Visual Timetable

Visual Timetables can be very useful for many children (think about it as typically developing adults we use them every day, calendars, diary's, tv schedules etc.) and even more useful for children with additional needs, particularly those relating to language, behaviour, and processing. Here is a basic guide.

BINGO

Here's a simple support for BINGO song, it can sometimes be hard for children to remember how many claps/ letters this supports them in knowing. Also supports recognition of letters. 

           

         

This could be done with children's names

 

Parachute Play

I love playing with the parachute with young children, and have found it a great way to focus children's singing. I have compiled a collection of song based activities I have used, mostly with very young children with Special needs but will be useful for most preschool groups (Or homes with a child's blanket). I have uploaded to Scribd and it can be purchased for a very reasonable price

http://www.scribd.com/doc/115979565/Parachute-Play

Work Stations (Autism)

The concept of the "Work Station" comes from Division TEACCH  and is designed for individuals with autism or related conditions. I am in no way an expert, but have basic training and have had the privilege working in a class that follows TEACCH principles. Here is a pack I produced to assist people when creating workstations- I hope you find it useful. I would HIGHLY recommend training with TEACCH if you are given the opportunity

Eggs, eggs, eggs

This environment was set up in response to an interest in the vast collection of egg cup and the Easter period (last year)

 It was used in a variety of ways over a period of some weeks, as simple sorting/ collecting/ joining to playing egg shops or resteraunts.

 The chick egg collector was from poundland, Im not sure if they are doing them this year also.

Spiky eggs, sorted, little chicks...

A basket full of egg cups (never have enough it would seem, all purchased from charity shops)

Chapel Hill Snippits has a wonderful Eggs story book on her blog to down load, which has accompanying printable PCS symbols

Hair Roller Posting

This has no relevance to recent posts, but have only a few minutes so this is a quick post...

Simply a dried milk can covered in paper and a hole cut out of the lid! The hole needs to be the actual diameter of the rollers NOT taking into account the prongs, this is so the child has to add a little more pressure to develop wrist and finger strength rather than the traditional drop ones!

The velcro round the edge on this picture is fluffy but the scratchy one works better. Having the velcro round the edge serves two purposes.

1. Adds another motor skill of pulling off the roller developing strength and using two hands (it won't come of if you don"t) 
2. It keeps the task together with a clear visual signal the activity has finished as this was designed to be used by an autistic child in a TEACCH workstation situation.

To make this even more challenging and add a lovely sound element use plastic spiked rollers rather than the velcro type ones above.

Peg Posting

I have used this activity with both babies (dolly pegs), toddlers and with children on the autistic spectrum. It's a fairly popular activity and ties in a popular schemas that manifest in posting, starting off with the dolly pegs and eventually moving on to pinch pegs. You can obviously make the hole cut into the tin much smaller for individual needs, in fact I have a range of lids cut out so this can be used for various children with out the need of taking up storage space of more tins.

It is a particularly good activity in a TEACCH workstation format, as it so clearly shows the the activity is finished and is quite motivating with the loud bang as the peg drops into the tin. When I have used it in the workstation format I have usually velcroed the tin and box together, to make it one unit. I have also progressed to a lipped circular food storage container necessitating the need for the child to actually opening the peg to remove the peg (with the box it can can just be pulled off.

Song Box

Just a simple shoe box with paper/card/ funky foam stuck to the top/ sides to create song environments: Pond, log, wall. Each song has a laminated piece or pieces as visuals for the song, and are either attached to a lolly pop stick or a peg dependent on whether it attaches to edge of box or poked into top.

Five green bottles

Row, row, row the boat (I had a crocodile peg but not sure where that is)

Humpty Dumpty

Two little Dicky Birds

1,2,3,4,5 Once I caught a fish alive

Five Little Speckled Frogs

Five Little Ducks

And then they all the pieces can all be put back inside the box. Great for children with Autism to access singing.

Photo Playdough Recipe

I have been meaning to make this recipe book for some time now, we have a lovely one we made YEARS ago and it's still going strong! However I wanted to be able to share it with others so have created this which can be downloaded as a PDF at TES (free joining). Here are all the pages:







Great for supporting independence, pre reading, sequencing and those with any communication difficulties, or who need visual prompts, particularly those with Autism to know the sequence and duration of an activity!

Bob's Cars

This is a simple book I created for a primary assembly in a special school- I can't remember the theme but I promise it was relevant. I have since lost the document I created way back then so made a new copy available now (free of course) from alljoinin.net. It is identical, bar picture style to those below.

Sorry about photo quality

Matching Pegs

Surprise, surprise another MIY creation, and as is often the case incredibly simple create. Collect embellished pegs (the kind you simply can't resist at the craft stall but have no actual use for them), cut out little squares of card, and draw pictures that match those of the embellishment. The fortunate thing is most of these are simple pictures so easy yo recreate. On the back you could write the name, when the child is ready they can match to the name and self check from picture (or cheat?). If the cards are going to be used excessively I suggest you laminate.

Number Train

A very simple number line train I made ages ago, but had been "lost" in a lox for a bit found in the Christmas clear up and popped it on the shelf today and it was a huge hit! It is simple to make, with all shapes being cut from funky foam (EVA Foam) and simply glued onto pegs with a hot glue gun. The track is piece of strong thick elastic I obtained from a scrapstore, but I'm sure other materials would work equally well. Obviously this is a great number sequencing activity for children who love trains, and I wish i'd have thought of it years ago when working with certain children with autism who would have loved this activity.

Painting with porcupine balls

Had a genius moment today (can't reach the kids paintbrushes in the cupboard, there's been a landslide so came up with this idea). Using porcupine mini porcupine balls attached to clothes pegs as printers/ paintbrushes, worked very well although the pegs were a bit temperamental holding onto the balls I would probably not use the pegs in future.

We usually use these balls for a colour posting game, so thought that it may be fun to paint by choosing colours using the dice from the game. This worked well and think it would be a fabulous idea to encourage children with autism to use a range of colours.

We then squirted paint onto paper in a tray, popped a ball in. After lots of tilting and some unpredictable ball movements we had a paper full of little dots. Would be lovely with white paint on black paper for snow!!! (shame I didn't photograph the end result)

"Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation and a pinch of creativity." Bo Bennett