Taskbox Time--Put-In Tasks Fine Motor Tasks

During structured work times, many teachers have students complete task boxes to work on a variety of fine motor, preacademic, academic, and functional skills.

One of the most basic types of tasksboxes is the Put-In Taskboxes that provide students with multiple opportunities for practicing fine motor skills. These tasks can vary in difficulty depending on the size of the objects and opening in the container. Many taskboxes can be made simply with common household and office supplies. The Target dollar bins and Dollar Tree also offer affordable materials for easy taskbox assembly. In the Miami Valley, many teachers volunteer at Crayons for Classrooms or attend the Montgomery County Material Reuse Facility's Teacher Shopping Days.

Buttons put in bank 

Large checkers put in beef jerky tube with slit opening.

Checkers pushed through toddler snack container lid

Clothespins pushed through coffee can lid

Velcro'd blocks taken off side of coffee can and put in top

Pegs put in container lid with round opening

Various sized straws put in cup with straw hole

Wooden beads taken off pipe cleaner and put in container

Small plastic beads taken off pipe cleaner and put in box

Plastic lids pushed through wipes container lid

Velcro'd counting bears pushed through plastic lid with X cut

For more ideas check out some of our favorite structured work system books.

A-LIST Spotlight--Robbie Whorton, Trotwood-Madison High School

We are pleased to present to you our latest A-LIST Spotlight honoring Robbie Whorton and her wonderful classroom at Trotwood-Madison High School. 

As a high school teacher, Robbie is applying evidence-based practices to help her students learn valuable life skills as they enter adulthood. 

Robbie provides necessary structure to help students predict what will happen throughout the day through Visual Supports such as this class-wide schedule with mini-schedules for each period of the day. For her schedule picture symbols, she uses Symbolstix which is consistent with her News2You and Unique Learning System curriculum.

Robbie also uses one of our favorite transition tools, a visual countdown to help students see the passing of time while waiting or completing a preferred activity. To make her countdown sturdy and portable she has velcro'd the numbers to a plastic ruler. 

Another visual support Robbie uses in her classroom is a job board which tells students what their daily responsibilities will be. Some job ideas for high schoolers include shredding paper, erasing the white boards, and wiping down tables and desks. Robbie's students are also responsible for making and delivering popcorn which is a great way to incorporate life skills into a functional tasks. Students practice math skills through measuring, counting bags, and money collection and social skills during delivery. What a great (and yummy) responsibility!

Robbie also knows the benefit of Exercise especially Proprioceptive Input or Heavy Work to help calm students with high anxiety and provide strategies for sensory regulation. Look at this awesome pusher which can be weighted by adding additional books to the crate. 

Robbie also knows how proactively scheduling time for sensory breaks helps students regulate cortisol levels and better prepares them for learning. Look at this great visual from Your Therapy Source for Heavy Work breaks.

Robbie's students also practice their independence through using structured work systems to complete a variety of academic and functional tasks. Each student has their own clipboard which shows what activities they must complete for that day. Students are responsible for finding their activities, completing them, and returning them to the shelf when finished. Activities include a variety of tasks including taskboxes, envelope activities, and file folders including these great Cooking Life Skill File Folders from Breezy Special Ed. 

Some of the functional tasks Robbie had included sorting plasticware and sorting dark and light laundry.

Robbie also had a great seasonal fine motor tasks for students to make candy canes with beads and pipe cleaners. 

We want to thank Robbie for sharing her classroom with us and working each day to help her students gain independent life skills so they can find success in the classroom and beyond. We are lucky to have you as an extension of our team!

Regulation Rendezvous--Sensory Systems Overview

The Miami Valley Autism Coaching Team presents our latest blog series, Regulation Rendezvous, featuring all of the wonderful sensory supports around the Miami Valley.

To get started, we will review the 8 sensory systems starting with the common, external systems: tactile (touching), gustatory (tasting), olfactory (smelling), visual (seeing), auditory (hearing)

Tactile system: The tactile sensory system provides information about temperature, pain, pressure, and textural qualities of objects. It is also responsible for reactions to food. The tactile sensory system assists with the social and emotional development of an individual.

Tactile Strategies/Supports

sensory tub with beans

tactile brushing

Theraputty

palm presses

tactile exploration wall
Bellbrook Intensive Needs Classroom

Gustatory/Olfactory systems: These sensory systems work together. The Olfactory system has the fastest impact on an individual’s nervous system and takes around 20 seconds to have an impact since it does not have to be processed by the brain.

Gustatory Strategies/Supports

Alerting flavors: lemon, peppermint, salty foods

 

Olfactory Strategies/Supports

aromatherapy diffuser
Alerting scents: lemon, peppermint
Calming scents: lavendar, vanilla, rose

homemade aromatherapy dough made with essential oils

Visual/Auditory systems: These sensory systems also work together. The visual system in individuals with autism is an extremely sensitive system. This is why it is such a powerful system through which to work. Blue/green color palate is calming whereas red/orange color palate is alerting. It is important to remember that children with Autism tend to struggle with filtering auditory input and take longer to switch between the two sensory systems.

Visual Strategies/Supports

Block out overwhelming visual stimuli

brimmed hat

study carrel

sunglasses

Increase physical and visual boundaries to block out stimuli using dividers

Kenzie Bruggeman, Versailles Elementary

Laura Brown, Perrin Woods Elementary

Brittany Bush, Spinning Hills Middle School

Provide proactive sensory breaks with calming visual input

Perrin Woods Elementary

Beth Young, Snyder Park Elementary

Bellbrook Intensive Needs Classroom

Orchard Park Elementary

Auditory Strategies/Supports

Homedics Noise Machine

noise-reduction headphones** use with caution and for short periods of time to prevent increased sensitivity**

Calm app

Relaxify app

use acoustic sound blankets to dampen the sound in an echo-y bathroom
Jennifer McGowan, Smith Middle School

use gym mats to dampen the sound in a small sensory space
Helke Elementary

Many people are not familiar with the internal sensory systems: proprioception (deep pressure), vestibular (movement), interoception (internal feelings)

Proprioceptive system: The proprioceptive, or heavy work, sensory system is primarily a calming sensory system. It has a regulatory effect over all of the sensory systems. Proprioceptive input has a calming effect on the nervous system for up to 90 minutes. When using passive proprioceptive input (e.g. weighted vest), it needs to be applied 15 minutes prior to the calming input to begin. When in doubt with which sensory supports to utilize, especially with a student showing signs of anxiety/escalation, begin with sensory strategies from the proprioceptive system.

Proprioception Strategies/Supports

weighted or pressure vest

yoga routine

steamroller squeeze machine (Southpaw)

wall pushes

calming joint compressions

Oral Motor

bubbles

chewelry

chew tube

resistive sucking through crazy straws

fruit snacks (freeze for extra input!)

chew tube
Anne Rosenbaum, Orchard Park Elementary

Vestibular system: This sensory system is responsible for giving information about where our body is in space in relationship to surrounding objects, coordination of both sides of our body, overall muscle tone/posture, and visual tracking. It has a direct connection to our digestive tract (think motion sickness) and the language center of the brain. Active vestibular input has an impact on the nervous system for 3 to 6 hours. Vestibular (or movement) input that is linear and predictable encourages calming for a student, whereas, rotational and unpredictable movements are alerting for a student. Always begin with linear and predictable movement until you are very familiar with the student’s responses to vestibular input.

Vestibular Strategies/Supports

linear two-point suspension swinging

purposeful walks such as school/office messenger

rocking chair

stepper
Stevenson Elementary

rocker
Orchard Park Elementary

Interoception system: There are receptors throughout our organs, muscles, skin, bones, etc which gather and relay internal information to our brain. The brain helps to make sense of these messages and enables us to feel sensations such as hunger, fullness, itch, pain, temperature, nausea, need for the restroom, tickle, exertion and arousal. Interoception also allows us to feel our emotions.

Interoception Strategies/Supports

body check

Interoception: The Eighth Sensory System
Kelly Mahler, MS, OTR/L