Resources, tips, and materials to help you, help children with autism
Read more on improving comprehension in SpEd for students with significant disabilities with graphic organizers, including with ULS and N2Y.
Below are some helpful things you can do if you win or lose a game or sport! Spanish Version Included with Download (pg. 2)!
Resources, tips, and materials to help you, help children with autism
One of the most effective interventions for students with Autism is using visuals. Yet whether your school district uses PECS, Boardmaker, Microsoft Office Clipart, or my personal favorite…Google Images, the process of searching for and resizing images can easily eat a big chunk out of your day. And since none of us have lots and ...
Teaching the different between public and private is important for so many reasons for our students with special needs. When teaching these concepts, I first talk about the difference between public and private places. We come up with a list and sort those places accordingly using visuals of one person versus multiple people. I created this sort from a boardmaker template and uploaded here on Board Maker Online. After talking about places, we move on to talking about both public and private places AND behaviors. We talk about what behaviors are appropriate in each area. This book and additional resources are found for free from SET-BC here and are available in PDF or Boardmaker files. (update: direct link here - other link now takes you to search) I love cut and paste activities because not only do they reinforce the skills taught, but also incorporate fine motor skills...and it takes a little while to complete :) Here's the other Board Maker Online activity that includes both public and private places and behaviors. Plus, check out all of these other great activities for this topic on Board Maker Online. I think it's so important for students to realize that private behaviors aren't bad, but they just need to be done in private! Here's to hoping there is no more nose picking or inappropriate self stimulation in my PUBLIC classroom! :) If you are looking for something more detailed to use with your students, I found this resource here. It is very informative and I didn't feel the need to go that in depth, but completely understand how some students might need those specifics.
Boardmaker Icons SENTENCE STRIPS --- All About Me --- For School. This is a great activity for expressive speech and answering WH-Questions. Colorful sentence strips: My name is _____. I go to _____ school. I am _____ years old. I am in _____ grade. My birthday is _____. My teacher is ______. I learn at school. I play at recess. Preparation and Use: You will need: - Printer - Standard Size, White Cardstock Paper 8.5” x 11” Laminate (optional) Book Ring Hole Puncher Scissors Preparation: Print out packet. Fill in with a pen the necessary blank squares on the sentence strips neatly: (Child’s name, age, birthday, grade, teacher’s name, school name. Laminate (optional) Cut each sentence strip. Punch hole on each sentence strip, on left side. Collate sentence strips and Secure with book ring. Use: - Have child practice reading these sentence strips aloud. Ask a question, and have child answer using the sentence strip. (What is your name? “My name is John Doe.” The Picture Communication Symbols ©1981–2010 by Mayer-Johnson LLC. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Used with permission. Boardmaker™ is a trademark of Mayer-Johnson LLC. In addition, please include the following company information in the resource section of your documentation: Mayer-Johnson 2100 Wharton Street Suite 400 Pittsburgh, PA 15203 Phone: 1 (800) 588-4548 Fax: 1 (866) 585-6260 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.mayer-johnson.com
A teaching blog providing resources for working with students with autism and other special needs.
These past months, I have been using Topical Communication Boards to support more independent language use with my students (be sure to check out earlier blog posts for some examples. Here are some: 1, 2, 3) . These boards contain the specific language needed to communicate while playing with an app, book or game. They are extremely helpful when working with AAC device users or with clients that have limited verbal output (like my students with autism who have difficulty initiating without echoing what I say). But, what happens when my kiddos pick a game that I don't yet have a board for? Does that mean, we just try the activity without the support?? NOT ME! I prefer to use visual supports as much as possible. Visual supports help boost confidence, set clear expectations and decrease verbal prompting. That's why I created a Core Words communication board. Find it on boardmakerachieve here. If you are not sure what core words are, please be sure to check out Carole Zangari's and Robin Parker's PraacticalAAC blog or Bruce Baker's explanation for more information. Core words are not just "the new best thing," they are necessary components of every day communication. Core words make up about 75-80% of what we say each day. They are the powerful words that can be used across situations and ages. Kids, adults, teenagers.... we all use core words. They can be used again and again and again across situations and places. Core words are highly functional: they stand in the place of more specific nouns (e.g. "it," "that," "there,") where there is no access to specific vocabulary and they represent functional actions (e.g. "do," "make," "go," "get,"). I decided to start focusing more and more on core words when making my topical communication boards. But as I did this, I found with the combination of core and "fringe" words (fringe words being the words that can be replaced with less specific words such as "that"), my core words that were repeating across boards, started to shift locations. This made my users slightly confused and increased scanning time to find icons. Check out these two examples: By keeping the pronouns on the left, I shifted some available spaces and question words no longer made sense on the left hand side of the board. While I tried to keep things the same as much as possible, each board will have a different number of verbs and nouns, making it difficult to keep things consistent. I decided to start keeping my most frequently used core words in the same place on each board. On top, I decided to put my less frequently used core fringe words that were specific to the activity. (please note: my core word selection is not all inclusive, and it might still change. I was simply limited by the 8x11 space). Keeping icons in consistent locations, decrease visual scanning, and increase automatic motor responses (think about how you use automatic motor responses to type on a keyboard). Many AAC devices already use motor planning as part of its language system (e.g. LAMP, PRC, WordPower). This past weekend, it was great hearing Patti Solomon-Rice talk about the importance of keeping icons in the same location on AAC devices. Hearing her speak about that, validated my desire to try this new format for my topical boards. So, when a kid asked to play angry birds the other day and I didn't have a board made, I didn't sweat it! I used my core words sheet. Then, I quickly made the angry birds topical board after the session. It took way less time to make a board using this new format. Here is what I came up with (find it on boardmakerachieve here): If you haven't read yet how I use these topical communication boards, it's pretty simple. I point to each word as I say them (making sure my client is looking at the board while I do this). If I ask a question, I may prompt the student by immediately pointing to an icon on the board so they do not respond with echolalia. If the person independently says something (with or without using the board), I repeat and expand by saying and pointing to each icon. Or if they are struggling to verbally find a word, I may point to the board to help them get started. Here are some sample phrases we might work on with this angry birds board: "you do it," " my turn," "get bird," "put it there," "get triangle" "it go over" "it go down." If the student needs help learning how to use the board to vocalize, I start teaching the student by hand under hand guidance to help the student to point to each icon (only if needed). As quickly as possible, I fade my physical prompts to gestural prompts. I always try my best to allow the student time to respond on his own as well. I usually find that with practice, my students start vocalizing without prompts and even without pointing to the board. In addition, they start using vocabulary that has never been used before in unique combinations. Prior to using the boards, my students may have simply used behaviors ( crying, grabbing etc.) to access a turn with a game or with the iPad. Using the boards, most of my clients (e.g. with autism) start learning to initiate communication attempts, either by pointing or by vocalizing, while engaging in fun activities. For my AAC users that already initiate language but are working on using novel utterances, the boards serve as a visual guide or reference to what they are searching for as they navigate the device. Using these boards often reduce frustration, prime the student to expected language to be used, expand utterances, and help students use language in unique word combinations not otherwise used before. They serve as visual support to the oral language we provide and they validate icons as a communication form for my AAC users. Hopefully this core words sheet helps in a pinch. It can also be modified to make new topically related boards really quickly! Hope you find it useful! The Picture Communication Symbols ©1981–2011 by Mayer-Johnson LLC. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Used with permission. Boardmaker® is a trademark of Mayer-Johnson LLC.
Use this break card to help your student pick the breaks for their day. Includes 2 blank visuals to make it building specific. Just print, laminate, cut, and velcro- and you're ready to go! Pages: 2 Created by Educators for Educators- 2022. ****This is a digital download/printable product. No physical product will be mailed to you. You can access your digital downloads instantly through your Etsy account, under “Purchases and reviews.” Download the files onto your desktop or laptop computer, save, and print! (Please note: digital downloads/files are not compatible with mobile or tablet devices. You must be on a desktop or laptop computer in order to access the digital downloads.)****
This download includes 1 Category/Concept Board. Each board has 20 pictures and words that are related to a particular concept. Students can use these boards to brainstorm ideas, support storybook reading, sort different concepts, compare/contrast, make sentences/stories, etc.Boards can be kept as a...
I have a confession---when I see something good, I take it and use it. I don't like to recreate the wheel, and I'm really not all that creative. I also work with people that are very hard-working and creative, so when I stepped into my co-worker's office (Heather Petrusa, SLP) and saw this homemade self-regulation scale, I grabbed it (with her permission) and told her that this was worth using and sharing with all of my blogging friends! She said that our mutual friend, an autism itinerant teacher, Leah Wilson, was actually the one who created it, and she (Heather) just tweaked it. I'm sure Leah won't mind sharing, so here it is! Anyone who works with children with autism knows the difficulties in regulating emotions. Within an hour, a child can go from 'sleepy' to 'boiling' and not have strategies to get to the 'green' area. I liked this scale that Heather and Leah developed because it integrated elements from the 'How does your engine run?' program with emotional states and specific strategies (worded with 1st person statements encouraging more independence with handling regulation in the classroom.) A therapist and teacher can use this scale to first teach emotions, strategies, and self-reflection, and then teach the child to apply these in the classroom. So---thanks Heather and Leah! I'm so happy to work with you! I'm sure your kids are too! To download in Boardmaker, click here! (You can then edit to fit your child's particular needs) To download in pdf, click here! .
Resources, tips, and materials to help you, help children with autism
This download includes 1 Category/Concept Board. Each board has 20 pictures and words that are related to a particular concept. Students can use these boards to brainstorm ideas, support storybook reading, sort different concepts, compare/contrast, make sentences/stories, etc.Boards can be kept as a...
Anger is probably the #1 issue the kids I work with deal with. In this post you will find many great links, worksheets, and resources for addressing anger in children of all ages. One of my favorit…
If you notice, all of my stuff is free. Perhaps if I needed the income to supplement my school salary, I'd be selling, too. For now, though, I'm grateful for my job and the kids I work with, I'm grateful for my husband who supported me for years as I worked, and I want other SLPs and teachers who may be struggling with a lack of instructional funding to use my materials with children. I hope these downloads help someone. Here's the latest---based on my earlier books. I'm a believer in repetition, so if you read 'Bunnies Everywhere' and 'Shamrocks Everywhere', you'll see this is similar. It's named (not too creatively) 'Eggs Everywhere'. This book is 15 pages, including the icons page. Objectives can include: simple prepositions (in, on, under) commenting describing a picture with a simple patterned sentence labeling familiar pictures getting ready for your own Easter egg activities! Click here for the book in Boardmaker Click here for the book in pdf Use the blue area as a sentence strip. Cut up the rest. .
You might have seen advertisements for Mobile Education Store's newest app TenseBuilder. They are the developers that have brought you the following popular apps: QuestionBuilder, ConversationBuilder, StoryBuilder, Rainbow Sentences, and SO MUCH MORE!! They have been working very hard (13 months) to push out the ...
