Touch Screens and Independence

You know I'm all about creating environments that enhance our student's ability to be independent. That's the lens through which I see everything I recommend for students with autism......"can we accomodate so that the student can do this for themselves?"

So, here is one idea. It takes a few minutes to get the template going but after that it is easy to modify.

Description of Activity: You use a computer, Microsoft WORD and a touch screen to create a page that has photos of all of the students in your classroom. Put hyperlinks on each photo so that all that the students have to do is to touch their photo and it will take them to an activity specifically for them such as a fill in the blank Worksheet....a Website....a game....or a program.

Here is an example of what the page in WORD will look like (I used photos of my family and yes that is me playing softball). The hyperlinks will not work on this example as it is a sample. Again , this is what the page in WORD will look like and all the student will have to do is to touch their photo. It gives them the responsibility of finding their own assignment on the computer without you having to pull up everything for them.

STEPS

1. Open new page in WORD.

2. Insert photos of students in your classroom.

3. You can also place names on top of the photos and colorcode the frame around each photo.

4. Place title to the page with boardmaker photo if you like.

5. Under the INSERT tab look for HYPERLINK.

6. Highlight thephoto you want and use the HYPERLINK page to put a website link OR a link to a game OR a link to a document on your computer iteself. Repeat with each photo.

7. Save and place in READING folder on the desktop.

8. You can do this with lots of different subjects.

It is very simple but it one more way to accommodate for the student's weaknesses and modify the environment so that they become more responsible and independent.

Let's think about what you could use this for:

* Academics (reading, math, spelling)

* Paint activity

* Website (Like SpellingCity.com OR a story site that will read the story for them)

* another word document with a social story

* a Boardmaker document with a visual schedule for a task

* you can also use POWERPOINT instead of WORD and put narration to it. As they touch the photo you could arrange it to where the program will say "Cindy, It's time to work".

Be creative - it's free and works wonderfully in creating a unique setup so that our students can become independent and more responsible for their learning.

Collection of Good Back to School Ideas

Welcome back! September is always an exciting month for kids and teachers alike. I want to pass on some cool new websites that I have found that will give you great ideas for teaching our students.

These have nothing to do with Autism BUT have everything to do with classrooms and teaching.

This is called "Toys from Trash". It is a large collection of photos explaining how to make LOTS of visuals in teaching. All of the items are made from what others may call trash....but we as educators know that wonderful things can be made from other peoples throw-aways. How does this relate to autism? Our students with Asperger syndrome will love these items - A hands-on way to teach several topics of interest.

Here is another site it is a blogsite with some downloads of printables. Some are appropriate for home routine but could be adapted for school. Really cute stuff. I like the kid-routine cards.

Again this is just a site with printable labels that can be used to get your classroom organized. Who says your classroom has to be a sterile environment free from personality. It should be inviting and comfortable for both you and your students.

Cute handmade notebooks. I can certainly see how these would work for our students with restricted interests. A Barney notebook, Spiderman, Thomas the train, Batman......think outside the box with this one.

Kids calling cards. I know this says it is for the end of the year but think about using these with a Social Skills group. Follow the link and download/print the cards.

Okay, all of the ideas that I have saved over the last few weeks are finally in a post. Enjoy and be creative how you use these with your classroom.

Portable Social Stories

I don't know why I am stuck on writing about the creation of Social Stories. I think it is because I have had so many questions and comments on this subject. I know that summer is coming along with the transition to a new school year. That is alot of transition.

Activity changes that our students will need to deal with could include:

• Summer schedule with no school


• Summer vacation


• Visitation from family over the summer


• Going to summer camp


• Going to a new school


• Transitioning to a new teacher, classroom and grade level

Goodness me...that is a great deal of changes! One of the best ways to prepare for those changes is to create "My New_____" books. This could be:

• My New Teacher


• My New Classroom


• My New School

Also the creation of "I'm excited about______" books:

• I'm excited about Summer Camp


• I'm excited about Grandma's Visit


• I'm excited about Vacation

All of these are classic Social story books that can be made in a number of different ways - many of which I have described in several posts on this blog.

Here is another. You know many students have the portable DVD Players that you can get a local discount stores. And some students even have even smaller portable video devices, which can also get at local discount stores. Now neither of these are inexpensive but if the student's have them you can create another use for them.

If you haven't downloaded a free copy of Window's Movie Maker yet then do so now. Take some time and play with it. It is wonderful! I use it to create the videos I put on this and other Autism sites. You can use this to create the coolest Social Stories for your students. You can then burn these to a CD or download them to the IPOD. The students are now about to view these on these portable devices.

Another idea is if you just happen to come into some money over the summer or your PTA group just happens to say, "Ms. Smith, we have 300 extra dollars in our account that we would like to purchase something for your classroom - what would you like?" (yeh right-like that's going to happen) But if it does - order a couple of the Portable players for your classroom and use technology to your advantage.

Handwriting

Let's talk a minute about handwriting. Handwriting and basic pencil/paper tasks are very common with students on the spectrum. There are many theories about why this occurs but for this post I'm only going to address the "what am I going to do about it in my classroom" issue.

Your first line of defense and support is the Occupational Therapist that serves the students in your school. I also know that many of my readers are from systems within the states and internationally who do not have the luxury of this service. So, I'm going to give you some ideas about resrouces that will help you both accommodate and help remediate handwriting issues in the classroom.

I found some good products that may help in this area.

1. You can not discount sensory issues in the area of paper pencil tasks - try these.

Pencil Weights: If you'll notice- pencils are very light instruments. This helps to steady the writing process by weighting the pencil.

Pencil Grips : This grips are really good. They are color coded and quite comfortable.

2. You also can not discount the effect that fine motor weakness has on handwriting- so look into these items.

Magnetic Wrist Holddown Pad I'll preface this by saying that this is not cheap but it is quite unique. It would work well with those students who barely hold on to the pencil and attempt to write with their wrist up in the air (we have all had those students).

Finger Crayons: These are really good for students who are at the very beginning of the process of making marks on paper. Low functioning students, very young students or students with significant motor issues.

Raised Line Paper: Of course the raised line paper works beautifully. If you have the time (which you don't) you can also create this with thicker paper and puff paint or hot glue. But if the paper is inexpensive I would just purchase it to save time (and I'm very frugal!).

Staged Raised Line Paper

3. There is also the lack of understanding "why do I have to do this?" in our lower functioning students. For this one you will need to pair the act of writing with a reinforcer - it may be a cartoon character: Superman, Barney, Hulk, etc.

I have had many of you ask if I could put all of the items that we are recommending for use in the classroom into one place. I am not in the retail business but I am trying to work on someway to organize all of the items onto a page on this blog through Amazon for you. This way you will have access to all of them instead of traveling all over the internet. So, take heart - I did listen to your emails and I promise I'll get it together soon. Thanks for reading!

Moods & Emotions

Here is a really cool site that has MoodMagnets that are more age appropriate for the older students. You know that it is recommended you use age appropriate materials for your older students and sometimes it is very difficult to match age appropriate materials to the student's lowered developmental level. One of the great things is that David from Mood Magnets is going to offer OMAC readers a discount! We love that. All you do is use the code word OMAC for a 20% discount on the magnet sets.

This is a cute site that you can create Emotional Dice. This would be a good activity for a social skills group. If I were using this I would use the 2 with "Symbols" and not the faces (they are a little creepy).

FotoSearch has numerous real photos of people showing different emotions. This has a large group of photos that are royalty free so you can use these in the classroom - great for creating flash cards just use photo paper or card stock - copy - then laminate.

Here is a cute Idea

Look at this cute idea for creating a Social Story with books you can buy at a department store...

1. Get a book that tells a story that you could use to teach a skill: going to sleep, going to school, going to the dentist, toilet training, etc.

2. Take digital photo of your student/child. Run the photos off in different sizes. You can also run it off on Full Sheet Labels-that way you can cut them out and they stick.

3. Next run off the student's name in different sizes.

4. Now go through the book and place the photos over the pictures of the child in the book.

5. Go through the book and place the child's printed name over the name of the child in the book.

6. You now have a personalized book - one that will not only teach a skill but is a personalized social story.

Involving Typical Students

Do you want ideas on how to get our students with autism ready to be included in school? Read this.