Ideas to help DS aged 3 to concentrate & follow instructions, please!

[confusedofengland]

I have also posted this in Chat, but not getting much response there so I thought I'd try here

I've just had the report back from 3.4 year old DS2's speech therapy review. Overall it is positive & he has made loads of progress on the expressive language side, but one of his 'next steps' is to be able to follow instructions more & to identify items on pictures.

At home, I find that he will follow instructions such as putting shoes on, going on potty for a wee, take plate into kitchen etc. When out & about he will stop when asked (sometimes more than once) & will get off his scooter to cross the road etc. This is great but they are all 'regular' instructions, so I wonder if it's the context he understands more (certainly it helps him out).

I think he seems to be good with 'functional' instructions but not so much at instructions to do an activity which is not one he wants to do.

At the SALT review, the therapist had an animal wooden peg puzzle & was asking DS to find different animals. He didn't find the ones she wanted, but did pick out others that interested him & named them. She also had some animal figures & again asked him to pick out certain animals & put them back in the bag. Again, he didn't do this but chose ones he liked. He was distracted a little by other toys that he saw, such as some bubbles, so I don't think this helped. She said this could be a cause for concern when he goes to school next year, as if he won't follow instructions & join in class activities he will not learn & progress.

I have some ideas such as repeating these activities with him at home, but I wonder if anybody else has more ideas please? He has just (yesterday) started preschool every afternoon, which I think will help hugely as he will get into a good routine, plus there are only 11 DC for 4 adults, so he will have a lot of attention from his keyworker.

For information, autism has been mentioned & he is seeing a paediatrician in November, plus has had all relevant hearing tests so it's not really the cause I'm after advice on, just any ways we can help him at home/preschool.

TIA smile

Are you happy with his ability to follow instructions etc with you? I think my 3.6yo dd would react the same if presented with a task like the speech therapist's, tbh - she just wouldn't see the point unless it was something she wanted to do.
We have got a few of those Orchard Toys basic matching/turn taking games, have you tried those? Dd was hopeless at them to start with, but she's starting to get the idea of taking turns and following rules/instructions. We did dance classes last year that seem to have helped too.
For identifying pictures, there are some good books you could share - we have the usborne 'home' 'garden' 'seaside' etc books that she still reads sometimes, and 'you choose' if you don't already have it?

On the site: www.teachmetotalk.com has huge tips to work on understanding, following instructions. Her DVDs, teach me to listen and obey 1&2 explains in great detail on how to work on these.

I think the fact that your DS preferred not to follow the speech therapists instruction, is maybe because he has delays in his attention skills. Which could be why the speech therapist said that it could be a concern.

Some good ideas here, thanks. I am generally happy with how he responds to instructions at home & nursery have reported that they are too, but it seems to be more instructions to do an activity that he struggles with/doesn't want to follow.

I've just done one activity recommended by SALT (in a booklet they send out) - hanging out the washing together, getting DS to pass me things eg can I have DS1's tshirt, can I have the blue trousers etc. He passed me 10 items correctly (I counted!), although I did help by pointing to the basket they were in. One or two items were second time correct so I used it as an opportunity to teach adjectives - eg 'Oh no, they're not DS2's trousers, they are too small for DS2" etc. It took about 5 minutes then he lost interest & went off to play elsewhere in the garden.

I have to say I was quite happy with his 'performance' (for wont of a better word): it was certainly better than at the SALT where he did not pick anything she suggested. Does this sound like we are on the right track/doing the right things?

I'm also going to talk to the preschool teacher & SENCO tomorrow to see what activities they recommend & to ensure we're doing the same thing at preschool & at home