Help - Quiet Time

tiffanyirene

DD is 3 and has a speech delay, she is just starting to use words to communicate. That being said, she just started daycare a few weeks ago and is having trouble during nap/quiet time. She is transitioning out of naps, which they are fine with however she won't be quiet during nap time and it wakes the other kids up. At home, I sit in her room with her and read a book or do work on my laptop (kind of ignoring her) but she still has outbursts of random noises/words. I tell her "shhhh, it's quiet time" but I know she doesn't understand the concept. Having her watch a movie probably won't work because she gets pretty excited over funny parts and the same goes for a tablet. My only thoughts are giving her a sticker book (she loves stickers) or a special coloring book that she can only use during quiet time. Or maybe have her do an art project, she doesn't get very loud during art normally. Anyone else run into this and have any quiet play ideas?

hopecounts

I am very interested how DD's new school will handle this, she is fairly quiet during her quiet time at home but in a room with other people/kids I'm not sure how she'll do.

At home I use her special interest (animals) I have a set of fisher price toy animals that she only has access to during quiet time. Usually she is so happy to play with them that she is content to chill on her bed and play quietly.

It may be worth trying the sticker/coloring book or a similar favored item may help.

tiffanyirene

Do you have the Little People Animals? DD is obsessed with them , specifically the cow which she has named Bob Bob...but I digress, thanks for responding let me know how your DD's school goes if I find anything that works I will post it.  

hopecounts

No but I should put them on her Christmas list she would love them
Thanks and I'll share as we get into her first year being at 'school' all day and let you know what they do and how it goes!

Micelle78

Sorry I do not have any ideas but we have this same problem with our speech delayed DS.

He just turned 4 this summer and we have a 16 month old DD that takes naps about once/twice a day (obviously she took more not many months ago) and for the life of me can not get him to understand to be quiet.  I am not sure if it is too much of an abstract concept but he pretty much has one volume level of voice when he is talking.  Every once in a while you may hear him whisper something to himself (like asking himself do I want the Life cereal or a yogurt) then proclaim loudly what he wants.  Its been hard.  I fear that it is not going to get any better and not be looked at kindly by the preschool, which by the post I wrote a few weeks back, it is clear why

Sometimes when his sister is sleeping I will give him the tablet and aside from bursts of laughter, he is usually quiet for a bit.  He is very social though and needs you to interact with him about half the time he uses it.  He will ask me to play the game or ask me what something is or spells.  It does give LO a chance to have a bit of quiet while she sleeps

CaptainSerious

I have this same problem with J. He's entering 2nd grade, where it will be less acceptable, and I feel that he'll do okay with behavior mods at school. At home, I sometimes announce we are playing the Quite Game when I need a few minutes of solace. Luckily, he is very competitive.

tiffanyirene

I think I'm going to bring this up to her therapists and see if they have any tips or ideas? She's not quite at the "game" level to do a "quiet game". For her I think she understands quiet time at to be that she needs to stay on her bed and relax (or as she probably thinks of it, look at books and read) but her problem is that even though she is relaxing and looking at books she will still get very excited and she will try to read parts of the book. I tell her "shhhh, it's quiet time" but she doesn't get it . Today we sent her to daycare with a coloring book and some crayons that she can only using during nap/quiet time and I also told her teacher that she  could try reading to (or with) her and that could be helpful. I will update how that goes. 

tiffanyirene

I just wanted to update. DD does daycare on Mondays and Tuesdays, on Tuesday her teacher had a basket of three things her coloring book (and crayons), her flashcards and three books she rotated between those three things during nap time. Her teacher only let her play with one thing at a time and that seemed to keep her quiet during quiet time. Not sure how long this will last but at least for one day it was a success.