List of amazing prompts and questions - could be used for FFC!

Hello friends!

I came across this AWESOME free download on Teachers Pay Teachers that would be oh so helpful for the classroom! You can use these for ideas for feature/function/class, answering wh- questions, fill-in sentences, and more! She has them sized to print large strips and put them in pocket charts for circle activities, journal starters, etc. 
There are 180 of them. 180!

I have perused this lady's blog over at The Autism Helper and she has some fantastic ideas and freebies. 

Also, join Teachers Pay Teachers - I have found some really great things over there!

sample page!

Weather and Seasons Printable!

There are plenty of weather and season printables out there but I just conjured up a simple one to go inside an independent work binder. What's the independent work binder you say? Well, I have two guys in my class who are really beyond sitting at a table, one on one with staff, going through discreet trials. They have graduated to some pretty awesome things like simple cut and paste activities, file folder games, puzzles, etc. with little to no assistance. Yesterday I realized they absolutely need some sort of preschool journal or work binder of sorts that the kids could be responsible for, use independently, and work on typical preschool academic skills. I have a lot of fun ideas for this binder and I will be adding to it and switching things out by the week. Some of the ideas are sorting activities, tracing pages, name practice, ABC and 123 sheets, and tons more!

Right now, my morning circle is simplified and void of a lot of "typical" circle activities like weather, what you wear in said weather, day of the week, month, and whatnot. A lot of my guys are working on things like staying seated during circle, choosing the correct picture to sign in with, following simple directions, and even responding to their name. The work binders will give my guys exposure to what we might be missing out on in circle.

I laminated the following sheet and hole punched it for the binder. I'm keeping a dry erase marker in each binder so the kids can circle the right answers and cross off the ones that aren't. You could also cut each picture out and have them velcro the right ones if you made a blank sheet for them to go with it. OPTIONS ARE ENDLESS. (not really. but still.) 

DOWNLOAD HERE!

Also, check out this cool lap journal I came across. I love the idea of my guys making a journal that chronicles their learning! I might have to make a summer learning journal for each of my students now!

Imitation Level 2 - VB-MAPP Data Sheets!

Who is excited for more data sheets?!?! You mean you aren't tired of them yet? I keep getting emails with requests for more and it makes me so excited to think that someone is waiting for me write a blog post dedicated to... a data sheet. Sometimes I think about how boring my life would have been if I was an accountant or something (spreadsheets? ew.), but people must think we are a snore, the way we ABA teachers talk when we get going on about a data sheet ("Oh girl, don't even get me STARTED!"). 

This one is another awesome resource that has floated around in my school system. It includes all objectives for Imitation in Level 2. If you are looking for Level 1 imitation, check out this post.

Imitation is a great way to start working toward increasing your student's attending and having them get the base for following instructions and increase learning skills. Most new skills are learned by imitating someone else, whether it's a new hairstyle on Youtube or watching your mom cut a pineapple. The ability to imitate others doesn't come so naturally to our guys so we need to work on it and be aware of it's importance. 

Check out the latest and greatest data sheet HERE!


*Also, just a disclaimer: I have some pretty cool, non-boring friends who are accountants. 

Mand Data Sheets: Levels 1,2, and 3 on the VB-MAPP!

This is a nice little packet for all of the Mand objectives on the VB-MAPP. I love the way this data sheet is laid out - it includes all the criteria for each objective and it gives space to write in what you observe. 

Some of those Level 3 mands are tough right?! Especially the intraverbal mands... whew. Even my most verbal guys right now aren't even close to that yet. Those are some high level expectations for our kiddos with autism. I applaud you if you are seeing your students get there! 

I got this data sheet from a colleague who got it from another teacher, and so on. It has been floating around our department so I am unsure who exactly made it but I hope it spreads far and wide for all VB-MAPP testers out there to use! 

Here is the link! - Happy Friday! :)

sample page for level 2!

Level 1 Social Behavior and Play (VB-MAPP)

My wonderful co-worker created this data sheet for the section of social behavior and play on the VB-MAPP. It is a no frills, get the job done, simple and easy data sheet! I love it because it is all on one page and you can carve out an hour to observe your student and check off what he/she is doing by simply following the data sheet. It includes the criteria so all you have to do is plug it back into your score sheet and you are DUNZO! (done-zo? um... finished!)

Hooray for super cool co-workers who do this kind of thing on their own free time and then share the goods. We need all teachers to be this way right?!?!

Here is the link!!! Get it while it's hot ;)

This social stuff is very important when you are looking at a very early learner who needs a lot of support in becoming aware of his/her peers. Teaching things like following others or even just engaging in parallel play can be difficult. Remember to always assess where the weaknesses are and target them so you know exactly how to help your little guys. 

Free Adapted Pete the Cat book!

Last week I made an adapted book for Pete The Cat: I Love My White Shoes. I have discussed my love for Pete in another post and I highly recommend that you introduce him to your kids if you have not done so already! 

I used this book during circle with my kids and it went better than I could have expected! I carefully chose how I would adapt it, keeping in mind the need for consistency and simplicity. One of my students was independently reading the book within a day based on the images associated with the main phrases in the book. Prior to using this adapted version, he needed verbal prompting and modeling to chime in with "Did Pete cry?", "Goodness no!", "Oh no!", and even the song part. Now, he is doing all of the parts completely independently which is very exciting! I am sending home his own copy so that he can impress his parents with those awesome skills! 

This book hits on a lot of learning points. With the same Pete image on each page, it helps the students become familiar with the character and help them recognize him. The book also teaches color identification, facial expressions, and labels/vocabulary for the items he steps in. 

Depending on the students you are using it with, you can adapt it even further by printing and laminating certain parts of the book, such as the color parts or the things he steps in and then have the students match the pictures to the book. You could also print the pictures onto cards and have the students help tell the story or even predict what happens next by selecting the corresponding card. There are many great ways to use this book and I hope that your students enjoy it as much as mine have! 

(The last page includes pictures of water to velcro onto the shoes for when he has wet shoes.)

Here is the link to the Pete the Cat book!

Here is a sample page from the book!

More VB-MAPP materials! (Level 2 - Tact)

Tonight I decided to check my email for this blog and I had a lot of emails with requests for more materials (specifically VB-MAPP data sheets). I was really touched knowing there are people out there reading this blog... and I was also completely guilt stricken for taking a 5 month hiatus from sharing with you all! 

Last night and today I spent about 7 hours in total making picture cards and a data sheet that can be used to test the Level 2-7 TACT objective on the VB-MAPP. I am pretty proud of this document because I sized each item to perfection and I am usually rather awful at anything computer related!

The materials provided are for the objective that is testing the ability to tact 50 items, across 3 examples each. I thought of 50 items that are common for preschoolers, broke them into categories, and looked for 3 different pictures for each item. There are 150 pictures total. The document is almost 40 pages long so get ready to dominate the printer! 

Download the picture cards HERE!!!

Download the data sheet HERE!!! 

I hope you all enjoy! Please send more emails so that I stay connected and accountable!

EDIT: updated on Jan. 27, 2014: I have a new data sheet posted that is much better than the one included in this post. check it out here

An example of one of my pages!