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How to Use AI to Save You Time and Make Parenting Easier
As a parent to a child with developmental delay, our life often feels like a juggling act. There’s a lot to figure out and even more to manage. From therapy to medical appointments and endless paperwork—the to-do list is long. And it can be tricky to manage around the demands of everyday family life. The good news? Artificial intelligence (AI) can help free up time to focus on what truly matters: our children’s happiness and family’s well-being.
What is AI?
ChatGPT is probably the best-known AI tool. It’s what’s known as generative AI, and unlike a search engine, where you enter a search term and get a list of links, AI is like having a conversation with a virtual assistant. It searches for information across the web and gives you tailored responses based on the questions you ask (or what’s known as prompts). The more you engage with it—by asking follow-up questions or providing feedback on the responses—the more specific and helpful the information becomes.
There are thousands of different platforms out there, many of them free, making AI an accessible tool for parents (more on that later). I want to share with you how AI can help make life easier and some of the ways families like ours are using it.
How AI Can Help
Simplifying Concepts
When your child receives a diagnosis, it can feel like everyone is talking a new language. Conversations are suddenly peppered with medical jargon and complex terms. AI can help by breaking things down and offering simple, easy-to-understand explanations.
Prompt Ideas
- Can you explain the difference between expressive and receptive language?
- Help me understand what dysphagia is and how it might affect my child’s eating and swallowing.
- Summarise the key points from this website: (then you can copy and paste information from a trusted website)
Supporting Your Child’s Learning and Development
There’s so much we can do outside of weekly therapy sessions to help our children’s development. And often, it’s all those little things that we do at home as part of our daily routines that can make a huge difference. AI can help by coming up with ideas, strategies, and resources tailored to your child’s interests and therapy goals.
Prompt Ideas
- My child loves playing outdoors. What are some ways we can work on balance and coordination?
- How can I work on my child’s joint attention during bathtime?
- Create a decodable story using the sound ‘AIN’ for a child who loves animals and construction vehicles.
Navigating the NDIS
From applying to managing your child’s funding, the NDIS can feel like a complex maze to navigate. AI can help you understand the process, strengthen your application, and give suggestions on how to use your child’s funding effectively to meet their goals.
Prompt Ideas
- Help me write a carer’s impact statement for my child’s NDIS review following this format: (then you can copy and paste an example or template from a trusted website).
- Suggest creative ways to use NDIS capacity-building budget for a 5-year-old child who loves Lego and is working on social skills.
- Provide 20 options for a communication goal for a 3-year-old with expressive communication delays.
- Help me understand the difference between self-management and plan-management, providing the pros and cons of each.
Help with Everyday Life
If your weekly schedule looks anything like ours—you have a long list of things to squeeze into your family’s routine. AI can suggest ways to help you manage the day-to-day and plan for time together as a family.
Prompt Ideas
- Create a weekly meal plan that is gluten-free for a child who loves crunchy textures and strong flavours.
- Help me organise a daily schedule that incorporates the following therapy goals into our family’s daily routine (then insert the current goals).
- Suggest family activities that we can do on a rainy day in Sydney for a child who is sensitive to loud noises and that don’t involve queues and long wait times.
- Help me prepare a social story to prepare my child for a trip to the dentist.
Working with Professionals
So much of what we do as parents involves communicating and collaborating with professionals, from therapists to educators, doctors and specialists. AI can help you feel prepared for conversations and effectively communicate via email.
Prompt Ideas
- Help me draft an email to my child’s therapist about the progress we’ve had working on a goal by incorporating the following points (insert this list of progress and challenges).
- Here is an email I’ve written with concerns I have about my child’s preschool. Please suggest how I can make the tone more constructive and focus on ways to work in partnership to address challenges.
- Help me prepare for an upcoming appointment with my child’s gastroenterologist. It’s been 12 months since our last appointment. What should I be prepared to discuss?
- I have a planning meeting at my child’s school. What reasonable adjustments can I ask for, considering my child has difficulty sitting through group time?
Key Considerations for Using AI
Before you dive into using AI, here are some important things to keep in mind:
- Not a Substitute for Professional Advice: AI can provide helpful information, but it should never replace advice from professionals like therapists, educators, or doctors who know your child’s needs.
- Privacy: Be mindful not to share personal, identifiable information like your child’s name, school, or home address when using AI.
- Fact-Checking: AI can sometimes provide inaccurate or outdated information, so always double-check any critical details. If AI mentions specific studies or research papers, always verify that the sources quoted are real.
- Bias in Responses: AI systems are trained on data from the internet, which may include biases. Be aware that some answers might reflect this.
Popular AI Platforms
Here are some AI platforms that can be useful:
Different tools are better at different tasks. Try them each out, using the same prompts across platforms, to discover which works best for each task and which tool you prefer.
Blog written by Lisa, the mother of Oscar aged 8.