Category Archives: autism

Pick of the Week: NEW! Fun and Colorful Reinforcers

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Reinforcers are a key element in any intervention program as they lay a foundation for motivating children to learn and acquire new skills and language. This week, we’re letting you take 15% off* on these great reinforcers we’ve just added to our catalog. Just apply our promo code REINFORCE at check out to redeem your savings on either or both of these reinforcers!

Pop Toobs – Set of 6
The fun never ends with these snapping, popping toobs! Each toob flexes back and forth, expanding from 8″ to 30″ and can be stretched, bent, and connected together. This is a great toy for working on joint-attention, reciprocity, response to sounds, and working on action words, such as “push,” “pull,” “pop,” and “open.” The toobs provide tactile stimulation while developing fine motor skills and auditory feedback. Most of all, they’re just plain fun to play with! Colors vary.

Ocean Wave Drum
Hold the ocean in the palm of your hand! This attractive Ocean Wave Drum carries a special textured wave-like rim. Gently tilt the drum and watch the colorful beads dance as you listen to the soft, gentle sound of soothing ocean waves. This drum also makes a great tool for practicing vocabulary (e.g. “shake,” “hit,” “up,” “down”), joint-attention skills, and using multiple objects together in play. This sight and sound experience will provide endless fascination and fun!

Don’t forget – you can take 15% off* your order of either or both of these brand new reinforcers by using our promo code REINFORCE when you check out online or over the phone this week!

*Offer is valid until 11:59pm EST on February 17th, 2015. Not compatible with any other offers. Be sure there are no spaces or dashes in your code at check out!

Valentine’s Day Craft Ideas for Kids

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Valentine’s Day is coming up, so we thought we’d share with you a few craft ideas we came across online to help you add a little lovable learning into your weekend with your child. These crafts and activities are great for practicing skills in fine motor development, matching and sorting, sequencing, identifying emotions, and more!

Valentine’s Day Bingo

These Valentine’s Day-themed Bingo cards, created by Kristy over at Libbie Grove Design, are a great way to get kids excited about learning about numbers. Download and print them out for free on regular A4 paper to get started.

 

Valentine’s Day Same or Different

This packet, designed by speech & language pathologist Jen, contains eight different worksheets that target identifying items that are the same and items that are different.  There are two color worksheets and two black and white worksheets that target identifying items that are the same in a row.

Hearts-Themed Missing Letters and Matching Numbers Activity

Sherine at Trial & Error Mama came up with these adorable hearts-themed activities to practice spelling, counting, and matching with her daughters. For some inspiration, check out the different ways she got crafty on Valentine’s Day with her girls.

Valentine’s Day Feelings Book

Valentine’s Day is the day to show your love to those you care about. This Feelings Book idea by Ruth is a great way to help kids identify and talk about feelings. Download the Feelings Book template for free here!

 

Let us know how you’re getting crafty this Valentine’s Day with your student or child!

 

Autism Documentary to Air on HBO: “How to Dance in Ohio”

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“How to Dance in Ohio” is expected to debut on HBO this fall. (Laela Kilbourn)

A new autism documentary called “How to Dance in Ohio,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 25th will debut on the HBO network later this year. The documentary follows a group of three girls from a group of young individuals on the autism spectrum, who learn how to navigate the social rules involved in the suspenseful experience of a spring formal dance. Directed and produced by award-winning filmmaker Alexandra Shiva, “How to Dance in Ohio” is a story of the universal human need to grow, connect and belong as uniquely dramatized by individuals facing the deepest struggle toward social survival.

For more information and to receive updates on the film, visit www.howtodanceinohio.com.

TDF Presents an Autism-Friendly Performance of “Aladdin”

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Mark your calendars! On March 8, 2015, the Autism Theatre Initiative of the Theatre Development Fund will present an autism-friendly performance of the acclaimed musical comedy “Aladdin” at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City.  Tickets will go on sale on Monday, February 9th, 2015 at 12:00pm EST.

All tickets for this special performance are being specially priced to ensure that as many individuals, as possible, affected by autism, sensory and communication disorders, or learning disabilities, are able to experience this extraordinary production. This show will be performed in a welcoming, supportive environment for individuals on the spectrum, with sensory and communication disorders, or learning disabilities. Slight adjustments to lighting and sound will be made for the performance. In the downstairs lobby, there will also be a break area staffed by specialists in the field, if audience members need to leave their seats during the show.

For more information about this performance, visit the Theater Development Fund’s website.

Tip of the Week: Stop Behavior Early in the Behavior Chain

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Recently I was working with a family to toilet train their son Jonathan, a six-year-old with autism. (Names and identifying characteristics have been changed to protect confidentiality.) When he eliminated in the toilet, part of his reinforcement was getting to watch the water go down the toilet after flushing. At some point, he developed the behavior of putting his hands into the toilet water as it was flushing.

When I went in to observe the behavior, one of my goals was to identify the steps in the behavior chain. Pretty much everything we do can be viewed as part of a behavior chain, in which one action is a cue for the following action. For Jonathan, each time he placed his hands in the toilet water, the behavior chain looked like this:

Pulled up pants
Stepped towards toilet
Pressed button to flush toilet
Stepped back
Watched water as it flushed
Stepped forward again
Leaned down
Put hands in water

Behavior chains can be even more detailed than the one above, depending on the needs of your learner. Identifying the steps in the behavior chain for an undesirable behavior can have a huge impact on your interventions. For Jonathan, we were able to stop the behavior of putting his hands in the toilet water by interrupting the behavior early in the behavior chain. It’s too late and unsafe to stop him once he’s leaning forward to put his hands in the water. Through prompting, which we faded as quickly as possible, we changed his behavior chain to this:

Pulled up pants
Stepped towards toilet
Pressed button to flush toilet
Stepped back
Watched water as it flushed for 3-5 seconds
Stepped towards sink
Leaned forward
Turned on water
Put hands in water

Instead of waiting for him to engage in the inappropriate behavior, we redirected him several steps earlier in the chain, providing a gestural prompt toward the sink and had him start washing his hands 3-5 seconds after he had started watching the water flush. This was ideal for two reasons: first, it was the expected step in an appropriate toileting behavior chain and second, it provided an appropriate and similar replacement behavior since Jonathan was still able to put his hands in water.

This behavior chain was relatively easy to change. While it may not be as easy in some interventions you may try, it’s essential to remember to stop the behavior early in the behavior chain. It’s much easier to give a child an activity that requires use of their hands as soon as you see them lift their hands out of their lap than it is to remove their hand from their mouth if they’re biting it. And it’s much easier to redirect a child to put their feet back under their desk than it is to get them to stop once they’re sprinting out of the classroom. Looking at the behavior chain and considering when to intervene as a part of your intervention plan is quite possibly the extra step that will make your plan successful.

WRITTEN BY SAM BLANCO, MSED, BCBA

Sam is an ABA provider for students ages 3-12 in NYC. Working in education for ten years with students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and other developmental delays, Sam has developed strategies for achieving a multitude of academic, behavior, and social goals. Sam is currently pursuing her PhD in Applied Behavior Analysis at Endicott College.

Pick of the Week: All Aboard the Language Train!

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Endless possibilities make this “language train” a tool you’ll return to time and time again! Create-a-Game: All Aboard the Language Train creates a fun and creative way to enhance teaching language skills to young learners. The set includes a Velcro train and track that await your customized picture cards and words! This week only, you can save 15%* on our newly added Language Train by applying our promo code TRAIN15 at check-out!

With the Language Train, you can teach vocabulary, sequential concepts, spelling, reading, and more. You can even use it as a visual schedule. The set includes one 3-foot track and 8 train cars. Don’t forget to take 15% off* your order of Create-a-Game: All Aboard the Language Train by using promo code TRAIN15 at check-out!

*Offer is valid until 11:59pm EST on February 10th, 2015. Not compatible with any other offers. Be sure there are no spaces or dashes in your code at check out!

Article by Michael John Carley on Huffington Post: Examining the Legitimacy of ‘Autism Life Coaches’

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In this article, Michael John Carley, Founder of GRASP – the Global and Regional Asperger Syndrome Partnership – shares his thoughts on evaluating autism life coaches for individuals on the spectrum. Diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome in 2000, Michael John Carley is the Founder and first Executive Director of GRASP, the largest organization comprised of adults on the autism spectrum. Some of the great takeaways we found in Michael’s article are: 1) discern which [coaches] are conveying information that resonates as authority or as new to us; 2) find coaches who are great listeners; 3) examine your coach’s own life and how he/she has made informed choices towards happiness; and 4) be wary of those who do not provide face-to-face contact.

Click to read: Examining the Legitimacy of ‘Autism Life Coaches’

Going, Going… Gone – Save up to 30% on these last few items!

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We’ve marked down prices on more than 40 different products to make room for all of the new and exciting additions in our 2015 Catalog (Vol. 33), so you can SAVE UP TO 30% on puzzles, timers, manipulatives, games, schedules, and more! We still have a few left in stock, but they’re going fast, so act now before they’re all gone!

No promo code necessary. To request a copy of our newest catalog, click here!

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Pick of the Week: NEW! Socially Savvy – An Assessment and Curriculum Guide for Young Children

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No child should be left to flounder in a confusing world of social nuances and expectations. Social competencies pave the way for a child to have fun at birthday parties, resolve conflicts with friends, feel heard, and stand up for oneself.

As our Pick this week, we’re thrilled to feature our newly printed assessment and curriculum guide Socially Savvy. Get your copy for an introductory price of only $39.95!

Socially Savvy: An Assessment and Curriculum Guide for Young Children helps educators and parents break down broad areas of social functioning into concrete skills. The included checklist pinpoints a child’s specific strengths and challenges—which in turn makes it possible to prioritize the skills most in need of intervention, develop strategies to address them, and track the effectiveness of those strategies.

This manual includes targeted, play-based activities that foster the development of social skills critical to a joyful childhood and future academic success. Socially Savvy is designed for all parties—from educator to the parent—working with children in planned and naturally occurring opportunities to help develop essential social skills. This manual serves as a resource to make both learning and teaching social skills a fun, rewarding experience. This guide:

  • Introduces the Socially Savvy Checklist and how to effectively integrate it
  • Describes the 7 areas of social development in detail
  • Provides skill-specific sample IEP objectives
  • Offers detailed step-by-step teaching plans
  • Includes 50 specific games and activities for teaching targeted social skills
  • Offers specific ideas on progress assessment and data collection
  • Shares two case studies to illustrate the process from initial assessment to intervention and data collection

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Soft cover, 256 pages, by James T. Ellis, PhD, BCBA-D and Christine Almeida, MSEd, EdS, BCBA.

Don’t forget—you can get your copy of Socially Savvy: An Assessment and Curriculum Guide for Young Children for our introductory price of only $39.95 for a limited time. No promo code necessary.

Our 2015 Catalog (Vol. 33) is Here!

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We’re thrilled to announce the arrival of our 2015 Catalog, Volume 33! Go and request your free copy here. Along with exclusive articles written by our community of experts, you’ll also find brand new products which we’re incredibly excited to share with you. This May marks 20 years in business, and we still find great excitement connecting you with the right products for our children’s progress and potential. And to all of the parents, teachers, therapists, and autism specialists, we’ve loved connecting with you and getting your input on new products and solutions to add to our line.

We hope you enjoy the new catalog, and please feel free to get in touch with us with any questions, comments, or feedback!

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