Homemade paper dice

Have you ever wanted to have a dice with less than six numbers on it, or with words? Here is an EASY solution for you: make your own homemade die. There are several website that offer printable die templates.  Here is one example: http://www.korthalsaltes.com/gif1/cube.gif 

They are really easy to make; you just glue or tape the tabs together. 

Here is another very similar example from : http://crafts.123peppy.com/patterns/how-to-make-a-dice-1.jpg

A final idea is if you want a die without the dots, because students often mess up counting the dots. (I think counting the dots each time is a good math exercise, but it could prove tiring for cognitively challenged students. Here is an example from: http://www.lessonsense.com/numbers/templatediceblacknumbers.jpg

I have found homemade dice to be very useful when playing made up games. I also know how easy it is to lose real dice! Go ahead, just make your OWN!

Visual Schedule

This semester I've had a severely autistic client and he needed a visual schedule to not only keep on task, but to see how much longer we had in therapy. The wall in our therapy rooms in the college are covered in carpet, so I just backed the visual schedule cards with Velcro, and took them off when the task was completed.

His reward was to play on his iPod for two minutes, and that particular incentive worked for him. Some kids might work hard for a piece of candy or for a sticker. I think the reason this system works so well is because the child has a visual to see what needs to get done and what is already done. Also a visual does not go away like words do, therefore is harder to forget!