Teaching is hard!

Teaching about schedules, routines, and privileges is hard. Children and youth often

• Resist routines

• Don’t start their routines

• Give up too quickly after starting a routine

• Want privileges even if they did not do their routines

• Want privileges too often or at the wrong times

When children resist your teaching, parents can

• Feel like they don’t know what they’re doing

• Get frustrated- with themselves

• Get frustrated- with their child

• Worry that their child does not love them

• Get discouraged

• Stop trying

Stay positive as much as you can

There are things that you can do to help you feel positive. First of all, make sure that your child knows that you love them. Make sure that your child knows that the skills you are teaching are important. Remind yourself and your child that you are teaching about schedules, routines, and rules because it’s part of your job. Your child should be much more worried and frustrated if you are not teaching these skills than if you are.

Seek professional advice

The IEP for Home has lots of good ideas, but does not offer medical or behavioral health advice specifically for your child. You may need to consult with a professional if you are not sure that you are using the right strategies.

If you do not believe that you are having success, be sure to consult with

• A parenting group or parenting course

• A child therapist

• A child psychologist

• A specialist trained in Applied Behavior Analysis can all be helpful.

• Your pediatric health care provider

• Your child’s classroom teacher

You and your child’s health care providers may need to modify the strategies discussed on this page to meet the needs of your child. You and your child’s providers may end up using different strategies altogether.