Around Town Round Up: Incorporating Interests Throughout the Day

Many students with autism and low-incidence disabilities have strong special interests. Often educators have used these interests to reward academic success, productivity, and targeted behaviors. But interests can be used for so much more! Today's Around Town Round Up has gathered some of the best examples of how our teams are incorporating student interests throughout the day to keep students engaged and motivated and make school fun!

Schedules

Start the day on the right foot by structuring the student's day using a special interest schedule. In the examples below, one student loves Blues Clues so the team made a Handy Dandy Notebook with scheduled activities on each page. 

The other student loved astronomy so his team created an Astronaut Training Protocol for the student's daily schedule. 

Annette Baker
Miami East Elementary, Miami East

Behavior Plans

Beyond using special interests as a reward activity, special interests can also be embedded into the behavior plan to help create a positive association with the tool. Rather than use generic tokens, incorporate special interests like elephants, Backyardig or even Pi like in the examples below!

Emily Ottmar
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Annette Baker
Miami East Elementary, Miami East

Sensory Supports

Do you ever have students who are resistant to sensory supports because they are new or different? Incorporating interests can help the student see the sensory supports in a positive way and leads to increased willingness to participate in sensory activities. We love the examples below from Pam Locker at Washington Primary showing how she incorporated a student's special interest in community helpers to create a weighted vest and preferential seating options. Her whole class loved their new "car" seats for circle time!

Pam Locker
Washington Primary, Piqua

The example below is another support for the student who loved astronomy. Each morning he did a sequence of exercises from his Space Program to start his day. These activities can be found on the Mission X: Train Like an Astronaut website. 

Cassie Zerkle
Miami East Elementary, Miami East

Academics

Probably one of the most impactful areas to incorporate interests is during academic times. This definitely makes learning more fun and can increase the student's attention to the task. 

Students at Trotwood ELC love these special interest activities incorporating bugs during OT and PT sessions. 

Heather Venters & Carla Hammond
Trotwood ELC, Trotwood

Another great fine motor activity is this Cinderella puzzle with a magic wand magnet. How neat!

Kirsten Johnson
Greene INC

The examples below incorporate special interests for reading activities including name sequencing, a magnificent personalized word wall, and an interactive board book. 

Molly Magoteaux
Kleptz ELC, Northmont

Therese Garison
Helke Elementary, Vandalia

Jamie Minnish
Prass Elementary, Kettering

For more examples of incorporating interests into academic activities, check out our previous post: 

Taskbox Time: Incorporating Interests

Another great resource for incorporating interests in the classroom is the book below by Paula Kluth and Patrick Schwarz Just Give Him the Whale!: 20 Ways to Use Fascinations, Areas of Expertise, and Strengths to Support Students with Autism

ALIST Spotlight: Denise Campbell- Occupational Therapist, Mad River Local Schools & MCESC

We are kicking off a new year of ALIST Spotlights with today's feature of Occupational Therapist Denise Campbell. Denise is a fellow employee of the Montgomery County ESC who works in Mad River Local Schools at their Mad River Early Childhood Center and Stevenson Elementary. 

Denise excels at collaborating with her colleagues, providing structure during therapy sessions, and consulting with staff regarding student sensory needs. 

Collaborating with Colleagues

Denise continually advocates for her students and is always looking for new and innovative ideas to support the unique needs of her students. She goes above and beyond to problem-solve and help where she is needed. 

Therapy Session Structure

Denise knows her students strive with predictability and routine. She uses visual and tactile supports to provide students with structure during OT sessions so they know exactly what is expected and what they will earn at the end of their session for completing work. This structure reduces interfering behaviors, increases productivity, and helps her students learn and grow!

One structural support Denise uses is a visual contract which uses star tokens to symbolize each task or "job" her student needs to complete during their session. When the task is completed, the student removes the token. When all of the tokens have been removed, the student knows they are finished working and they have earned the activity chosen at the start of the session. 

Some of Denise's students need more concrete structure. For these students, Denise uses a Structured Work System of drawers. The drawers contain the activities or "jobs" for the session so students can see exactly what is expected when they get started. The student uses the numbered strip to match numbers to the drawer, take out and complete the work, and then place it in a finished location. Once all of the numbers are matched and the drawers are empty, the student earns a reward activity. 

Sensory Needs

Denise has collaborated with her district teams to meet student sensory needs in a variety of ways. Check out our previous post on the Calming Sensory Space she helped her colleagues create at Stevenson Elementary. She also helped to create a great Hallway Path for students who needed movement breaks throughout the day. 

We are so glad that Denise is part of our ALIST team of professionals in our districts since she has a wealth of information to share and loves to help others! Thanks for being such a wonderful partner to our team, Denise!

Upcoming Virtual Training: Give Me A Break!

 

ACT Give Me A Break Flyer by Allison Officer

Academic Area: Writing

What better way to start a new year than to introduce a brand new blog series! We see so many awesome examples of differentiated and multisensory academic activities when we are out in classrooms that we thought what better way to showcase all of these great ideas than to give them their very own spot here on our blog! Introducing our Academic Area!

For our very first Academic Area post, we want to share all the wonderful examples we have for writing instruction ranging from basic handwriting to supports for paragraph writing. 

Handwriting

Many of our students with autism and low-incidence disabilities struggle with fine motor skills which can make handwriting a challenge!  

The use of tracing and copying tasks is a great way to differentiate for students who need to focus efforts more on the task of writing and less on recalling spelling. 

Jamie Minnish
Prass Elementary, Kettering

Differentiated Name Writing Tasks
Renee Vaughn
Studebaker Preschool, Huber Heights

Name Writing Morning Work Mats
Darlene Hays & Andy Krickenbarger
Anthony Wayne Preschool, Darke County ESC

Since many learners with autism are very visual learners, they can easily copy how a letter or word looks visually, however they may not use the correct letter formation. It is important to provide consistent, direct instruction of letter formation to prevent any poor handwriting habits. Use of systematic, multisensory handwriting curriculums such as Fundations or Handwriting without Tears are a great support for students who need this direct instruction. 

Fundations Visual Cues
Heather Balkcom
Springcreek Primary, Piqua

Handwriting Without Tears
Tracey Cooper
Tecumseh Elementary, Tecumseh

At times a student's needs are so significant that traditional handwriting is too difficult and a more functional accommodation needs to be made such as a name stamp.

Name Stamps
Catherine Anderson
Rushmore Elementary, Huber Heights

Sentences

There are a variety of skills that go into writing a sentence including generating a thought and putting that thought into words and then writing the sentence on paper with correct conventions. 

For students who struggle with generating a complete thought, using word cards like the examples below can be a great first step. 

Writing task of creating a sentence about a picture using color-coded picture and word cards

Writing task of creating a sentence about a picture using word cards
Laurie Maravetz
Schafer Middle School, Springfield

Once the student begins writing sentences, provide visual supports to help them self-edit their work such as writing convention rubrics or visual reminders. 

Sentence Writing Visual Reminders
Lindsay Fox Bush
Kemp Elementary, Dayton

Sentence Conventions SWAG Acryonym
Kristen Gregory
Northmoor Elementary, Northmont

Paragraph Writing

As your students develop their sentence writing skills, the next step is paragraph writing. Since writing is so challenging for our students with autism and low-incidence disabilities it is important to scaffold and adjust expectations so they can be most successful. Otherwise, writing can become a contentious and stressful time of day!

One way to motivate students to complete writing activities is to allow them to write about a special interest or favorite activity. This often increases engagement, leads to the student writing more than they typically would, and allows the staff to still see their true writing abilities. 

Special Interest Writing Journal
Lori Bicknell
Mound Elementary, Miamisburg

Graphic organizers can be helpful in supporting students to organize their thoughts and the information they want to include in their paragraph. For some students, the student may dictate while staff writes on the graphic organizer to reduce writing fatigue. 

Topic-Specific Word Wall Graphic Organizer
Kim Hampton
Broadway Elementary, Tipp City

In addition to graphic organizers, provide visual resources for students to use while writing to assist with remembering letter formation or spelling so they can focus on getting their thoughts on paper.

Writing Resource Folder
Lori Bicknell
Mound Elementary, Miamisburg

For some students, the idea of writing a paragraph can be overwhelming because they are unable to visualize what the completed assignment will look like. Providing clear expectations and an exemplar can be a great way to help them better understand what to do. 

Writing Exemplars
Monica Klarer
Indian Valley Intermediate, Greenon

Writing Exemplars
Lindsay Fox Bush
Kemp Elementary, Dayton

Assistive Technology 

When prioritizing writing expectations, you may find that the main goal is for the student to convey what they know about a specific topic rather than demonstrate the physical ability to write. Using a scribe or assistive technology such as typing, voice-to-text, or word prediction software can be a great support for students who struggle with mastering handwriting but still have a lot to say! 

Clicker Writer Word Processing Software
Karyn Smith
Tri-Village High School, Tri-Village

For more ideas on assisting students with autism and low-incidence disabilities during writing instruction we love I Hate to Write: Tips for Helping Students with Autism Spectrum and Related Disorders Increase Achievement, Meet Academic Standards, and Become Happy, Successful Writers by Cheryl Boucher and Kathy Oehler which is full of practical ideas and graphic organizers targeting specific writing challenges. 

Regulation Rendezvous: Motor Rooms

Many of our previous posts focus on providing students with opportunities for calming sensory input. But what if you have a student who needs alerting input or who has a high threshold for movement or vestibular input? Then today's Regulation Rendezvous is for you! Today we are focusing on Motor Rooms which is a designated location for students to get motor input in a structured way. Check out some examples of awesome Motor Rooms across the Miami Valley:

Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

When using the Motor Room at Stevenson Elementary, students follow a circuit of activities which incorporate motor skills as well as academics. 

Match velcro shapes after crossing balance beam

Count and stretch using resistance bands

Bounce on trampoline before matching magnetic letters to sight words/alphabet cards

Sort heavy books by color

Count and step up

Count and bounce on therapy ball

When finished, students take a few minutes to calm their bodies before returning to classroom focused and ready to learn. 

Hammock swing calm down seating

Rocking chair calm down seating

Mound Elementary, Miamisburg

The students at Mound Elementary have a variety of sensory equipment to choose from during their proactively scheduled Motor Room time. 

steamroller

platform swing

stationary bike

crash pad

cocoon platform swing

Springcreek Primary, Piqua

A Motor Room (or in this case a Motor Lab) is a great place for students to go for physical therapy services as well. We love this Motor Lab where PT, Amy Pratt works with her students. Amy has a therapy ball, textured stepping stones, yoga cards, a balance beam, a platform cocoon swing, steamroller, and a couple stepping platforms. What a fun and functional space!

Mad River Middle School, Mad River

Older students need movement breaks too! We love the use of exercise equipment at Mad River Middle School to prepare students for ways to incorporate sensory supports as they get older. 

treadmills

treadmills, stationary bike, elliptical

trampoline

Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg

Exercise equipment comes in little sizes too! Look at these pint-sized Motor Room options at Jane Chance Elementary in Miamisburg including a stationary bike, treadmill, rowing machine, and some seating options. They also use S'cool Moves posters to guide student exercises. 

Tecumseh Elementary, Tecumseh

ALIST Occupational Therapist, Tracey Cooper at Tecumseh Elementary also uses S'cool Moves in her Motor Room at Tecumseh Elementary in addition to visual motor activities. 

Snyder Park Elementary, Springfield

Check out all of these swing options in the Motor Room at Snyder Park Elementary! In addition to swinging, students can also use the ball pit, tunnel crawl, therapy ball, trampoline, or climbing play forms. 

For additional information on structuring Motor Room breaks to get the most out of this valuable student support don't miss our previous post:

Regulation Rendezvous: Proactively Scheduled Sensory Breaks