By: Christine Dehne
Our four-year-old is entering PreK this year, so there are a couple of apps we’ve been using to gear her up for some of the new experiences she is going to have starting next week.
One eBook that has been popular at our house is Django Goes to School. It’s a simple interactive eBook about a dog’s first day at obedience school. Django and his dog Cosmo learn several important lessons about how to behave at school and how to treat other students. I’ve often joked that young children share some dog-like characteristics, and this eBook is proof that I’m not the only person who has found this comparison apt. My daughter had the most fun playing with a page where she could add more dogs and toys herself, like a sticker book. While this particular page didn’t emphasize the lessons I hope she takes from the app, her interest there did keep her immersed in the app longer, which hopefully gave time for some of the lessons sink in.
The other app that we’ve been using quite a lot is called Social Stories Creator and Library. Developed for children on the spectrum, the idea of social stories is that you can prepare your child for social situations in advance, which may help them to pick up on social cues and respond in an appropriate manner. Generally, I find that 4-year-olds, on the spectrum or not, can use a little help picking up on social cues. Behaviorally they also often benefit from a little advanced preparation for upcoming events. This app allows you to take photos and add in narration/captions for the story. I draw simple stick figure drawings of what we’re planning to do that day, take snapshots of them, and build a book within Social Stories so that DD1 can “read” the story a few times before our adventure begins. It may be wishful thinking on my part, but I firmly believe that this has helped cut the whining down in our house significantly. I’m sure the stories I’m building about going to school will help her to be a little more ready for the things she will experience there.
Good luck with your adventures back to school!
Christine Dehne is a Brooklyn-based multimedia artist and educator and a mother of two girls. She strives to teach her children and her students to be happy but conscious consumers of media. You can reach her at christinedehne (at) gmail (dot) com