Additional Needs

Easter

Posted by Zowie Kaye on 26th March 2018 Additional Needs, Disabilities

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Although we all love Easter; the move into spring and the lighter nights, it does bring with it the two weeks of school holidays that for special educational needs (SEN) families can be quite stressful and require more planning.

I always try to see what local Autism Friendly events are happening, these are becoming more popular to my delight.

Many museum, cinemas and even supermarkets are getting on board to try and provide an inclusive and less stressful experience for families.

Failing that you can always look at when certain places have time periods of being less busy like first thing in the morning or later in the evening.

How about making your own activities at home – if your children find it too stressful to go and participate in an Easter egg hunt them make your own in doors.

Hide your eggs in your own home or garden if the suns out.

Consider having the eggs out in the open to make them easy to find.

If you have multiple children in your home, select different colours for each child.

This ensures that everyone will get the same amount of eggs.

No one wants a meltdown!!

How about decorating some warm boiled eggs with wax crayons or stickers?

Many children don’t like dye due to sensory issues that messy play brings.

There is a whole plethora online of alternative ideas.

You will find that many SEN children have special diets so the standard go to chocolate egg just isn’t an option.

How about you purchase some colourful plastic egg from your local store then start to fill with non-edible treats:

• Money ie: 50p/£1 made up of various coins to encourage counting
• Redeemable coupons that your children can exchange for computer time, favourite snack
• Confetti for sensory stimulation
• Stickers
• Miniature cars / mini figures
• Finger puppets

For nonverbal children maybe create lights, touch and sounds Easter themed sensory boards/baskets.

These can then be used in future years.

Our generation is exceptionally lucky that we have the internet and have access to so many ideas to make our children’s learning journey more interactive and enjoyable.