What is child preferences?

Child preferences is one of the eight types of curriculum modifications. It implies small changes to ongoing classroom activities or materials to increase a child’s participation.

Capitalize on a Child’s Favorite Activities

Setting: On-Campus, After-School Program
Child: Luke
Age: Eleven years

Examples:

• Observe a child’s interests and then provide additional materials or toys that match them.
• Use the child’s preferred activities, such as music, to support efforts to learn other skills.
• Find ways to build on a child’s preferred activities when introducing new ideas.

_{Background
Luke is an eleven-year-old boy with cerebral palsy. He lives with his mother, Joy, and younger brother in an urban city. Luke has always received support in the regular class from the special education teacher. Luke has learning disabilities, and his mobility is affected by cerebral palsy. He is able to walk and run for short distances but loses his balance on occasion and gets tired when walking long distances. He and his brother attend an after-school child care program on the campus of their elementary school.}

_Services

_{Luke is in the fifth grade and receives services from the resource specialist, speech therapist, and adaptive physical education teacher at school. He has been attending the after-school program for two years. In the past, there has been little overlap between the specialists and the after-school program. At first, the after-school providers were uncomfortable with Luke’s lack of balance, which resulted in his occasionally falling. Because the providers wanted to avoid an injury, they tried to restrict his outdoor activity by placing him with a group of younger children when the older group was outside or on field trips in the neighborhood. He did not like the indoor games offered, however, and started getting into trouble.}

_Strategy

_{After talking with his mother, the after-school providers decided to spend some time talking with Luke about what it was he wanted to do after school. They discovered that he wanted to play basketball and go on field trips with the oldest group. He also was good at computer games and wanted the program to have some for him to play.}

_{In looking carefully at Luke’s preferences, the providers clearly saw that he was asking to do activities different from what the after school providers had been offering him. The first thing they did was obtain permission from Joy to talk with the adaptive physical education teacher at the school site and get some ideas for ways to handle the occasional falls and things to do if Luke were injured. Then, on field trip days, his mother brought in his bicycle so that he could go out with the group and keep up. Next, the program, which previously had a policy against computer games, obtained some games for a donated computer and made playing the computer games one of Luke’s choices during the time he spent indoors. Luke now had an opportunity to demonstrate his skill at many of the games. As a result, he was also given leadership responsibilities for teaching and supervising the younger children as they played those games. To support continual efforts to adapt Luke’s after-school setting, the family also requested that the IEP specifies regular consultations with the after-school program and reciprocal visits to gain information, ideas, and support.}

_{Supporting Factors}

• _{Luke was able to participate in his program development by sharing his interests and ideas.}
• _{The after-school child care provider was open to new ideas from the child, the family, and other adults working with Luke.}
• _{Information was shared between the special education program and the child care program, with consultations planned for the future.} 

_Resources

Richard Gargiulo and Jennifer Kilgo. Introduction to very Young Children with Special Needs, Chapter 7, P.

Inclusion Works!  Creating Childcare Programs that Promote Belonging for Children with Special Needs. Chapter 3. Pages 38-39. Retrieved from https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/documents/inclusionworks.pdf on 10/6/2018. Open Internet source. © 2009 by the California Department of Education.