Apps, Lesson Plans & Activities for Young Students with Autism

It is that time of year. Time to start planning activities and lessons for your students.  If you are teaching at home, you might need to plan activities for your little ones. Well, this resource, which is one of my best selling items in my TpT store gives teachers, parents and practitioners starting points and beginning places for planning lessons.  (This item is also available in paperback at any major online bookstore.) It is intended for pre-school and elementary-aged students.

Ebook on TpT

Ebook on TpT in Spanish

This book is gives over 100 starting points and beginning places for creating meaningful activities for pre-school and elementary-aged students with autism and related special needs. The book is in chapters by themes. The themes addressed in the book are:

Colors

Numbers and Shapes 

Fall (Sub-theme: All About Me)

Winter (Sub-theme: Winter Holidays) 

Spring

Summer (Sub-theme: Camping and Going to the Zoo) 

Transportation

Mobile Apps

To help pinpoint skills even better, each chapter has a list of activities that address some of the skills that are sometimes the most challenging for some individuals with autism such as:

Joint Attention 

Imitation Skills 

Communication

Self-Help Skills

Independent Skills

Pre-Vocational Skills

Social Skills

Play Skills

Sensory Involvement

Basic Concept Mastery 

Vocabulary/Literacy

Fine Motor

Gross Motor

At the end of each chapter there is an "Implementation Tip" related to one of the activities in that chapter. Sample lesson plans for creating classroom routines and classroom procedures are provided in the book as well.  The paperback can be bought at online books stores or in bulk on TpT:

Additionally, the “Apps” chapter highlights 10 educational apps in each skill area.  That is over 100 apps! The highlighted apps can be easily incorporated into lessons and activities for young children. Suggestions are provided for how to use that app within your lesson.

Examples from the chapter on apps:

Imitation Skills/Matching

•Talking Ben (Outfit7, Free)- Have fun letting Ben imitate words and sounds that your class or your family makes.

Fine Motor

•iBuild ABC’s (Chris Kieffer, $0.99)- Build ABC‟s on the app, then have students use their bodies to make large letters on the carpet.

Independent Skills/ Pre-Vocational Skills

•More Cookies! (Maverick Software LLC, $0.99)- Practice mixing, baking and decorating cookies on the app for a few days. Culminate the lesson by applying the skills learned to a real cookie baking session.

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