1. Practice Self-Care

• To be an effective teacher for your child, prioritize your own wellness. Get enough sleep. Eat balanced meals. Get movement into your routine. Manage your screen time. Teach yourself all of these good habits. It will make you into a better teacher for your child. Don’t try to do this quickly. Don’t worry about going too slowly. Your child will appreciate you taking care of yourself.

2. Start small, go slow.

• Start with small steps and gradually build up. You could begin by adding 30 minutes to your sleep each week. You could plan just one, home-cooked healthy meal per week. Work you way up to one healthy meal per day. Bring movement into your life. A ten minute walk each day is a good place to start. Combine your wellness with a fun activity with your child.

3. Manage your screen time

• Screen time is a great distraction, but it’s not relaxing. Screen time is stimulating, not calming. Take control over your own screen time before you try to control your child’s screen time. You could- do a media fast (no screen time). Or, 30 minutes of screen time per day. Or 60. Schedule it. Follow your own rules. For example, no screen time before bed!

• Then, teach your child what you’ve learned.

Remember, these are not overnight changes. They require time and patience. Build up your own wellness. It will show up in your teaching. It will help you become your child's best teacher.

1. Building Relationships

• Schedule regular time with your partner or a friend or a family member. Start with a monthly catch-up. Don’t skimp! meet regularly with someone who nourishes and supports you.

2. Scheduled Communication

• Establish a routine. Have a monthly, weekly, or daily phone call with someone. This is your “me time.”

3. Intentional Conversations

• Be intentional about your ‘me time.’ Talk about what’s important to you. Make sure others are listening and can be supportive.

4. Celebrate Successes

• Recognize small, daily successes. If you are practicing wellness, make sure your friend(s) know. If you are teaching your child new skills, also make sure that your friends know.

Relationships are a journey, not a destination. They take effort. One week, you might not have a lot to share. Next week might be different altogether! Keep on working on positive relationships. They will help you to be your child’s best teacher.

1. Understand Successful Partnerships

• Partnerships are different from relationships. a partnership means that you have an ally. Your ally is helping you be your child’s best teacher. your ally is also working with you to teach your child. Your partner can be your spouse, a friend who sees you often, or a family member who sees you often.

• A partnership means having agreement. You and your partner have to agree about your goals. Which of the IEP for Home Goals do you (both) want to work on?

• Which objectives are you working on?

• Do you both agree how you are going to meet the objectives?

• You are not always going to agree about everything that you want to teach your child. But, you both do have the same goal- a healthy happy child who has a positive relationship with you.

• figure out what goal you want to work towards and then try working on it — together. Don’t do everything alone, it’s too hard.

2. Discuss Goals

• Have open discussions about the goals and objectives you both want your child to achieve. You can each follow a different path when teaching your child. That's OK. Just make sure the path you take gets you to your shared goal.

• Do you both want your child sleeping better? Eating better? Follow household rules? Great! Now, each of you develop a path get there.

• Once you’ve reached an agreement about the goals and objectives, tell your child! It does not matter if your child can speak or even understand what you are saying. Speak out loud to your child and let them know what you plan to work on

3. Manage disagreements.

• If there’s disagreements between you and your partner, hold off. Look at the goals- Truth is, you probably agree on the goals already. Then, look at the objectives. You probably agree on the objectives too. So, what’s the problem?

• When there are disagreements, it’s usually about the path or the strategy. Each parent is allowed to have their own path or their own way of teaching. You just need to meet the objectives and reach your goal.

4. Choice of Strategies

• It’s okay to have different teaching styles. Be clear about the goals and objectives. Let your child know how you each plan to meet the objectives and reach the goal.

• Try out your strategy for at least a few days or a couple of weeks. Don’t give up too soon. But, be honest with your self and your partner if your strategy is not working. Change your strategy if needed.

• Don't always focus on what you think should work. Focus on what‘s actually working

4. Focusing on Successes

• Train your brain to focus on successes. This takes a lot of mindful practice! If your brain is like most of us, you’ll focus on everything that’s not working. You’ll forget to notice what IS working. Notice what works best for your child. Give your partner credit if what they are doing works better than what you are doing.

Building a successful partnership is a journey. It takes patience, understanding, and mutual respect.

Don’t focus on what you think might work, or what you wish would work. Focus on what’s actually working- between you and your partner, and also between you and your child. If you are honest with your partner about what works you’ll both end up reaching the goal.

1. Create a List

• Set aside time each day to create a list of fun activities to do with your child.

2. Engage Your Child

• build a positive relationship with your child. Ask them to suggest fun, cost-free activities.

3. Practice having Fun Together

• Make it a habit to do fun things with your child, even on workdays. Start with short activities. Don’t be fooled. Ten minutes of connection time each day will go a long way to building a positive relationship. If you cannot meet with your child every day, try meeting a few times a week.

4. Practice Noticing

• Spend time observing your child. Show interest in their activities. This is called 'connection time.' Your attention to your child is the best way to be connected with your child. Practice connecting with your child every day if you can. It does not matter if your child has limited language or play skills. Your presence is noticed. Usually, you’ll have to turn off screens to connect with your child, but not always.

5. Express your love and affection

• Learn to express your love to your child, even when they’re not behaving as expected.

6. Talk with Your Child

• Have regular conversations with your child about the fun things you’ve done or plan to do.

7. Celebrate Successes

• Notice and celebrate when your relationship is going well.

8. Use Screen Time if you need to- -and then start using it less

• If needed, use screen time as a starting point to build your relationship. Over time, transition to non-screen-based activities over time.

9. Reduce Screen Time

• Find other ways to socialize that suit your child’s age, developmental stage, and disability. Your child might need to practice doing fun things without a screen- not all kids know how to do this!

10. Socialize Without Talking

• Connection time does not always mean talking time. Having fun with your child doesn’t always need to involve talking. Your child needs to know that you notice them. They need to know that you’re interested in them. They need to know that you love them. You can do all of this without talking.

11. Manage your Frustration

• Positive relationship can withstand frustration- Frustration in relationships is normal. But, take a time-out if you’re feeling too frustrated. you have to feel positive and energized when you do connection time with your child

• Work on your own needs if you're feeling too frustrated, then go back to building your relationship with your child