Just as a young child needs to learn how to take a bath, use the toilet, wash hands, feed, and dress independently; they also need to learn some basic chores at home. I have advocated for engaging children in house chores to so many parents – regardless whether the child is on a typical progression, has autism, or has sensory processing differences, or diagnosed with attention deficit, or demonstrates handwriting issues.
Creating Opportunities Home is the natural environment for a child, where they spend the most time with family, while engaging in daily routines. Everyday tasks that seem mundane to many of us, but yet need to be done, can provide learning opportunities for young children. These learning opportunities can be rich and varied, 2 components that are so important for motor planning and motor learning.
The best part is that the child can learn within the house. Don’t miss out on creating opportunities of learning for your child right at home!
In the contemporary fast-moving world, doing house chores is looked down upon, under rated, or thought unessential. However, as a mother of 2 children and as a pediatric therapist, I always believed in the value of learning basic chores early on in life. These tasks are functional, and are important survival skills that are required to be done daily or frequently--
- · Carry plates and utensils to the sink after a meal.
- · Wipe tables.
- · Water the plants.
- · Fold clothes and towels.
- · Dry clothes on a rack.
- · Clean up own room.
- · Peel boiled potatoes.
Family time & Bonding Home chores are shared responsibility where family members can work together, thus spending quality time that leads to bonding. You can use the time to communicate with your child while doing the task. For your child, the bonuses are elevated confidence, increased self-esteem, and learning to take responsibility.
While consistently engaging in tasks frequently and consistently at home, your child learns problem-solving and motor planning. A little progress each day or week, adds up to big changes in life such as providing a sense of accomplishment and boosting self-confidence.
This may come as a surprise to many parents, that the longest study at Harvard found a strong connection between doing house chores in childhood and happiness and success in later life.
https://mcc.gse.harvard.edu/whats-new/chores-caring-kids
Value based Tasks There are logical and scientific benefits of learning basic chores - primarily the variation in movement as well as the demand to problem-solve -- factors that lead to neuroplasticity in the brain, that is the purpose of any therapy provided to children with special needs. In other words, creating changes in the brain and building neural networks in response to experiences. This is akin to learning a new language or playing music. Please read my blog post
Pulling wet laundry out of a washing machine, putting the heavy wet clothes into a bucket, and pushing the bucket towards the drying rack are all examples of tasks that provide proprioceptive, vestibular, and tactile input. Combining all of these tasks becomes a house chore as a whole.
Watch the following video that shows Activ Kaarya kids engaging in various tasks at home. Each of them has autism.
All the children in the video had motor difficulties, tactile defensiveness, repetitive stimming, restlessness, lack of sitting tolerance, and poor ability to follow commands. After a time of 12 – 18 months of therapy at Activ Kaarya, each of them gradually started engaging in small chores at home.
It is so heartwarming to see the children work in their natural home environment as a process of learning.
Parents also deserve credit because they took the effort to work with their child at home based on therapist suggestions.
- · pulling off dry anjeer / dry figs
from its string
- · putting items in the refrigerator
- · peeling boiled potatoes
- · pulling clothes from a drying line
- · squeezing orange juice manually
- · organizing washed utensils
- · folding clothes
- · picking greens
- · cutting string beans
Children with special needs take a longer time and many more repetitions to learn any task as compared to children on a typical developmental course.
Sensory-motor tasks practiced during therapy sessions can be carried
over at home in the form of house chores. Early on at the commencement of sessions, we
encourage children to put away equipment such as pillows, scooter board, mats,
heavy bean bags etc…providing some physical assistance as needed. Samples of
such sensory-motor tasks during therapy sessions at Activ Kaarya are shown in
the following video –
Home chores
are functional, and require movement of head & body in various directions, turning
the head and body, reaching, bending, squatting, using both hands together. Hence
the child receives various sensory benefits while learning tasks that are functional and essential.
Do not miss out the value of learning tasks at home!
#bodyrotation #bilateralintegration #childdevelpment #sensorydevelopment #sensoryintegration #tactile #proprioception #movement #functionaltraining #learning #homechores #housework #tasks
