Paper chain

Borrowed from Diary Of A Mom...

Great idea!!

"We have a trip coming up. A kinda big one. The kind with a lot of moving parts and the need for a fair amount of prep in order to make it successful for little Miss. I’ve been talking to friends and accumulating advice to help smooth our way.

Of all the tips that I gathered (like ‘When there are two queues and you have to choose between the right and the left, always choose left’. You’re welcome.) my favorite is the paper chain.

Brooke does very well – OK, she does well – traveling, but after more than one night away from home she begins to get anxious. No matter how much she may be enjoying the trip, she has trouble understanding how long we will be there and when we will be coming home.

Years ago, I started drawing out calendars. As soon as we reach our destination, we sit down together and map out our days. I draw in the plane or the car or the boat that got us to our destination and another on the day that we will be heading home. Each day, we write in our plans and each evening we mark off another day’s passing. Each and every day we count the days left and talk together about when we’ll be going home.

It has helped immensely, but it still isn’t perfect. Enter the paper chain.

In a conversation earlier this week, my friend Carrie shared what she did for her little guy on their last vacation. Instead of a calendar, she made him a good old-fashioned construction paper chain. Each day of their trip was represented by a link. After each day was over, its link was removed. The chain got smaller and smaller as the week went by.

I can’t tell you how much I love the simple brilliance of this idea. My girl NEEDS a way to see the days passing. She needs a tangible representation of how much longer the trip will last and when we will be headed home. She can see the chain. She can touch it and feel it and hold it. She can even decorate the links or draw the day’s activities on them. She can control it. The possibilities are endless.

And even better, it can be used in any situation where time or patience are an issue. Waiting room? The links can represent five-minute increments. Days before school starts at the end of the summer? Got it covered."

Autism Blogs:

http://momnos.blogspot.com/

http://adiaryofamom.wordpress.com/

http://autismblogsdirectory.blogspot.com/

http://rhemashope.wordpress.com/

http://autismville.blogspot.com/

http://goodfountain.wordpress.com/

http://teenautism.com/


**These are just some favorites and suggestions. Each of these websites has multiple links to other blogs and sites. Feel free to wander. The ideas and concepts presented are not always representative of me as a therapist. Please consult your physician, pediatrician, or therapists before attempting any ideas or treatments with your child.

Visual Scheduling

5 Tips for Effective Visual Scheduling for Individuals with Autism

April 2010

1. Phrase schedules loosely
   Presenting schedules with less rigid definitions will help individuals with autism learn to be less rigid with the schedule. Try things like "Today we'll probably..." or "This afternoon we may..." Use this more loosely phrased language verbally, and in print and/or symbols on the schedule.
2. Make a conscious decision to cover and/or remove symbols
   Covering a symbol represents a less permanent removal of a schedule item versus actually removing (item from the schedule. (Most likely your "removable" schedule items will be adhered with Velcro.) Hide a symbol when you want the individual to focus on something else. Remove a symbol when that schedule item is over or is no longer going to happen.
3. Introduce the concept of time span schedules
   Often when we use time in schedules, we build in very little buffer. If an event doesn't begin when the clock on the schedule suggests, the individual with autism may have a difficult time. Using time span schedules links schedules to the time, but also builds in some buffer - for the normal events of life that may present some delays to our schedules.
4. Don't stop being visual
   Remember to continue to represent your schedule visually - even if things change. Let's say an event is not going to happen as planned. Verbally describe this change to the student but also be sure the visual schedule reflects the change. This may mean removing a schedule item and replacing it with an alternative.
5. Color code to add meaning
   Implement creative, and more importantly - meaningful, use of color coding on schedules and/or calendars. Want to signify that Saturday and Sunday are "Stay at home days"? Color code the border of those buttons the same color as a student's house. Does a student have speech therapy every Thursday? Color code those buttons with the color of the SLPs hair, for example!

This is a fantastic video presentation about visual scheduling for autism. Anyone can watch it. I’ve printed out the powerpoint slides that go along with it as they are very informative too but the video is much more detailed. It’s about an hour long but you can stop and start it any time.

http://uk.dynavoxtech.com/training/online/recorded/details.aspx?id=1585

Book Review: Feeling Happy

I keep forgetting to share this book: Feeling Happy by PBS Kids

I love this book for speech therapy! I especially love it for ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) kids because it goes through 10 (maybe 8.. I can't remember) different emotions. Each page allows the child to turn a wheel to match the emotion face to the animal in the story. Each page has short rhyming sentences to let you know the situation and the emotion that resulted. The last page has an overview and encourages the child to choose how they feel at the moment. There's also a section in the back to parents about encouraging and teaching emotion words to their kids in everyday life.

I sent this book home for a couple of weeks with a sweet, higher functioning boy with ASD who has had a LOT of difficulty regulating and expressing emotions appropriately. With a LOT of reinforcement and encouragement from his wonderful mother, he has started identifying emotions in the characters on tv and movies! I can't wait for him to tell me he's angry or upset instead of screaming and losing control.... now just to master "why" questions so that he can tell us what has caused this unwanted disruption in his emotional control!

Autism

I saw this on a PostSecret video and loved it... so true. 

Say Cheese... Pizza

I treated a 5 year old boy with moderate autism this afternoon. At the end of every treatment his mother says, "say bye-bye" and he says "say bye-bye". Today, she says it and he responds with, "say cheese pizza!!"

Every treatment with him is so different and can be very frustrating but he has gradually increased his novel expressions and I am very very excited about that!