed with food color
  • Making towers- of cushions, building blocks, empty DVD boxes, light-weight empty cartons (breaking the pile is more fun! This building, breaking, re-building can sufficiently engage him to give relaxed-cuppa-coffee-time to you) 
  • Playing with water-balloons ( lightly filled, so that they don’t burst easily)
  •  Playing traditional outdoor games indoor, like catch-me, hide and seek
  • Matching cap-bottle (have lots of bottles and their caps. Mix them up. Have your toddler figure out which cap will fit which bottle)
  • Thumb printing, vegetable dabbing on a sheet (make sure to spread lots of newspaper on floor for easy cleaning)
  • Collecting all coins in a box ( you give few thick plastic coins/ small balls and ask the child to put all of them in an empty metal box. The ‘clink’ sound is very gratifying. Emptying the box out on floor is even more satisfying.)
  •  Stacking spoons in a Styrofoam/thermocol slab (it should be thick enough to hold spoons. You get plenty of such pieces in the packing material when you buy some furniture or electronic item. Store them!)
  •  Pouring water from one glass into another (if the weather permits). As children love to play with water, this can engage them for quite some time!

Toys(useful but not mandatory) for your 1 year old one!
  • Push-along or pull-along toys
  •  Large truck-toys that can carry smaller toys too
  • Stacking cups
  • Interlocking rings
  • 2-4 piece(large) puzzles
  • Light-weight balls
  • Shape sorter with large pegs for easy grip
  • Alphabet boards, where you press the alphabet and the sound comes
  •  Musical toys (drums, 1 button-touch keyboard)
  •  Board books/ cloth books/ Pop-up books
  • Activity tables
  • Rocking horse
  • Soft toys/ Hand puppets
  • Pretend-play toys like telephone, tea-set, dolls