Reminder Boards! A Type of Visual Schedule

Besides the wall schedule Samuel uses, we also make use of "Reminder boards"  These are 6" X 3" laminated pieces of poster board that we use in order to help keep him on task, while minimizing verbal prompting. (Two psychologists, Lynn McClannhan, Ph.D., and Patricia J. Krantz, Ph.D., of the Princeton Child Development Institute, did a 10 year study regarding the teaching of independent behavior in children with autism.   I highly recommend their book Activity Schedules for Children with Autism.  This is a great book to help parents understand why acitivy schedules are helpful and the importance of correct prompting.  If you look this book up you'll notice there is a more recent edition as well.)

These first two reminder boards help him during his school work. They sit on the table along with the third board showing what subjects he will work on at that current "session" of work.

(This "reminder board) prompts him to get his pencil box, and then put it away when we are finished.)

(This reminder board is to help him remember what his physical demeanor should be during "work time.")

(This shows what tasks he will complete during that session of "work time."  There is space for 5 activities, but I learned early on that trying 5 at a time is not optimal, even though the amount of work he does is quite minimal.)

It can be cumbersome to work with all 3 of these reminder boards at one time, and this does not even include the maneuvering of his papers and books on the table as he does his work.  Also, I had forgotten that initially I was maneuvering not only all of this, but also a token board and small edible rewards!  I haven't needed those in a LONG time!  I try to stack these boards one on top of the other so that not as much space is taken on the table.  It took weeks and weeks for me to figure out how to manage it all.  It took months after that for me to see the benefit of using these. If his attention wanders during school work now, all I have to do is remove his papers or books.  That action seems to serve as a prompt to draw his attention back to his work.

This next board is one I made up to use at church.  We have been using it for almost four years now.  I have found it difficult to use because of its large size, but have kept it as is.  In the coming months I may try to change it.  He has recently taken interest in a "sensory story" about going to church that we got from one of his past Occupational Therapists.  I have done several posts about Samuel's church behavior.  I'll post more about it in the future.  I am doing my best to juggle my desire for him to attend church with us, the reality of his ability to participate, while minimizing the disruption that his behavior might be to others sitting around us. 

 

This last reminder board is for when we eat at the table.  Teaching Samuel to chew with his mouth shut has been very difficult.  After watching him for a while, I realized that he seems to not be able to breathe through his nose while he is chewing food.  A speech therapist we saw for a while was starting to help me work on this, but we had to stop seeing her because of his behavior difficulties.  The therapist recommended that I take him to an ear/nose/throat specialist, which I will do one of these days!  In the meantime, the reminder board is effective for short amounts of time. 

You may notice in the photos that these reminder boards are well used and worn.  Some of them have been around for 3 or 4 years now!  I am in the process of re-doing some of these, and am finally getting around to making "reminder strips" to break down some of Samuel's self-care tasks.  In trying to answer another mom's questions about getting a visual schedule started for her son, I came across this website that has given me some ideas.  I'll post about these as soon as I can!

In recent weeks Samuel has taken a lot of interest in these reminder boards.  He gathers them all together and talks about them.  He even put together his own board about what he should do when he goes shopping!  (Long ago I had made a "fill in the blank" schedule piece.."When I _____________ I should ___________."  It has sat unused in his schedule binder, but now it's there to work with!) I'm trying to take advantage of this interest he has!

I would love to hear comments and suggestions from others about these, and about what kinds of visual aids you use to teach your children.  The development of visual schedules is time consuming and the progress can be very slow.  However, I have found them to be very helpful. Some challenges we still face regarding them:  moving forward to the point where Samuel is more independent in following/creating them and getting the school to use what we use.  (They use visual aids, but not like mine, and I don't think he has his own.. he uses what the entire class uses.  Also, I'm not sure if teaching staff understands the importance of minimizing verbal prompting..)

Long Days, Lots of Work

I hope I don't sound negative or self-pitying in this post, I'm just sharing what life has been like the last few weeks.

It has been a big adjustment going from one student at home to three. I'm still doing my best to look over all their work every day and to lay out some kind of schedule each day. This then gives me something to look back at to track my progress and the kids' progress. I'm having a hard time keeping up with it, and all that needs to be taken care of around the house. I had hoped that while I was going through the process this fall of discovering what Samuel really knows, that I could also be looking into additional consultant help and checking out alternative teaching materials. I've been surprised at how much I have to alter the materials I use to teach Samuel. I had thought the layout of the first grade materials I am using would appeal to him. He likes the pictures in the workbooks I have, but he just cannot seem to work on the pages. I don't know if there's just too much on the page, or maybe he has a vision problem. He does much better when I type his lessons in a large font on Writing With Symbols. Anyways, I'm so busy during the day that I keep forgetting to try to call potential consultants. I also haven't put as much into planning a social skills curriculum.. though I'm sure we're doing just fine with what I've put together at the last minute so far.

So far the subjects that appeal to Samuel the most are Religion, spelling, and reading(he likes th reader we use). One of my in-home helpers has noticed that Samuel doesn't react well when we try to count money ( I usually make up worksheets, so he's counting pictures of coins on paper). Now that we're up to the 7th week of doing this I'm trying to notice patterns as well.

Samuel's attention span has been very short and it was particularly bad last week. My strategy is to wait him out when he is not paying attention. So far he has been a bit better this week. Yesterday, however, I had to wait him out for almost an hour before he cooperated with working. This was around the time a favorite TV show of his was on. I made him work in a different area away from the TV. He didn't give in until after the TV show was over. We started working a good half hour before it was due to start! I'm so thankful that our in-home helper was able to keep a good eye on him during this time so I could keep the day going for the other kids! Once Samuel decided he was going to do his work, he finished up in less than fifteen minutes!

I'm finding I have a new appreciation for Samuel's former teacher and his aids. Sometimes it is not easy to get Samuel to communicate what he knows. I understand a bit better now just how much effort can sometimes go into teaching him. Not only that, but so much of his performance depends on his willingness to cooperate.

There's lots more I could say, but I am tired and need to get to sleep. Even though I'm exhausted now, I know this transition phase won't last forever. I still think I have done the right thing by deciding to keep all my sons at home for their education. Now I can understand the advice I've heard from others who have started homeschooling a special needs child; to know that a good part of the first school year might just be getting used to working together and "deschooling."

What Surgery?

Samuel's dental work went so well that now, only 9 days later, the whole experience is just a distant memory. He didn't seem to be in any pain this week at all. It is wonderful to see him with complete front teeth again! We have a follow up appointment with his dentist this week. I am expecting that everything will be okay.



We have been into our new school year for a month now. I am quite happy with how things are going. I have developed schedules for the boys that I review each day. I stay up late at night and get up very early in the morning to make sure I have work ready and lined up. Once the day gets started it is best for me to be completely prepared so that I can go an "automatic" mode.



Samuel's school day has become a series of sessions working at the kitchen table. We start off the morning with a look at the calendar and a Social Skills lesson. Samuel's two brothers join us for this. Then for the rest of the day I alternate teaching times between all 3 boys. Samuel has one in-home helper that is with us to get his morning started and then another starts later in the morning. He helps keep Samuel at the table while we do school work, and then they do other activities in the playroom or outside while I work with the other boys. The days go by quickly!

My goals for the next few months with Samuel are to continue trying to assess his abilities, coming up with more hands-on activities both for school work and leisure time, and trying to figure out where to take his lessons from here! I'm hoping to get some consultant help with this.

Science Test - Good results in more ways than one!

For Science this summer we read two books: the first one was "Whales, The Gentle Giants." We started this one in May, when he was still in school. Between finishing the school year and going on vacation in June, it was slow going with the reading. We did not finish it until the end of July.




We reviewed and did the test in early August. I was a bit disappointed with the results. I didn't even score it. Was I disappointed only because of the "score?" No, it was more than that, I don't think I did a very good job of picking out the 5 basic relevant facts of the book that Samuel could connect with. Maybe there weren't that many relevant facts, maybe there were only two or three! In making up this test I used a combination of things that were used in his tests at school this past year: multiple choice, selection, and fill in the blank. Maybe it was just overkill staying with this one book two months. I thought I did a good job of doing minimal reading each day to keep Samuel from melting down as we worked. Maybe he was only just so interested in the book, and not that much at that.

Shortly after we finished this book we started on the next book: "What Makes Day and Night" This is a subject that has been of great interest to Samuel this summer. He has been interested in sunsets, and his interest in "planet Earth" goes back to a Blue's Clues episode about the planets (ever heard "The Planet Song"? ) Anyways, this book was much easier reading, of much greater interest to Samuel, and we finished it in a few weeks, rather than a few months. As we read it each day it was easier for me to pick out the five relevant facts that I wanted him to know. In fact, I even added an extra fact because it was so easy to pick out.





I typed up a study sheet and went over it with Samuel. He answered questions orally and then the next day he took his test. It went very well! He answered all the questions orally and then I had him write a few of the answers himself. He wrote "day" and the number "24" without any spelling assistance!

I suppose there are lots of ways to look at these two events and analyze them, but in my amateur opinion I'd say we both were more successful with the second book!

More "School" Work

I typed a few Religion lessons for Samuel on my Writing Without Symbols software. I use this for many lessons in all subjects. It really is a useful tool for teaching him!

I have also been using it to type a few short sentences each day about the saint whose feast is on that date.

Making money counting worksheets on "Writing Without Symbols" is very helpful. Samuel had to try twice to count 35 cents correctly. Then he went on to count 36 cents correctly too, by himself! He wasn't counting quarters at the beginning of the summer, at least not at home.

As we read our book about "Balto" I have Samuel fill in missing words in sentences. I have been trying to have him independently spell Balto's name correctly. He is doing so much more frequently now, after several days of repeating this exercise he is getting it now! Even though we are reading the whole book, I just want him to remember 5 or 6 facts from it.

A Sampling of Academic Work this Summer

Samuel has had in-home help for three hours per morning five days per week this summer. These sessions are a weaving together of preferred activities and non-preferred activities. Some academic work done has been telling time worksheets, counting money (real coins and worksheets), phonics worksheets, addition worksheets, looking at the calendar. Samuel gets a break after his helper leaves, but then mid-afternoon I have him do some "worktime" for me. We finished reading "Whales." Now we are reading "What Makes Day and Night," which goes nicely with his interest this summer in sunsets. At bedtime I have read biographies about George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. The boys have enjoyed hearing Virginia mentioned so frequently as I have read the Washington and Jefferson books.

These pictures show the basic facts that I pulled out of the Benjamin Franklin biography for Samuel to review. I read the biography out loud to all the boys at bedtime over several weeks. Each day I would type up a short sentence or two on our "Writing With Symbols" software about the previous night's reading. These five pages were what I kept as the five things to remember once we finished the book. We have a video from the Nest company about Benjamin Franklin's experiments with electricity. Samuel really likes this video so I kept the "facts to remember" from the biography related to that and how he came to live in Philadelphia after being born in Boston. Some other time I'll have to focus on his role in the American Revolution.

No Time to Blog!

I haven't been blogging all that much lately for a variety of reasons which, all put together, are really eating up the little spare time I have ever had to do so.

Our family has received a big blessing in the form of a Virginia Medicaid "waiver" which, if all goes through, will give us the money to pay for an attendant for Samuel for his "medical" needs, his ability to dress and care for himself and to remain safe during the day. In the last two weeks I have been hiring and training two attendants, who either attend or have graduated from an area college. Everything is approved, I'm just waiting for a final confirmation about the number of hours of assistance we will be getting.

I have also been very busy putting together "work" for Samuel to do. We finally finished reading the book about whales. I'm preparing a "test" for him to take early next week. I'll share the worksheets and study sheets about this as soon as I can. I have been reading books to all the boys about Benjamin Franklin and George Washington at bedtime, so I have been making up worksheets and study sheets for Samuel about this.

After assessing Samuel's handwriting skills the past few weeks I have decided to delve more into Handwriting Without Tears (HWOT). Samuel learned to print upper case letters with this method at school. I'm not sure how closely this was followed to teach him lower case letters. In any case, he has had trouble writing within the lines on traditional kindergarten-size lined paper but seems to do better when I used HWOT ruled paper. I can get some of this from abcteach.com website, but I have gone ahead and ordered some supplies from HWOT as well. I plan to use this method for my rising kindergartner and if I can I will teach them together. We'll see.

A semi-annual review of Samuel's already in-home services is coming up next week. This is causing my husband and I do lots of thinking about Samuel's school situation. I will talk more about this when I am able to (after our meeting next week).

I'm sorry that I haven't been keeping up with my blogging "support group" that much lately, but I will get back in touch as soon as I can.