Um obviously three and a half, they're still fairly young. Um, and if they're learning to develop language at the moment, um, a choice board would definitely be the way to go. Uh, so that way, you know, because like picture to the to like specific item that they want to play with um would be uh a really helpful transition from like one activity to another or to keep them occupied. Um, if they are in the middle of a, you know, if they're starting ABA right now, I would say, um, taking advantage of like doing social outings um to to places that they do enjoy to help create, um, more opportunities for communication and social interaction with peers. Um so that would be you know a very basic um advice at this point uh for for someone so young um to to start off that way with uh visual supports in that sense and for getting buy in for a three and a halfyear-old um little more simple right is just seeing what they like to play with um seeing what they like to interact with how they like to interact and from there you can definitely determine whether you know maybe taking them to um mommy and me classes or um you know there's I'm sure that if this is Alamita correct we are the mid Alamita county but we're Castro Valley Hayward San Leandro San Lorenzo okay yeah so in in your area there's a lot of summer activities that the that the um county kind of is, you know, hosts.
So, I would definitely advise to maybe look at some um you know, what what what is going on in your in your area uh activity wise for for kids that age because I know there's a lot of park activities that happen. Um, and so that can also, you know, kind of put that into your ABA sessions would be helpful, too. Um, to kind of help get the ball rolling with like, you know, social opportunities for your kid and keeping them busy. Um, great, great question. Um, so yeah, so I hope that I hope that helps. And then let's see. So yeah, so uh going back to including summer celebrations like holidays like Fourth of July, um I don't even know what else is going on in the summer other than that, but like birthdays, um field trips, you can always say field trips and you know I I'm pretty sure that there's excuse me um I know in San Francisco, for example, they have like every first Wednesday of the month like people go at a discounted price or for free to like um you know like the California Academy of Sciences um I think Modern Art Museum but all those places um so I would say also look into your area and see if there's opportunities for that as well and kind of include them into your summer planning and say like hey these are field trips of course if the kid enjoys these kinds of things that would be um the way to go if not I'm sure there's other opportunities within the area.
All right. So, preparing them for upcoming activities. So, preparing your kid with what to expect during upcoming activities or trips. Uh discussing the four W's is always important. So, I always tell parents before major trips or before doing an outing, it's always important to talk about the four W's. Who's going? what are we doing, where are we going, and when? Um, and I always say if you haven't introduced a calendar or a form of a calendar yet to your kid, now is the time. Um, because then you can count down the days until we go to this activity. And you can even put like who's going and it's all visually there for them to see and to expect like know what to expect for that big event that you've all planned. Um role playinging behaviors that are expected on your trip. So goes back to if you're going to like Disneyland for example and there's going to be a lot of walking, you're going to want to practice that walking before going.
Um because it's it's rough it's rough for a little body to be walking a lot. So getting them to build that stamina um within reason of course uh for their age um it's always important to practice before before getting to that place and role playing things like waiting in line for a long time sometimes you know if you go to amusement parks you got to wait in line uh for your turn and um you know other things like waiting for food uh especially if you're going to restaurants. So all those things um you know to be to be role played at home with family with you know with friends whatever it might be uh whoever they might be um to then be able to run that in real time when you go to a place obviously practice makes better. I never say practice makes perfect because it doesn't.
Um but practice always makes better. Uh, and then reading social stories. For some kids, being able to visually see like a storyline of what they're going to do, super helpful for them. Um, watching YouTube videos, uh, kind of like I mentioned before, I actually recently have been working with a client and we've just been doing all Disneyland. Like the the last two weeks has have just been Disneyland themed. We have practiced waiting in line um just to ride on a you know on a blanket uh on the floor, right? But just practicing the waiting in line part before getting onto the blanket. Um other things is watching YouTube videos of the rides and how it looks inside Disneyland. And um you know, luckily there's so many vlogs out there now that you could, you know, there's people that just like record their trip to Disneyland and that you can, you know, it's helpful for our clients to see how to get there.
Um and yeah, I mean all like I can't tell you enough how much like being able to like watch YouTube videos with our clients to prepare them has been really helpful for them. Um and then reviewing the website of the destination. So making sure that you know kind of preparing ahead of time like knowing where the bathrooms might be and knowing where you know um help kiosks could be in in in in those locations. Um but for the most part the the first uh four definitely kind of prepare ahead of time before before doing big trips with your with your kids. Um, also if you're going on a plane, uh, that one again, videos about being on a plane, uh, you know, working on staying seated for a certain amount of time, having them communicate if they need to go to the bathroom, having them communicate if they need something to play with um, during that time.
So all those things um you know if you if you are in the midst of ABA services I always say and during the summertime and you want to prepare for a trip I always say you know communicate with your BCBA. Um it's a collaborative effort uh to get to get this going. Um so for the most part I always say take advantage. All right. So maintaining learning. So, we're going to take some time to talk about tools that we can use to create excitement about the upcoming changes and transitions uh for the summer. So, uh maintaining learning during the summer uh we want to make sure that we're collaborating with our child's teachers. um whatever they're learning in, you know, school time could be helpful to contact your teacher, see like, hey, what are some things that we can introduce during the summer to practice to get ready for the next grade?
Um and you know, taking advantage of extra availability. So, if you if you are in the midst of ABA services and you had limited availability due to school, now is the time to ramp up your hours um for ABA services. Uh because again, it's summertime um and it gives you more time to pick up the hours that you were clinically recommended. And then um setting aside uh time to for learning. So, we never want to say like an hour of anything. Um, cuz I can only imagine, but I always say if you want to focus on an hour or two hours of, you know, academic type of work, we want to break it up into small pieces for sure. Um, and here we recommend like maybe 5 10 minutes. Keep it easy and engaging. We don't want it to be, you know, something really hard and they have to finish like five pages in like five minutes and it's it's a little it's a little stressful.
So, we want to make sure that if we are wanting to introduce like learning type of material um that is academic, we you know, we want to we want to keep it keep it simple, keep it light, keep it engaging and maybe focusing on specific skills. So, if our, you know, if our kid is having a hard time with math, for example, and they need help with that, um, you know, thinking about activities that can include math that could also be engaging, um, with like, you know, maybe adding math components to a scavenger hunt or adding math components to, um, painting or something. But for the most part, it's just trying to find um some creative ways to get get that learning part incorporated into engaging in fun play. And so we're going to go back to keeping it fun. Um coloring, reading, drawing, etc.
Uh there's so many shows now um for kids that are engaging or games that promote learning. I can't tell you enough for our smaller kiddos love love PBS Kids. Um there's just so much to to do there. And I think being able to incorporate that, especially if you're not planning on going anywhere for summer, you know, incorporating something like that into your day, into your day to just get them engaged and to enjoy interactive. Um, it is very interactive play too, those games. So, um, those are always fun. Uh, and then again, understanding that summer, you know, doesn't have to be all work and no play. Uh, you could schedule in lazy days. I I love lazy days. I schedule myself lazy days even when it's not summer. Um, and you know, for the most part, just having them understand that, you know, it's we we do a lot of stuff, but then also there's time to kind of settle down a little bit.
If your kid wants to watch TV all day, um, it's not the end of the world. It's just one day. Uh, and you can always start a new the next day. Um, and if you're going to introduce them into summer camps, um, making sure that it's aligned with your kids interest. Uh, I can't tell you enough, um, how many times my mom, uh, put me in summer camp that I did not like. Um, so now that I'm older, I I definitely tell parents, hey, make sure that if you're going to put your kid in summer camp, like they really enjoy what's going on there. Um, summer gymnastics was not my thing. Uh, but it could be for someone else. It could be for one of your kids. So, uh, yeah, something to keep in mind. All right. And so now we're going to jump into planning summer activities.
All right. So, let's look for inclusive activities or events in your area. So, we have baseball games, drive-in movie nights, for example, arts and crafts. And what I mean by inclusive is just huge array of different people, right? Um different age ranges, um different levels of development, just for the most part, just to kind of help with the mixing of everyone, right? um and places that are ac accepting of people's differences. Um and so because again there's more opportunities there, there's more flexibility there um for anyone who is, you know, maybe having trouble with transitions or having trouble with sharing. There's a lot more understanding in those areas. Um, and then like I've mentioned before, getting connected with local resources like your public library, your community centers, um, in your area. There's like I kid you not, there's a lot of stuff going on. It's just you gota you gota, you know, you just got to look for it.
Um and uh and I'm sure that you know in the summer it's I think towards your area it's very a little bit cooler so there's a lot like more um I guess nicer summer activities in that area too. So uh yeah just go to your community center or just look at the community cent's website. There's always um I'm pretty sure they have like PDF forms of like summer classes that uh might be happening in your area and for people who live in your you know people who live in the in the cities uh they get like a discounted price too on on certain classes as well. And then um plant, you know, find play opportunities within your neighborhood. Um either at the playgrounds, parks, swimming pools, water parks. Um I know that sometimes uh it's a little hard to connect with other people. Um, but I always say that it's um helpful to be a chatted pathy sometimes to connect with others and you know again find people that have the same interests um or have like the same activities going on with their kids and that can kind of help create sense of community, help create, you know, um be able to work together as a team to keep the kids entertained.
Right. All right. And then just play. Um, find time for sensory activities. Um, schedule downtime and time outdoors. Uh, during the summer, I loved being outside as a kid, and I'm sure there's a lot of kids out there that love that same thing, too. Um, and you know, for sensory activities, I say like there's sand pits, water tables, sensory like slime bins, um, bubbles, like all those things can even be done outside or inside just depending on your location. And schedule lots of playdates to practice social skills. Um, and engage with your kids. use their creativ, you know, use creativity and imagination and create some qual quality one-on-one time. Um, again, doesn't have to be like three hours of one-on-one time either. It could literally be like a 15inute activity. Um, you know, to just engage, try to get the try to get your your kid to engage with you as well.
Um, and keep it fun and interesting. All right. So, for some quick tips, um, going back to involving your kid in the planning, um, keep the learning fun, find opportunities for play, and just enjoy the process of making memories with your kid. Um, yeah. So, that is pretty much this part of the uh, presentation. I do however have another one just in case anyone has um specific you know worries about like summer camps or or things like that. I'll just go ahead and start the slideshow for this one real quick. Just speaking for some of the families I've spoken to over the last couple months. I know that a lot of them do like like to include students in those kinds of camps and it's like how do we best prepare for that with with students with different diverse needs, right? Great. Great. Awesome. So, yeah.
So, let's go ahead and jump in for this one. All right. So, um so things to kind of consider before you know camp starts and some you know some strategies to use during camps. So again, summer's a great time to try new activities and generalize skills. Um so and summer camps offer novel environments that bring out about challenges with large groups, sight, sounds, expectations. Um so there we want to, you know, something to to think about um is when you're preparing for a successful camp experience is to either visit the site or, you know, be able to virtually visit. Um, but it gives you an opportunity to see what to, you know, you as a parent, you you you're like seeing it, you know what to expect, and it can help prepare your kid for the new environment. Going back to writing a social story.
Um, they can outline a new schedule for camp that, you know, the day. Um, fun activities your kid can expect when attending camp. Um, or maybe just some basic things that you know are going to be at camp. And then you can kind of incorporate that into your social story. Um, again going back to maybe watching videos of kids at camp too and kind of giving your kid a visual of like what to expect um when they go and sharing information and strategies about your child with the camp team can help them can help set them up for success. So, letting them know what your kid is interested in, what does it look like when when they need support, when they need when they need support, you know, like are they um verbal and be able to vocally communicate or do they have um an AAC device or textbook to help communicate them for their needs and any strategies discussed on the following slides may be helpful to share.
So, uh, strategies during the day, uh, setting clear rules and expectations, uh, and providing feedback. So, going back to visual supports, um, this is like the creme de la creme of ABA is making sure that we, we give kids a visual of what to expect. um you know whether it's a schedule, a token system, um a choice board, so offering choices, any additional reinforcement strategies, um and being able to get end of the day reports to kind of just give the parent an, you know, a an idea of what happened that day or what are some things that they can um you know, regroup with and talk about um at the end of the day with their So um here we have setting clear rules and expectations. Um this highlights behavior that is important to the group, right? So state rules positively. So we don't want to make it seem like it's very authoritative and this is how it goes.
We want to make sure that we um flip it into something positive, right? So like here in this group we love to give each other compliments um or you know kind of wording it that way u making rules applicable to all members of the group. So um making sure that the you know the rules of the group is able to be followed by everyone everyone in the group. Um pairing rules with reinforcement and consequences. So, um, you know, like, hey, if we pick up after ourselves before we go on to the next activity, we get a star or we get a sticker. Um, and then, you know, the consequence to that example would be, well, you know, if we don't if we don't if we're not able to pick up before we move on, then we can't move on. That's the consequence. We got we got to make sure we pick up everything before we can move on to the next thing.
And that will be applicable to everyone in the group. Um and then placing visuals of the rules in a strategic location. So just making sure that it is within eyesight of the child um if they are expected to follow and then using simple language when setting the rules. So um this is where we say keep it sweet and simple um and straight to the point when presenting clear rules and expectations. So, for visual supports in a summer camp activity, we're pointing to a rule or visual cue when a child is not following the rules. Um, and it's an easy way to redirect without providing so much attention because sometimes if we're constantly saying, "Let's not do that or let's try to do this or let's, you know, hey, let's focus." Sometimes being able to just visually show them like what to expect is um for one less um what's the word I'm looking for?