For parents of children with thinking and learning differences, the priority is often ensuring that they are getting what they need in school. But children are constantly learning–even at home! And the needs they have in the classroom don’t go away when the school day ends.
An effective approach to addressing these needs in school is through Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and there are ways you can bring UDL into your home, too. Here are three ways to get started with UDL:
Offer choices as often as possible
The most important aspect of UDL is providing choices that allow children to feel ownership over their learning. This should be the case at home too! Instead of dictating exactly what they do and how they do it, give students some choice throughout their day. This could be as simple as what plate they eat dinner on, or as complex as the way their desk space is organized. Make sure they have concrete options if and when they need them. Sometimes they might need just two options, sometimes several, and sometimes they may not need you to give them any options at all. You know them best. Just make sure you are being responsive to their needs.
Communicate with them in ways they understand
Many parents become frustrated when they find themselves repeating the same direction or giving the same reminder over and over again. While this frustration is extremely understandable, it’s unlikely that the cause of your child’s unresponsiveness is pure defiance. If you have a child who struggles to follow verbal directions, you might just need to communicate with them in a different way. Maybe your child needs to see the instruction written down, or to have some time to mentally prepare for the transition.
For many children, visual schedules come in handy! Include all of the tasks they need to complete each day and allow them to indicate on the schedule when they’ve completed each task. Velcro is excellent for this, as they can move tasks from one side of the schedule to the other. They may also need other visual reminders. If you are flabbergasted by your child’s inability to remember to put their clothes in their hamper, for example, hang a big laminated sign on the hamper that says “Dirty Clothes.” Include a picture. This just may be the reminder they need.
Know their learning style & needs
Is your child a visual learner? When you’re following a recipe together, try to find one that has easy-to-follow pictures of the steps involved. Able2Learn has some excellent and completely free resources for recipes and other adaptive materials you can use with your children at home. If your child is an auditory learner, check out audiobook apps that allow them to listen and follow along while they’re reading at home. No, this will not hinder their reading development!
Whatever their preferred learning style and needs are, try to incorporate them into whatever activities you are doing at home, whether or not they are academic.
Conclusion
If you haven’t been doing any of this at home, it’s okay! Most people don’t, and their kids turn out pretty great. But you can start now with these simple ideas. Just make sure you don’t bite off more than you can chew. Too much too soon could backfire, either for you or for them, and will be much harder to sustain. Start with one aspect of your child’s day in which you’ll begin offering choices or giving information in a variety of ways. Once it becomes part of your routine, slowly start adding in more opportunities for UDL, and your child’s learning outside of the classroom will flourish.
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