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Teaching aids are an integral component in any classroom. The many benefits of teaching aids include helping learners improve reading comprehension skills, illustrating or reinforcing a skill or concept, differentiating instruction and relieving anxiety or boredom by presenting information in a new and exciting way. Teaching aids also engage students' other senses since there are no limits in what aids can be utilized when supplementing a lesson.

Reinforcing a Skill or Concept

A teacher assists a student in the classroom

Teaching aids prove to be a formidable supplement for teachers when the reinforcement of a skill or concept is necessary. Not only do they allow students more time to practice, but they also present the information in a way which offers students a different way to engage with the material. Of course, this is important in order to reach the various learning types in the class.

About the Author

An educator, writer and life coach, I believe in sharing life lessons to arm others with tried and true strategies to navigate life's tribulations, as well as, celebrate achievements. I focus on education and how to teach today's youth life skills and strategies to utilize beyond the classroom. Furthermore, I coach others on self-love and operating from a loving foundation in spite of today's tough, sometimes cold, world.

Photo Credits

doing my homework image by Renata Osinska from Fotolia.com

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Why Are Teaching Aids Important? | Synonym

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Teaching aids are an integral component in any classroom. The many benefits of teaching aids include helping learners improve reading comprehension skills, illustrating or reinforcing a skill or concept, differentiating instruction and relieving anxiety or boredom by presenting information in a new and exciting way.

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Strategies that develop comprehension skills

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Strategies that develop comprehension skills

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All children can benefit from strong reading skills. Some children love reading, some dislike it, and many are in between. Most children (and adults) are drawn to reading material that is engaging and understandable. But, your child will eventually have to read material that is not entertaining or simple to comprehend, so building reading abilities is always a good idea.

As a parent, you can help your child develop reading skills with enjoyable activities, some of which you might not have thought of as reading enrichment.

Easy Reading Strategies for Parents to Use at Home

1. Ask your Child to Make Up Stories: When your child creates a story out loud or in written form, you can prompt more specific vocabulary and encourage your child to dive into descriptive details. This activity provides practice for thinking through logical sequences and may trigger curiosity as a child looks for books in similar settings

2. Compare Books to Film: Have your child read a book and then check out the video version of a book. Talk about the similarities and differences between the two mediums. What did you each like or dislike about each form? Did your child prefer the book or the movie, and why?

3. Participate in Library Reading Programs: Most libraries offer reading programs during school vacations for students. These programs are typically tailored to reading level, themed, or showcase some of the best works for children and young adults. The library staff might host activities based on selected books, or hold special events and field trips designed to help students explore the literature on a deeper level. Librarians are usually happy to help your child and can help find ways to involve all levels of readers within an age group.

1. Explore Different Forms of Reading Material: Check out works in both their book forms and books on tape, CD, or digital recording forms. Many of the highest rated literature for children and young adults is available on tape and in book form. Your child can benefit by reading along in a book while listening to the same book on tape. The cognitive action of seeing and hearing words and phrases together reinforces sight word recognition, improves the practical use of punctuation, and builds familiarity with hard to pronounce words.

2. Encourage Curiosity About Vocabulary: As your child reads books, suggest that you look up difficult or unfamiliar words in the dictionary together. Consider making flashcards of these words and guessing the meanings before finding the definition. This builds the skill of inference, which is thinking through the possible answers based on the context.

3. Strengthen Spelling Skills: If you are making flashcards with difficult words, have your child practice spelling the words out loud or on paper. Give your child the opportunity to double check spelling and find mistakes independently. This is a great strategy to use throughout the year. It teaches students to self-correct and also reduces their fear of trying to tackle difficult words. Young students may enjoy using multisensory techniques, such as tracing the words with a finger.

1. Read the old-fashioned way. Take turns reading passages, or allow your child to follow along as you read. Consider using interesting voices that correspond to characters personalities or to the tone of the story.

2. Compare Authors' Books: Have your child read two books by the same author. It is a good idea for you to read them too so you can discuss them. Compare how they are similar and how they are different. Which did you and your child like best? Why?

3. Ask Your Child to Help You: Practical things, such as looking up store hours, simple instructions, or ingredients on a package of food, can give your child a sense of the practicality of reading in small, manageable doses.

How to Incorporate Reading Into Your Child's Time at Home
When you practice reading skills with your child, it is important that you remember to keep your reading activities stress-free. Use mistakes as teachable moments. If your child gets tired of reading, take turns, or take a break.

For most elementary aged students, about fifteen to twenty minutes of reading at least three days a week is a good place to begin. If your child wants more time, then allow that to happen. If your child becomes frustrated or has difficulty focusing, shorten the duration, and consider a shorter text or a lower reading level. Don't worry about selecting a reading level that is too easy- your child will ask for more challenging material when he or she is ready.

Establish a cozy and nurturing environment when reading. A bedtime snuggle or a mid-afternoon read on the porch swing are some ideas. Involve your child in planning your reading sessions, and enjoy your time together as you get ready for school and get ready to read.

Special Situations

If your child has a learning disability, you may need some more direction from your child's teacher or from a learning specialist at school. Most reading strategies can help develop reading skills, but you also want to be sure that you target specific areas that your child needs to work on.

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Parents Can Improve a Child's Reading Skills

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All children can benefit from strong reading skills. Some children love reading, some dislike it, and many are in between. Most children (and adults) are drawn to reading material that is engaging and understandable. But, your child will eventually have to read material that is not entertaining or simple to comprehend, so building reading abilities is always a good idea.

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The ultimate goal of reading is good comprehension. We've gathered information about apps that provide practice with specific comprehension skills, including sequencing, differentiating between fact and opinion, developing word awareness (through antonyms, synonyms, and homophones), as well as several mind mapping apps. Mind maps are visual diagrams that help students represent words or ideas and can be used in reading and writing.

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The ultimate goal of reading is good comprehension. We've gathered information about apps that provide practice with specific comprehension skills, including sequencing, differentiating between fact and opinion, developing word awareness (through antonyms, synonyms, and homophones), as well as several mind mapping apps.

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BY Penina Rybak

The holiday season is in full swing, and that means new toys and learning opportunities for children. Children with Autism and special needs in particular, respond well to structured, repeated, developmentally appropriate "teachable moments" that account for their mental age (not chronological age), sensory needs, and differing attention span.

It's always a challenge matching the child's learning style to the lesson materials available, even more so when well meaning family members and friends contribute to the gift pile, and social media hype further muddies the water.

Include your child's teachers and therapists in the gift discussion

At this time of year, I usually recommend that parents and teachers/therapists have an honest conversation via phone, Email, written note, or in person, re: which gifts can be the most meaningful and thus have the greatest impact at this time, for this particular child. My two decades "in the trenches" have taught me the importance of team collaboration that can help plan and execute an effective and enjoyable "teachable moment".

If done right, integrating toys & tech can help facilitate cognition and self regulation. Here is my list of toys and how it can benefit a child with autism. You can use these toys as the guidelines or actual basis for your planned "teachable moment". Good Luck!

1. Object Function Comprehension

Children first need to understand the vocabulary of their environment i.e. how their world "works". That involves learning to identify basic objects by their appearance, texture, sound, and function. This can be done with various toys including chunky puzzles, picture books, dolls and accessories, matching objects, matching photos, and these materials:
Recommended Toys:
Recommended Apps:
2. Categorization: What goes together (Inclusion & Exclusion)

Children begin to master orientation to person/place/time when they can group alike/unalike objects/photos into categories and explain why. This skills helps develop higher level social skills and Executive Functioning skills which are needed later for self regulation and literacy skills.

Categorization is the precursor to developing the ability to ask and answer why? questions can help a child with special needs learn problem solving skills when things don't go as planned and improvisation/adjustment is needed.

This is the point in time that I introduce humor into the interaction by purposely grouping items that "don't fit" and help the child see why that's funny. This is also the juncture in time I introduce more picture board style games into the repertoire:
Recommended Toys:
Recommended Apps:
3. Sequencing

Children learn to sequence a pattern, oral directions, or events in a story after they learn about object function and how to categorize the vocabulary and images in their memory banks. This skill is a later one to emerge, and is essentially the bridge between language and social skills. It can thus take the longest to develop and requires mastery of the first two skills mentioned above.

Sequencing is the gateway to mastering literacy and problem solving, as well as math concepts and self regulation (following a schedule, tolerating changes in routine/transitions, accepting delayed gratification). Sequencing is where "whole body" learning really counts; where the child reenacts and explains the order of what he/she is doing while doing it, building "muscle" memory and episodic memory for later scaffolded learning:
Recommended Toys:
Recommended Apps:
Please note these suggested materials are meant to be discussed with the child's parents and team before purchase. Do you have a favorite learning toy or app? Share it in the comments below.

Looking for even more toys? Check out the Special Needs Toy Guide

Latest Special Needs Products

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19 Toys & Apps that can help develop Language and Social Skills in Children with Autism - Friendship Circle - Special Needs Blog

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The holiday season is in full swing, and that means new toys and learning opportunities for children. Children with Autism and special needs in particular, respond well to structured, repeated, developmentally appropriate "teachable moments" that account for their mental age (not chronological age), sensory needs, and differing attention span.