Guest Posted January 10, 2007 Posted January 10, 2007 I've just started 1:1 support of a Reception child with developmental delays - 2 1/2 year old - waiting a statement. He's coping in our indoor and outdoor resource areas where play is non-directed. However, at the end of ANY session he dosen't want to end and he hears TIDY UP he immediately runs away, starts playing with anything, says 'no'......a toddler tantrum. Does anyone have any strategies to deal with the end of a session??? Cheers Kate
Marion Posted January 10, 2007 Posted January 10, 2007 Sometimes children respond better to being given a 'special' tidy up job of their own and it is easier to reinforce that the job is done rather than just a general 'tidy up' instruction.
Guest Posted January 10, 2007 Posted January 10, 2007 how about his own tidy up basket to collect things in. keep it in a certain place and for him only .have a couple of children who repond well to using a tidy up basket.
Guest Posted January 10, 2007 Posted January 10, 2007 I had a boy who was like that. We used to warn him about five minutes before the end of the session and tell him that he had just a little bit longer to play. We also used a visual timetable for him so that he knew what was happening next.
Guest Posted January 10, 2007 Posted January 10, 2007 We give all our children a general one minute warning before tidy-up time (or any other change of activity) - nursery age. this works really well as they are prepared for the change/ to stop playing. Then we have a piece of tidy up music. We have one child in particular with quite specific needs - to begin with he would either carry on with what he was doing or stop but only to listen to the music. Now with 1-1 support he has begun to tidy up. We always give him the one minute warning 1-1 and use picture / photo prompts to support routines.
hali Posted January 10, 2007 Posted January 10, 2007 we have a child with autism like that as soon as our tambourine shook and tidy up time was mentioned he would run shout and throw things around, a month later he is an angel helping... we use a visual timetable to show a picture of tidying away give him plenty of warning and he chooses a special job to do, with lots of praise and thumbs up it works....
Guest Posted January 10, 2007 Posted January 10, 2007 Thanks everyone for you ideas and fast response.....I certainly try them to put them into practice starting tomorrow. Kate
Guest Posted January 10, 2007 Posted January 10, 2007 Hiya, that sounds like fun!! I always tell my kids - "10 minutes to tidy up time" - "5minutes" "3 minutes" - you get the picture. it might also help if you challenge him - e.g. "I bet you can't tidy up as fast as Emma" or I bet you I can carry more bricks to the tub than you .. Failing that, erm, please read other responses! Good luck, Kate
Deb Posted January 10, 2007 Posted January 10, 2007 Excellent suggestions already, also we find giving a child one object at a time to take to here or there, let's put this away, and tidy up to classical soothing music. One child used to get suddenly very tired at tidy up time (didn't have SEN), and we made it into a game using a large 5 minute egg timer motivate him.
Guest Posted January 11, 2007 Posted January 11, 2007 Love all the 'tidy up' techniques mentioned. Can i just ask whether 'tidy up time' is the most popular way to put things away. Do they have to tidy away something they are in the middle of doing at a certain time, such as a brick tower etc? Or are they allowed to finish to their satisfaction? Just that at my pdn we are told to get the children to put each thing back where they got it from before they get something else out, or move to another area - i.e. played with playdough - have to clear it away before going to home corner - then have to tidy home corner before joining in with painting activity. In the 'tidy up time' settings, are they free to leave things out i.e. half completed puzzles, messy home corner until the 'group tidy'? Just curious as I'm fed up with asking children to continually put things away and am looking for a better tried and tested method which allows free exploration without total devistation! (does that exist?)
Running Bunny Posted January 11, 2007 Posted January 11, 2007 Patricia, I think in an ideal world all settings would have enough space to leave everything out for the children to return to, but in my experience the daily routines dictated what we did i.e. tables were needed for snack/lunch, floor space was needed for circle time etc. In my role now as a development officer, I try and encourage settings to allow children to leave unfinished work/activities out where possible, with children finding name tags to put next to them so that no-one else tidies it away. Settings that are fortunate enough to have workshop-style shelving units have space on the top shelf for models to be put out of the way and/or displayed for all to see. If activities have been obviously finished with or children are not showing an interest in it, I would ask the children what they would prefer and ask them to help tidy away before getting out the new activity. I wouldn't necessarily ask the children to tidy away every activity before they moved to the next one as they may wish to return to it or (heaven forbid!) take the playdough into the home corner to cook with it (Cue playdough in the carpet discsussion!) Children should be encouraged to think about basic health and safety issues such as leaving cars, trains, dolls etc on the floor as a trip hazard - and you'll soon find out that they will start tidying up after themselves, okay, it may take a while, but children enjoy taking responsibility and telling each other the rules!
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