the activity (e.g., because it occurs in the community or requires supervision), decide how your child can make the necessary request.
4. Practice the leisure activity with your child. TEACH your child how to participate in the leisure activity. This means telling, showing, and possibly physically guiding your child how to play. Make sure you use the ‘least intrusive’ teaching method (e.g., just playing with the materials beside your child instead of talking through all the steps) that works.
How to Teach Leisure Skills Once you have identified some preferred leisure activities, you will need to determine what type and level of participation is reasonable to expect of your child. This includes whether your child can initiate, or choose between, activities, follow directions or imitate other people, and perform the required skills unsupported and safely. You also need to determine how long your child can currently play alone before becoming frustrated or bored. Based on this information, you will be able to decide what to teach and where to begin. Simply identifying activities that interest your child is just the beginning. Unless you teach your child how to play, he or she may interact with the materials briefly and then discard them. Teaching leisure skills requires some consistency and patience; the following steps will be helpful.
1. Establish a routine for the leisure activity. If the leisure activity is available at home, determine when it may fit logically into your family’s schedule (e.g., by identifying “down times” in which your child may often be bored). If the activity must occur in the community, identify times for those outings.
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5. Reward your child for independent play. If the activity is immediately enjoyable for your child, there is no need to provide additional encouragement or rewards. If, however, your child is not initially motivated, you will probably want to follow periods of independent play with praise or rewards. If you have selected the RIGHT LEISURE SKILLS THEY WILL BE ENJOYABLE IN THEMSELVES n making it easy to reduce these rewards over time. 6. Fade yourself out and encourage elaboration. Keep in mind that the goal here is to encourage leisure skills, not necessarily social interaction. Therefore, GRADUALLY REDUCE YOUR PRESENCE AND PARTICIPATION n AND extend the length of time your child is expected to play alone - in the activity as your child becomes independent. Teaching more elaborate routines will allow your child to stay engaged longer. Helping your child build leisure skills has multiple benefits. It makes your child’s life more enjoyable, reduces the expectation that you have to constantly entertain your child, and may produce interests that will lead to social connections in the future. In order to be successful in developing these skills, the activities must match your child’s interests and abilities and be consistently accessible. The time spent helping your child learn the skills to independently participate in leisure activities will certainly pay off in the long-run. Y
Make related materials easily accessible.
Assemble materials needed for the leisure activity and store them in a particular place. For certain activities (e.g., collections, crafts), it may be helpful to have sectional bins or books. Presenting the materials in an organized and enticing fashion may encourage their use.
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Define activities and break them down.
Determine what skills your child needs to participate fully in the leisure activity, making a list of steps or options. If appropriate, create some type of picture menu to guide participation in. If your child must ask to initiate Photos courtesy of our fans on facebook JUL/AUG 2013
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