People Doing Amazing Things; Michelle Garcia Winner

I want to start a new section on this blog dedicated to people doing amazing things in the world of Autism. From educators to researchers to parents to individuals. People I know and people I wish I did. A group of people who have influenced the way I think about teaching and people with Autism. These are the people you get so excited about and want to share with anyone who will listen. So I’m pretty exited to introduce my first Person Doing Amazing Things: Michelle Garcia Winner!!

Michelle Garcia Winner is a trained speech pathologist who specializes in working with people with social-cognitive deficits. She is the founder behind Social Thinking and the ILAUGH Model. I began to become familiar with her books when I started teaching kids with autism. I struggled to find social skills curriculum and exercises that really met the needs of my students. It’s interesting what is out there in the world of those curricula, but I’ve found that most of them don’t have Autism in their lens. Most often they don’t go into enough depth on explaining social situations, behaviors and the whys behind people’s actions.

Michelle’s books are different. She seems to speak to the educator in such a way that isn’t overwhelming, nor requires you to dedicate your entire teaching time to the program. I’ve used Social Thinking Worksheets for Tweens and Teens:Learning to Read In-Between the Social Lines and Thinking About You, Thinking About Me and they have helped me tremendously in teaching those elements of the hidden curriculum and a variety of social skills. There are a variety of lessons on different topics and you can either chose to teach individual skills or a group of skills in the same set.

I went to see her speak a few years ago when she came to Portland and my love for her was sealed in stone. She is a fun, passionate woman who has created a mecca for social thinking instruction. She has established a business and a network by recruiting other intelligent, passionate people to work with her in teaching people of all ages. Her website has tons of resources and connects you with lots of products by incredible people. ***I was introduced to the book Unstuck and On Target by Cannon, Kenworthy, Alexander, Werner and Anthony, which is AMAZING! I had no idea what to do with those kids who were stuck until this book that gave me solid, easy to understand and implement lessons.***

Michelle has a blog on her Social Thinking website that connects you with ideas, products and engagements. It’s worth subscribing to if you’re in the field.

Thanks Michelle Garcia Winner for doing amazing things! Pop on over to her site and behold the wealth that awaits you!

First Day Activities

This boy is not loving that first day.

The first days of school are challenging and exciting for everyone. For kids who struggle with change, those first days are often quite difficult.

I wanted to give you a few ideas for the first couple days of school to help kids become comfortable in your classroom, help you get to know your students and help students to start to know themselves by showing off their interests. This is a crucial time for teachers, as well as students. As a teacher with students on the spectrum I tend to tread lightly as I get to know who they are and how they operate in the classroom. You’re not only taking note of interests, triggers, relationships and routines that the student brings with them, but also building trust in those days. One great thing to do is to show them who you are (through imovie or iphoto maybe?!). Let them get to know how your class will operate, what to expect everyday.

Remember provide visual supports for all of those possible concerns!

–Routines, routines, routines! Have your class routines set up before the kids even get in the classroom. Be ready to tell/show them what you will expect of them as soon as they walk into the room, through the class time and expectations for when class time is over. Establish these right away and stay consistent. Kids with autism struggle with generalization of skills and with the ‘hidden curriculum’ of school. They don’t know automatically know what they should do when they enter your classroom. They don’t know how to read the subtle signs and cues from their peers on what they should be doing. They don’t know your ‘look’ just yet. Be explicit. Be compassionate. And remember that almost every teacher has different expectations for how they run their classroom.

–A school map, highlighted with all their classes, labeled with the period number and even drawn out with a travel route.

–Information on Lockers; including videos, and small cards to hand out to kids.

Some lessons and ideas! (Most of these lessons will open you to another page with the same title. You will have to click the title words again and a pdf will download into your browser.)

Who Are We? Intro lesson This activity is a visual collage where a student identifies likes, dislikes and other things about themselves. You will need lots of materials for this lesson including scissors, paper, gluesticks, magazines, etc. This is just a lesson plan, you will need to make your own example to share with the kids.

My Personal Motto This activity was taken from a Speech Pathologist. This is for students who are higher functioning and have a bit of self knowledge. A list of personality characteristics is very helpful with this lesson.

Classroom Scavenger Hunt This activity is tons of fun. I’ve done it both as a tour where I show kids where all the necessary items are, have them complete a guided worksheet and pretend that they are on a museum tour. I encourage picture taking (mime style) and really talk up things such as the pencil sharpener and all it’s capabilities! This attached document is more independent. This important part of this is getting the kids moving through the room. If possible, pair them up or let them get with friends to complete it.

Info Postcard This activity is another get to know you that is more language based. While only requiring index cards and some coloring utensils, a student gets to tell about themselves and provide a writing sample. I’ve taken this from a language arts teacher and it was important to her to get that writing sample. As a specialist, it would be important to me to see the attempts or frustration with writing. You can change the back to whatever suits you and your students.

The 5 Point Scale

The Incredible 5 Point Scale was developed by Kari Dunn Buron and is frequently used to help kids with autism identify and express emotions. Once taught, a student can use this as part of a behavior plan and a way to communicate feelings through all settings.

The idea is that you have a 1-5 likert scale where increasing intensity of a certain emotion is illustrated, either with a photo or a drawing, and defined for an individual child. 1 typically represents a balanced homeostasis. A happy, calm kid. Where 5 is the highest intensity that the emotion reaches.

Most often the scale will measure anger or anxiety, but it can be used to define any emotion. When you introduce the scale, you will have to sit down with the individual child and clearly define each level on the scale. This could be very simple to very complex depending on the skills of your student. After you define the levels, you can make the connection to a what a child may physically need or need to do at each level to move back down to a 1.

The 5 point scale is primarily used with elementary level kids. As they transition to middle school, the anxiety curve may be utilized.

As a student gets older, the scale may be used to illustrate the impact of emotions outside the school day.

Why It Works:

Students with Autism often struggle to accurately express their emotions. It may be a struggle to identify what they are feeling or identifying what to do when they feel a certain way. It also helps teach students that there is a range to emotions.  The 5 point scale is very clearly defined, connecting with the need for exactness and certainty. It is individualized. It is visual. It also eliminates language in times of heightened emotions, while allowing for communication.

Learn More:

Kari Dunn Buron’s site. This would be a great place to purchase the books and Kari has collected lots of ideas from other parents and professionals showing examples of the scales’s range of use.

A fact sheet from PBIS Illinois.

Download the app from itunes for free to use on your mobile devices!

Indiana Resource Center for Autism has lots of great visual strategies printables including lots of 5 point scales.

About Kim

Welcome!

My name is Kim Davis and I hope to provide you with tools, activities and ideas for teaching social skills in a friendly, easy to use way.

I have been a Special Education Teacher/Specialist since 2006. I completed my course work at the University of South Florida-St. Petersburg and Western Oregon University. I have also completed the Autism Specialist Program at Western Oregon University. Most of my work and passion lies in teaching students with High Functioning Autism who are integrated in the general education population. This is often referred to as a resource setting. I have developed and taught a Social Development class at the middle school level that helped kids to become a good friends, students and people by learning about the hidden curriculum of life. The work that these kids did at the middle school level allowed them access to more in high school with fewer social and behavioral struggles.

I believe in dedicated time daily for social skills; instruction, generalization and support. I believe in collaboration between all of the supports in a child’s life. I believe in creative ideas and student first approaches.

School is a social situation and if students don’t have the skills and/or behavior to navigate the structured day, they won’t be able to access the instruction at their full potential. It’s hard to learn math when you have trouble with the person sitting next to you, the idioms that the teacher uses and the flickering of the lights.

While these tools are approached with the student with autism in mind, they are applicable to all students. Please pick and choose and use what fits with your students, in your situation. You’ll find that I draw from all sorts of places and people for their great ideas and put them through the lens of autism. (If they’re not already!) There’s no need to reinvent the wheel as they say, so let’s get started and draw from each others brilliance to help our students. With that said, feel free to share your ideas and tools with me as I create this resource for us all.

Yay!

Kim