Most of my students are on the Autism Spectrum and are learning to find their voice. Because these students exhibit significant struggles within the area of communication, they have minimal to no means to communicate. Subsequently, they show a tremendous amount of behaviors as they cannot express themselves effectively. Given these circumstances and high level of need, I have been introducing communication through systematic evidence-based methods. This first begins with teaching the nonverbal or minimally verbal student that if they initiate by requesting items from another person, then they will receive whether is for help, to meet their basic needs, or to request items. This method is taught through a system that uses pictures. I have been creating these pictures along with personalized books for these particular students in my own spare time. I create individual books for my students on my computer. I then print them out, laminate them, and add Velcro. Currently, we do not have funding for any of these items and therefore I must pay for them out of my own pocket. This includes ink, laminating paper, magnet dots for visuals I create for the classroom teachers, and Velcro. In addition to my my non-verbal students, I also have three verbal Autistic students who have been working on labeling items and following instructions. As young three year old(s), maintaining their attention and keeping them engaged can be challenging. The Lakeshore Learning early language toys will help keep them engaged while working towards building their language skills. I will be able to use these toys in variety of ways that include: labeling and identifying vocabulary, requesting items, following instructions, and sorting items!
About my class
Most of my students are on the Autism Spectrum and are learning to find their voice. Because these students exhibit significant struggles within the area of communication, they have minimal to no means to communicate. Subsequently, they show a tremendous amount of behaviors as they cannot express themselves effectively. Given these circumstances and high level of need, I have been introducing communication through systematic evidence-based methods. This first begins with teaching the nonverbal or minimally verbal student that if they initiate by requesting items from another person, then they will receive whether is for help, to meet their basic needs, or to request items. This method is taught through a system that uses pictures. I have been creating these pictures along with personalized books for these particular students in my own spare time. I create individual books for my students on my computer. I then print them out, laminate them, and add Velcro. Currently, we do not have funding for any of these items and therefore I must pay for them out of my own pocket. This includes ink, laminating paper, magnet dots for visuals I create for the classroom teachers, and Velcro. In addition to my my non-verbal students, I also have three verbal Autistic students who have been working on labeling items and following instructions. As young three year old(s), maintaining their attention and keeping them engaged can be challenging. The Lakeshore Learning early language toys will help keep them engaged while working towards building their language skills. I will be able to use these toys in variety of ways that include: labeling and identifying vocabulary, requesting items, following instructions, and sorting items!
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