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Patti Porto

Comprehensive List of Social Stories and Visual Scripts for Daily Living and Social Ski... - 0 views

blog.autismspectrumdirectory.com/...daily-living-and-social-skills

autism socialstories asd

shared by Patti Porto on 25 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • Patti Porto on 25 Feb 13
     
    "Social stories or visual scripts are stories that describe with words and pictures different activities or events that happen in life in a step by step detailed way. The social stories or visual scripts listed are mostly in PDF format (unless otherwise noted). If you do not have a PDF reader, you can download Adobe PDF Reader."
Tero Toivanen

12 Tips to Setting up an Autism Classroom « Principal Kendrick - 6 views

kendrik2.wordpress.com/...setting-up-an-autism-classroom

autism special education special needs students SPED ASD:teaching classroom ASD:educators tips

shared by Tero Toivanen on 30 Dec 10 - Cached
  • In a world that’s ever changing, routine and structure provide great comfort to a child on the autism spectrum.  Define routines clearly. 
  • Activities are successful when they’re broken into small steps.
  • Make sure children know what to do if they finish ahead of time.  Typically, children with autism do not use free time productively; therefore strive to have as little downtime between activities as possible.
  • ...47 more annotations...
  • 2. Use visuals
  • Remember to keep explanations simple and short about each picture or concentration will wane.   Give written instructions instead of verbal whenever you can.  Highlight or underline any text for emphasis.
  • People with autism like order and detail.  They feel in control and secure when they know what to expect
  • Picture schedules are even more powerful because they help a student visualize the actions.
  • Make sure you have this schedule in a very visible place in your classroom and direct the students’ attention to it frequently, particularly a few minutes before you begin the next activity.
  • Written schedules are very effective for good readers.  These can also be typed up and placed on a student’s desk.
  • 4. Reduce distractions
  • Many people with autism find it difficult to filter out background noise and visual information.  Children with autism pay attention to detail.  Wall charts and posters can be very distracting. 
  • Try and seat children away from windows and doors. 
  • 5. Use concrete language
  • Always keep your language simple and concrete.   Get your point across in as few words as possible. 
  • Avoid using idioms.
  • Give very clear choices and try not to leave choices open ended.  You’re bound to get a better result by asking “Do you want to read or draw?” than by asking “What do you want to do now?”
  • 6. It’s not personal
  • Children with autism are not rude.  They simply don’t understand social rules or how they’re supposed to behave.
  • NEVER, ever, speak about a child on the autism spectrum as if they weren’t present
  • Despite the lack of reaction they sometimes present, hearing you speak about them in a negative way will crush their self esteem.
  • 7. Transitions
  • Children on the autism spectrum feel secure when things are constant.  Changing an activity provides a fear of the unknown.  This elevates stress which produces anxiety
  • Reduce the stress of transitions by giving ample warning
  • Using schedules helps with transitions too as students have time to “psyche themselves up” for the changes ahead.
  • People can be slow when they are learning a new skill until they become proficient
  • Encourage your students to ask each other for help and information
  • Making decisions is equally important and this begins by teaching students to make a choice.  Offer two choices. 
  • When giving a directive or asking a question, make sure you allow for extra processing time before offering guidance.  Self help skills are essential to learn
  • Never underestimate the power of consistency.
  • Avoid this temptation and make sure you allow ample time before you abandon an idea.  Remember that consistency is a key component of success.  If you’re teaching a student to control aggression, the same plan should be implemented in all settings, at school and at home.
  • 9. Rewards before consequences
  • We all love being rewarded and people with autism are no different.  Rewards and positive reinforcement are a wonderful way to increase desired behavior
  • If possible, let your students pick their own reward so they can anticipate receiving it.
  • There are many reward systems which include negative responses and typically, these do not work as well.
  • Focusing on negative aspects can often lead to poor results and a de-motivated student.  When used correctly, rewards are very powerful and irresistible
  • Every reward should be showered in praise.  Even though people on the spectrum might not respond typically when praised, they enjoy it just as much as you!
  • 10. Teach with lists
  • Teaching with lists sets clear expectations.  It defines a beginning, middle and an end.
  • People on the autism spectrum respond well to order and lists are no exception.  Almost anything can be taught in a list format.
  • While typical people often think in very abstract format, people on the spectrum have a very organized way of thought.  Finding ways to work within these parameters can escalate the learning curve.    
  • 11. Creative teaching
  • It helps to be creative when you’re teaching students with autism.  People on the spectrum think out of the box and if you do too, you will get great results.
    • Tero Toivanen
      Tero Toivanen on 30 Dec 10
       
      Exactly!
  • Often, people with autism have very specific interests.  Use these interests as motivators.
    • Tero Toivanen
      Tero Toivanen on 30 Dec 10
       
      This is how I work! It's works!
  • Another great strategy to use is called “Teaching with questions”.  This method keeps students involved, focused and ensures understanding.
  • Another great way of teaching is by adding humor to your lessons.  We all respond to humor.
    • Tero Toivanen
      Tero Toivanen on 30 Dec 10
       
      When you feel well, your students feel well also and learn better!
  • 12. Don’t sweat the small stuff
  • The final goal is for children to be happy and to function as independently as possible.
  • Don’t demand eye contact if a student has trouble processing visual and auditory information simultaneously.
    • Tero Toivanen
      Tero Toivanen on 30 Dec 10
       
      It may even be painful for the student... There are research about this issue.
  • By correcting every action a person does, you’re sending a message that they’re not good enough the way they are.  When making a decision about what to correct, always ask yourself first, “Will correcting this action help this person lead a productive and happy life?”
Tero Toivanen

The link between autism and extraordinary ability | Genius locus | The Economist - 0 views

www.economist.com/...displaystory.cfm

autism savant extraordinary ability

shared by Tero Toivanen on 24 Apr 09 - Cached
  • A study published this week by Patricia Howlin of King’s College, London, reinforces this point. It suggests that as many as 30% of autistic people have some sort of savant-like capability in areas such as calculation or music.
  • Francesca Happé of King’s College, London, is one of them. As she observes, obsessional interests and repetitive behaviours would allow someone to practice, albeit inadvertently, whichever skill they were obsessed by. Malcolm Gladwell, in a book called “Outliers” which collated research done on outstanding people, suggested that anyone could become an expert in anything by practising for 10,000 hours. It would not be hard for an autistic individual to clock up that level of practice for the sort of skills, such as mathematical puzzles, that many neurotypicals would rapidly give up on.
  • Simon Baron-Cohen, a doyen of the field who works at Cambridge University, draws similar conclusions. He suggests the secret of becoming a savant is “hyper-systematising and hyper-attention to detail”. But he adds sensory hypersensitivity to the list. His team have shown one example of this using what is known as the Freiburg visual acuity and contrast test, which asks people to identify the gap in a letter “c” presented in four different orientations. Those on the autistic spectrum do significantly better at this than do neurotypicals. That might help explain Dr Happé’s observations about coins and raindrops.
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  • The upshot of these differences is that the columns in an autistic brain seem to be more connected than normal with their close neighbours, and less connected with their distant ones. Though it is an interpretative stretch, that pattern of connection might reduce a person’s ability to generalise (since disparate data are less easily integrated) and increase his ability to concentrate (by drawing together similar inputs).
  • Dr Snyder argues that savant skills are latent in everyone, but that access to them is inhibited in non-savants by other neurological processes. He is able to remove this inhibition using a technique called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation.
  • Tero Toivanen on 24 Apr 09
     
    A study published this week by Patricia Howlin of King's College, London, reinforces this point. It suggests that as many as 30% of autistic people have some sort of savant-like capability in areas such as calculation or music. Moreover, it is widely acknowledged that some of the symptoms associated with autism, including poor communication skills and an obsession with detail, are also exhibited by many creative types, particularly in the fields of science, engineering, music, drawing and painting.
Tero Toivanen

Yale Study Suggests Children with Autism Watch for the Wrong Visual Clues - 0 views

autism.about.com/...for-the-wrong-visual-clues.htm

autism Visual Clues

shared by Tero Toivanen on 02 Apr 09 - Cached
  • Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) tend to stare at people's mouths rather than their eyes. Now, an NIH-funded study in 2-year-olds with the social deficit disorder suggests why they might find mouths so attractive: lip-sync—the exact match of lip motion and speech sound.
  • Such audiovisual synchrony preoccupied toddlers who have autism, while their unaffected peers focused on socially meaningful movements of the human body, such as gestures and facial expressions.
  • "Typically developing children pay special attention to human movement from very early in life, within days of being born. But in children with autism, even as old as two years, we saw no evidence of this," explained Ami Klin, Ph.D., of the Yale Child Study Center, who led the research. "Toddlers with autism are missing rich social information imparted by these cues, and this is likely to adversely affect the course of their development."
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  • In theory, this finding could lead to educational techniques that could help very young children with autism build their social referencing skills. This could be hugely important for children with autism, since their challenges with "reading" social cues create so many problems as they enter school, interact with peers, and begin to navigate social relationships.
  • Tero Toivanen on 02 Apr 09
     
    Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) tend to stare at people's mouths rather than their eyes. Now, an NIH-funded study in 2-year-olds with the social deficit disorder suggests why they might find mouths so attractive: lip-sync-the exact match of lip motion and speech sound.
Tero Toivanen

Sensory Friendly Classrooms with Dr. Roya Ostovar - The SPD Blogger Network - 3 views

www.spdbloggernetwork.com/...lassrooms-with-dr-roya-ostovar

classrooms sensory friendly accommodations school SPD special education special needs SPED classroom autism

shared by Tero Toivanen on 01 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • Having sensory friendly settings is common sense and it benefits everyone, all students and learners as well as teachers and staff. Changing the classroom also teaches all students how to find practical and adaptive ways of making their setting work for them to allow for optimal learning and functioning, a skill that is beneficial to everyone. It also makes more sense to change the environment to fit the child’s needs and not the other way around. Changing the classroom helps the child with SPD blend in with other students, and it is not isolating, or stigmatizing.
  • A sensory friendly classroom improves attention, concentration, ability to focus for longer periods of time, learning, social functioning, and it also reduces the overall level of stress
  • For more specific and multiple examples of the accommodations that can be made, a book I authored titled “The Ultimate Guide to Sensory Processing Disorder” offers a comprehensive guide.
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  • Vision: Reduce/ eliminate clutter and visual distractions; modify assignments to be shorter; use a highlighter
  • Auditory: Reduce/eliminate distracting noise; play Mozart or calming music in the background when possible
  • Tactile: Allow students to use chalk on the board because it is more tactile rich
  • Olfactory: Use scented markers to wake kids up; have lavender lotion or soap; and avoid noxious odors in the classroom
  • Vestibular: Allow movement and breaks; offer therapy balls to sit on; Movin-Sit cushions benefit the whole classroom; stretch breaks, start class with movement activities
  • Properioception: Movement, Movin-Sit cushions, Brain Gym, Yoga, Chair push ups (i.e. sitting on hands and pushing up); chairs and tables at right height and positioned correctly
  • A sensory friendly classroom gets the kids with SPD and ASD ready to learn; improves the overall functioning of the child including learning, attention, concentration, social functioning, and behavioral presentation; and lowers their stress and anxiety levels
  • Two quick suggestions: 1) Simplify the classroom: Less is more. Take a minimalistic approach to setting up the room and; 2) Support all learning styles: Some kids learn through auditory channels, some visual, and some through kinesthetic and hands on activities. By the same token, incorporate activities that support the sensory channel and each child’s sensory profile
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