#175: Incorporating Deep Interests to Transform Learning Activities
About this episode
This episode discusses how to incorporate a child's deep interests into learning activities to enhance engagement and skill development.
In this episode, we bring everything together and move into the how. After exploring what deep interests are and why forcing engagement backfires, we now look at how to actually incorporate a child's deep interests to support meaningful learning. If you've ever planned a thoughtful activity only to watch a child walk away, this conversation will help you shift how you approach teaching. Instead of trying to pull children into activities that don't feel meaningful to them, we explore how to bring learning into what they already love. This episode walks through practical ways to embed deep interests into everyday classroom and therapy activities without turning them into rewards or using them as leverage. When we make the interest part of the learning itself, engagement becomes more natural, regulation is supported, and skills begin to develop in a way that feels safe and connected In This Episode, You'll Learn • The difference between using interests as a reward vs embedding them into learning • How to take one deep interest and apply it across multiple skill areas • Ways to support matching, fine motor, language, and literacy using interests • Why meaningful materials increase…
People in this episode
Host: Tara Phillips
Topics covered
- deep interests
- meaningful learning
- engagement strategies
- child-led learning
- classroom activities
Keywords
- deep interests
- learning activities
- engagement
- child development
- classroom strategies
More episodes of The Autism Little Learners Podcast
- #184: It Started in the Hardest Year of My Life: Autism Little Learners
- #183 Presuming Competence in the Preschool Classroom
- #182 Emotional Intelligence in the Classroom with NYT Best Seller Alyssa Blask Campbell
- #181: Every Non-Speaking Child Should Have Access To Robust AAC with AAC User, Jordyn Zimmerman
- #180 Preschool Autism Summit: How it came to be & the movement we're building together
- #179: The 4-Letter Shift That Changes How You See Behavior!
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Autism Little Learners Podcast podcast page.