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!

Easy reading articles for the older reader

This last semester I had a client who was an adult but struggled with reading and reading comprehension. I found it hard to find age appropriate articles short enough and easy enough to read during therapy. Then I found this website: www.newsinlevels.com. This website has articles in three different levels but contains the same message. 

Here is an example of Level 1:

Driver jumps from a bus - level 1

13-08-2013 06:00

Level 1Level 2Level 3

A bus goes on a big road in China. There are many people riding on the bus. Suddenly, a truck hits the bus.

The bus turns over. People on the bus fly around. The driver of the bus flies out of the window. It looks bad, but he is lucky. He lives. People from the bus live, too. But the driver of the truck dies.

Difficult words: suddenly (quickly), truck (big car that can carry heavy things).

You can read the original story and watch the video in the Level 3 section.

(Read more: http://www.newsinlevels.com/products/driver-jumps-from-a-bus-level-1/)

Not only does it have simple language, but it explains words that can be possibly difficult.

Level two looks like this:

Driver jumps from a bus - level 2

13-08-2013 06:00

Level 1Level 2Level 3

A bus in China was backing up on a motorway as it missed its exit. The motorway looked empty, but suddenly a truck slammed into the back of the bus.

Passengers were thrown around the vehicle as it turned over. The driver of the bus fell out of the open window. But he was quite lucky. He didn't die, as well as no one on the bus. The truck driver, however, died instantly.

Difficult words: back up (go back), as (because), slam (hit), instantly (immediately).

You can read the original story and watch the video in the Level 3 section.

Level three looks like this:

Driver jumps from a bus - level 3

13-08-2013 06:00

Level 1Level 2Level 3

A bus driver in China has had a lucky escape after being thrown out of a window in a terrifying crash.

This shocking CCTV footage captures the moments a truck slams into the back of the bus, throwing the driver and passengers out and around the vehicle as it flips over.

The truck had slammed into the back of the vehicle as the bus driver reversed on the motorway near Shanghai after missing his exits.

According to reports, the driver of the truck was killed instantly and 23 people were injured.

Difficult words: slam (hit), flip over (turn over).

Another helpful website I found was http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1308/130814-mona_lisa.html which is also current news in levels, but also has questions after the article to test reading comprehension. The thing I dislike about this website is that there are around five pages of the same questions, all in different formats. I feel like ten multiple choice questions and ten true/false questions would be sufficient. Also this website is very ad happy, and it's sometimes hard to find the article amongst the ads.

 I think both websites are geared towards Second Language Learners, but can easily be adapted for speech therapy.