Story Plays for EFYS/KS1 and SEN

So I stumbled along these really great story plays in a tiny (and awesome) children's book shop in Sheffield. I am going to buy some and give them a whirl, they are a really great way of introducing plays to young children or children with SEN.

You can see that it is split into 4 parts so would be great for small group work and each part is colour coordinated so it is easy to follow!

Were going on a bear hunt

Colour coordinated pages with original book images

The Gingerbread man

Jack and the beanstalk

Farmer Duck

There are 8 in total - here are just 4 of the story plays and they are all based on popular books/traditional tails - excellent for shared reading!

You can find these on Amazon.co.uk or in your local independent bookstore (I didn't manage to find them in Waterstones or WHS)!

Enjoy!

Colour by Numbers/Pencil Skills

Colouring activities could be great for developing fine motor skills, or maybe you need help encouraging students to change colour within a picture?

These great colour by numbers could be just for you (courtesy of @TES_SEN)!

Colour by Numbers -
 http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Colour-by-Numbers-TEACCH-Activities-6295786/

And some lovely Christmas colour by numbers activities -
http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Colour-by-Numbers-TEACCH-Activities-Christmas-6303328/

And here are some Pencil Skills activities which would be great to build students fine motor skills - 

Chirstmas Pencil Skills Activities -
http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Christmas-Themed-Pencil-Skills-Activities-6303426/

Pencil Skills -
http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Pencil-Skills-Activities-6301559/

Dinosaur Themed Pencil Skills -
http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Dinosaur-Themed-Pencil-Skills-Activities-6319461/

Space Themed Pencil Skills -
http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Space-Themed-Pencil-Skills-Activities-6319229/

Easter/Spring Themed Pencil Skills -
http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Easter-Spring-Themed-Pencil-Skills-Activities-6311972/

All of these activities are great TEACCH/Workstation resources and could help you start to build a great bank of resources! Make these your holiday laminating project!

Enjoy :)

TEACCH actvities for workstations

I spend at least 2 days in every holiday designing workstation tasks for students and I have been able to create a huge bank of resources over the last 3 years...BUT...it takes some doing!

So take a look at these resources and take the stress out of designing workstation tasks!

TES Autism (@TES_SEN) Has designed some fantastic workstation activities which can all be found here - just print, laminate, Velcro and they are ready to use! Well worth the time and effort to put them together as they are top quality resources that you will be able to use again and again!

http://www.tes.co.uk/mypublicprofile.aspx?uc=2572464 - My favourite resources are the Counting or 'How many...' resources. These are incredibly simple and well made resources. So...I had a go at making my own and you can find mine here -

How many Cubes - 
http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/How-many-cubes-TEACCH-activity-6322797/

How many People (Paper Chains) -
http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/How-Many-Paper-Chain-TEACCH-Activity-6322998/

How Long (Cubes) -
http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Long-and-Short-TEACCH-tasks-6322798/

How Long (People - Paper Chains) -
http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Long-and-Short-Paper-Chains-TEACCH-Activity-6323000/

I have also designed a template (using Widgit symbols) for Independent Reading Comprehension - Have a look, it could be just what you need for your workstation:
http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Independent-Reading-Comprehension-Activity-6322803/

Enjoy the resources - Hope they help to cut out some of the work in the holidays and I will post more ASAP!

:)

Pintrest

I had a quick look at my traffic sources and saw that a few people had 'pinned' me on pintrest...I am going to confess that I only have a very basic understanding of pintrest and am still getting into it but I suppose it's worth a look - here are a few decent pintrest sites I have found for you guys...

Wendy Smith - just a few pins so far but it looks promising http://pinterest.com/wendy612/tasks-galore-work-tubs/

MaryLea Burkhalter - Absolutely brilliant pintrest page with loads of SEN stuff on it - http://pinterest.com/marylea/education/

Amanda Winn - http://pinterest.com/abr020/school-ideas/

Cassandra Viater - Some nice worksheets here to use for literacy and maths -  http://pinterest.com/cviater/literacy-and-math/

Lyndsey Tyler - Some great maths and English idea that are a bit different from the boring usual stuff here - http://pinterest.com/lyndseytyler/school-inspiration/

Delmma Vazquez - Some really great TEACCH and motor skills ideas here - http://pinterest.com/dva1111/home-therapy/


Love this idea for a quiet book as well - http://servingpinklemonade.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/quiet-book.html

I will keep scouting pintrest and maybe even get myself an account - really great ideas coming from this!

Enjoy...more to come soon :)

TEACCH

So while I am procrastinating desperately avoiding my medium term planning which is lingering over me I thought I would try and do something that I haven't yet done despite my blog title which is tell you about TEACCH.

I am a TEACCH teacher in Sheffield and have set the approach up form scratch with a class of mixed SLD students.

TEACCH stands for 'treatment and education of autistic and communication related handicapped children' which is awfully long winded and old fashioned (the word handicapped isn't a nice one!). However I love the approach and having worked in classes that used it before securing my current role I was confident in how to set up and maintain the approach.

Simply it is a structured teaching approach designed for students who are autistic and more information can be found at the web address below. But essentially there is loads of visual support and a nice mix of individual an group work times. Each session (of which there are 3 in a day) has a very repetitive structure and in my class we do independent work, choice (the reward for the work), circle and group (which is the national curriculum subjects) and then reward (to reward the circle and group work). I use my IEP's to inform my individual work programs which are completed independently and repeated twice a day until complete.

I am not saying that the approach I take is true TEACCH, I have adapted it so that all students are taking part in each activity at the same time to make it easier for me and my team to manage. I will try and add some photos of my class layout (as this is very important) or at least the old room.

The main difference in the way I use TEACCH compared to the traditional American program is that my class is mixed SLD and is not just made up of Autistic students. I find that it is particularly useful for students who have ADHD and there are even some physical difficulties in there (I have therefore adapted the system further).

I have also done some work on setting up an individual TEACCH system within a mainstream school class, here we had to think of ways to integrate students in the class while providing them their own spaces to work with appropriate levels of visual support. The key to this was timers! We used plenty of timers for students to complete work pieces in a work booth while the rest of the class completed the same work at group work tables. Students then usually returned to group work situations, this meant that the forced interaction was limited and more suited to these specific students!

http://www.teacch.com/

more info and hopefully pictures to come. Look up 'work tasks' for some of the tasks that I have used and the ways they have been presented!

More Folder Tasks

I found another great website which has some folder tasks ideas... http://www.positivelyautism.com/free/01foldergames.html

There are free printable documents on here which give you nearly everything you need to create your own folder tasks.

One idea I love is the number bond stars and hearts:

On the stars we see a series of numbers and there are corresponding stars which have number bonds on, work out the = number and stick the number bond onto the folder. Great idea!
In this case the number bonds are displayed on the outside of the folder in a pocket:

Check it out for more great ideas, and visit the blog for other great resources: http://www.positivelyautism.com/

Folder Tasks

Wonderful!

I have just had another look on the shoebox tasks website  www.shoeboxtasks.com and noticed a new addition. Folder tasks. Why havent I though of this?? I have been making tasks for some of my students and am constantly irritated by wandering symbols/laminates! I have been racking my brain trying to think of how I can get around this...

 

Simple move from one A4 laminate with loose parts to velcro on to a book or folder which is all self contained!
The shoebox tasks website sell a set of 3 and I am very much in support of the site and buying from them as it promotes supported employment schemes for autistic adolescents. BUT...when they are so simple you can make them yourself for nothing! These will be great for some of my students who struggle when there are various tasks displayed together.

Also it supports the TEACCH structure by working from left to right and is great for students progression from shoebox tasks to more paper based activities

Have a go and let me know how it goes!