By Keri Spence
Lovaas Institute - San Diego

A frequent comment I hear from parents is that there is just not enough time in the day to set aside for learning. So, how can parents incorporate learning opportunities into their busy daily schedules? A trip to the grocery store is a routine family chore that may provide an opportunity. The following suggestions would be appropriate for a child who can follow simple instructions and has shown his parents that he can handle a short trip to the store. It would also be important that he has learned ahead of time to follow visual instructions.

Two recent experiences got me thinking once again about the relationship between scientific terminology and parenting.

Experience 1: At the beginning of an initial consultation, I recommended that at least one of the parents conduct some of the 1:1 therapy for at least the first six months. The parents were hesitant and stated they didn’t want their child to see them as teachers who put lots of demands on him. They just wanted to “be the parent.”

Experience 2: I attended a follow up consultation with a child who has a brother and sister. When the child and team went to the therapy room to practice a few programs, the brother and sister came rushing in afterwards. The mom laughed and said that the brother and sister don’t think it’s fair that her other son receives so much attention and gets to have so much fun with the instructors. They want to participate too.