Toilet Training Support for Students with ASD & ID

Hi Everyone,
The Act - Now (Autism Consultation & Training Now) website is a great place to go to find evidence based information on how to teach children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) .
I have just been chatting to a colleague about how to toilet train a student with ASD and co-morbid intellectual disability (ID). The ACT- Now site has a terrific fact sheet download on the topic, that I have found to be very useful to refer to when working with children in my own practice.
Another very useful resource is the booklet '1 Step at a Time - A parents guide to toilet skills for children with special needs. This resource has been produced by the Victorian Continence Resource Centre and can be downloaded from their site.

Thinking in Pictures - Temple Grandin

Hi Everyone,

Last week I read Temple Grandin's book 'Thinking in Pictures -And Other Reports from My Life with Autism. Today I found a video that sums up the book beautifully if you are a non reader. Just brilliant!
Enjoy :)

Freaks, Geeks and Aspergers Syndrome - Luke Jackson

Hi Everyone,

I have spent the past 2 days reading Freaks, Geeks and Aperger Syndrome- A User's Guide to Adolescence by Luke Jackson. It is a sensitive , intelligent and witty first hand account of what it is like to navigate through the world with an Aspergers mind.

It will be on my highly recommended list of books for parents to give to their children with Aspergers Syndrome and it would be a fantastic addition to a Middle Years College reading list.

The Teacher's TV video above follows up on Luke and his family three years after the book was written. I was saddened to see that due to bullying and the lack of understanding of teachers, Luke was not able to remain in the mainstream school system which makes me all the more determined to be part of the solution to that problem !

Click on the book cover to find a world wide link to purchase the book.

Hume Region Special Schools' Curriculum - Free Download

Hi Everyone,
The curriculum used in special education settings in the Hume Region, Victoria Australia, is now available to download free from this website. This curriculum is designed for students with an intellectual disability with or without co-morbid physical , communication or social disabilites.
My colleagues, Jill Poole and Jan Hutchings (I'm very proud of them) have been working on this project with other talented teachers, allied medical and regional staff from the Hume Region for 3 years. We have been trialing and modifying the curriculum in our schools for almost all of that time period.
The curriculum caters for the learning needs of our most profoundly challenged students through to those who are successfully included in mainstream settings but require accommodations and modifications in their individual learning plans.
The best thing about the curriculum is that it allows teachers to identify student strengths and plan learning experiences with those strengths in mind, rather than working from a deficit based medical model.
Take a look for yourself.
Click on the picture to start downloading :)

Mrs Pancake - Free Visual Downloads

Hi Everyone,
Have you discovered the Mrs Pancake website yet? I am always on the hunt for sites which provide me with free quality resources to download and use with my Early Years, visual learners and this site certainly fits the bill. Take look for yourself and sign up for the newsletter which lets you know when new materials have been uploaded.

You Don't Suffer from Aspergers- You Suffer from Other People - Tony Attwood

Teacher Asistants Big Red Book of Ideas - Sue Larkey & Anna Tullemans

Hi everyone,
I am an Autism Spectrum Disorder teaching and learning coach in the Hume Region in Victoria, Australia. I spend part of my week working alongside teachers in mainstream and special education settings, helping staff to implement autism specific, inclusive strategies .
As well as assisting with issues that arise according to individual needs of students and teachers, the teaching and learning coaches in our region also work to a monthly theme.
March is 'Para-professional Month' ! You may call yours teacher assistants, ESS personnel. SSO's or teacher aides. What ever we call them anyone who has worked with one, knows that they are worth their weight in gold.!
This month we are going to look closely at the practices of support staff in classrooms and encourage and celebrate best practices in our region.
A terrific resource to assist in the professional development of support staff is the 'Teacher Assistants Big Red Book of Ideas' by Sue Larkey and Anna Tullemans. You can purchase the book for AUS $45 at Sue Larkey's website, where you will also find a huge range of other resources to support school staff and families living and working with students on the autism spectrum.
For a detailed product description and purchasing details, click on the cover of the book.

Sensory Processing Disorder

Hi Everyone,

I have have just finished putting together some readings for a teacher working with a child with sensory issues. Sensory processing disorders are commonly found in students with autism spectrum disorders but can also be present in otherwise typically developing children. These short videos are a great visual introduction to the topic.

Occupational therapists are skilled in the design and implementation of sensory programs based on simple and effective strategies to help students with sensory difficulties become fully engaged in every day living and learning activities.

The best place to start, if you suspect a child has sensory issues, is with a sensory profile. An occupational therapist will be able to analyse the results of that profile and work out an individual action plan.

The best and most effective interventions take place when the activities honour the dignity of the child, the environment supports the needs of the student, activities are playful and child centred and the therapist, home and school work together toward shared goals.

Simple Yoga Poses for Kids - The Incredible 5 Point Scale & More!

Hi Everyone,

I have been in Traralgon for the past few days with the Positive Partnerships team. During one of the sharing sessions a participant offered the site 'The Incredible 5 Point Scale' as one which other participants might like to check out. I'm not sure who it was because I was in a concurrent session but if you let me know I will give you credit :)

The Incredible 5 Point Scale was developed by two American teachers, Kari Dunn Burun and Mitzi Curtios, to share information about cognitive behavioural approaches for stress reduction in students with an autism spectrum disorder.

I am not familiar with their online products for purchase however I was very impressed with some of the free materials on the web site including a simple, free Yoga PowerPoint download for kids.

You will find the download in area 1 ' Other projects and articles' as well as a terrific free, article on how to use a 5 point scale principle with students with an ASD.

Click on the picture to take a look yourself.

While we are on the topic of kids and yoga, I also downloaded these videos from Youtube for a group of very active students in a mainstream class I was working with. The kids loved them. The beauty of these sorts of activities is that they can so easliy scheduled into the school day as quick movement breaks providing opportunities for self regulation for kids with difficulties in that area as as well as emotional and physical health benefits for everyone in the class, including the teacher!

Childcare Land - Free Resources and Videos

Hi Everyone,
Childcare Land is a terrific site for Early Years teachers in mainstream and special education settings. The site contains an enormous range of free and cheap to purchase activities for early learners . Shelly has prepared a range of free teaching videos, demonstrating how to use the resources on her site and provided the opportunity to download beautifully prepared masters for the activities.
New activites are added to the site every month and you can sign up for the newsletter which will alert you to new resources.
If you want to protect your download limit you can also purchase all of her activities and templates in collections on CD for around USD $16.00 each.
I have been downloading resources from the site for my school for hours this morning. Take look for yourself by clicking on the picture.

Aimee Mullins - Redefining Disability

Hi Everyone,
I have returned from visiting Tahirih Bushey at Autism Games. Tahirih is a speech and language pathologist who specialises in working with children with autism spectrum disorders. I visit her blog every time she posts because she is so inspiring. Tahirih's post for today was not about ASD. It included a link to a 22 minute video featuring Aimee Mullins, Olympic athlete and double amputee, speaking about re-defining the word 'disabled'. I will be showing the clip to everyone I know. I wonder if you will feel the same way once you have seen it. Be sure to drop in to visit Tahirih at Autism Games, to let her know what you thought of the video.

Sheppard Software

Hi Everyone,
My thanks go out to to Jill from Wodonga West Primary School, for introducing me to the Sheppard Software website.

Sheppard Software is another one of those fantastic mixed theme and ability sites that will appeal to early years and primary teachers because it offers a range of activities covering all of the key learning domains.

I love it because it will provide me with loads of activities for my students on the autism spectrum with special interests in environmental and health topics.
Children in Jill's classroom were having a marvelous time completing learning activities based on food chains when I dropped into their classroom for a visit on Friday. Click on the picture to check out the site for yourself.

Bullying - No Way !

Hi Everyone,

Sadly the theme for the day is bullying.

My Saturday paper was full of horror stories about school and workplace bullying this morning. I have just finished reading an extract about bullying and the impact on students with Asperger's Syndrome, from Tony Attwoods 'The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome' as part of some preparation for a Positive Partnerships Program workshop I will be involved in next week.

The Bullying - No Way ! website contains a range of resources to address bullying issues. Created as a collaborative project between Victorian government, Catholic and independent school authorites ; it is packed with information and resources to support schools and communities in developing best practice policies and procedures to prevent and deal with the impact of bullying in schools. it also contains links to disability specific information which is terrific.

Click on the picture to take a look.

Autism Every Day

Bar None - Community Awareness Kit for Schools

Hi Everyone,

I have three great novels sitting next to my bed, waiting to be read but they didn't get a look in because I spent my weekend reading time, glued to the pages of the Bar None Community Awareness Kit for Schools'

The kit was developed in collaboration between the Victorian Government, the Catholic Education Office and the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria, to support teachers to create welcoming and inclusive school communities for all.

The five part kit contains:

• A teacher information book which provides general information, key statistics and some very practical suggestions to create welcoming classrooms.
• A series of 15 curriculum Units providing practical and engaging classroom activities from Prep to Year 8.
• A CD -ROM containing all of the documents in the folder as PDF files.
• A DVD which showcases the perspectives and lived experiences of a school principal, a parent and students across a range of age groups.
• A train the trainer module, that provides teachers and schools with support regarding the practical application of the kit in their teaching and learning programs.
  

To download the full kit and preview the DVD, visit The office for Disability website. If you are a Victorian school teacher, ask where your kit has been stored and take the time to review it or better still, complete the training modules, which are fully PD accredited.

TES i - Board - Free Interactive Whiteboard Activities for Early Years

Hi again,
Have you ever visited the TES i-board site? It has a ridiculous number of very high quality resources for Early Years teachers to use on the interactive whiteboard.
Take look for yourself :)

Working With Traumatised Children - Child Safety Commissioner

Hi Everyone,

Sadly, I have been in the position of working with many traumatised children over the course of my teaching career. Unfortunately, those days are by no means over.

Such trauma may have been caused by war, or the more common experience of growing up neglected and abused.

Many young people grow up well in spite of their traumatic experiences while many others end up in our child protection and care, justice and mental health systems.

It is clear that children who have experienced trauma are impacted physically, cognitively, developmentally, socially and emotionally. Many are so consumed by the impact of their traumatic experiences that their ability to learn is severely compromised.

It can be difficult for teaching and support staff to understand why some students behave in ways which undermine their own health and freedom.

The Child Safety Commissioner has released some excellent, free resources to assist school staff in developing best practice strategies to assist children impacted by trauma. These can be ordered as hard copy texts or printed out in PDF format.

I have just finished reading Laura Downey's 'From Isolation to Connection - A guide to understanding and working with traumatised children and young people' . It is a fantastic, free resource.

I would also advise you to look at some of the other excellent resources on the site which can be ordered or downloaded for free. Just click on the name of the document to download.

Otherwise, visit the Office of the Child Safety Commissioner website to access a range of excellent resources on a whole range of health and child safety topics.

Download These Resources:

From Isolation to Connection - A guide to understanding and working with traumatised children and young people.

Calmer Classrooms

Great Expectations - Supporting Children in Out of Home Care

Wise Up. Indentify Child Sexual Abuse

Elephant Song - Eric Herman

Hi again,

I spent the whole day today singing this song in my head. I shared it with numerous people at work. I am banned from humming or singing it at home !

Eric Herman has his own Youtube music channel with loads of great songs on it.

This is my favourite . I love it !

We will definitely be learning to sing and sign this song in our Junior Unit this term.

It's silly but quite contagious so be careful or you will be singing, humming or whistling it all day too :)

Understanding ADHD - Slide Share

Understanding ADHD

View more presentations from Dr. Stan Kutcher.

What has happened to Sparklebox ? Weigh it up for yourself.

Hi Everyone,

Late last night I received the email below. Thanks Stephen, for getting in contact with me.

At present, there is a great deal of controversy surrounding the Sparkle Box website, due to the actions and history of the owner.

I have been a huge fan of the Sparklebox site for some time. It is bursting with fantastic, ready made teaching and learning resources. Information that has come to light recently has made all of us who use the site, think about whether we should continue to support it.

I strongly suggest that you read Stephen's email and follow the links below to find information to help you make up your own mind.

Dear Susan,
I have been looking at your blog and can see that you are a fan of the website Sparklebox.co.uk.
In case you do not know, the owner of this site is a convicted paedophile and this site has been banned in the UK by many schools.

One of the biggest risks is that the tool bar that is downloaded from this site could have been used to hunt for victims all over the world.

Please check out the links below and do your own search for further information.

http://slav.globalteacher.org.au/2009/08/01/sparklebox

http://hubpages.com/hub/sparklebox

http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6033403

http://www.neowin.net/news/uk-schools-blocking-sparklebox-as-owner-is-apaedo

http://www.anseco.net/?p=1927

I just wanted to let you know so that teachers and parents, who are trying to protect children, are not causing this person to profit.

Best Regards,

Stephen

School Principal

Positive Guidance Techniques - World of Teaching

Hi Everyone,
I have been exploring some amazing free PowerPoint sites over the past few weeks. Today I came across a PowerPoint called Positive Guidance Techniques by Cathy Abraham on the World of Teaching site. I love this quote, which I have read many times before, but it seems timely to read it again just before I am about to embark on a journey into a new school year which will see me working as a teacher of children and teachers.

e- Learning for Kids on Teachers Love Smart Boards

Hi Everyone,

I was visiting the Teachers Love Smart Boards blog this morning and found a post about a website called e- learning for kids.

Aimed at kids aged 4-12 , the site contains over 100 short courses over a range of subject areas including: maths, science, life skills, health , computer skills, language arts and English.

I've just wrenched myself away from the site long enough to write this post and then I will be heading straight back to see which sites will work best on my interactive white board.

Autism Classroom - Free Autism Resources and Training

Hi Everyone,

Autism Classroom. com is a great web site to explore if you are teaching students with ASD. It is full of best practice information for setting up an autism friendly classroom, has loads of free download able resources and even an online basic training program, aimed at parents and teachers. Take the time to view and download the free online training materials that the site offers and consider using them educate your colleagues at staff meetings !

Freeware for Kids - Mini- Sebran

Hi Everyone,
I have been playing around with this terrific free download from the SEN Teacher website this afternoon. Mini- Sebran is a suite of early learning games for kids between the ages of 2-6 years.
It includes letter, number and colour recognition, spot the difference and an easy to use basic 'paint' style program.
The activity screens are simple and uncluttered which makes them ideal for working with students with special needs. Click on the picture to visit the host website which also has links to a more complex suite of activities, suitable for 4-9 year olds.

Learn to be Buddies - Amanda Gray

Hi Everyone,

Amanda Gray, from Learn to be Buddies, is one of my favourite online experts. Amanda is an early childhood, special education teacher who is currently teaching university undergraduates how to develop inclusive teaching practices.

Amanda's blog is full of easy to read, research and evidence based advice for parents and teachers. Amanda encourages readers to interact with her, via the blog and her responses to questions from her readers are as informative as the posts she writes.

Amanda has also developed a set of excellent and very reasonably priced teaching tools which can be purchased through her website.

The Power of PowerPoint !

Resonsble Pet Ownership

View more presentations from Sue.

Hi Everyone,
I don't usually post work that has been completed in my classroom on this blog but I've made an exception today. Eleanor had been desperate to own a pet for a number of years. Eleanor created this PowerPoint to convince her parents that she was responsible enough to take care of a pet. Guess who got a puppy for Christmas !

PowerPoint can be powerful motivator to get kids creating texts and a creative outlet for some students on the autism spectrum, to explore and share their 'special area of interest'. So many important ICT skills can be taught while kids are creating a PowerPoint and they are fabulous teaching tools, both as a process and product, especially when they are projected onto an interactive white board or shared online with family and friends through Slide Share.

I have spent the last few days adding links to the interactive white board area in the right margin. I have also added some links to some great PowerPoint resources, that you might like to use to inspire some little people in your world or to create something wonderful for them to share with you.

If you would like to see what else went on in my classroom last year, click on the rocket in the right margin.

Food Pyramid for Kids

Hi Everyone,
By far the most frequently visited post on my blog has been one about Food Pyramid games and activities for kids. I have just had to delete that post because the link is broken. This lead me to a search of my own.

In the US the USDA ( United States Department of Agriculture) has produced some great online information and activities.

In Australia, although we do have a food pyramid to refer to, as a way to categorise foods, the focus is much more holistic . We concentrate on making changes and balances overall, to increase fitness, eat well and have a healthy life style. We talk a lot to children about 'everyday' and sometimes foods' and the importance of exercise in a balanced and healthy life style. Programs such as 'Go for Your Life, ' a Victorian initiative, have made a great deal of impact on school and local communities.

Click on the pictures to find links to all of these resources.

School Matters - Bereavement - Teachers TV

Hi Everyone,
Please take the time to watch this excellent Teachers TV video on bereavement. This video offers some simple and practical advice on how to support students impacted by a death and the life changes that follow.
'Six children at Heron Primary School were bereaved when their parents died during the school holidays. Headteacher, John Coles, faced a significant challenge in helping his pupils cope with the loss. With the help of Julie Stokes of bereavement charity, Winston's Wish, he and his staff have effectively supported the pupils through and beyond the tragedy.
At Cleeve School, two teenagers died suddenly in consecutive terms. Deputy head, Leanne Symonds, shares her valuable experience and practical response in handling the deaths which affected the whole school community.
The school has also helped a pupil bereaved in primary school, by setting up a buddy system which put her in touch with an older pupil who had also been bereaved.'

Autism Games - Tahirih Bushey

Hi Everyone,

I was very excited to discover Tahirih Bushey's website called Autism Games. Tahirih is a speech and language pathologist and she has filled her site with Information, games and videos about how she works with children with ASD in her own practice.

Follow this link to discover how she uses this simple game .

I know that I am going to be visiting this site frequently over the next few days!

Hiyah & Pete's PowerPoint Station

Hi again,
I know that you are completely over me talking about where to access PowerPoints but I am on a mission to make life easier for IWB users and I still have 2 more really great resources worth mentioning.
Pete's PowerPoint Station has a massive number of resources available for a range of audiences. Some are very basic and others complex. They are listed in Alphabetical Topic order and a bonus is that they are also linked to online games about the topic.

You may not find exactly what you are looking for but may be able to adapt one of the Powerpoints you find there or use a few to get some ideas. Make sure that you reference where the 'borrowed' information came from if you do though:)
The Hiyah website is a must visit site for those of us loving and working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability.

Sarah, the amazing mum who hosts this site, has created an extensive collection of visual materials and computer programs which cover a huge variety of topics from counting to pragmatics which can be downloaded for free!

Check out the files and programs before downloading by using the online viewing feature. It takes a while for the files to download ( I usually put a load of washing on and make myself a hot drink while I am waiting) but they are well worth waiting for.

Free Powerpoint Presentations for Teachers - TES Connect

Hi Everyone,

If you are looking for good to great quality free educational PowerPoint presentations and interactive whiteboard resources to use in class, look no further than the UK site, TES Connect. A search of the site came up with over 7000 resources.This site has other types of resources attached to it, from articles to PDF documents and even a chat forum.

You do need to join the site to access the downloads but there is no membership fee. I have been a member for 2 years and have downloaded some fantastic resources during that time.

Use the site search feature to locate the type of resource you are looking for.

I searched under 'special needs PowerPoint's' today and found literally hundreds of resources to download.
The site managers will email you once a month to let you know about new resources that have been added. The contact is not invasive and provides a regular reminder to check out what is on offer each month.

Body Image Video for Girls - Dove

Hi again,
One of my favourite online professional bloggers is Patricia Robinson , a therapist at Social Skills for Kids. Today her post lead to this set of 3 videos by the Dove company which beautifully sum up what young women need to know about how 'the media' distorts our thinking about what is normal. I particularly love the second video called 'evolution' which shows how an attractive, normal looking girl can be unrealistically glamorised for publicity shots. The first and last videos are poignant reminders to tell the young girls in our lives that they are beautiful. Click on the picture to follow a direct link to the Dove site the link. Or read Patricia's article about the video by following this hyperlink.

Watson School of Education - Dr Jeff Ertzberger

Hi everyone,

I am giving a presentation on how to make better and more regular use of Interactive Whiteboards ( IWB's) on the 27th of this month and I have been looking through some of the ready made resources, that I have downloaded from the Net, over the past few years.

I love it when I find web sites that save me loads of work and the Watson School of Education site is one of them.

My favourite area is the PowerPoint section and particularly Jeff''s collection of seasonal timers which are free to download from his site. There are some amazing quiz games such as 'Robie Knows' which can be customised to suit a variety of domains and differentiated to suit a wide range of ability levels.

The site caters for the needs of special education, pre-school, primary and secondary teachers and students and the products are very easy to use.

If you are looking for more ways to save time an maximise IWB use, scroll down the right margin of the blog to find an extensive link list of ready made activites.

Visual Timetable for Interactive Whiteboard - Communication 4 All

Hi again,
If you haven't got hours to spare, don't go anywhere near Bev Evans' website, Communication 4 All.
This site is for any teacher who is time poor or technology ignorant or both like me :)
I am always on the look out for ready made resources that I can use on the interactive whiteboard because I spend all my spare time blogging and don't have time to make up my own !
This ready made visual schedule, embedded in a PowerPoint presentation, is fantastic. It is just one of the many resources you will be downloading from the site today if you dare to visit and your download limit is up to it.
Tomorrow, I am going to attempt to stay away from my computer and read a novel . Wish me luck :)

Rubber Face- SEN Teacher Free Download

Hi again,

The theme for today is definitely emotions!

I was just having a quick look around the SEN Teacher site and found this great emotional facial recognition program called 'Rubber Face' which can be downloaded free from the site. This program would be terrific for students in Early Years and Primary classes as well as students in Special Education settings.

The students can use the 'emotions buttons' to create a facial expression or press them to indicate which expression the face is demonstrating. After practicing the skills they can take the emotional recognition quiz which has lovely, loud auditory feedback for right and wrong answers with the opportunity to correct mistakes built into the quiz to ensure success.

The SEN Teacher site has loads of excellent down loadable resources for students with special and additional needs. Take some time to have a good look around.

Emotions Colour Wheel - Do 2 Learn

Hi Everyone,

Have you had a look a the Do 2 Learn site lately?

I decided to have a look around the free area this morning and discovered a fantastic free visual tool for teaching emotions based on colour . This is a tool that I will certainly reccommend to teachers in middle years and secondary settings, for students with High Functioning Autism and Aspergers Syndrome but it would be just as valuable a tool for typically developing students in upper primary and secondary settings who are visual learners.

Having observed over the years that we each have our own unique response to colour, I was pleased to note that Do 2 learn has also provided users with two versions of a printable PDF so that students can personalise their own emotional colour chart.

Take some time to visit the site today.

Students with Disabilities in Mainstream Classrooms

Hi Everyone,
This wonderful cartoon comes from the booklet 'Students with disabilities in mainstream classrooms- A resource for teachers . This well written ,research based and easy to read document is the result of Australian Government Department of Education and Workplace relations (DEEWR) funded research - Project to Improve learning Outcomes of Students with Disabilities in Mainstream Classes in the Early, Middle and Post Compulsory Years of Schooling.
Anthony Shaddock, Loretta Giorcelli and Sue Smith, with the support of many other talented researchers and writers have put together this fantastic resource which is a must read for all teachers.
Follow the hyperlinks to find the research paper and resource booklet for teachers in PDF format.

Dr Kathie Nunley - Layered Curriculum

Hi Everyone,
Kathie Nunley has created a great site for secondary teachers who are keen to discover how to create differentiated curriculum to support students with additional learning needs and cater for the wide range of learning styles typically found in any classroom.
This site is filled with free articles and videos and materials which can be purchased online to assist teachers in their professional development and planning.
I am on ' a mission' to find quality sites about differentiated instruction during the Christmas holidays so check the right margin for more links and professional readings on the topic.

Be careful what you wish for ...

Hi Everyone,

I recently attended an 'Educator in Residence' workshop lead by Dr Loretta Giorcelli. This article was cited as recommended reading for educators committed to the development of inclusive education in mainstream settings.

Providing individual teacher aide or 'paraprofessional support', for students with a disability is a very common model of practice in classrooms around Australia.

My personal opinion is that is a practice which needs to change.

What do you think?

Click on the picture to read the article. I wonder if it will change your way of thinking, the way that you advocate for your own child or your teaching practice?

You can check out other online articles that I have been reading on the topic of inclusion by scrolling down the right margin of the blog, in the blue section and clicking on any of the links listed under 'Professional Readings 2010'.

DiVine - Online Community

DiVine- Victoria's Online Community for People with a Disability.
Click on the picture to enter.
Hi Everyone,
How wonderful!
This newly launched website not only provides information on a wide range of topics but also encourages readers to be contributors. Take a look for yourself.
Thanks for telling me about it Wendy :)

Gifted Education - Brainiac

Hi Everyone,
It has been quite a while between posts. The end of my school year has been no doubt as busy as yours. Now that transition programs and reports are complete I am looking forward to spending some more time blogging again.
I know that I am in 'relaxed holiday mode' when I start reading narratives. I'm not there yet!
I have been reading Tony Attwood's 'The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome', from cover to cover. I normally just flick to the section I need.
It's a great book. Today it got me thinking about the needs of gifted children on and off the autism spectrum .
My school runs fortnightly professional reading breakfasts. The teachers involved ( about 14 of us) meet in a cafe near the school, have breakfast together and reflect on a reading that has been selected by a group member the fortnight before. It's a fun way to keep up with our professional reading and gets each of us to look at material outside of our usual areas of interest. Colleen broke the tradition of providing a chapter or scholarly reading, in our last session for the year, by providing us with an episode of the SBS program ' Insight' to watch.
The program 'Brainiac' talks about intelligence, how it is defined and measured and how having an IQ in the gifted range can impact in both negative and positive ways on a person's life.
Click on the picture if you are interested in watching too.
I have also added some Gifted Education links to the blog margin today if you are interested in exploring the topic further.

Transition Advice for Students with ASD

Hi Everyone,
I have just read a brilliant fact sheet by the South Australian Special Education Resource Unit written at the beginning of this year about transition plans, strategies and resources for students with an ASD. The 40 pages provide a wealth of information for parents and teachers. I know I have already written two posts about this site this week but I can't promise not to write another because it is just so good! Click on the picture to read the report or on the hyperlinks to visit the SERU website.
PS: Jim has just let me know that you can be on the SERU mailing list. Click on the comments link below, where Jim has left the mailing list details. Thanks Jim :)

Special Education Resource Unit - South Australia

Hi Everyone,

Today I received an email from James at the Special Education Resource Unit (SERU) in South Australia, alerting me to the fact that this blog has been featured in their Technology Inclusion Engagement and learning news letter this month.

Thanks James.

I have had a great time exploring their website this evening. It is such a great resource. The themed newsletters are packed with the latest information and research as well as best practice advise for special education teachers and our mainstream colleagues who are devloping their inclusive practices. My printer has been working flat out!

Check it out for yourself by clicking on the picture.

Autism Training Modules Online - Positive Partnerships Program

Hi Everyone,
The Positive Partnerships Program website has a range of great parent and teacher online information and professional development programs for people intereseted in learning more about the impact of Autism Spectrum Disorder on children and families. Click on the picture to take a class.

Out of Sync Child has Fun - Carol Stock Kranowitz

Hi Everyone,
I am fascinated by all things to do with sensory processing disorder (SPD) and the impact it can have on how children interact with the world and learn. This week I poured over Carol Stock Kranowitz's book 'The Out of Sync Child has fun'. It has a wonderful introduction which explains SPD in layman's terms as well as providing over 100, cheap and practical ideas for parents and teachers to use when working with children with sensory issues. It's well worth a read and readily available online for purchase. Click on the picture for the link to 'Book in Hand' if you live in Australia and would like to purchase a copy.

Aspergers Presentation - Slide Share

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Asperger S Presentation

View more presentations from lolliejoy.

Boohbah- Cause and Effect

Hi Everyone,
Boohbah is another wonderful site to entice very young children or non reading children with special needs, to engage with technology while learning. Like Poisson Rouge ( see my previous post) there are no written instructions about how to use the site. The aim instead is to encourage children to navigate around the site themselves by clicking on the screen and watching what happens. There are so many fantastic learning opportunities available through these sites least of all being hand eye coordination skills. I find both of these programs great for kids who will only engage in learning activities on their own terms. I am sure we all know some precious people who are like that :)

Poisson Rouge - Cause and Effect Games

Hi Everyone,
The kids in my class working on cause and effect activities are going to love using this gorgeous application in class tomorrow. There are no instructions because the idea is to explore on your own and find out what happens. Poisson Rouge is great for developing hand eye coordination and mouse skills too. Have fun with it.

E2BN - Homerton Children's Centre

Hi Everyone,
I have a million things to do tonight but instead of getting on with what I should be doing I have been exploring the E2BN wesite created by Homerton Children's Centre. It is filled with ideas to make ICT a meaningful learning experience for Early Years children in all settings. My head is spinning with new ideas. Don't check it out if you are busy, it's a real trap!

Free Online Books for Kids

Hi Everyone,
The Junior Crew Bookshelf has brought together the best of free online stories and videos on the web for preschool and primary aged kids. Click on the picture to follow the link. You will find a permanent link to the site in the right margin of this blog.