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Dr. Marisa van Niekerk, 
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It's that time of the year again ...

9/20/2014

 
At this time of the year "school readiness" is one of the hot topics of discussion amongst mothers with young children.  

Moms are constantly concerned with the question "How do I ensure that my child is ready for school".  I have previously written about this topic, but I recently came across this very practical article, which gives excellent practical tips of how you can get your child ready for school.  The article was prepared by Sinmarie Pieterse, and the original article is published at: http://www.claremontpractice.co.za/newsletter-0912.html.
School readiness
SCHOOL READINESS: WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT
prepared by Sinmarie Pieterse

Today we know more than ever before about how young children develop and about how to best support early learning.

The first five years of life are critical to a child’s lifelong development. Young children’s earliest experience and environment set the stage for future development and success in school and life.

Early experience actually influence brain development, establishing the neural connections that provide the foundation for language, reasoning, problem solving, social skills, behaviour and emotional health. Therefore it is of utmost importance that we prepare and develop our children’s potential and ability to learn to the utmost in this phase.

SCHOOL GOING AGE
A child is obliged to go to school in the year that they turn 7, whether it is 1 January or 31 December unless they obtain school exemption for the year.

WHAT IS SCHOOL READINESS?
A child’s readiness for school is multi faceted, encompassing the whole range of physical, social, emotional, language and cognitive skills that children need to thrive. School readiness is a measure of how prepared a child is to succeed in school, cognitively, socially and emotionally.

It also implies that the child has reached a certain stage in their development where formal education will be advantageous to the child.

“Readiness is a stage where a child’s development is when they can learn easily, effectively and without emotional disturbance. It can not be defined in a point of development, however, because growth is a steady continuous process, always ongoing. Rather it is a condition, or state indicating that the child is ready to learn.”

Parents, day-care providers, paediatricians and pre school programs play an enormous role in the preparation of a child for school. Research shows that learning begins long before a child enters Nursery school. No child becomes ready on their own. It is a process. The child needs to be educated. Initially it is the parents responsibility to provide the necessarily stimuli. Infants and young children thrive when parents and families are able to surround them with love and support and opportunities to learn and explore their world.

School Maturation on the other hand refers to a biological process in the development when certain aptitudes appear before they start school. This implies physical as well as mental maturity. The maturation process cannot be hastened but the appropriate facilitation, comprehension and support thereof can.

Parents can improve the quality of the maturation. This can be achieved by stimulating the effective use of senses, language and co-ordinated muscle control.

The maturation process can be delayed by the lack of sufficient stimulation or neurological dysfunction as a result of brain injury before, during or after birth.

The maturation process includes physical maturity, as the child needs to be physically fit to enable them to deal with the demands of formal maturation.

Usually this kind of maturity is reached by children at about the age of six. But it must be added that, from a pedagogical point of view, this kind of maturity is not a guarantee of success at school, because even if a child is sufficiently mature one can still find that they will not be able to meet the demands of formal teaching.

THE DOMAINS OF SCHOOL READINESS
These domains are separate and distinct, but interact with and reinforce each other. The need for children to develop across all five domains is supported by pre- primary school teachers.

1. Physical and Motor development and physical health
2. Emotional and social development
3. Cognitive development
4. Language development


1. PHYSICAL, MOTOR DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTH
  1. Gross motor development
    Co-ordination should be well developed. The child should be able to perform a variety of gross motor acts including climbing, walking, running, skipping, catching a ball and standing on one leg.
  2. Fine motor development
    The child should be comfortable to be able to use a pair of scissors, pencils, crayons, cutlery and simple implements.
  3. Perceptual development
    This will enable them to interpret in a meaningful manner. The child must be able to perceive and reproduce correctly on a visual-motor level. They must be able to conceptualize and perceptualize. These perceptual abilities are extremely important. Visual perception is particularly important in writing, reading, copying, pasting etc. Auditory perception is important in listening; a child must not only be able to hear, but also to listen.
  4. Self-care
    The basic self care skills such as dressing oneself, tying shoelaces and buttoning up should be developed as should hygiene routines such as toileting, washing of hands and face.
  5. Physical health
    The child should be physically healthy in order to attend and perform within the school environment. The following should be carefully monitored and where applicable the necessary intervention should be implemented by a suitable or qualified person.
    • Allergies
    • Attention deficit disorders with or without hyperactivity
    • Nutrition and growth deficiencies
    • Immunisations
    • Blood disorders
    • Visual, dental and auditory problems

2. SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Young children's social and emotional development is the foundation for their cognitive development. Children are more likely to do well in school when they have a positive sense of personal well being, developed through consistent, caring relationships in their early years. Emotional support and secure relationships build a child’s self confidence and the ability to function as a member of a group. Research indicates that a child’s emotional and social skills are linked to their early academic standing.  Children who are emotionally well adjusted have a significantly greater chance of early school success, where children who experience serious emotional difficulty face grave risks of early school difficulty. Specifically, emerging research on early schooling suggests that the relationships that children built with peers and teachers are based on children’s ability to regulate emotions in pro social versus antisocial ways and that those relationships then serve as a source of provision that either help or hurt children’s chances of doing well academically.  Children who have difficulty paying attention, following directions, getting along with others, and controlling negative emotions of anger and distress do less well in school.

  1. Social maturity as a criterion for school readiness refers to a child’s ability to adapt to social situations whether in a group or individual context. A child who is socially immature, irrespective of whether they have the cognitive abilities to cope with formal education, will experience considerable adaption problems that in turn will hamper scholastic performance. 
    The following are a few questions you can use to identify if your child is socially ready:
    He/she likes to play with a friend.
    He/she can easily integrate with a group.
    He/she can easily carry on a conversation with a friend.
    He/she is willing to share toys
    He/she is willing to help a friend.
  2. Emotional maturity implies that a child has reasonable control over their emotions. Emotional maturity influences important aspects such as self confidence, which are pre -requisites for learning. When a child is evaluated for school readiness it may become apparent that they are physically and cognitively ready but socially and emotionally not.

    School readiness depends just as much on emotional maturity than on scholastic ability. Therefore it is one of the most important aspects of school readiness. This is partially influenced by parenting but also depends to a large extent on a natural development process and will increase with time.

    How do you know if your child is emotionally mature enough to go to school?

    Here are some guidelines:
    • Independence: Can your child complete most tasks on his or her own, or are they constantly running to their teachers’ side for approval or assistance?
    • Confidence: Is your child confident enough to speak up in a busy classroom when he or she is uncomfortable or needs help? Children also need to let the teacher know when they need a bathroom break, are feeling ill, or need something.
    • Separation: Does your child separate easily from you when drop them off in the morning or are the good byes long and teary? Some crying in the beginning few weeks are normal and even expected but should stop after a while. Teachers don’t have the time to console a tearful child the rest of the day.
    • Responsibility for his belongings: Does your child remember to put their box back in their bag after school, do they remember their jersey, school clothes etcetera? Or is their teacher constantly running after them with their belongings?
    • Problem solving: Is your child able to solve the majority of basic little problems that pop up on a daily basis? For example, will they know to borrow a ruler from a friend if they don’t have one or ask their teacher to phone mummy?

3. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

This domain refers to thinking and problem solving, knowledge about particular objects and the way the world works.

The cognitive skills that grow out of a child’s everyday experiences are what help children to acquire new knowledge. From these experiences children learn to observe, recognise differences and similarities, ask questions, and solve problems. The best foundation for later learning is provided when children have multiple and varied opportunities to interact with their environment and are encouraged to learn from their experiences. Cognitive development encompasses mathematical knowledge, thinking, creative expression reasoning and problem solving. 

Creativity
  • The child should be able to use drawings, play, and various objects to express themselves creatively.
  • The child should be able to actively involve themselves in role playing, drama and story telling.
  • They should be able to creatively express their understanding of the world around them.

4. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

This includes communication and literacy. Communication includes listening, speaking, and vocabulary. 

Language proficiency is a key predictor of school success. Early literacy skills (size of vocabulary, recognizing letters, understanding letter and sound relationships,) at nursery school are good predictors of children’s reading abilities throughout their educational careers. Language and literacy skills enable children to develop cognitive skills and knowledge and to interact effectively with peers and adults.

Here are some indicators:
    • The child should be conversant in their mother tongue.
    • The child should be able to both comprehend and express themselves fluently and meaningfully.
    • He/She should be able to remember details from stories in a logical sequence.
    • The child should have an expansive vocabulary and be able to describe the attributes (size, shape and colour) of objects.
    • The child should be able to recognise letters particularly those in their name.
      Comprehend concepts of time as before and after.
    • The child should be able to identify the differences and similarities between objects.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO DETERMINE WHETEHER YOUR CHILD IS READY FOR SCHOOL.

The demands placed on the grade 1 child are high. A child who enters the grade 1 classroom without the necessary skills is likely to develop problems emotionally, behaviourally or academically.

Knowledge of the child’s strengths and weaknesses when they enter grade 1 may be beneficial for understanding the academic performance of the child throughout their academic career. This knowledge may also be utilised to develop strategies to facilitate effective learning in the child.

Bibliography
  • Spoken sign language as a criterion for school readiness among deaf pre-schoolers.
  • N.L. de Klerk, 2003, Magister in Language Practice, University of the Free State.
  • Article: Young children’s emotional development and school readiness. C Cybele Raver
  • Brainline 2003, J Du Plessis.
  • Getting ready: National school readiness indicators report. February 2005, Rhodes Island Kids Count.
  • Peceptual development. M.C. Grove and H.M.A. M. Hauptfleisch.


School readiness (continues):  How to prepare your child to learn to write.

8/9/2012

 
Educational psychology, school readiness
Educational psychology, school readiness
Educational psychology, school readiness
Educational psychology, school readiness
Writing is a movement that entails rhythm.  Yes, the same as the rhythm that you need when you dance.  Before you even think to start teaching your child to write the alphabet and words on paper: remember the golden rule for writing, namely rhythm.

Rhythmical movement should become part of your child's real inner body and inner world.  In other words rhythm should become part of him.   So, do you need to dance in order to teach your child to write?  Well, yes!  Good news hey, as dance is a lot of fun and it's relaxing for both you and your child. 

What to do when you do the "writing dance"?
- Clap your hands / click your fingers / tap your feet on the rhythm of the music while for example moving in a circle with your child.
- If your child mastered the clapping and clicking, start to combine more rhythmical movements, for example clap your hands, click your fingers and clap hands on your legs (all on the rhythm of the music).  
- More dancing "activities": gallop like a horse on the rhythm of music, play skipping games, for example while skipping rhythmically give your child some "learn to listen" activities, like telling him "We are going to shop, let's skip to the market place".  "Look out for the cars" (keep on skipping).  "Let's look to our right / left to see if the road is clear".  "Now we are at he market" (stop skipping).  Take out your grocery list (the child who can't read yet, may use a list with some pictures of e.g. apples, bananas, etc).  Ask your child what's on his list.  Now you can practice some mathematics (counting skills).  Your child "reads" his shopping list: We need, three bananas, five apples, ten small yoghurts, etc.
- Use musical instruments to further develop your child's rhythm.  If you don't have any instruments, make your own (e.g. for the drum use an empty tin and two sticks; put some small stones in a plastic bottle to have a rattle, use kitchen utensils and just enjoy the orchestra).
- The next step will be to make rhythmical patterns in the sand / mud, while for example singing a song.
- Let your child also draw rhythmical patterns in the air (with both his hands and feet).
- Play hop scotch.
- Jump on one leg on the rhythm of the music.
- Rhythmically hop / throw a ball (start with a big size ball first and later use a tennis ball).  You can also add a tennis racket as a very advanced activity.

Midline crossing and writing
Midline crossing (or middle line crossing) is one of the most important skills that a child has to master in order to learn to read and to write.

What does midline crossing mean?
Our bodies have a left side and a right side.  If you could draw a line from head to toes (or from top to bottom), that is your midline or your centre line.  Most children who have problems with writing and reading, can't cross their midline.  To cross your midline, means that you should be able to move with your left side of your body into the area of the right side and visa versa.

See examples of midline crossing on the photo's below.  Do these exercises to the rhythm of music as a dance.

Cross-crawl

Knee-foot-heel

Backward-heel touch

Lazy 8 (∞ laying on its side)

Resources Midline crossing exercises
Dr Melody de Jager
Neurolink South Africa

School readiness: Preparing my child for mathematics

7/4/2012

 
Educational psychology, school readiness, mathematics
Educational psychology, school readiness, mathematics
Educational psychology, school readiness, mathematics
The big M!  MATHEMATICS.  SOS for help?!
Have you ever thought of this: To be able to do maths, your child has to know:
- his body parts
- his left and right sides (important: to really know it, he will also know it when he turns into another direction)
- the basic concepts: before / after; in front of / at the back; on top of / below; next to; between /; more / less; left / right; under; underneath; bigger / smaller; etc.

How to teach these basic concepts to your child:
Always start with three-dimentional games, which means your child's body is involved:
- Play with your child and give him instructions like "Stand next to Sam".  "Sit on the picnic table".  "Stand between the swing and the slide.  "Kick the biggest ball".   "Stand on one leg at the left side of the (play) house." 


After your child has mastered the three dimentional games, move on to more complex activities, which implies that your child has to complete a task, but that only a part of his body will be needed, for example:
- "Put the doll underneath the couch".   "Put the truck left of the smallest car" .  "Bring me the ball that is bigger than the yellow ball, but that is not the biggest ball".  "Lift up your right leg".  "Touch your left elbow with your right knee."  "Put the yellow bean bag on your left foot and try to walk around".  "Put the bean bag on your back / elbow, etcetera.  Can you still move around?" (give your child tasks to perform with a bean bag while some music is playing - children enjoy this activity very much).

Instructions will get more difficult as your child progresses.


Now your child will be ready to move to two-dimentional activities which involves him sitting on a chair and / or carpet.

Two dimentional activities imply the use of card games, board games and peg boards, etcetera:

- Let's start with peg boards:  "Put a green peg left of the orange peg".  "Place a purple peg in the right corner of the peg board".  "Can you build a square with the pegs?"  "Put two black beads inside the square (it is assumed that your child knows the basic shapes, it is circle, square, triangle, rectangle and oval, otherwise you could start to teach him the shapes - see next fortnights newsletter). 

- Board and card games would be: Match the pictures / colours / numbers (eg that looks identically the same); match the pictures that go together eg a mother and a baby, a bee and a hive.  Monopoly.
- Snakes and ladders (ask questions like, which number is before / after number four; which number is between / next to / above / underneath number ten, etc).

- Make your own coloured arrow card.  Arrows show in different directions.  Ask your child to touch the arrow/s that show/s  left / up / right / down directions.

One dimentional activities will be your final destination (it means pencil / pen and paper activities and BE WARE! both parents as well as some pre-primary schools tend to skip three- and two dimentional activities and / or start too early with pen / pencil activities.  

What do do I mean by too early?  
Remember the sequence: three-, two-, one dimentional.  If your child hasn't accomplished the three- and two-dimentional activities, it means that he won't be ready to move to the one-dimentional activities.  In the process he might get confused and loose confidence in his first, very important, math skills.

A nice change to the normal: Take turns with your child to give the instructions.

Pen / pencil and paper activities mean: "Draw a circle at the right side of the tree".  "Mark the third duck in the row".  Tick the last triangle in the row".  "Circle the object between the girl and the car".

Have fun!  Ready, steady, take the strain out of Maths - you can do it!


Look out for my next newsletter in two week's time: "Writing, are you kidding!?"

School readiness: How to develop a balanced, happy, school ready child?

6/15/2012

 
Educational psychology, school readiness
Educational psychology, school readiness
Educational psychology, school readiness
Educational psychology, school readiness
The first and most important ingredient in your school readiness recipe, is to support your child to develop a healthy and good self-concept.  Without it he will never be able to be a happy, well balanced child who will love himself.

What does self-concept imply?
It is the child's mental picture of his abilities and traits.

Practical ways of developing a positive self-concept:
- Practice what you preach.   Be a good role model for your child.
- Enjoy life.  Smile and laugh a lot.  If you experience every day life as one big obstacle, don't expect that your child to experience life differently. 
- Have fun together as a family.  We don't have any opportunity to do a rehearsal in life, this is the life we are in and we are busy living it.  Teach your child to live life to the fullest in spite of obstacles and teach him that there will always be some or other challenge in life - so therefore rather have a broken halleluja than no halleluja at all.
- As family you should at least have one meal a day together.  It should preferably be a meal where you have time and not a meal during the rushing hours of the morning when everybody has to get ready for work and school.  Listen to your child.  Ask him about his day:  What was exciting and/challenging and how did he handle it.  Don't critisize your child for all the wrong things he did, but focus on the positive aspects that he did well.  Ask him whether he will handle such a situation differently in future and let him share it with you.
- Talk about light hearted things as well, for example what you, as family, are planning to do together the weekend, the news of the day, new movies and outside activities that you want to do together.
- Praise your child when he did something right and when he did his best, in spite of the mistakes he made.
- Support your child to express himself.  It is important to help him to identify his emotions and feelings.
- As parents your child should know that you are experiencing different feelings and emotions as well and that it is FINE to have emotions and feelings.
- Tell your child when you, for example had a bad day, and that you feel down, but also tell him what you are going to do to solve the problem (maybe it will just be to go for a quick walk with your family after dinner, or to play your favourite happy song and let the other family members also play theirs).  By doing this you will learn more about one another and you will share a lot of practical life skills of dealing with stress, anger and happiness and joy!
- Plan activities in such a way that your child will be able to experience success.
- Criticism should always be positive and encouraging.
- Allow your child to do things in his own way and to take responsibility for his choices.  This will be the only way that he will learn out of his mistakes.  Then you will have the opportunity to encourage him for trying something and to teach him the important life skill that "Success is not final, failure is not fatal.  It is the courage to continue that counts" (Winston Churchill).
- Give your child at least three compliments a day by focusing on things and characteristics about him that's unique and special.
- Communicate unconditional acceptance and love to your child through your words, but also with your gestures and body language.
- Encourage your child to express his ideas that differ from yours.
- Create opportunities for your child where he can express himself creatively, for example to choose a theme for his birthday party, to have the choice of a family activity (preferably outside the house and not in front of the tv or computer).

ACTIVITIES TO DO TOGETHER AS A FAMILY (You should pick at least three a week)
NOTE THEY are GREEN!!  Because they don't involve passively sitting and not communicating with one another.
- Go for a walk
- Cycling
- Reading (take turns to read; little ones who can't read yet, pick a story and tell it)
- Listen to your favourite happy song
- Have a picnic
- Lay on the grass and look at the stars/shapes of the clouds
- Dance (while "following" the leader - take turns to be the leader)
- Take funny photo's together
- Sit together at the fire site and talk/tell stories
- Play card games/board games
- Prepare food together (divide the tasks)

CHALLENGE:  Practice your creativity as a family and try to add six more similar activities to the GREEN list!

Look out for next week's talk on how to further support your child, through play, to get ready for school.
Resources: (De Witt & Booysen 1994; Gordon & Browne 2004; Papalia, Olds & Feldman 2004) 


School readiness: an Educational Psychologist's answers

5/31/2012

 
Picture
Picture
One of the most common questions I need to deal with as educational psychologist (intern) is parent's concerns about school readiness.  They ask questions like: "How do I know my child is ready for school?", or "How do I support my child to ensure school readiness?" or "Where do I start do get my child ready for school?".

My advice and experience as educational psychologist (intern) is:

RELAX. The process for preparing your child for school readiness is easier than you might think. Research has shown that it is not so much about the amount of formal learning, spending huge amounts of money, working through lots of workbooks and buying expensive learning material for your child.  It's all about play!

Researchers describe play as a child's work or job.  Educational psychologists have called play "a window into the child's world" and "an activity through which children gain control and come to understand life".  According to Hymes (1968) play is: "... thinking time for young children.  It is language time. Problemsolving time. It is memory time, planning time, investigating time. It is organization-of-ideas time when the young child uses his mind and body and his social skills and all his powers in response to the stimuli he has met."

School readiness entails developing the child as a whole.  "Whole child" means: emotional, physical, social, mental ability and spiritual.  So to have balance, all of these aspects have to be equally developed in your child.

In my next blog post, I will start discussing exciting practical ideas of how to develop a balanced, happy child while at the same time preparing your child to get ready for school.

In the mean time, please share this post with anybody who might also benefit from this information, and join my 
newsletter to receive up to date information.

Resources: (De Witt & Booysen1994; Gordon & Browne 2004)
Picture

Supporting your child to be more in touch with his emotions

2/29/2012

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
All individuals (adults and children) make contact with the environment by making use of their senses, which are
  • seeing
  • hearing
  • smelling
  • tasting
  • touching

If one is not in touch with ones senses, then it will be very difficult to be in touch with ones emotions.
  • A child communicates his awareness of what is happening in his world through his play.  Play helps promote mental growth as well as emotional needs. 
  • Children often lose their sensory awareness and sensitivity in respect of their bodies as a result of traumatic events in their life.  They desensitise themselves in order to protect themselves. 
  • By focusing on children’s sensory and bodily contact-making, they are made aware of the emotions they experience in a specific moment.
  • Through sensory awareness a person is able to live more fully in the world, the connection between mind and body is discovered.

ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE SENSORY AWARENESS IN YOUR CHILD
Smell
Discuss and experience practically (breath through the nose and mouth) how the nose is used for smelling.
  • Let your child discover the various smells in the air.  Do the activity inside and outside.
  • Describe the smells (what they smell like and what do they remind your child of).
  • Talk about your child’s favourite and non-favourite smells.

Taste
Talk to your child about different tastes.
  • Let your child stick out his tongue and look at it in the mirror.  Ask him to feel the textures of food under his tongue, on his lips, teeth and in his mouth.  Allow him to describe the tastes and feelings.
  • Give your child different foods to taste that includes sweet-, bitter-, sour- and salty tastes.  Have a small plastic mirror available so that your child can see his facial expressions, as reaction, when he tastes the different foods.
  • Talk about the tastes your child likes and dislikes.
 
Touch activities
Feeling different objects like, sand, sandpaper, wood, shells, seeds – talk about how it feels, what it reminds your child of.  He can also say, “I don’t like this because it reminds me about …. or I like this, because it reminds me of…, etc.
  • Use finger paint to make pictures (put different textures in the paint like washing powder, sand, sta-soft, etc).
  • Play in the sand and water (use interesting objects like plastic measuring cups, bottles, cookie cutters, etc).
  • Use play dough and encourage your child to roll, cut and crumble the dough.
  • Walk barefoot on various surfaces like sand, stones, water, cushions, sandpaper etc.
  • Both you as parent/caretaker and your child touch the child’s face, head, arms, legs or body parts, and allow him to describe the feeling (use cotton wool, soft brushes, sponges, etc).
  •  Important: All activities must be non-threatening in nature.
  • Allow your child to sit in a spot and list everything he sees.  (You can do the writing if your child is still too small).
  • Look at pictures (eg. in a book) and try to remember them in detail.

Sight
Make sunglasses from toilet rolls and use cellophane for lenses through which your child can look at various objects.
  • “Mirror” Mirror” games – look into mirror for 30 seconds and let your child explains what he saw.  This will helps your child to strengthen a sense of himself.
  • Allow your child to sit in a spot and list everything he sees. (If a child is still to small to write you can do the writing).
  • Look at pictures in a book, and try to remember them in detail.
    
Hearing
Listening to music helps to bring your child into contact with his feelings.  The words of songs (age appropriate) can help him to identify emotions that he may not be able to express otherwise.
  • Bang household items against each other, for example spoons, chopsticks, etc.  (This is used to promote sensitivity towards sounds).
  • Allow your child to paint while listening to music.
  • Use musical instruments to introduce rhythm, and to make gentle, loud, scary or happy music.  Talk about the happy, sad or scary noises.
  • Demonstrate body movements which can be used to express different emotions and talk about them.  (Stamping feet to express anger, tiptoe to walk quietly, quick steps if you are in a hurry, etc).
 
Walking sensory experience 
Take your child for walks to experience and involve him in sensory exploration.
  • Encourage your child to explore within safe and reasonable limits, for example: What is under that nearby rock? How do the leaves smell? How does the bark from different trees feel?
  • Stop for a moment and listen to different sounds. Can your child hear the trees “moving” in the wind, the birds that fly overhead, the sounds of the city in the distance?
  • Avoid distracting your child with questions while he is involved in sensory exploration of seeing, smelling, hearing and touching. If he starts to talk (about other non-related things, gently turns his attention back to what he is seeing, tasting, smelling, hearing, or feeling.

MOST IMPORTANT ACTIVITY: HAVE FUN WITH YOUR CHILD! 

( Resource:Dr S Krog Play Therapy Techniques) 

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    Dr. Marisa van Niekerk
    Educational Psychologist in Private Practice, Midstream Estate

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