Age 3 to 5
Family Action StepsTips for helping 3 to 5-year-old children grow and learn!
Parenting is about loving, guiding, and nurturing a child to help them grow into happy adults. This is true whether the child has a disability or not. But parenting can be especially difficult when you don't know how your child's disability will affect them in school, with friends, and in life as an adult.
Your expectations for the child play an important role in preparing the child for the future. The more you encourage and support the child, the more they will achieve. Think big and support them!
The small things you do at home now have a big impact on how well the child does in school and as an adult. Children with disabilities whose parents or caregivers encourage them to participate in school and their community are more likely to succeed in school and have meaningful jobs as adults.
Get Started
Things to DoHere are a few ways to start:
Do Chores at Home
Doing chores at home can help prepare children for school. Choose chores based on the child’s ability. Examples of chores for children between the ages of 3-5 include:
- Brushing their teeth
- Cleaning up after eating
- Making their bed
Practice Sharing
- For example, tossing a ball back and forth helps teach kids how to share.
Offer Choices
Offering choices helps a child learn to make decisions.
- They could choose what game to play or what to have for dinner. Respect and pick their choices and praise them for making a choice! Let young children talk about their choices and listen without judgement.
- Help the child solve problems by talking about the steps you could take.
Connect with your community
Get more ideas and information on how to prepare the child for school: