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A research-based method to teach new skills.

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Describes the difference between school-based ASD eligibility and an ASD diagnosis.

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Strategies to use after a behavioral function has been identified through a FBA.

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Steps for taking a break

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Strategies for different emotions

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Mini schedule blog from the Autism Helper that explains why to use them and gives tons of examples and resources.

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Mini schedules are your visuals schedule's cooler younger sister. She's always down for a good time and will help you out whenever needed. Same with these little sets of visuals glory. They are quick and simple yet immensely useful. Don't underestimate their importance or necessity.

Mini schedules show embedded steps and routines. They help makes students more independent. They work great for inclusion. Sold?

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Mini Schedules: Your Key to Creating Consistent Routines - The Autism Helper

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Mini schedules are your visuals schedule's cooler younger sister. She's always down for a good time and will help you out whenever needed. Same with these little sets of visuals glory. They are quick and simple yet immensely useful. Don't underestimate their importance or necessity.

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Strategies for different emotions

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Prompting hierarchy for teaching new skills (most-to-least prompting) and prompting already learned skills (least-to-most prompting).

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Universal Core Vocabulary

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The Universal Core vocabulary is a set of 36 highly useful single words that can be used alone or in combination to communicate for a range of purposes on countless topics with a wide variety of communication partners. The Universal Core vocabulary is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Several formats are available to support student access through direct pointing or touch, eye gaze selection, and partner-assisted scanning. High contrast versions are available to address the needs of some students with visual impairments and 3D symbols are available for students who are blind. Additionally, the Universal Core vocabulary is available on many communication apps and speech generating devices.

A 6 page universal core communication book with 6 words/symbols on each page.

A 3 page universal core partner-assisted communication book with 6 words/symbols on each page.

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The Universal Core vocabulary is a set of 36 highly useful single words that can be used alone or in combination to communicate for a range of purposes on countless topics with a wide variety of communication partners. The Universal Core vocabulary is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Use Play Dough/Mats to teach emotions.

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By · This content may contain affiliate links.

When it comes to feelings and emotions activities it helps to provide a lot of visual cues and make it personal for kids, especially young ones. In addition to reading great books and discussing our emotions via playful feelings games these free printable Teaching Feelings Today I Feel Play Dough Mats provide a hands-on feelings activity that can be used independently, during small groups, or during center time. Along the way kids can also chat about their own feelings, what makes them feeling a certain way, and ideas for changing their mood if needed. Plus, by incorporating play dough and loose parts they get an extra does of fine motor practice.

See the Emotions Mats in Action

Watch this quick video clip to see kids creating with the Today I Feel Mats.

Materials for Teaching Feelings Emotions Mats

To set up this feelings activity I used the "Today, I Feel" mat and Emotions Cards from our Emotions lesson plans set. Within the full set there are individual mats for each emotion, or you can use the blank template shown here. There are also different versions of the Emotions Cards. One set include the face only while the other set includes the full body.

I placed our mat in Dry Erase Pockets so I could quickly change them out. You can also laminate yours for long-term use.

The Emotions Cards were hole punched and placed on a binder ring to make a quick flip book. You may want to leave them loose or provide multiple flip books if you are using this with groups of students.

Next to these materials I placed an array of multicultural play dough options (we used homemade dough, but this storebought version is a timesaver too) and an assortment of loose parts for making facial features and hair.

Using the Teaching Feelings Today I Feel Play Dough Mats

Prior to introducing this activity we read books about feelings and practicing showing different facial expressions and body postures that we might see with different emotions.

We also talk about things that can make us a feel a certain way. (This is a wonderful opportunity to indirectly address and discuss any behaviors you are noticing in the classroom or at home...both positive and negative.)

Then it's time to create! I usually encourage kids to start by making the emotion that matches how they are feeling at the moment, but they also often go on to experiment with other feeling prompts.

Along the way as they are pressing and manipulating the dough and pressing in loose parts they are also exercising fine motor muscles while learning about feelings and emotions.

It's always interesting to see their creativity and background experiences play a role. This little one has been to a clay sculpting class, so she wanted to scuplt a 3D nose out of dough instead of adding a loose part in its place.

Do remember to take the time to sit and chat with children about their creations. It's a terrific way to make connections and dig deeper into how they are feeling, what made them feel that way, and possible coping strategies...even if the conversations are hypothetical or based on prior experiences.

Get Your Free Printable Today I Feel Activity

The free printable set includes the Today I Feel mat pictured above and a sample of the Emotions Cards faces set. Enter your information via the link below to get your copy emailed to you.

A Full Week of Fun & Learning with Emotions Theme Lesson Plans
This set includes active hands-on learning ideas and the following printables:

Emotions Cards with Labels (in color and b/w)

Helpful and Hurtful Choices Sorting Cards and Discussion Prompts (in color and b/w)

How I'm Feeling Emotions Mats for Play Dough, Drawing and Loose Parts (in color and b/w)

How I Feel Emergent Reader (3 versions)

Emotions Number Cards 0-35 (in color and b/w)

Emotions Roll and Graph (in color and b/w)

Emotions Picture-Word Cards (in color and b/w)

Emotions Puzzles (in color and b/w)

GET YOUR LESSON PLANS

All of our products are also available on Teachers Pay Teachers if you prefer to shop there.

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Teaching Feelings Today I Feel Play Dough Mats - Fantastic Fun & Learning

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By · This content may contain affiliate links. When it comes to feelings and emotions activities it helps to provide a lot of visual cues and make it personal for kids, especially young ones.

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Modules on evidence-based practices to support students with ASD. Make a free account to access the modules.

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Access free AFIRM online modules and resources for evidence-based practices

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Weekly scatterplot data from PBIS world.

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Visual prompts to make a keychain of visual cues.

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Break card to teach asking for a break.

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Visual for teaching the zones of regulation and emotions.

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Visual to support volume control.

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Resource for Social narratives and helpful strategies. Included: Academic, Behavioral, Emotional, Experiences and other areas.

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FREE Resource Library - Special Needs for Special Kids

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There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

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Visual to support hand washing.

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Strategies to teach waiting to students.

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One of the questions I get asked frequently is how to teach a student to wait. It comes up in a variety of situations. There are times that we all just have to wait. We have to wait in line, wait for our food at a restaurant, we have to wait for what we asked for, and wait and wait and wait...it seems at times. We also need a student to learn to wait for attention. This is a later step in functional communication training for attention-seeking behaviors. Because believe it or not, we can't attend to this student every minute of the day. Nor does that happen in regular life.

Just like we teach everything else...break it down into small segments, present them systematically, and reinforce success. There...job done, right? Probably not so much...so let me give you an example of what it looks like.

Breaking down waiting means starting at a miniscule time to wait. If you are teaching it as part of a behavioral program of FCT, in particular, you want to start at waiting for a second. I mean literally a second. In order to believe that "Wait" means you will get back to the student with attention or what they asked for-or whatever they are waiting for. So to teach them that, the wait has to be very short.

So, let's say we want to teach Bruce how to wait for something he has asked for. Bruce has learned to ask for things, but expects everything he has ever asked for immediately. When something isn't immediately available, he starts to show a variety of challenging behaviors. So, to teach him to wait for something, his teacher decided to start at having him wait for 1 second.

So the exchange went something like this:

Bruce asks for something.

The teacher says "Wait" and gives him a wait card.

She then IMMEDIATELY turns around and gives him what he requested.

Particularly if the student has behavioral issues related to waiting, you want to start small and go slowly. Think about breaking the waiting time down from immediate, to 2 seconds, then 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, etc.

Make sure to give the student whatever he was waiting for at the end of that time, though. That assures you are the student's waiting. The reinforcement of waiting and the consistency of getting what he wants after waiting are what teaches the skill.

You won't always need them, but visuals can be helpful in a variety of ways. And they can be particularly helpful if whatever the student wants can't be delivered immediately.

Use a waiting visual

A wait visual helps student's like Bruce know that you are coming back to them. It symbolizes that "wait" is different than "no." As waiting time gets longer, it's also helpful to remind adults that the student is waiting.

Make sure that the waiting visual looks different than other visuals (a circle or a triangle) so the student can easily differentiate it.

Social stories won't be effective for everyone, but sometimes it helps to introduce the concept of waiting through a social story. You will most likely still have to teach the concept. However, some students do well with social stories and explanations of how waiting will work. So it might shorten the time it takes to increase the time the student learns to wait.

There will always be times when you can't grant a request or attend to a student each time he/she asks. So, what do you do at those times? Try using visuals to teach the student that something is off-limits or not available.

Empty containers.

If the student is asking for something tangible, particularly food, try showing the student an empty container when you ask him to wait. This may help him understand that it isn't available at that time.

If he can't have the item at all (e.g., we're all out of Froot Loops), then don't tell him to wait, because you won't be able to get him the thing he wants to reinforce the waiting. Instead, use an empty container or a universal "no" sign to let him know that what he wants isn't available.

It won't work perfectly every time, but sometimes it can help explain the situation and reduce the possible behavioral issues.

Want to know more about teaching students to ask for attention and then learn to wait for attention? Check out this set of social stories in my store to walk you through it.

Until next time,

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One of the questions I get asked frequently is how to teach a student to wait. It comes up in a variety of situations. There are times that we all just have to wait. We have to wait in line, wait for our food at a restaurant, we have to wait for what we asked for, and wait and wait and wait...it seems at times.

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Tips on teaching students how to use visual schedules in the classroom.

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How do you teach visual schedules? Try this scenario. You are starting in a new class or trying to start implementing visual schedules but your students don't know how to use them yet. You have put the schedules up and in place but your students only use them with hand-over-hand prompting. And your staff isn't quite sure what to do with them. So consequently they aren't moving your students towards independence? Or maybe some of your students are using them but you have students who aren't making headway in this great independence people tell you visuals can provide.

Sound familiar? It's a pretty common question and it tends to be the thing that gets left out. A consultant comes into the classroom and tells you that you need to implement visuals. While the consultant should do more than just recommend, sometimes you are left on your own to figure it out.

The way schedules are sometimes presented, they sound like magical fairy wands that will solve all your problems in your classroom, right? Wrong! Just like everything from math to behavior, schedules require us to teach the students to use them too. Students don't come pre-programmed to use them.

Just like everything from math to behavior, schedules require us to teach the students to use them too.

HOW DO YOU TEACH STUDENTS TO USE SCHEDULES?

START WITH A FEW

First don't feel you have to start everyone on schedules at once. It does take time to teach students to use them independently and if you try to do it with all the students sometimes it gets too crazy. When things are chaotic, you can't build the independence needed.

CHOOSE YOUR MOST INDEPENDENT STUDENTS

Start with the students you think will become independent fastest. Counterintuitive I know. But if you start with the most complex they will take the longest to become independent and you won't be able to to move forward to other students.

Instead choose one or two students per adult who is available to teach during transitions. For the rest of the students either bring them their visual to transition or just transition them to the next activity without the schedules. You'll get to them soon, when this group becomes more independent.

DETERMINE TYPE OF SCHEDULE NEEDED

Next determine the type of schedule each student needs. If I am not sure about needs, I start with picture symbols on the wall and adjust from there. Not everyone needs the same type of schedule.

Next, unless your students are independent at tracking and keeping materials, I would avoid putting every student on a portable schedule like a file folder or notebook at the same time. They are great for students who can manage their materials. However, I once started a whole class on them and we never had the schedules we needed when we needed them and the staff managed the schedules because the students didn't know how. It was crazy. We switched to wall schedules with one student with a notebook and the day was much smoother.

MOVE TO THE NEXT STUDENTS

Then when those first students get independent, pick up the next student. Start with the students who are most independent because they will master their schedules fastest and allow you to move on to the next student.

CHECK-IN STATIONS

Finally I highly recommend check in stations that have matching visuals at the place the student is going. They take their visual with them and match it to a visual at the area to check in. This helps make the schedule use more concrete and they can see how and why to use it. When they just remove a schedule piece and put it in the finished pocket without a check in it becomes a task they have to do with no meaning.

Schedules are wonderful tools for teaching independence but also for teaching flexibility. If we do it right students should never become rigid using schedules. And if they can navigate the day without assistance, reminders and problems on the worst day then their schedule is like my calendar and to do list. And I wouldn't even try to live without them.

LOOKING FOR VISUAL SUPPORTS?

I've got themed visual bundles including picture-symbol schedules (with words), written card schedules, visual cueing rings, group schedules, classroom rules and classroom job sets. All in sets for preschool / elementary and secondary students.

Click the images below to check them out in my store!

Until next time,

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How Can You Effectively Teach Visual Schedules?

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How do you teach visual schedules? Try this scenario. You are starting in a new class or trying to start implementing visual schedules but your students don't know how to use them yet. You have put the schedules up and in place but your students only use them with hand-over-hand prompting.

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DOs and DON'Ts for Responding to Challenging Behavior

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DOs and DON'Ts for Responding to Challenging Behavior

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Responding to challenging behavior is one of the biggest questions in behavioral support. I am finishing up the 5 Steps to Meaningful Behavioral Support series with the final few posts on responding to challenging behavior considerations.

Oh those behaviors we can't just pretend don't happen! That kiddo who hits the kid next to him because it lights him up like a Christmas Tree that cries screams-"He hit me!" That girl who, in the middle of your instruction when you are working with another student, starts throwing your materials off the table including the scissors.

Our FBA shows that these behaviors are maintained by the attention they get from the peer or from you, but if you don't intervene, what message does that send and will everyone be safe? You know that attending to the behavior is only going to make it continue (although it stops it temporarily) but if you don't do something the student is going to hurt himself or someone else. There is a way to minimize attention to the behavior while still assuring everyone's safety, but it does take some practice of some specific skills. Here are some dos and don'ts .

1. Redirect With Gestures or Visuals

Use gestures or use visuals. You can use redirection visuals that tell the student what you want him/her to do without talking. Hold them out, wave them a bit to get his/her attention, and you have sent the message to sit down, stand up, hands quiet. It tells the student what you want them to do without attending to the student or the behavior.

2. Block Aggression Without Engaging

If you have to block a student's aggression or keep him from being too close to another student, do it without talking. Put your body, or a beanbag chair or some other soft object between the child and the target. Keep your eye gaze directed away from the child; making eye contact engages the person. But keep the student in your view and watch covertly to assure safety.

3. Attend to the Victim

Is the student attacking or teasing another student? Put your attention on the student being targeted. Ask him/her if he/she is OK, fuss over him/her, and pay lots of attention to that child and not the child who was doing the teasing or the aggression. You can even talk about the expected behavior to the victim in some instances (e.g., "You are right. We all need to have quiet hands. But you're OK.").

4. Assure Safety

Don't sacrifice safety to avoid attention. This may go without saying but it's important to recognize that sometimes behavior is going to escalate and you are going to have to do something to keep a student from running out into the parking lot or hurting another student. Those are times when you will have to intervene, but do it with as little attention as possible.

5. Keep Your Emotions in Check

Try very hard not to let your face turn red and to keep your facial expression as neutral as possible. Sometimes just the look on your face is enough to reinforce attention-seeking behavior. Keep it calm as much as possible. There will be times when you involuntarily yell out-like when a kid pulls your hair and you didn't see it coming, but try to take a deep breath and calm yourself down.

1. Don't Talk or Yell

When someone is upset and engaging in behavior, even if it's a meltdown that doesn't seem as intentional, it's not a good time to try to reason with them. It's not a good time to talk about the behavior. In addition, language is likely to increase problems because even those of us who have average language skills have times when we are so upset we just don't want to talk to anyone. Have you ever said to your significant other or another family member, "Don't even talk to me right now!"

2. Don't Make Eye Contact

Keep an eye on the student to assure safety, but try not to make eye contact or look directly at the student. That engages him/her and provides attention even if you are doing everything else right. Look off in the distance, look at another student, or just look at the table...anywhere but directly at the student.

3. Don't Touch the Student if You Can Avoid it

First, if he / she is upset, putting hands on will only escalate the situation. That's how fights break out. If he or she isn't upset but is engaging in the behavior more deliberately to get attention, physical contact is attention. If you have to physically intervene to assure safety, you will have to, but make it as brief as possible.

4. Don't Talk About the Student's Behavior

Even if you aren't talking to the target student, don't talk about his or her behavior in his/her presence. You'll be amazed what they can hear when they are screaming and you'll be attending to the behavior when they know you are talking about them. Instead, talk to other students about what they are doing right and the expected behaviors. That sends a positive message and removes the attention from the one having the problem.

5. Don't Forget to Teach Appropriate Ways to Gain Attention-and Attend to Them

When your FBA says the behavior is maintained by behavior, the replacement skill to use is something that gets that type of attention appropriately. In addition to teaching the skill, it is important to make sure you are reinforcing that appropriate skill (e.g., tapping your arm, using a communication switch to call the teacher's name) when the student engages in it. If he/she gets more reliable attention for the negative behavior than the replacement skill, the negative behavior is going to continue.

So, I hope that gives you some thoughts about how to handle some of the challenging behaviors we see related to attention in particular. Even though I've focused on attention-seeking behavior, the need to avoid reinforcing the behavior inadvertently even when it has other functions, means that all of these strategies are useful for any incident of challenging behavior.

Want to do more than responding to challenging behavior to prevent it from happening? Check out the whole series on challenging behavior for solutions to manage and prevent them.

Until next time,

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Dos and Don'ts for Responding to Challenging Behavior

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Responding to challenging behavior is one of the biggest questions in behavioral support. I am finishing up the 5 Steps to Meaningful Behavioral Support series with the final few posts on responding to challenging behavior considerations. Oh those behaviors we can't just pretend don't happen!

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Blog post on data collection with resources.

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Most of us have a love-hate relationship with data. Well, let's face it...some have a hate-hate relationship. And a few of us have a love-love relationship. But for most teachers, it is one of the most challenging elements of running a classroom. How to take data and balance it with instruction time is a huge issue for us. When you are teaching a group of 6 students, it takes all your energy to keep them engaged....data seems like a nicety at that point.

Now I will say this....instruction HAS to come before data, unless possibly if you are taking baseline data. However, data collected when your instruction wasn't working isn't going to be very useful.

We know that data collected should reflect your instruction as well as the student's learning. And students aren't learning if they are wandering away from the table while you are searching for the data sheet. So, instruction has to be the priority. However, you also need data to inform your instruction. You need to know what you should do more of and what isn't working. Then you need to have data to help you figure out what the problem is. And of course to do that, you need to analyze your data.

Forgive my language but, Data on Crap is Crap. You have to prioritize instruction and then data to get meaningful information. #autismclassroom #sped #tamingthedatamonster

I created the Mega Pack of Instructional Data Sheets to provide ways to simplify the process of both collecting data and analyzing the data you collect. So I thought I would share 3 of those tools that can help you be more efficient and effective with data.

3 Simple Tools for Data Collection

#1 - SELF-GRAPHING GOODNESS

So my first tool is one I've used for many years - data sheets that graph themselves. Ok, they don't actually graph themselves, but all you have to do is circle a data point each day. There is no need to transfer the data to another sheet or spreadsheet. You just connect the dots on the same sheet you take the data on, and you can see the progress (or lack of it) immediately.

For those of us who find data collection and student progress reinforcing, it reinforces our instruction for us. Or, if it shows a student isn't making progress fast enough, we know it sooner rather than later. You don't want to teach for 9 weeks and then realize that the student isn't progressing. You want to know that 3 or 4 weeks in so you can make changes as needed.

You don't want to teach for 9 weeks and then realize that the student isn't progressing. You want to know that 3 or 4 weeks in so you can make changes as needed. #sped #tamingthedatamonster

#2 - Work Product

One of the easiest ways to take data is to keep permanent product that the students complete. For many skills, like writing, looking at their work earlier in the year and comparing them to now is a more complete way to assess progress. It makes progress more tangible than a graph ever can because you can see the outcome.

3 Versions available

However, to take permanent product data accurately, you need to know the conditions under which the product was completed. For instance, did an adult prompt the student all the way through the task? Did a para scribe the answers for a student so the work product is in her handwriting but the student did the work? Did the student have extra time? Or were the instructions modified in some way?

USING WORK SAMPLE LABELS

We need all those answers but it's hard to remember to write all that down on the paper itself. And keeping it with the paper is most efficient way to organize it. In the Free Resource Library, we have a version of labels to use for recording information about work product.

I print them on label paper and then just cut them apart. Then staff completes one for each work product saved. Then just stick them to the back or bottom of the paper itself. It gives staff direction to remember what needs to be recorded and makes sure the information stays with the assignment.

REMINDERS FOR WORK SAMPLES

Just make sure to take data consistently when using work samples. If you try to do it randomly, you may fall into an unconscious pattern of saving products that confirm your expectations (e.g., the best ones when you think the student is making progress). So once a week or every other week, take a sample and then review them every couple weeks to see the progress.

#3 - TRAVEL CARDS

Travel cards are a great way to track both skills and behavior across classrooms. So if you work with students who change classes, travel cards are a great way to get assessments from all those different teachers.

2 Versions and 14 Variations of the Check-off System

You can set travel cards up with social skills you need assessed or even executive functioning skills (e.g., being on time to class) that you need to track. With this set, you can even put the slide on Google Slides and share it with the other teachers. Then they can complete them online as the day goes on. This works well if your student isn't terribly responsible about bringing his travel card with him.

Bonus

SAMPLES

In addition to the 3 tools above, my Mega Pack of Instructional Data Sheets includes expanded versions of my naturalistic and group data sheets. I've written more about taking sample data here (and you can download a free earlier version of the data sheets there as well). The expanded version allows for data to be collected on 10 students for a week (for group) or for 10 activities for 1 student.

RUBRICS

FREE DATA WEBINAR AVAILABLE NOW

Until next time,

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How to Simplify Your Data Collection with 3 Easy Tools

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Most of us have a love-hate relationship with data. Well, let's face it...some have a hate-hate relationship. And a few of us have a love-love relationship. But for most teachers, it is one of the most challenging elements of running a classroom. How to take data and balance it with instruction time is a huge issue for us.

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Nearly everyone utilizes some form of visual schedule to stay organized. Many individuals with special needs benefit from visual schedules in written and / or picture form because they have trouble processing verbally delivered information, initiating activities, staying focused, completing every step within a task, and shifting focus between one activity and the next. Visual schedules can increase independence and also reduce anxiety for many individuals with special needs. Visual schedules are often vital to the individual's performance in school, vocational, self-care, and leisure activities.

General Considerations

View2Do is an online program that lets teachers and parents create customized teaching aids for visual learners.

Helps children who have trouble following verbal directions and remembering steps in an activity.

Print these FREE ready-to-use communication tools.

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picture exchange communication system cards

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Do2Learn: Educational Resources for Special Needs

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picture communication cards, songs, games and learning activities for autism, aspergers, fetal alcohol syndrome and disabilities

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Nearly everyone utilizes some form of visual schedule to stay organized. Many individuals with special needs benefit from visual schedules in written and / or picture form because they have trouble processing verbally delivered information, initiating activities, staying focused, completing every step within a task, and shifting focus between one activity and the next. Visual schedules can increase independence and also reduce anxiety for many individuals with special needs. Visual schedules are often vital to the individual's performance in school, vocational, self-care, and leisure activities.

General Considerations

View2Do is an online program that lets teachers and parents create customized teaching aids for visual learners.

Helps children who have trouble following verbal directions and remembering steps in an activity.

Print these FREE ready-to-use communication tools.

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picture exchange communication system cards

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Do2Learn: Educational Resources for Special Needs

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picture communication cards, songs, games and learning activities for autism, aspergers, fetal alcohol syndrome and disabilities

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Various topics

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Listening is Cool I Can Use My Words Eye Contact or Staring (from Watson Institute) Being a good friend Noticing Friends How to Talk to My Friends (from Watson Institute) Playing with Friends (from headstartinclusion.org) Airports Bowling MiniatureGolf Movies Farm Airplane Trip Museum Disney Going to the Dentist (from iroqsea.org) Going to Wendy's (from speakingofspeech.com) Picking My Fingers (from speakingofspeech.com) What Can I Lick?

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CSESA (The Center on Secondary Education for Students with ASD)

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CSESA (The Center on Secondary Education for Students with ASD)

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Autism at Glance Series

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CSESA is supported by the National Center for Special Education Research and the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education through Grant R324C120006 awarded to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The content on this site does not represent views of the Institute or the U.S.

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Modules on core vocabulary and AAC

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An overview of the multi-year, iterative development project to create the Project Core implementation model for teachers and classroom staff.

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A great resource on how to teach students to use schedules and routines.

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Coping & Resilience Strategies

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Birth- 3

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The mission of Able Eyes is to provide visual, state of the art experiences/teaching tools to children and adults with disabilities. Able Eyes provides a user friendly platform to teach skills, and explore environments from several different perspectives. Our ultimate goal is to make businesses and public venues more accessible for people of all abilities by offering video tours, making them "Able Eyes Accessible."

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The mission of Able Eyes is to provide visual, state of the art experiences/teaching tools to children and adults with disabilities. Able Eyes provides a user friendly platform to teach skills, and explore environments from several different perspectives.

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How To

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Welcome to the Section for Medical Professionals. Our tools and supports can help make the visit of an individual with developmental disabilities successful.

Remember

Individuals with ASD often have visual strengths. Use visual supports throughout the visit. The more often visual supports are used, the more help they will provide in the clinic.

Remember to use these at every visit. It can help to have samples made and prepared for use.

You can browse this table by page, or by using the search field located on the top-right corner of the table. Looking for more? Visit our shop or the tools pages!

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Welcome to the Section for Medical Professionals. Our tools and supports can help make the visit of an individual with developmental disabilities successful. Individuals with ASD often have visual strengths. Use visual supports throughout the visit. The more often visual supports are used, the more help they will provide in the clinic.

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Appropriate Behaviors

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﻿T hese social stories are designed to be enlarged on a copier and made into booklets, with one image per page. Feel free to customize them for your own child's needs.

What Is Personal Space?

A social story that explains the concept of personal space.

If you have a child who tends to get too close to people, this story will explain the concept of personal space, the consequences of getting too close, and the rewards associated with maintaining appropriate social distance.

Be sure to practice this with your child in a fun way, during neutral times, and look for teachable moments for emphasis.

Coping With Angry Feelings

A social story about feelings and good choices.
Everybody feels angry, sometimes. For a child with autism, feeling angry can feel overwhelming and scary.

This social story helps children recognize when they feel angry, and provide good choices they can make to cope with their angry feelings.

Introduce this social story at an emotionally neutral time and talk about what works with your child.

All About Hugs

A social story about when it is appropriate to hug, for middle school and high school students.

As children with special needs enter puberty and start to mature, they can become very "touchy-feely." This behavior can understandably make some people uncomfortable, including fellow students.

Teach your child when it is appropriate to hug, where one may hug, and how to ask for hugs.

Who Can I Kiss?

A social story about appropriate behavior in a variety of settings, specifically about kissing.
Sometimes children with autism don't know how to express themselves around their peers, and, being used to being kissed at home, don't understand why it's not okay at school.

If your child is kissing other students at school, this social story explains why that is not appropriate, and provides ideas for positive replacement behaviors that are more acceptable among peers.

Sex Talk in Public

A social story about the importance of appropriate conversational topics in public
As children get older, they may become curious about sex and body changes.

Use this social story to explain when it is okay to ask questions about a sensitive topic.

Being Naked and Private Parts

A social story explaining what are private parts and who can see them, and in what situations.

As most parents of children with autism learn when their children go "streaking," their children may not intuitively understand social concepts like modesty.

Use social stories to educate children with autism about what naked means and their private parts and touching, in a way that is non-judgmental, matter-of-fact and non-threatening.

Children with special needs are far more likely to be abused than neurotypical children, so this is one way to help protect them from harm, as well as increasing their social literacy and acceptance.

What are private parts? explicit

A social story that explicitly describes and illustrates what parts of the body are private parts
It's important that children understand what are private parts, both for men and women, boys and girls.

This social story does have drawings that depict private parts, including bottom, penis, testicles, vagina, and breasts, as well as underwear, bra, and panties.

Teach your child the adult words for these parts, and the social rules associated with private parts. It's important for their self-protection and awareness.

Masturbation Social Story (male version)

This social story explicitly describes what happens during sexual excitement and climax and suggests appropriate behaviors associated witih masturbation in a non-judgemental way.

It's normal and healthy for men and boys to explore their bodies in privacy. People with autism may have problems understanding the social rules associated with this aspect of their sexuality. This social story attempts to make the rules and expectations clear. Please use with sensitivity.

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masturbation social story (male version)

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﻿These social stories are designed to be enlarged on a copier and made into booklets, with one image per page. Feel free to customize them for your own child's needs. I used the book Taking Care of Myself: A Healthy Hygiene, Puberty and Personal Curriculu

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Social Stories

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Social Stories Each Kidmunicate social story was inspired by a client. Autism social stories or picture stories help prepare children for new experiences (proactive) or help correct behavioral issues (reactive). Social Stories are pictures, supported with text, that describe a situation, action or event, outline

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Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children | Developmental Disorders | Child Mind Institute

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What is an autism spectrum disorder? Child Mind Institute explains ASD and provides many resources for helping parents raise autistic children.

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Various topics

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resources, tips and materials to help you help kids with autism

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The mission of the Autism Society of Michigan (ASM) is to assure full participation and self-determination in every aspect of life for each individual. We will realize this vision by opening avenues of self-advocacy and advocating on behalf of others in a way that values equity, respect, dignity and diversity in all communities.

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Our Mission The mission of the Autism Society of Michigan (ASM) is to assure full participation and self-determination in every aspect of life for each individual. We will realize this vision by opening avenues of self-advocacy and advocating on behalf of others in a

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Short video clips on a variety of strategies to supports students with autism for educators and parents.

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"mental health in children" "child with autism" "autism in adults" "autism and special needs" "applied behavior analysis" "development delay" "toddlers with ...

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I fell into the autism world as an autism mom in 1999 when my first-born son, Lucas, was diagnosed with autism. Since then, I became a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst and best-selling author of The Verbal Behavior Approach. Since 2015, I've created 3 autism online courses based on applied behavior analysis for professionals and "gung-ho" parents.

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Visuals to create a break choice board

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A story about divorce.

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Tools to Support Students through Divorce

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Tools to Support Students through Divorce

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A blog post from the Autism Helper about collecting appropriate baseline data.

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Getting notification of a new student starting is always quite stressful for me. I LOVE having new students join our class and routine, but there is also a TON of information and paperwork that gets thrown at us when we get new students. First, I am invited to an intake meeting where the evaluation team discusses the student's needs, we discuss placement options, and write the IEP. Next, I become the case manager in our IEP system. After that, I meet with my team to discuss the IEP, goals, minutes, accommodations and modifications. Lastly, I change our classroom schedules and rotations to include our new student. However, it does NOT stop there, and I don't believe that the information ever stops! In this post, I will share some of my favorite baseline resources from The Autism Helper as well as my beginning steps to getting ready for a new student, no matter what time of year it is!

We are living through a pandemic, and the protocols for how and when students start school has changed just a little. My school district has been remote learning since March 2020. We were recently notified that we will be starting a hybrid learning model in March of 2021. The remote learning procedure is that when a new student registers, they are given a start date and asked to come to the school to pick up materials and an iPad. Once they have their iPad, they are set up and ready to start school! At this point, my team and I have had time to prepare for the new student's start date, and the next few weeks are spent taking baseline data. This will give us a better idea on the skills of the learner. We review the skills that were shown during the evaluation, and how are they engaging in those skills within a classroom setting.

Start of the year forms

Since we are in the remote setting, I am able to send these documents home digitally. When we start hybrid, and eventually go back to in person learning, these are the documents that I send home with our new students on the first day of school. I avoid sending them home at the evaluation meetings because the families have just been bombarded with a lot of information and paperwork. The following are the documents that we send home:

Getting to know your teachers: This includes information, both personal and professional, about myself and my two classroom TAs.

The Autism Helper Must have forms and templates
My favorites are the student questionnaire and the life skills rating form. These help me get a baseline idea on some of the functional routines that we will be working on with the STAR program.

Reinforcer checklist: This checklist lists many items that may be reinforcers and an option for families to list them as a high reinforcer, or no reinforcer at all. There is also an option for families to fill in anything that may not be included on the list.

Personnel information: This includes the school phone number, fax numbers, building Administration name and phone numbers, secretary information, and the school hours. I recommend that families keep this on their fridge or somewhere in their home so they can get to it quickly if needed.

Welcome letter: The letter that I have created reviews the program structure, the reasoning behind the program, the related service team members and schedule, the alternate curriculum and research based interventions that we use.

Leveled Daily Curriculum

My go to (along with the STAR program student learning profiles) are The Autism Helper Leveled Daily Curriculum. These are worth everything! I use each curriculum for Language Arts, Reading Comprehension, Math, Functional Math, Functional Literacy, Science, and Social Studies. Included in the curriculum are 2 types of lesson plan templates, a detailed curriculum map, and 2 types of data sheets. Each include a pre-test and post-test, grading rubrics with data based decision making components, anchor charts, and additional activities. The curriculum are structured, visual, breaks down larger skills into manageable steps, embeds assessments, and utilizes data based decision making. The pre-tests are one of my many go to resources for beginning baseline data! When I am unsure which curriculum would be best for a learner, The Autism Helper has a wonderful matrix that is easy to use!: TAH Curriculum Skills Matrix.

ABLLS

This took me a longer time to figure out how I was going to implement, but now I consistently use the ABLLS-R Resource Kit from The Autism Helper. This is a great resource to determine the level of functioning of my students, identity future goals, and track progress. The data sheets that come with this resource are easy to use. The ABLLS-R is a great assessment, however, it can be difficult to collect and organize all of the materials needed. The Assessment of Basic Language & Learning Skills is best used along with The Autism Helper resources in order to gather the level of functioning for my learners. Using this information guides me to which task cards and materials that I need for teaching, progress monitoring, and working on goals for each earner.

Rubrics

Lastly, I use rubrics. I love rubrics for most of my students because they are quick and easy to carry around. The data is already written on the sheet for me! Having rubrics available allows me to observe and work with learners, and quickly take data by circling where they are performing. They are easy to analyze, bring to team meetings, and review for modifications and individualized instruction.

Put it into practice

Not only do all of these resources include data sheets to help me get appropriate baseline data, they include materials and lessons to help teach where there is a need or deficit identified. These resources show me where my learners are currently performing and where we want them to go next. They have progress monitoring tools within each of them, and post assessments are included to check for mastery. These resources all have a wide range of skills listed on each so I can individualize as needed. Taking appropriate baseline data shows our team where a learner is without intervention, and shows how much growth there is when we implement appropriate material. Without the baseline data, how will I know where to go?!

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Collecting Appropriate Baseline Data - The Autism Helper

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Getting notification of a new student starting is always quite stressful for me. I LOVE having new students join our class and routine, but there is also a TON of information and paperwork that gets thrown at us when we get new students.

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Teaching school expectations (visual)

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Internet-based, interactive activities

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Resources, tips, and materials to help you, help children with autism

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Visuals for home and school center-type activities

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Classroom schedule visuals (colorful & clear)

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A wonderful collection of visuals for home & school routines, social skills & new activities.

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Subscribers to this package have access to a variety of downloadable and printable resources. These resources include STAR Training Videos, Themes First, Routine Essentials and the E-scheduler. These practical, on-demand materials address the learning needs for students at a variety of developmental levels.

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How to video for data collection

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How to Take Great ABC Data - The Autism Helper

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Resources, tips, and materials to help you, help children with autism

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Kit for Kids | Organization for Autism Research

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Discover programs to help teach kids about autism to increase awareness among students and lead a more inclusive school environment