When and why to make changes to your child’s program
Oliver (11 months) was making progress in many areas, but he was having difficulty with putting rings on a stacker. On the few occasions that his aim was right, he would pull the ring off before releasing it. His teacher kept trying, day after day, but after a while Oliver was squirming and complaining each time the materials were brought out, and his teacher was thinking 'Oh no, here we go again'. |
| Sophie (4 years) was learning to do puzzles. Things went smoothly until Sophie started on puzzles with six pieces, and then the problems began. Her mother felt that the answer must lie in finding the right materials. Each day or two she produced a new puzzle - puzzles with knobs and puzzles without, puzzles with big pieces and puzzles with little pieces. Every possibility was tried. But each session would end with Sophie confused and distracted, and her mother saying 'Oh, dear, I'll try and find a better puzzle for tomorrow' |
The above examples illustrate two of the most common pitfalls that you can encounter. It may seem obvious that Oliver’s program needed a change of some sort, and that Sophie’s program was suffering from too much chopping and changing. But when you are in there, doing it, it can be hard to take a detached and accurate view of the situation. It is so easy to say ‘I’ll just try once more’, and lose sight of how the ‘once mores’ arc building up. And it is just as easy to rush into making changes after one frustrating session, and overlook the child’s need for time to practise and adapt. It is hard to find a balance between changing too little and changing too much.