Characteristics of students on the Autism Spectrum is lack of communication skills and lack of social skills. Using the storage cubby unit, I will be able to create a space for play and organize the toys to create what is known as a Natural Environment Teaching Area (NET area). In this area, students will have the opportunity to interact socially with their peers and learn how to communicate their wants using their functional communication system. The clear containers will be labeled and used to store all the toys and other materials in the NET area.
All the toys that are on this list are items that have been identified as highly motivating items. Using these highly preferred items will allow for more natural communication skills to be developed, especially requesting. For example, the cars set and blocks come in various colors. Not only will my students be able to request for such toys by name, but they will also be able to include a color, size, or shape (e.g. "I want the RED BLOCK"). This helps my students to increase the number of things they are able to ask for, as well as increase their length of utterances. At least two students find the train set, wooden blocks, bristle blocks, dough set and cars interesting. These toys will provide opportunities for the students to share with each other and promote conversations amongst each other (e.g. "Can I play with you?", "Look what I made!", "I like your castle"). The farm animals set and block play people will help the students begin to build pretend play skills.
These materials are an important part in creating a space that is comfortable and accessible, and speaks to each child's interests to increase skills across various developmental areas.
About my class
Characteristics of students on the Autism Spectrum is lack of communication skills and lack of social skills. Using the storage cubby unit, I will be able to create a space for play and organize the toys to create what is known as a Natural Environment Teaching Area (NET area). In this area, students will have the opportunity to interact socially with their peers and learn how to communicate their wants using their functional communication system. The clear containers will be labeled and used to store all the toys and other materials in the NET area.
All the toys that are on this list are items that have been identified as highly motivating items. Using these highly preferred items will allow for more natural communication skills to be developed, especially requesting. For example, the cars set and blocks come in various colors. Not only will my students be able to request for such toys by name, but they will also be able to include a color, size, or shape (e.g. "I want the RED BLOCK"). This helps my students to increase the number of things they are able to ask for, as well as increase their length of utterances. At least two students find the train set, wooden blocks, bristle blocks, dough set and cars interesting. These toys will provide opportunities for the students to share with each other and promote conversations amongst each other (e.g. "Can I play with you?", "Look what I made!", "I like your castle"). The farm animals set and block play people will help the students begin to build pretend play skills.
These materials are an important part in creating a space that is comfortable and accessible, and speaks to each child's interests to increase skills across various developmental areas.
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