We want you to remember that even if your child is not receiving school or clinic base interventions right now, you are doing more to help your child than you think. We just have to approach it differently.
Think of one thing that you can do this week to help create connection and interaction with your child.
An example might be:
Go outside in your backyard and wait to see what your child is interested in.
Then:
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Follow their lead (even if it is just walking around the yard or playing in the dirt)
• Make comments on what they are doing ("we are playing in the dirt")
• Play alongside them and imitate their “play” ( they dig in dirt-you dig in dirt)
Imitating your child is one effective way to increase your child’s engagement with you. Just be sure you are only imitating behaviors you are fine seeing your child do more often.
You can also do these steps while your child is engaged in a video game or electronic device, or you can simply join in with them while they are stimming. You may begin to see them become more engaged with you during this time! Congratulations! You have just initiated some ABA ( Applied Behavior Analysis) strategies! You may not feel that you are doing enough, but doing this during play, bath, dinner time, etc. is doing more than you realize!
