Wednesday, February 25, 2015

"Discerning Silly from Serious" Resource

Another great resource on the Autism Teaching Strategies website is their social skills "game" called "Discerning silly from serious." I have a student who does not know when it is appropriate to be serious vs. silly. This gives great tips. It has four levels with pictures and examples, and then you take the scenario cards and put them in the correct level.
It also has "act it out" cards where you show what you would do, "fix the mistake cards" where you tell what the person SHOULD have done, and "your own life" where you tell what you should do in your life.
components of this ASD social skills activitiy
 
 
A resource that kind of goes along with this is the control-o-meter post on this website. There are a variety of control-o-meters including how formal you should be, how loud your voice should be etc. 
 
Formal Control-O-Meter: 

social skills method for kids with ASD

Loudness Control-O-Meter:

speech therapy tool for voice volume 
 

All visuals from autismteachingstrategies.com

Tattling/Correcting Resource

I recently found this amazing resource for social skills. It is geared toward kids with autism but I use it for kids with simply weak social skills. I will give a short overview of one of the many resources on this website.
Here is the main website: http://autismteachingstrategies.com/free-social-skills-downloads-2/
The student I have been using this with tends to tattle and correct/boss students a lot. This resource has worked EXTREMELY well with her.
http://autismteachingstrategies.com/autism-strategies/correcting-others-and-tattling-too-much-social-skills-activities-to-teach-kids-with-autism-who-have-these-problems/
It has three panels. The first panel is the "Choices Panel." You go through and decide what you think you should do.
* Say Nothing
* Ask the person to stop
* Wait for an adult to tell them to stop
* Try to tell the person they are wrong (go to correct page)
* Go right to an adult to tell (go to tattle page)

Once the student has chosen which one, discuss if it's the right idea or not. The last two, you refer to the "correct" and "tattle" pages.
On the correct page we go over the choices and I write on the page the words in parentheses. If the answer to the question is in parentheses then you don't need to correct.

Example: A boy tripped on the stairs but kept going. Correct page: Does it matter? No, it does not. Are you in charge. No you are not. Will it bother the other person? Yes, it would. Therefore you do not need to correct.

Correct page:
*Does it matter? (no)
*Are you in charge? (no)
*Will it bother the other person? (yes
)

 Same with the tattle page. If the answers are all "no", then there is no need to tattle.

Example: A boy picked up a pencil off the floor and put it in his locker. Is it hurting you? No, it's not. Are you in charge? No, you are not. Did someone ask you the rules? No, no one did. Therefore, you do not need to tattle.

Tattle page:
* Is it hurting you? (no)
* Are you in charge? (no)
* Did someone ask you the rules? (no)
Tattling blog display
The cards are really awesome. They give real life scenarios. I have the student write his/her answer on the card, so it further cements the concept. There were a couple that were not appropriate for my student because she is younger, but most applied!

social skills card game for Asperger's
All visuals from autismteachingstrategies.com

Friday, February 13, 2015

/R/ Tongue Twisters

I have some /r/ students who are getting close to dismissal from speech therapy. As a challenge we do tongue twisters!

(photo courtesy of morguefile.com)
Initial R:

Reba really wants Rex to run races rather relaxingly

Rain rains really regretfully on my red roses.

Rod was riled ripping rigid rafts and raw rusty radishes yesterday.

Roy roamed the red reef after it really rained.

The round road roams regretfully right rather than left.

Ring around a rosy, ring around a rosy, roses, roses really fall down.

Rest really rocks more than running or riding runaway recycling trucks.

Royal raccoons rescue ridiculous rabbits from reputable rattlesnakes.

Reading rainbow wrinkles like raisins recognized in Rocky Mountains.

The rath of regular racing reptiles is really rather scary.


Medial R:

The squirrel and parrot ate carrots, corn, berries, and cereal in a barrel during a hurricane.

The fairy cut the horse’s hairy mane with a sharp scissors.

The fireman nursed the burning garbage with a small watering syrup can.

The horse hurt the cart by squirting dirt on the wire tires.

The lord and lady had smart, large swords that were part of the empire.

Birds learn to turn nearby the fern and chirp after eating a worm.

The nurse has curls the nerd heard were cursed.

Burt the nerd heard a bird chirp and saw the worm squirm.

The barnyard on the farm is very carefully arranged.

Our children are smarter than an armadillo arching an army of aardvarks.


Final R:

Four doctors tore tires off cars for more dollars.

Mr. Monster is the author of Nightmare in November After October.

Heather can hear hamster singers an hour before shore.

Peter Pear was rather poor, however; his summer supper was lobster.

The corner store will offer a pepper picture for either under or over a dollar.

The fire in the tower will require far more water than before.

There are more poor people in the world than rich.

The tiger will purr if the car hits the deer in fair weather.

Cover your door with flower wallpaper and Delaware sycamore trees.

Is the conquistador from El Salvador, the U.S.S.R, New Hampshire,  or the North Star?