Spring is Here: A Peek Inside of the Morning Work for March and April

I was really hoping to say it is Spring and the weather is beginning to feel great, but, today feels colder than most typical winter days around here. However, it is time to start exploring the March and April Morning Work.  As you can see it is filled with pictures of sunshine, flowers and rainbows.  I just hope after a day or two the weather lives up to it.  Let's take a look.

As usual, the Morning Work for Students with Autism provides hands-on activities for students.  This March and April edition is no different. Here students can complete a task related to spring related words. 

They can cut the items themselves, or you can have the items pre-cut for them.

Keep their  hands busy and keep them focused.

They can work on reading, cutting, gluing, matching and coloring skills all at once.

This activity was fun.

Next, there is a page on descriptive words where the student can match the phrase to the picture.

And, what would a spring resource be without a rainbow?  On this page, they simply color in the rainbow, then draw a line to match the individual letters in the word "spring."

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The page with "Wh" questions provides an opportunity for students to show what they know about spring weather.

These work great for students with limited handwriting skills, young students and those with special needs.  They can still practice skills and show what they know without the requirement of too much writing.

Enjoy your Spring!!!

Click here for the March and April Morning Work 

We Mastered Tracing and Imitating Lines...Now What?

At this point, I might as well continue discussing the other fine motor supports that are available through Autism Classroom.  The other posts discussed tracing lines, curves and shapes, but what do you do when those skills are mastered?  Well... work on the alphabet of course!

Here are the remaining fine motor skill builders from Autism Classroom.  The first is

Autism, Special Education, Kindergarten- ABC-123 Writing Task Cards

These are for building skills in  tracing the alphabet and in tracing numbers. Uppercase and lowercase dashed print numbers are included. They come two on a page and can be cut to created a half-page size task card.  This makes it easy to choose the letters you want.  For example, the specific letters in a student's name can be used to help him or her begin to write his or her name.  Additionally, there is a bonus set with "bubble" font so that students can trace inside or use playdough to make letters.

Autism, Special Ed., Kindergarten Fine Motor Imitation Task Cards (ABC's)

                         

Similar, but slightly different are the ABC Motor Imitation Task Cards.  These task cards and printables require the student to see the alphabet letter on one side, then trace it in the empty spot on the other side. The printable has 5 letters on the page, to allow for 5 trials on one page. To see more click on the picture below.

         

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Teaching Fine Motor Imitation with Lines and Shapes

Once I discovered this idea of creating task cards, I rolled with it. I decided tho use them to address fine motor imitation skills.  These are task cards and printables that work on drawing lines, curves, and shapes. 

Task Cards

Using the task cards, students will see one image on the left and will have to draw the same thing on the right.  Each page holds two cards that can be laminated (for best results use cards stock) and cut in half to make two task cards.  Once laminated, dry erase markers can be used. Or, they can be placed in a plastic sheet protector and used with a dry erase marker. 


                                                            

                                                        Click for more information.

Printables

The printables include a space for the student to complete 5 trials of a skill on one sheet of paper. These would be best printed out on regular paper if you want to photo copy them.  This way an instructor could record 5 trials at one time. One of the things I like is that there is one plain white background set (to save ink) and one blank worksheet that can be used for any skill you may want to work on that day.

Click for more information.

The resource includes directions printed at the top of the pages to help those instructing remember what to say to cue the response. The resource also includes:

Horizontal lines

Vertical lines

Curved lines

Crosses

Slanted lines

Letters T,V,O, C

Shapes

Scissor Skills Sequence and Adapted Scissors for Students Learning Fine Motor Skills

Early this week, I wrote about fine motor skills related to writing.  We also know that our students sometimes have trouble with cutting and scissor skills.  Obviously, first, we have to teach scissor safety so that kids are not endangering themselves and others. For some students, this may mean that you stay close to them at all times when using scissors.  For others, it may mean starting with plastic safety scissors.  Still others might simply need to know what to with the scissors and they can take it form there. 

When I work with students to increase scissor skills, I use a variety of scissor types.  For example, for students who really have safety as an issue, I might use an "ultra safe" kids scissors product.  For students who can close the scissors, but might have a hard time opening then, I might use an "easy spring" scissor product because it automatically springs back into action.  Additionally, I like the scissors that allow for all four of the students fingers to go in the bottom hole and the thumb at the top so that they have somewhere to place their fingers while cutting.  And.......I cannot say enough about the combo pair with all of these innovations in one!

Here are some examples of adapted scissors on the google images page.

Teaching Scissor Skills

Once you have decided what tool to use, it is time to begin teaching the skill.  First, assess what the student already knows about cutting paper.  Some kids know to place the scissors up to the paper and some do not. After you get your starting point, teach that skill.  For many starting out, the first step is to make small snips in paper. These can be without lines for the student to cut specifically or you could give them a visual cue of where to cut. If paper is to flimsy, try an index card for making snips in paper.

The resource called Cutting Practice and Scissor Work for Beginners provides handouts with sequenced steps for scissor work.  

Most pages contain several trials of the skill on one page.  

The resource also includes lines, curves, and shapes.

                                                     Click for More Information

The steps to cutting the square is broken down into parts.  First, the student will need to cut a straight line to "cut a square" shape. You set it up so that after they finish, they have a square.  Next, you provide them with just an L shaped line, so that after they cut the L-shaped line, they have a square. Third, you give them a square with 3 lines to cut. After they have mastered all of these, you can give them the full square to cut. For some students, this task is easier if you use card stock paper which is not as flimsy as regular copy paper. 

If you need to teach this skill, give these tips a try.  Bring lots of patience. Have fun!

Fine Motor Skill Sequence for Students Learning Fine Motor Skills

Fine Motor is an area addressed in many general education classrooms and special education classrooms.  There are often a great number of skills kids need when addressing this area. Throughout the years I have provided information  related to a sequential method for addressing fine motor skills. But just last year, I was able to put all of that info together in a uniform and concise package. This is the end result...

Autism, Special Education, Kindergarten- Fine Motor Task Cards

These task cards are for working on fine motor skills.  Each page contains two cards.  The pages can be laminated and them used with dry erase markers or play dough, etc. 

Often, it helps to teach students these skills in a sequenced order.  This is my favorite set of steps that I was taught by an occupational therapist years ago.

Tracing horizontal lines

Tracing vertical lines

Tracing curved lines

Tracing crosses

Tracing slanted lines

Tracing the letters T, V, O, C

These items are all included along with a set of cards without words.

                

                

Fine Motor Imitation Skills for Children with Autism

I have been working on materials that address fine motor skills in students.  For some of our students, this can be a real challenge. A few students may have scattered skills in this area.  There is a typical sequence that you can follow to get some motor imitation from your students.  This sequence seems to work: gross motor imitation, fine motor imitation, imitation of nonsense sounds, imitation of animal sounds, imitation of speech sounds and words.  It may be best to chose the skill you want to work on and the materials that you want to utilize. Next, work on that skill using a strong reinforcing item. However, in reality, many children might need guided assistance to correctly imitate a skill. (You don't want them to develop the skill incorrectly- for example writing a letter incorrectly.) Then, you can fade your assistance over time, as they do the skill better and better.

I usually like to have students trace first to have practice with  the actual line or shape.  This tends to be guided practice so that they maintain the correct form and stay on the lines.  I might also include some language with the process such as "Down and stop" or "over and lift up" or whatever cues the student to remember to lift up the writing utensil when the line is done. Additionally, when first starting, I like to place a picture that the student likes at the end of the lines they are writing.  This way,  they are more motivated to finish the line. Once they get to the picture, I say something like "meow" if it is a cat or something fun to keep them motivated.

These Fine Motor Task Cards are great for working on this skill of repeated practice. The tracing cards can be used over and over once laminated.

The Motor Imitation Task Cards and Printables are great to because they come with a set of task cards, but they also have a set of printable worksheets that  allow for 5 trials of  practice of the skill on the same sheet of paper.

Each of these can support the goal of increasing the motor imitation skills in students. But don't forget to add some fun to the task by using some exaggerated sounds and motions as the student learns this task.