Hi All,
      We have just finished up the 2nd week of September.  My class is constantly evolving.  I am making changes at lightening speed trashing what doesn't work and developing new strategies.  There were 2 life savers this week.  1 was the puzzles task  I mentioned last week that the OT suggested for my little girl.  We've been doing it twice per day when I am working with other students.  And 2 was Furniture Arrangement!  Here is how it worked:


This is my latest set up for table work.  Notice the puzzles set up at the red table for my little girl.  The blue table is set up for one of my pull-out students.  I brought the tables close together and I sit in the middle.  This helps with 2 things:  1: I can block in my little girl & 2: Help keep both students on task.

Here's a closer look at the puzzle set-up.  As she finishes with her puzzle she puts it in a finish cubby.

Here it is in action! She's putting her 1st puzzle together.  This is a HUGE improvement!

While she is working, I can work with one of my pull-out students at the other table.  I'm between the two so that I can keep a close eye on both students.  Yay!  If only you knew!  I hope this helps somebody!

Later in the day, we do table work again with a different student.  My girl is doing her puzzle routine for a 2nd time while I work with this student.  Yay!  I'm loving it!

Hi All,
      I was just going through my photos.  I came across this and it made me laugh.  This little guy was really a challenge when I first got him.  He was resistant to pretty much anything anyone wanted him to do.  Gradually he began to come around but it took a lot of hard work and effort on both of our parts and the part of all of his service providers.

      Even though he came around, there were some urges that he simply COULD NOT RESIST.  One was a school bus.  He LOVED SCHOOL BUSES!  When the buses arrived in the morning he was right there at that window.  When the buses arrived in the afternoon he was right there too.  And if anyone in the school was going on a field trip; well that just threw off my whole schedule because he was going to be at that window when they loaded and when they returned.  The bottom line of it all was that nothing I did would get him away from that window if a bus was outside.

      So I figured, "Well, if I can't beat him, I'll join him."  I started with a little Board Maker piece that said, "bus".  This was helpful for him because he was mostly non-verbal.  So when the bus came I would get the piece and show it to him and say, "Bus, you see a bus."  He took it from me and said, "BUS!"  He was so excited.  It never got old for him.  He went from just saying BUS to saying, "I see bus!"  I was so excited when he did that.  He spoke in a complete sentence!  I made a sentence strip and taped it in the window.  We would read the sentence, "I see a bus."  He really appreciated having something concrete to touch and point to while he said his words.

      Next we started counting.  I would say let's count the buses.  I made enough pieces for him to count 5 buses.  He loved it.  He started saying things like, "I see 3 buses!"  This made me just as excited as he was because he was talking.  When a bus would leave I would say, "The bus is leaving, bye-bye bus!  Now how many buses are left?"  Soon he was saying that too!  He would say, "Bye-bye bus!"  So precious!


For fun, I made this little download to share just in case anyone else has a little guy or girl who is all about buses!

Click the Cover to Download this FREEBIE!

Thanks for stopping by!
Asia

Hi All,
      I'm still back blogging.  I took tons of pictures throughout the school year & I'm just getting to them now. This is a simple task that I like to use to help introduce my students with autism who have limited experience with school; to a work routine.  I am referring to the little guy who has his own agenda and is pretty much resistant to anything you want him to do.  Though this activity can be correlated to Louisiana Pre-K standards & Common Core; in this case, the primary goal is to teach a work routine.

      This task is easy enough for him to learn quickly and experience SUCCESS which encourages COOPERATION & ATTENTION TO TASK.  You can add additional steps to the routine as the child becomes comfortable with complying to the picture & verbal cues and correctly performing the task.  Be sure to begin with a picture & a verbal cue.  My verbal cue is, "Time for Work."  I usually set up the task before bringing the student to the work table.

      When the student consistently sorts by color; you can add counting how many of each color to the task.  This adds minutes to the work routine and helps build stamina.  The ability to sit & tend to a task is important if he or she is going to be mainstreamed or included in a general ed class.

      The pictures below show the tasks/routine:
   

This is how I set it up.  I use plates from housekeeping & vehicles from table toys. 1st the student sorts the vehicles by color. Next, the student counts out how many vehicles are on each plate.       Once sorting and counting are consistently accomplished; you can add to the routine by having the student write how many of each color and even further by graphing how many of each color.  I made matching "I Can" statements & recording pages to accompany this activity: Click (HERE) to download this FREEBIE!    I hope that this task is useful for your program. Thanks for stopping by, Asia

Regarding my runner, everything worked out well with the zoo :)  The ABA therapist accompanied us on the field trip.  Between the 2 of us, I am happy to say that I don't have any horror stories to report :)  Now if we can just get through the End of the Year program without running off the stage :)  Keep your fingers crossed!

I just created this blog a few days ago.  I am new to blogging but I really want to share.  This is my attempt to catch you up on what I have been doing.  As mentioned earlier, I teach preschool children with autism.  I have a self contained class with a precious little darling that has lots of behaviors which prevent him from being in a regular class this year.

At the beginning of the school year we were not ready to address academics.  We did potty training, and worked on behavior and routines.

I am so proud of his progress!  Now he is following a schedule and routines.  He is eating in the cafeteria with the other students, he's beginning to speak in sentences, and he has learned so much academically that he probably knows more than his typically developing peers.  He still has behaviors but he is improving daily. 

I plan to mainstream him next year with the assistance of a paraprofessional.  I've been getting him ready by structuring our day similar to kindergarten's.  They move back and forth from the rug to the tables throughout the day.  This was a challenge because he is a runner.  I've been able to get him to stay on the rug by using the Promethean Board for all of my lessons.  He loves it.  I also use websites like Starfall to give him fun opportunities to come to the board and participate.  This is a photo from my Morning Circle: