Around Town Round Up-- Speech Bubble/ Thought Bubble

Many students with autism and other social-communication deficits struggle with knowing when it is socially appropriate to say what they think and when it is better to only think those thoughts. For today's  Around Town Round Up our wonderful SLP, Carol Dittoe, will focus on strategies for teaching the skill of Speech Bubbles and Thought Bubbles.

We know the importance of presenting concepts and expectations to our students in a visual way.  Consider creating a speech bubble and a thought bubble that can be presented as a visual tool.  Laminate the tool and make it big enough to allow you or your students to write on it.

Speech bubble 

This image allows you to illustrate the importance of initiating important communication functions such as greeting, requesting, asking questions or giving feedback.  The speech bubble can remind students to “use words” to communicate rather than communicating with unexpected behaviors or expecting others to be mind readers.

Thought bubble 

The use of this visual is a great way to illustrate the concept of “thought”.  Some of our students may assume that every thought should be said out loud.  Teaching the concept of “keep it in your thought bubble” allows a student to have thoughts that they can keep to themselves or save for later when talking is expected. Teaching “keep it in your thought bubble” is a positive way to cue a student to “stop talking”.  If you have a student who often interrupts during instruction, you can prompt them to write it in a thought bubble and assure them that they can share this thought later.

Here is an activity to try:

• Laminate a stack of index cards with speech bubbles and thought bubbles. 
• Write words (draw simple pictures for non-readers) in the bubbles. 
• Quickly present the cards to the students and ask them to say all the words in the speech bubbles out loud, but keep the words in the thought bubbles in their mind.  This is a fun way to practice switching between speaking thoughts and keeping thoughts “in the bubble”. 
• Students can practice this activity on their own by working in pairs.

Other Activity ideas:

We have seen some other great examples of ways to practice this skill including the use of Speech Bubble/Thought Bubble dry erase boards, post-it notes, and even headbands for role playing!

Athenia Eversole
Versailles Elementary, Versailles

Cartooning:

Speech bubbles and thought bubbles can be used together in a cartoon format to illustrate social situations and show the perspective of others. For example, a student who does not see the perspective of another person may say comments that are true, but not realize they are being hurtful.  A cartoon with speech bubbles and thought bubbles allows you to illustrate what others may think and feel in response to unexpected words or behaviors.  Sometimes our students become upset when they misunderstand the intentions of others in a social situation. Showing the thoughts of others may help a student better understand the intentions of others.  While all of these thoughts and intentions can be explained verbally, we know that visual information is processed much more effectively than auditory information. When processing social situations, verbal dialogue alone can often overwhelm your student.  Visual strategies, such as cartooning can help illustrate difficult to grasp concepts about the social situation in a more effective and less stressful manner.

Learn More

If you are interested in learning more about these strategies there are some wonderful resources out there for you. 

Click the speech and thought bubbles below to be taken to the SocialThinking website for an article by Michelle Garcia Winner. 

Or to learn more about Cartooning click the book below to see where to purchase Comic Strip Conversations by Carol Gray.

Regulation Rendezvous--Interoception: The Eighth Sensory System

Today's Regulation Rendezvous is brought to you by our fabulous Occupational Therapist, Lynn DeMange. In today's post Lynn will be discussing the hot topic of Interoception: The Eighth Sensory System.

Did you realize that you have 8 sensory systems?!  When we think of sensory systems most people commonly think of our 5 main senses: visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory (taste) and olfactory (smell).  Our 6^th and 7^th sensory systems are proprioception (body awareness) and vestibular (movement).  Our 8^th sensory system is our interoceptive system which is our sensory system that gives us information regarding the internal condition of our body.

What Exactly is Interoception?

 The interoceptive system has specialized cells (receptors) that are responsible for collecting important sensory information.  In the case of interoception, the receptors are located throughout most of the tissues in our body.  The information gathered by these receptors is sent to a specific area of the brain called the insular cortex, or insula for short.  The insula translates the incoming messages and enables us to identify our current body states.  In other words, interoception allows us to answer the question, “How do I feel?”

Interoception allows us to experience feelings of tickle, hunger, fullness, social touch, need for bathroom, itch, muscle tension, pain, sexual arousal, nausea, physical exertion, breathing rate, heart rate, thirst and every single emotion. 

Interoceptive Awareness (IA) is the ability to notice sensations and give meaning to the sensations.  The insula is the interoception center of the brain.  Research has found that people with well-functioning insula are more aware of the feelings within the body.  These individuals are described as having good IA.

Good levels of IA are clearly linked to the development of many important skills areas including self-awareness, self-regulation, problem solving, intuition, flexibility of thought, social awareness, and perspective taking.  On the other hand, individuals with reduced IA have difficulty with the same skills which, in turn, can have a significant impact on health, well-being, and successful participation in everyday activities.

Based on substantial research, we now know that the insula, or the interoceptive center of the brain, is significantly impacted in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and that there is brain-based evidence backing the interoceptive experiences reported by individuals with ASD.

Without good IA, good self-regulation cannot exist!

Therefore, IA needs to be a main focus when addressing self-regulation needs.

Interoception Resources

Kelly Mahler, MS, OTR/L is the author of the book, Interoception: The Eighth Sensory System. She has also developed the Comprehensive Assessment for Interoceptive Awareness.

CLICK THE IMAGES BELOW TO BE DIRECTED TO PURCHASING SITE

This assessment includes The Interoceptive Awareness Interview, Assessment of Self-Regulation and The Caregiver Questionnaire for Interoceptive Awareness.

In regards to the Assessment of Self-Regulation the percentage scores are not standardized or normed, but it gives you a calculated number to serve as baseline.

There is a huge need to have a standardized measure of interoception for kids. Kelly is currently working with a few physicians on a large interoception research project and she is hopeful that a side benefit of their work is to have a measure that can be used by others. At this point, that research project is a year or two away from completion.

If you know of anyone looking for a research project, Kelly is happy to share her assessment and interested researchers could at least get normed scores for different ages :)  Kelly welcomes people interested in research opportunities to contact her at mahlerautism@gmail.com.

What Can We Do To Help Develop Interoceptive Awareness?

 1. Be Positive…And Focus on the Positive!

• Establish a concrete concept of positive feeling emotions – just start with 2 or 3 different emotions. For example, start with excited, happy and relaxed/calm.
• Then, connect those identified emotions to experiences that cause those positive feelings.  For example, I become excited when I win the BINGO game in class.  I am happy when my teacher writes a nice note on my test.  I am relaxed/calm when I sit in my beanbag chair and read a book.
• Finally, work on connecting those emotions to a description of the sensation noticed when feeling that emotion.  For example, my heart starts to race when I feel excited!  My body feels warm when I am happy.  My muscles feel loose when I am relaxed/calm.

2. Body Checks

• Body Check Charts make the abstractness of internal sensations more concrete by having a visual structure to represent those internal experiences.
• The Body Check Charts displayed below are examples of visually structured methods for building awareness of body signals.
• More information at www.mahlerautism.com
• Body Check Chart Directions

  

Alternate ideas that can make the process of using the Body Check Chart fun and personalized for a particular student:

• Make a full size Body Check Chart by tracing the person’s body and putting their name on it.
• Pointing to a body part on the chart and asking the person to wiggle the corresponding area.
• Pointing to the body parts in the chart while playing Simon Says.
• Making an observation about the person’s body part (fingers tapping, feet shaking, etc.) and labeling it on the chart.
• Experimenting with sensations of a body part and describing how it feels like touching different textures, tasting different foods, listening to different sounds, etc.

3. Body – Emotion – Cause

• This is a great resource developed by Kelly Mahler!  It’s a visual guide intended to be used for in the moment processing connecting positive feeling body signals and emotions to the cause or context of the situation (see the example below):

We need to know what emotion we are feeling in order to control it!

An individual can be taught 100’s of coping strategies, but it is not until we have a clear indicator of when to use a strategy and which strategy is the best match for the emotion at hand that we will be effective emotion regulators across different situations and settings.

Self-regulation is our ability to control the way we feel and act.  The interoceptive system drives our self-regulation behaviors.  Good interoceptive awareness is absolutely crucial to effective self-regulation!

Want to learn more?

• BrainScience Podcast featuring Dr. Bud Craig

• Advance for Occupational Therapy: 2-Part Interoception Article

• Part 1

• Part 2

• FacebookGroup – Interoception: The Eighth Sensory System

• www.mahlerautism.com

ALIST Spotlight-- Traci Parker, Forest Elementary

Last year we had the pleasure of coaching Intervention Specialist, Traci Parker, at Forest Elementary in Troy. When working with Traci we quickly realized that she was an ALIST teacher through her consistent implementation of evidence-based practices, great feedback and questions about additional strategies, adaptation of supports to work in various settings and with various staff members, and her ability to be a leader and advocate for students. In today's blog post we will be highlighting Traci in the ALIST Spotlight!

Traci has implemented the visual support of a location-based schedule for various locations throughout the school building. Each location is designated by a different color and shape. The shapes are lined up on a portable folder to create the student's daily schedule. When it is time to transition, the student can check the schedule by taking off the top shape and matching it to the location with the corresponding shape.

Another visual support, is the use of a Change Card to prime about a schedule change. This is a predictable way to communicate unpredictable changes in the routine. Traci can show the student the change card or place it on their schedule and then prime them for what will be happening instead of the normally scheduled activity.

Tracy also uses the best practice of structured work systems to communicate to students how much work to do, what work to do, when the work will be finished, and what comes next after working. She started by teaching this skill in the small resource room setting and then replicated it in the general education classroom to improve success in this setting.

structured work drawer system in resource room

structured work bin system study carrel in general education classroom

Additionally, Traci helps her students maintain internal regulation through use of proactively scheduled, non-contingent breaks from sensory stimuli through the use of a calming sensory space. Again, she uses this support in her small resource room setting and has carried it over into the general education classroom.

calming sensory space options in resource room

calming sensory space beanbag in general education classroom

Traci uses several other supports as well including a visual countdown for communicating the passing of time and preparing students for transitions,

color-coded organizational supports for student supplies and progress monitoring materials,

and flexible seating to meet various student needs during circle time.

It has been a pleasure to work with Traci this past year and see how she implements a variety of supports to help her students be more successful in the resource room and general education classrooms. Thanks Traci for allowing us to share your space with others!

Upcoming PD Session-- Advanced Boardmaker Plus!: Interactive Activity Make-and-Take

Advanced Boardmaker: How to Modify and Create Interactive Boardmaker Activities Using Boardmaker Plus!

When is it?

• Friday, February 9th from 9:00am-3:00pm

Where is it?

• Miami Valley Regional Center 4801 Springfield Street, Dayton, OH 45431 in Room 300

Who should attend?

• Intervention Specialists and Paraprofessionals with an intermediate-advanced knowledge of Boardmaker Plus! who are interested in creating interactive activities for use on a desktop computer, laptop, touchscreen, interactive whiteboard, or Smartboard. 

What should participants expect?

• Students with ASD and other low-incidence disabilities are often motivated by the use of technology-aided instruction and intervention and may benefit from the use of interactive learning activities. In the first part of this session, participants will learn about advanced symbol functions including importing saved photos and graphics, creating new buttons, naming and categorizing new symbols, and drag and drop features. In the second part of the session, participants will learn how to modify and create interactive activities including using button actions, accessing and exploring interactive activity templates, modifying interactive templates, creating interactive activities, and linking boards to other boards and to the internet.

• Laptops with Boardmaker Plus! installed will be available for this session. Participants should bring their own USB drive to save activities (most interactive activities are too big to email). 

How much does it cost to attend?

• The cost is FREE to all districts who have already signed up for Miami Valley Autism Coaching Team services for the 2017-2018 school year. 

How do I sign up?

• Contact our secretary Mary Fryman at mary.fryman@mcesc.org or (937) 236-9965 to register. Session limited to 14 participants due to laptop availability. 

Organization Station-- Lesson Materials

Storage and organization of lesson materials can sometimes be an overwhelming task! We hope today's Organization Station provides some practical solutions for organizing everything from thematic units to the smallest manipulatives! Many of the most organized teachers utilize uniform bins and have a great labeling system!

We have seen tons of great ideas for organizing thematic and monthly unit materials in self-contained, resource, and general education classrooms. 

Rene Dyke
Arcanum Butler Elementary, Arcanum

Taylor Ruef
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River Local Schools

Kathy Timmerman
Fairbrook Elementary, Beavercreek

Kathy Timmerman
Fairbrook Elementary, Beavercreek

We love the use of curtains to cut down on visual clutter when storing various materials. 

There are many different ways to organize group materials. We love how many of these options allow you to "grab and go" so that you can quickly take materials to where you need them. 

Amy Beanblossom
Arcanum Butler Elementary, Arcanum

Kathy Timmerman
Fairbrook Elementary, Beavercreek

Look at these great neutral colors of the bins for the 9-Cube Organizer shelf. Another great example of reducing visual clutter!

Kendall Koehler
Normandy Elementary, Centerville

IKEA

A popular favorite is the use of the Trofast shelving system from IKEA. 

Carrie Prickett
Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg

Look at this great use of adhesive-backed business card holders for labeling individual bins. Labels can be changes and the holders can be removed and reused if needed.

Lesson materials may be organized by week, day, or particular group. 

Amazon

Gallon-sized plastic baggies can be used to hold all of the materials needed for a particular group or lesson. 

Smaller manipulatives should be stored and labeled as well for easy access by staff or students. 

Kenzie Bruggeman
Versailles Elementary, Versailles

Carrie Prickett
Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg

For easy access to frequently used items, install a curtain rod and hang IKEA Bygel containers under your whiteboard tray or near a group table. 

Amazon

Many of our classrooms also label their storage for functional materials in the kitchen area. 

Tabitha Eaton
Main Elementary, Beavercreek Elementary

Jennifer Jette and Amanda Gallup
Vandalia-Butler High School, Vandalia