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Tero Toivanen

Jordan Lake School of the Arts - 1 views

  • We are a special inclusive school for children on the autism spectrum and typical siblings.
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    Special inclusive school for children with autism spectrum diagnosis and typical siblings.
Tero Toivanen

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

  • 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
Tero Toivanen

Facilitated_Communication_Prisoners_of_Silence.mov - 3 views

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    Really interesting video about Facilitated Communication. I think all teachers who are working with Autistic Spectrum Disorders should watch it.
Tero Toivanen

Developmental abnormalities in the mirror neuron system may - 1 views

  • Developmental abnormalities in the mirror neuron system may contribute to social deficits in autism.
  • Now, a new study published in Biological Psychiatry reports that the mirror system in individuals with autism is not actually broken, but simply delayed.
  • While most of us have their strongest mirror activity while they are young, autistic individuals seem to have a weak mirror system in their youth, but their mirror activity increases with age, is normal by about age 30 and unusually high thereafter.
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  • This increase in function of mirror neuron systems may be related to increased capacity for social function or responsiveness to rehabilitative treatments among individuals with autism.
  • One of the next steps in this line of research will be for researchers to examine how individuals with autism accomplish this improvement over time, and how therapeutic interventions targeting the same mechanism can help to support this important process.
Tero Toivanen

Facilitated Communication - Association for Science in Autism Treatment - 2 views

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     "Research evidence, replicated across several hundred children with autism spectrum disorders, shows that the facilitators rather than the individuals with autism spectrum disorders control the communication and that FC does not improve language skills (Mostert, 2001). Therefore, FC is an inappropriate intervention for individuals with autism spectrum disorders."
Tero Toivanen

Technology use in the classroom helps autistic children communicate - 21 views

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    "Teachers at the school have found that the ECHOES program has greatly helped the children improve their social and communication skills. In fact teachers were surprised at the extent to which the children engaged with the technology."
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