- Teach your child to speak, understand the world and learn new skills
- Make a YouTube playlist and let it run at TV time
Every parent feels guilty putting their child in front of the TV, but we all need time out to do chores, or, just time out. This is particularly true when we are supporting a child with additional needs.
So I decided to ‘make use’ of my son’s screen time to covertly teach him new words and concepts. I made lots of YouTube playlists about everything from sight words to yoga poses. It turns out there is a YouTube video for almost anything!
Here are the YouTube videos I found particularly effective.
Why it works
Like many children with autism, my son learns most effectively through visual demonstrations, songs and repetition.
And like many children with autism, my son has an exceptional memory. He learns entire YouTube videos by heart and walks around the house reciting them.
In many cases, it took a long while — sometimes years — for him to actually understand what he was saying. But in my view, understanding can come when they’re ready. It’s never too early to equip them with words and concepts, so that when they do eventually start noticing the world around them, they can connect the dots.
Why YouTube videos are good
In my view, there are many reasons why YouTube videos are an extremely handy tool for teaching your child words and concepts:
- They’re free.
- They’re short — typically 2-5 minutes long, which is a perfect length for holding a child’s attention.
- There is a video for virtually anything you want to teach your child. You can access educational videos made by creators around the English-speaking world.
- There are videos that teach things in a very clear, simple style, that are made by non-English creators around the world (for example, Indian, Spanish or Japanese). Because they are teaching English as a second language, their videos often have a slower pace and less cluttered graphics. This is helpful for a child with autism who benefits from an explicit teaching style and visual presentations that aren’t too ‘busy’.
- You can create playlists. I created multiple playlists with varied length and content to suit different situations.
- You can mix all kinds of videos within the same playlist, so you can alternate ‘educational’ videos with fun ones.
- You can film your own video and add it to your playlists. See below for more on this.
- You can turn on subtitles — most of the time — which is very helpful for children who learn visually.
- You can play your playlists on the YouTube app on any device, which is handy for when you’re out and about.
Words and concepts
Here are some of the words and concepts my son learned watching YouTube. Search by any of these terms + song, and a whole selection will come up.
Weather
Days of the week
Months and seasons
Colours
Counting numbers
Daily routines
Body parts
Food and drink
Greetings and manners
Clothes and dressing
Spelling and phonics
Feelings and emotions
Action words
On, in under etc
Animals
Question and answer eg What are you doing? Whose? Where? What’s your name?
Opposites, same and different
Top YouTube channels
Below are the YouTube channels I highly recommend. I found them to be effective because they have:
– clear diction and text
– good pace
– simple animations
– a flash-card like format
– a broad selection of videos.
Together, they have songs for all of the words and concepts I listed above, and more.
Fun Kids English
Great for: Q&A phrases such as What’s your name?, Which one do you want? and What is it?; opposites, weather, days of the week, rooms in the house; telling time; counting to 100
Jack Hartmann
Great for: phonics and word families; directional and spatial concepts; sight/high frequency words; spelling colours
Maple Leaf Learning
Great for: flashcards on key vocabulary such as action words, clothes, hobbies; in, on, under; phonics; colours; Whose?
ELF Kids Videos
Great for: emotions Q&A; body parts Q&A; opposites Q&A
Super Simple Songs and Super Simple Play
Great for: key phrases such as Yes I can, What’s your name?, Are you hungry?; getting dressed; opposites in the park
CC Kids TV
Great for: flashcards on 3 letter words, 4 letter words,
Harry Kindergarten Music
Great for: spelling the days of the week
English Learning Town
Great for: spelling months; spelling shapes
English Singsing
Great for: I’m sorry; past tense eg What did you do?
Learning Time Fun
Great for: patterns; above, between, next to; numbers 1-10; word families; same and different; sight words
Other skills
Here are some other skills and interests I introduced to my son via YouTube.
Addition and subtraction
Jack Hartmann
Nursery Tracks
The Kids Picture Show
Pic Train
Hopscotch
Riding a bicycle
Super Simple Songs
Origami
Origami Club (see channel for more)
Red light, green light
Super Simple Songs
Yoga
Cosmic Kids Yoga (check out other poses on this channel)
Cosmic Kids Yoga We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (there are many more story-based yoga routines)
Planets
Dream English Kids
Swimming strokes
Swimming by Murari
Brushing teeth
Maple Leaf Learning
Going to the dentist
Super Simple Songs
Playing Happy Birthday on the piano
Piano Keyboard Guide (see channel for more)
See saw
Little Baby Bum
Swing
Lisa’s World
Rock Scissors Paper
Super Simple Songs
Parachute game
Maple Leaf Learning
Dance
KIDZ BOP
Mix it up
To prevent things getting too ‘educational’, I alternated the videos above with fun songs that my son liked, such as nursery rhymes, Disney and music from films.
I chose live performances as well as animated versions. My son was fascinated to watch real people singing and performing on stage.
Broaden their world
I used the opportunity to introduce different music genres to him: pop songs, musicals, opera, classical music, bagpipes…
Anything you personally like, here is a chance to get your child hooked, too! For our family, it has meant that we can enjoy listening to the same music together in the car.
Film your own video
If you can’t find the video you want, film it yourself!
For example, I wanted to teach my son how to use his legs on the swings to go higher, but he struggled to understand verbal instructions. So I asked my husband to demonstrate it on the swing, and I filmed him.
It’s very easy to add your own videos to your YouTube account and then on to any playlist. Make the video setting ‘private’, and no one else will find it.
Turn on subtitles
My son learns visually, so I turn the subtitles on when he’s watching anything. It helps him learn faster and memorise things better.
Summary
Choose videos with simple animations, clear diction and large text.
Alternate ‘educational’ videos with fun ones.
Autism Hacks 