Thursday, August 17, 2017

10 Tips for Incorporating Sensory Strategies into Your Day

"He's overstimulated" "He needs a sensory space" "Maybe a fidget would help him focus" Do these phrases sound familiar? I feel like there is so much talk about sensory needs and fidgets these days and this topic can quickly become overwhelming.  I have no formal training in "sensory needs" (make sure you are consulting with your OTs since they are the experts), but we (teachers, parents, etc.) have invaluable knowledge about our students as well.  We know that some of our students need more movement in their day and that certain activities amp them up, while others seem to calm them down. Use that information (and take data) when deciding what sensory strategies you want to try to help keep your students calm, focused, and ready to learn.
Here are just some examples of sensory strategies you can try with your students...please leave me comments with any other ideas you have found to be successful...I love to hear things that are working for your students!

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Product Preview: Color Books-3 Interactive Books for Kids with Autism

Are you looking for a great, hands-on activity for your beginning readers who are working on sight words or color words? Wanting to refresh your students' independent work tasks for the upcoming year?   Then this is the product for you!

This product comes with instructions as well as 3 short interactive books that work on identifying colors and forming simple sentences ("The car is___," "The pizza is___," and "The bird is___")



Each page follows a repetitive and predictable pattern (i.e. "The bird/car/pizza is ___").  Students match the words "The" "bird" and "is" to the sentence.  Then, students identify the color of the object on the page by finding the corresponding written color word. 

I have used these books in my class during one-on-one reading instruction and during independent work time.  Since this follows a predictable pattern, students seem to catch on quickly and then it can be used to work on generalization and maintenance during independent work time.  It could also be sent home as homework!  Check it out in my TPT store here!