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The year 2020 is almost coming to an end. We continue to live in the pandemic since March. The holiday season is here Many students have started their winter break. Some will be starting next week  We all know how our kids thrive on routine and consistency so it is important to prepare them for the break. Use Social Stories. Social stories are a great tool to help kids with autism understand the world around them. They can be used to prepare kids for upcoming changes or events in a concrete way by using visuals.  There are many holiday social stories already available online which you can use to prepare your child for the upcoming holidays. Use Calendars Kids with autism tend to experience lots of anxiety. So we can use a calendar to prepare them for an upcoming holiday. This way they will know when the break starts and when the school will begin in the new year.  Use visual schedules. Visual schedules are a great tool to use with our kids with autism as they help them to...

Parents spend the maximum time with their kids on the spectrum. Parents need to know some strategies they can use to help their kids with autism to work on their goals and help with skill generalization. Use simple language Many kids with autism are non-verbal and struggle with receptive language. We must use simple language with our kids as they struggle with auditory processing. It is also very important we give our kids some processing time or wait time before we jump in to help them.    .Always try to pair your language with visual supports as it will help them remember and process what was said to them. Always follow-through This is very important. When we give our children any instruction and they refuse to obey we must teach them to comply with the instruction. This is a very important life skill. We might have to use some prompts to help them. Use Reinforcement with your child to teach them any skill. Reinforcement is something that will increase future behaviours. In ...

 Functional Literacy by: Sasha Long, MA BCBA There is a misconception that academic and functional skills are mutually exclusive. We for some reason got stuck in this thinking that tells us that instruction and activities are either academic or functional but cannot be both. When our students get older and we begin to transition to more functional tasks – that doesn’t mean that we are leaving academics behind. It’s our responsibility as late elementary and high school teachers to ensure that our academic instruction has a functional component since that looming 22nd birthday isn’t far off. So let’s talk about our academics and functional skills can live together in perfect harmony. We can still challenge our students and teach them important academic skills while preparing them to be independent adults. Selecting literacy goals for some students is easy or obvious. Some students are following some type of skill sequencing and we can quickly identify where to go next. For other stud...

Children with autism are visual learners. Meaning most of them have difficulty in understanding language. Visuals are something we all use in our daily lives to navigate the world around us. Our kids have strength in learning visually. It helps them to understand language, do familiar routines, and complete daily living tasks.  Use of visual schedules There are different visual supports you can use with your child with autism. Visual schedules are one type of visual that can be used. A visual schedule helps the child to understand the order of activities they will be doing during the day so nothing comes as a surprise.  Most of our kids also struggle with transitions in which case a visual schedule is very helpful. There are different types of visual schedules available online. The other thing you can do is you can take photos of your child doing different activities and put it on a schedule.  We need to teach the child how to use the visual schedules the same way we teac...

  How parents can help their children with autism at home Hi everyone! My name is Heather Cacioppo and I have been a special education teacher for seven years. I’ve worked with many different families over the years. I want to share with you some ways that parents can help their children learn at home. We are currently navigating a time where parents are stepping in as teachers at home and supporting their children academically more than ever. Us teachers see you: learning common core math, continuing to support your child’s social-emotional growth, and realizing what your child can and cannot do by themselves.  Now, more than ever, teachers and parents are working collaboratively to develop an educational day to meet the needs of each individual child. This is what special education needed.  What can parents do at home? Daily living skills  Are you picking out your child’s clothes every morning? Include your child in the process of picking out their clothes. Let th...

 Its been almost 4 weeks of virtual school as the pandemic continues. I must say my son is slowly settling down in the virtual learning routine as we know our kids thrive on a structure.  The program is well organized. It is a well-known fact the first month of school is basically important for our kids to learn the routines and the structure. It is a full-day school for kids 5 days a week. There is some amount of synchronous learning which occurs throughout the day wherein the learners and the teachers are present at the same place throughout the day.  There is a lot of individual work time given to students as per their ability. There are lots of tools and programs used to support student learning. Google platform in the form of google classroom and google meet are used to facilitate the program. The typical day begins around 9 am with the national anthem followed by a morning meeting. The morning meeting typically consists of children filling in information like the da...

  We are living in unprecedented times amid the pandemic. The schools have reopened in most of the places either in person or through virtual learning.  It is a well-known fact kids with autism thrive on a routine and structure. They have been missing this since March when schools first shut down due to the pandemic. We chose virtual learning for my son as we didn't feel comfortable sending him to school due to the pandemic. The first whole week of virtual school just got over . I must confess it was very stressful in the beginning but as the days went by the kids got used to the routine which they crave so much. Overall my son has made so much progress during the week. The virtual school does involve a huge investment of time on the parent's part as our kids learn better in hands-on learning in school. This way of learning is novel for everyone as it is actually a whole day of school the kids have to participate in five days a week. There are a few things I would like to shar...