- - -Sensory Activites and Ideas- - -

SENSORY DIET/ACTIVITIES

http://sensorysmarts.com/sensory_diet_activities.html

"Taste"- 4 major tastes: Taste input is perceived by our tongue but how we interpret or experience it is strongly influenced by our sense of smell. As an experiment, chew some gum until the flavor is gone, then hold a lemon under your nose; the gum will taste like lemon. Help your child with to broaden the tastes he tolerates or likes, and use strong tastes he enjoys to help arouse his sluggish system.

1. Bitter- dark leafy greens, grapefruit, pure dark chocolate, herbs, spices
2. Sweet- fruit, grains, natural sugars, milk
3. Salty- nuts, chips, pickles
4. Sour- citrus fruits (limes, lemons), sour milk products (yogart, cheese, sour cream), and substances (soy sauce, vinegar)

http://www.eattasteheal.com/ETH_6tastes.htm

"Smell"- "What does it smell like?" (GAME): Olfactory input (sense of smell) comes through the nose and goes straight to the most primitive, emotional part of the brain. So if your child is upset by something being stinky, it’s no wonder. Certain odors can stimulate, calm, or send him into sensory overload

1. roses
2. vinegar
3. cinnamon
4. vanilla
5. peppermint
6. lemon
7. perfumes
8. coffee
9. ETC.

"Proprioception" : Proprioceptive input (sensations from joints, muscles and connective tissues that lead to body awareness) can be obtained by lifting, pushing, and pulling heavy objects, including one’s own weight. A child can also stimulate the proprioceptive sense by engaging in activities that push joints together like pushing something heavy or pull joints apart like hanging from monkey bars.

1. Push/Pull
2. Weights
3. Jumping
4. Pressure

"Vestibular": Vestibular input (the sense of movement, centered in the inner ear). Any type of movement will stimulate the vestibular receptors, but spinning, swinging, and hanging upside down provide the most intense, longest lasting input. If your child has vestibular (movement) sensitivities, please work closely with a sensory smart OT who can help you recognize and prevent signs of nervous system overload.

1. Swing
2. Spin
3. Roll
4. Turn Upside Down

"Tactile": The tactile sense detects light touch, deep pressure, texture, temperature, vibration, and pain. This includes both the skin covering your body and the skin lining the inside of your mouth. Oral tactile issues can contribute to picky eating and feeding difficulties.

1. Dress up play
2. Play with textures/mixing
3. get in touch with nature! (barefoot on grass)
4. Shaving Cream
5. Oobleck (http://www.wellesley.edu/childstudy/pages/oobleck.html)
6. water play
7. playdoh

"Auditory": Auditory input refers to both what we hear and how we listen, and is physiologically connected with the vestibular sense. In addition to various types of recorded and live music, here are some ways kids and adults can get calming and organizing auditory input.

1. natural sounds
2. listening games
3. calming music

"Visual": Visual input can often be overstimulating for a child with sensory issues. Think about ways you can simplify the visual field at home or school for a calming, organizing effect. Alternately, if the child seems “tuned out” and doesn’t respond easily to visual stimulation, add brightly colored objects to encourage visual attention. For example, a child who has trouble getting aroused for play may be attracted by a brightly painted toy chest filled with toys in appealing colors. A child who seem unable to watch a ball as it rolls may be able to watch it if the ball lights up or makes noise as it moves.

1. avoid clutter
2. seating arrangements (front of class vs. back of class)
3. avoid clothes, toys, colors that are distracting

It Takes Two To Talk- The Hanen Centre

The Hanen Program is currently used in our county preschool programs. Hanen has many programs, and the one that we use most often is "It Takes Two to Talk". This program has three main objectives:

1. parent education


2. early language intervention


3. social support.

Check out the Hanen Centre Website for more information regarding "It Takes Two To Talk", and other Hanen Programs available!!

http://www.hanen.org/web/Home/HanenPrograms/ItTakeTwoToTalk/tabid/76/Default.aspx

Social Stories for Students with Autism

http://autism.healingthresholds.com/therapy/social-stories

Social Stories!!!!

A great idea to use with students with Autism...or any student who needs help with transitions or with understanding concepts (real life, social situations, academic concepts, etc). Social Stories are a great teaching tool! Boardmaker or other picture icon/symbol softwares can be used to create social stories, along with actual pictures, drawings, anything that will help your students!Check out the link above for more information and great ideas!

***Enjoy***

Autism Videos

http://www.autismspeaks.org/video/index.php

Autsim Speaks is a great site. Information for warning signs, early intervention, involvement, advocacy, etc. Click the link above and see some informative and encouraging videos!!

Boardmaker Uses in The Classroom Enviornment

Boardmaker is a computer software program that allows individuals to create picture icons/symbols for a variety of words and phrases. The picture/symbol icons can be use for a variety of purposes; teaching visual learners, scheduling activities, communication exchanges, matching activities, reading introductions, etc. Boardmaker has numerous uses and can benefit a variety of individuals of all academic levels.
Boardmaker has been very beneficial in my classroom environment. Teaching preschoolers with Autism can be challenging, especially when the students have little or no verbal abilities to communicate needs and wants. Using boardmaker to create visual icons/symbols paired with written words has greatly and positively affected my students’ abilities to communicate as well as follow directions.
I primarily use Boardmaker for students to communicate (exchanging pictures to make requests) and for visual schedules. For my students who are non-verbal, I was able to use Boardmaker to create a variety of picture icons to be used for communication purposes and for other learning concepts. I was able to make a variety of food icons for our breakfast, snack, and lunch items throughout the week, along with pictures of things the students thoroughly enjoyed (i.e. toys, food items, animals, activities). For students who had limited cognitive skills, we were able to provide a limited amount of pictures to choose from, and we directly taught the students to make choices and to make requests for items and food they desired. Higher functioning non-verbal students were able to choose from emotion icons to communicate their feelings.
Visual schedules were also created using Boardmaker. Many of my students use visual schedules to aid them in transitions throughout their school day. By using Boardmaker, I was able to create classroom master copies for all of our activities throughout the school day. All students who are in need of a visual schedule have been taught to “check their schedule” independently and to take each icon off their schedule and match it into an icon pocket at each activity. Not only has this greatly decreased negative transition refusals, it has also provided a sense of independence for my students. Students are provided with a transition signal (timer), and are now able to check their schedules independently.
Boardmaker has also benefited my high functioning students who are transitioning to Kindergarten by providing interactive reading exercises and sentence stem activities. I have used Boardmaker to make letter identification activities, word matching activities, sentence structure activities, opposite activities, association cards for matching games, and numerous other activities that help my students stay actively involved while learning a variety of academic skills.
I have nothing but positive things to say about Boardmaker. I currently use Boardmaker v.6 and for my Autism Preschool classroom, it has been greatly beneficial. I have used it in collaboration with our Speech Therapist, as well as with general education teachers. Some of my students are dual enrolled in Special Day Classes and General Education Preschools. With the help of Boardmaker, my students have been able to actively participate in the general education preschools by transitioning and following directions using their individual schedule that have been created by myself in collaboration with their Gen. Ed preschool teachers. I also provide my parents with copies of our master icons for them to use at home with their children. This has also been greatly beneficial, because it allows students to have consistency both at home and at school! Boardmaker has been beneficial for most of my students throughout my 3 years of teaching this program!!

Resources:

http://www.mayer-johnson.com/products/boardmaker/

http://region2library.org/boardmaker.htm

http://www.ceo.woll.catholic.edu.au/home/jdavies/access/boardmaker/boardmaker.html

Great Site for Teachers who work with students on the Autism Spectrum

This website provides great information! There are sample lesson plans to view, ideas of how to create the most beneficial classroom environment, gives basics regarding adaptations, and provides a list of valuable resources to search for other beneficial information!

http://autism.lovetoknow.com/Lesson_Plans_for_Autistic_Children

***PhotoStory***

PhotoStory...This was such a big help for one of my students! I have a student who is very impulsive and has a lot of difficulty with transitions. I used the PhotoStory program to give him another type of schedule for his day in my classroom, and we took pictures of him and myself doing activities that we do everyday. I also made a social story for him to look at on his way to school. He has it memorized. When he arrives to school, he immediately goes to our computer station and we watch his PhotoStory picture schedule and label each activity as it shows on the slide. The music I used was for only him. He likes music, where as some students would be very distracted by it. It has helped him start of the day calm as well. As we watch the short 1 min and 30 second PhotoStory, I brush his arms and legs. It is a perfect time for him to calm down before any activities take place. So beneficial!

Resource: http://millie.furman.edu/mll/tutorials/photostory3/index.htm