Autism spectrum/Online resources

Autism spectrum/Online resources

Grade Level: Preschool

Subject: Online Resources

Sub-Subject: Autism

Length/Duration: 30 minutes

Technologies Used: Links to various websites useful in the Preschool Special Day Class

Autism is one of the most commonly known disabilities, and is unfortunately becoming more prevalent in special education classrooms. Many kids who are diagnosed with autism receive home services in addition to preschool. Often, ABA therapy is a service kids with autism receive. ABA therapy, also known as Behavioral Therapy utilizes procedures derived from the principles of behavior in order to systematically improve behaviors. Used in conjunction with ABA therapy is Discrete Trial Training (DTT). DTT is a teaching technique used to develop many skills, including cognitive, communication, play, social and self-help skills. The teaching strategy involves breaking skills into the smallest steps and teaching each step of the skill intensively until it is considered "mastered".

Kids receiving ABA therapy usually see their therapist between 4 and 25 hours a week, depending on their age and severity of the diagnosis. When they are not doing therapy, these kids are at home or school like any other child.

Many of the skills focused on during ABA therapy can be done with parents or teachers as well. Below are some online resources that include online games for kids, print outs for teachers, and educational resources for parents.

Learning Emotions

Learning to read emotions is something kids with autism often struggle with. This is often found in ABA programs in the form of flash cards or therapist impersonation. It can be a fun game for many kids, looking at different faces and then making faces of their own. This is an online game that kids can play independently to further their emotional learning.

Social Stories

Social stories are very popular in special education classrooms. They can be made up by a teacher or parent, or found in many book and online resources. They can be tailored to any situation and student and used many times.

Prepositions

Prepositions is another common skill worked on with preschool age students. Focusing on where you are in relation to a person or thing can be challenging to some kids.

http://englishflashgames.blogspot.com/2008/06/prepositions-of-place-game.html

Animals

Identifying types of animals and their sounds is a fun for preschoolers and is something they are expected to know. Some kids with disabilities have trouble identifying sounds a pictures, and then generalizing that information into different settings.

Pre-Academic Skills

Some parents may want to introduce their child to some pre-academic writing, math and letter skills. These games are appropriate for a preschool aged child, but are used in early elementary grades as well.

PECS/Boardmaker Templates

PECS is a widely used system of communication used quite often in the life of a child with autism. There are a lot of online resources that have pre-made templates for social situations, schedule strips and specific categories and groups of pictures. These resources are great because they are free, opposed to the program that create these pictures, Boardmaker, is not free. Some of the images on the sites are not Boardmaker/Mayer-Johnson images, but images used in everyday life.

Technology Guides

Although technology can often be intimidating, it is incredibly helpful to parents and teachers when used purposefully and appropriately. These resources can educate and guide users to reviews, articles, and links to websites for kids of all ages and disabilities.

Extras

This site is a comprehensive guide to many useful educational sites. Some have a focus on autism and other disabilities, and some have been created for the general population.

http://www.angelfire.com/pa5/as/asteachersites.html

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