Preventive Teaching: 3 Quick Tips
Have you ever attended a movie? A play? A sporting event? A music concert? I’m sure you have. What do all these things have in common? They all use a form of Preventive Teaching. Let me explain. Each one requires those involved to learn specific skills and practice them before anyone actually sees them perform. Usually it takes weeks and weeks of training and practice. Eventually the times comes when the team, athlete or actor must use those skills and the more preparation they have the better. Even professionals need time to prepare. Can you imagine what it would be like if you attended any of these types of the events and no one took the time to prepare or practice? It would be chaotic.
Preventive Teaching is the same concept. It is specifically focused on helping your child know what to do in any given situation.
The more a child can be prepared for an upcoming situation the more likely a child will know what he or she needs to do.
Here is where you, as the parent, can make the biggest difference. Here are three things to keep in mind when using the skill of Preventive Teaching that will help you do it effectively.
You know what things to work on so trust your judgment
As an expert on your child you already know the in’s and out’s of your child’s behavior. There is a saying that goes, “You can’t prevent what you can’t predict.” –K.M. MacAulay. Using your knowledge of your child’s likes, dislikes, moods, etc. you have a wealth of knowledge of what things you can work on.
Start with something relatively simple and focus on being comfortable with the process of the skill
Just like practicing positive behaviors takes repetition, so does using the steps to the skills. At first, focus on something that is simple to do and focus on the process. You can focus on other things in time after you and your child have mastered the process and it makes it easier for both of you.
Take time to practice and role-play the situation thoroughly
The recommendation is to practice it at least 4 times. We would recommend role-playing your chosen situation more than that to be sure your child can generalize it to multiple situations.
The practice examples in the Preventive Teaching video can be accessed here. Watch it for reference and print out the handouts to help guide you in the process.
We know you will do well. Keep trying.
Let us know if we can help in any way.
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