Let’s face it preschool push-in therapy can be very intimidating if you are new to it, and sometimes when you’re not. It’s hard, and you need to be more creative. However, push-in therapy can be highly effective, particularly for little people.
How?
- You can see how the children function in the classroom. With your input, this can allow the team to make changes to better support the student. You can see what language your students need.
- Children learn skills better in the environment they are going to use it.
- You can practice skills/goals in the activities that they do in their classroom.
- If your school environment is play-based, you can use your play therapy skills to target specific goals.
Ideas to Help You Plan
First, find out what your teacher’s plan is. Is there a theme? What activities will they use at the table, in free play, during circle, etc.? Think about what language skills you need to be successful in those activities. If a child is putting puzzles together, the vocabulary you would need would be the names of objects on the picture, verbs such as turn and flip, and parts of objects. What stories are read in class that week?
Are you going to do circle? If you are, look at your most popular goals and pick one. Then try to incorporate that into your circle activity. Remember circle should be short. Books, songs, and movement activities are usually effective. If you are not doing circle, find out what will happen. If you can, take what happened (e.g., a book that was read) and use that as inspiration for your table/play activity. This will help reinforce vocabulary and skills that the classroom staff are using. For more ideas in circle activities, check this out.
What are the toys available in the classroom? How can you use those toys to work on your goals? Can you adapt the toys to address your goals? What are your student’s interests, and how can you use those?
Lastly, it may seem silly, but have fun with the students. The more you have fun, the more the students will have fun. Looking for an example of planning ideas? Go here. Let me what you like best when doing preschool push-in therapy.
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