Practicing with very young students can sometimes be a real challenge. A two minute practice session can easily stretch out to half an hour or more without actually getting any real practice in. A typical practice session in my house might go like this:
Me: OK, time to practice!
Bun: Rest position!! (spinning around)
Me: Rest position!
Bun: Rest position!! (crawling on the floor like a cat, hands on foot chart)
Me: Rest position!
Bun: Rest position! (Takes a flying leap from across the room, lands on foot chart, loses balance, laughs hysterically)
Repeat the same routine for all 3 activities we're doing. Yes, 3. It shouldn't take more than a minute. But, alas, she's not even 3 yet, and while it might seem like she's just being silly and having fun, what she's actually doing is stalling because she finds the whole thing very intense and intimidating.
Enter the 10 Cheezit Practice Session. Choose 10 Cheezits (or snack of your choice) and put them in a pile on the floor. If you ask her to do something and she does it happily, she eats a Cheezit (or it can go in "her" pile). If she doesn't, you eat it! When the Cheezits are gone, the practice is over...with a SMILE, regardless of how it went. Big bow, yay, practice over! We have fun with keeping it really fast paced so it's actually hilarious to eat all those Cheezits.
This is great because she can see the pile getting smaller, it's concrete (either she gets it or I do) and it keeps the practice session super short. There's no more negotiation. Best of all, it's fun!!
Me: OK, time to practice!
Bun: Rest position!! (spinning around)
Me: Rest position!
Bun: Rest position!! (crawling on the floor like a cat, hands on foot chart)
Me: Rest position!
Bun: Rest position! (Takes a flying leap from across the room, lands on foot chart, loses balance, laughs hysterically)
Repeat the same routine for all 3 activities we're doing. Yes, 3. It shouldn't take more than a minute. But, alas, she's not even 3 yet, and while it might seem like she's just being silly and having fun, what she's actually doing is stalling because she finds the whole thing very intense and intimidating.
Enter the 10 Cheezit Practice Session. Choose 10 Cheezits (or snack of your choice) and put them in a pile on the floor. If you ask her to do something and she does it happily, she eats a Cheezit (or it can go in "her" pile). If she doesn't, you eat it! When the Cheezits are gone, the practice is over...with a SMILE, regardless of how it went. Big bow, yay, practice over! We have fun with keeping it really fast paced so it's actually hilarious to eat all those Cheezits.
This is great because she can see the pile getting smaller, it's concrete (either she gets it or I do) and it keeps the practice session super short. There's no more negotiation. Best of all, it's fun!!