Nanny Activities for a Delayed Child

DixieNormous330 · September 2013

We just started with a new nanny. She needs a LOT of guidance on activities to do with DD, who has global delays due to brain damage. I'm going over sensory activities and invitations to play activities but are there any tried and true that you have done/you do at home with your kids?

lite-bright · September 2013

Is there one of your therapists who could come and do a session or two with your nanny with advice on behaviors and activities?

We found it really helpful to have our Floortime therapist come and do several sessions with DD1 and our nanny. It gave her more knowledge about autism, plus practical ideas on how to deal with DD1's quirks and how/when to push her play; the learning by experience was excellent and she picked up the basics very quickly. I definitely credit the fact that DD1 has made so much progress in the past year partially to the fact that she had a very warm & enthused nanny who was willing to take some professional guidance in that arena and put it to good use.

DixieNormous330 · September 2013

@lite-bright, that's a brilliant idea. Unfortunately all of DD's therapists are in her school setting and don't do home visits. I've tried.

Our nanny might not last, either. We're trying to give her more guidance before pulling the plug.

kcisthebombdotcom · September 2013

DixieNormous330 said:

@lite-bright, that's a brilliant idea. Unfortunately all of DD's therapists are in her school setting and don't do home visits. I've tried.

Our nanny might not last, either. We're trying to give her more guidance before pulling the plug.

What age is at he at developmentally?

DixieNormous330 · September 2013

She is roughly 18ish months. It's tough to tell because she's all over the place. Socially she's on point for a 2.5 year old, cognition is iffy because of her physical limitations. I'm trying to incorporate age-appropriate and slightly younger to try to push her.

kcisthebombdotcom · September 2013

Large beads for practicing threading, nine piece board puzzles, jack in the box, play doh, making homemade moon dough, shape sorter, coloring, simple crafts (gluing cotton balls to make a sheep, for example), large Lego blocks.

ToastieSimons · September 2013

Do you want it to be like homeschool kid of activities? gross motor ? fine motor? social skills?

Fine motor, use the alphabet. Every week pick a letter. For letter A, take construction paper and trace a giant A, use cotton balls, or strips of paper to glue and fill in the letter. Day 2, make a giant apple and glue in red circles, or use the red dot paint pens (like bingo markers), Day 3 could be an alligator and green pieces of paper, or green etc.

As someone else said, play doh all though if she's in the "i want to mouth everything" stage this could be difficult.

I'm trying to think of what they do with my son at preschool. They take him on walks using his walker, sing songs in circle time. Could your nanny take her to a story time at the library?

The other thing my son loves is to sit face to face with me on the floor and play silly games like "miss mary mac". he doesn't really participate but its' a great activity to work on his focus because he loves singy rhyming songs and his engagement.

We also have a pack of sensory balls from fisher price, you can do lots of ball play. Rolling balls back and forth, hiding them places for basic hide and seek. You could always set up a basic treasure hunt for the nanny and your LO to do together. Or hide a special toy that she had to find every day with the nanny.

And I'm not saying this to be rude, just more realistic...If she is a person who wants to be sitting down watching the child playing, more of an observer and is less of a leader then she may not be the right fit for your no matter how hard you're guiding her to the right steps.

The other thing is, does she have any experience with special needs. We've found that even sitters who have zero experience with special needs get very overwhelmed at just the concept of it.

DixieNormous330 · September 2013

She was an aide in a school with a special needs program. But this is her first time on her own with a kid besides her grandson (who is NT).

Here is the list of things i have:

1) Pom Poms into a jar (fine motor and coordination)

2) Finger painting

3) Water bead sensory bin with toys/letters hidden in it and a box to put the findings in

4) Puzzles (fine motor, cognition)

5) Blocks and shape sorters (fine motor and coordination)

6) Scooping with corn kernels (Fine motor skills)

7) Colored tongue depressors (imagination inspiration)

8) Feather boa pieces (imagination inspiration)

9) Egg cartons and pom poms/buttons (coordination/fine motor)

10) Letter of the week inspired art (cognition)

11) Felt shapes and board (Imagination inspiration

12) Chalk on construction paper

13) Pipe cleaners and an colander (fine motor/coordination)

14) Muffin tin and buttons/pom pom (use felt in the bottoms for color matching)

15) Sparkle bottles with vegetable oil, rubbing alcohol, food coloring and glitter (set up ¼ cup alcohol, rest of bottle to 1 inch space veg. oil) – let Minnie put in buttons etc. (Fine motor)

16) Play dough and cookie cutters (fine motor)

17) 4 cups sand, 2 cups corn starch, 1 cup water – moon sand

18) Salt tray/bin for design and patterning (fine motor, cognition)

19) Guitar (bread pan with rubber bands), Drums (pots and spoons) (imagination inspiration)

20) Plastic animals paint prints (imagination)

21) Tissue paper, glue and paper plates (Imagination art)

22) Ipad activities

23) Paint in a baggy

24) Stained glass with tissue paper and saran wrap or waxed paper

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