Autism Training Associates

15/08/2024

Got the bulletin board blues? Here are a few ideas to get you started.

09/08/2024

It's hard to believe that it's back to school season. Over the next few weeks, I will share a few ideas on how to make the transition go smoother for both parents and teachers.
Today's idea will work for both family and teachers to help students be more comfortable with new and previous people in their school life.
"Refresh your child’s memory, if needed, with photos and names of people he will encounter on a daily basis: school personnel such as cafeteria workers, the school nurse, office staff, bus drivers" (Future Horizons, 2024). You can find pictures on your district's web page, yearbooks, class pictures, or catch staff during their professional development days and ask to snap or send you a picture. Having the opportunity to refresh their memory of previous staff and see new faces can help reduce anxiety during the first few days of school.
Here's to a fantastic 2024-2025 school year for everyone!

06/01/2024

Happy New Year! With the new year, I hope to be more active on this page. Any feedback you can provide would be extremely helpful and motivating for me. If this page is not beneficial, please let me know what I can do to better meet your needs.
Here is a fantastic idea for a winter sensory bottle (picture at bottom). Thanks to Future Horizons for sharing this fun idea!
Have a fantastic 2024!

Source: Natural Beach Living and Future Horizons)

Making a Snow Sensory Bottle is simple and easy to do. All you need are a few supplies and you’ll be ready to enjoy these beautiful calming sensory jars. In fact, this snow sensory play activity is one of the best indoor snow day ideas, ever. Even if you have other Winter Sensory Bottles, you need to make this one. It’s a great way to have snow sensory play without having to step foot outside!
Supplies
1 (16 ounce) plastic storage/sensory bottle
2 to 3 (6 ounce) bottles clear Elmer’s Glue
About 1 cup warm water
About 1 tablespoon glitter or confetti (if desired)
Optional:
Snowflake confetti
Fake snow
Slime foam balls
White/clear glitter
Winter toys/animals
Directions
Empty one bottle of glue into the bottle.
Fill the empty glue bottle about half full with warm water (about ¼ cup) and seal with the lid. Shake well to combine the remaining glue with the water. Pour into jar with glue and shake or stir to combine.
If you are adding glitter or toys, add part of the glitter and toys into the glue mixture.
Seal the jar and shake well. If the glitter or confetti does not move easily, add more warm water. If the glitter or confetti moves to quickly, add additional glue. Continuing adding in layers with the glitter and toys until you achieve your desired effect.
When the contents of the bottle move according to your preference, seal the bottle and glue the lid closed to avoid spills.
If desired, cover the lid with duct tape or additional decorations.

03/09/2023

Do you have students who have difficulty with transitions or have difficulty understanding that rules and expectations can differ in various environments? If so, they may have cognitive flexibility issues. If so, here are a few things to try:
1. Engage students in activities that help develop perspective taking, such as: pretend and role playing, taking opportunities to discuss your thoughts and feelings, and reading a book and talking about a character's thoughts and feelings.
2. Use a transition marker to help the student understand when one activity has ended and another has started.
3. Provide visuals, graphic organizers, and models to clarify meanings of concepts.
4. Ask questions that require inferencing, expanded thinking, or making predictions.

30/07/2023

It's getting to be that time of year, and I wanted to share a few bulletin board ideas I found. Happy decorating!

29/07/2023

Day Three, the last day of TASSEL Training in Bay City. Anissa Moore Educational and Behavioral Consulting and I have had a wonderful 3 days. What a marvelous group of dedicated educators who came together to learn new strategies to help their students thrive and grow during the upcoming school year. Giving up 3 of their final days of vacation is amazing. Thanks to Linnie Roberts for being our fantastic host. I love that their initials, LRE, are in line with least restrictive environment!

26/07/2023

Today, was Day Two of TASSEL Training in Bay City. Anissa Moore Educational and Behavioral Consulting and I are having such a wonderful time with these dedicated teachers who are giving up 3 of their last few days of vacation to learn new ways to support their students in the rapidly approaching school year.

09/06/2023

A day in the life of TASSEL Training! What an amazing group of SAISD Teachers and Paras!

08/03/2023

Food for thought for our young writers.

Here’s a quick little thought/frustration of mine: Please, please, let kindergarteners (and first graders) (and I’d even say second graders!) use half-pencils instead of full pencils.

I say “let” because I keep having to write it into IEPs as an accommodation. I wish it was just the normal!

Children’s hands are 4-5 inches in circumference. Adult hands are 7-8 inches in circumference. And yet adults and very small children alike are expected to use 7.5 inch long pencils.

The equivalent ratio for an adult (using some averages) would be using a 12.5 inch long pencil about as wide as a thick marker! Imagine how unwieldy that would be. Add an eraser to the end of it and now you’ve got even more weight counterbalancing all of the fine motor control you’re trying to do at the pencil end. And all of that with muscles that are brand-new to fine motor control at all and not very coordinated at it…so imagine, really, trying to write with a 12.5 inch long pencil with your non-dominant hand.

You might very well get referred to me for OT when all you needed in the first place was a writing utensil the right size for your hand, from the beginning (not as a special accommodation)!

[Image description: A simple photograph of a regular-sized pencil and a half-sized, shortened pencil side by side. End description.]

13/02/2023

HELP! I have been very lax with this page of late. I have not been receiving much feedback, so I began to wonder what you would like on our page. Let me throw it out there and ask for suggestions on how this page could be beneficial for the readers. What do you want to see? Are there topics of interest you'd like to see addressed? Please give me your thoughts and I will attempt to address them on our page! Thanks for your help in my attempt to help you.

05/08/2022

Many teachers are back to work which means students are not far behind. Just a friendly reminder:

28/07/2022

Love this visual from Preschool Inspirations for helping our little ones to learn to tell time.