Teaching and Learning Shapes—Why?

Because it's fun! Of course we all know that part, but did you know that learning shapes help children identify letters and help them with reading and writing later on? Letters are made up of circles, lines, and triangles. Look at the parts of a triangle in k, v and w or the circles in b, q, and p, also the lines of a square in l, q, k and so on. By learning to draw basic shapes children will have the beginning skills for pre-writing! Who knew you could have so much fun teaching and learning?

Wait, there is more, and this is going to be stating a bit of the obvious. Learning shapes at an early age exposes children to the world of math as well. The world of angles, geometry, numbers, puzzles, etc. is now open simply because you are teaching something so fun!

Do2Learn offers several ideas on how to begin to teach shapes and make it fun. We hope you have a great time with these activities.

• Shape People—make a shape person with triangles, circles or squares. (click on link for complete instructions)

• The Shape Book—Students learn shapes by decorating each shape with various textures. (click on link for complete instructions)

• Shape Activity Sheets—Print outs to reinforce shape recognition. (click on link for printouts)

• Shape Tracing—Practice drawing shapes. (click on link for printouts)

Job Charts In The Classroom and The Home—Why?

Job charts provide routine and visual structure which is perfect for the classroom setting and at home. Let's look at what having jobs at home and in the classroom can do to enrich and prepare a child with ASD for the future.

Children need to help take care of the classroom and their home.

• This helps children become invested in the class room itself and learn to take care of the materials in it. The children also learn to value their own property at home and that of others that live with them.
• Give each student a chore or job to help maintain the classroom.
• At home give children a chore/job that they can complete successfully and be sure to praise and show the child that others in the home have chores as well.
  
  

Children need to try their best on each task.

• This helps to establish a work ethic and reinforce the value of learning.
• Avoid having students grade each others papers. This helps lessen the anxiety and embarrassment some children may feel knowing a peer will know their grades.
• Post the job chart where it is easily visible and set aside a time for these jobs to be completed. Ideally this would be the same time each week.
• Each week change the jobs around so that the children get the opportunity to learn and try new skills.  Do this at home as well.
  
  

Do2Learn offers more information about how establishing classroom routines assists students with ASD on their website. Here is an example of a classroom job chart. This chart can be easily posted for viewing and the names and jobs switched around for variety.

Find Do2Learn Products at the ASNC 2012 Conference

I was at the main office of the Autism Society of North Carolina (ASNC) in Raleigh, NC today for several meetings and had the opportunity to run into the Bookstore while I was there and chat with Dawn Eberwein, the Bookstore Sales Specialist. She was packing up stock to set up the “mobile” bookstore at the ASNC 2012 Conference to be held in Charlotte, NC on March 30^th – 31^st. What a huge task that is for Dawn, because the ASNC bookstore is the largest non-profit, ASD specific bookstore in the United States and she was having to choose a good cross section of what conference attendees would want to purchase to have there on site.

I was excited to see that she had quite a number of Do2Learn products packed and ready for purchase. So if you are planning on attending the ASNC 2012 Conference, make sure you go and see Dawn at the Bookstore. You will be able to pick up the following and more!

• Feelings & Emotions Activity Book

• Feelings Journal (blog post 2/22/12)

• Special Needs Handbook for Teachers (blogpost 2/19/12)

• Fine Motor Skills Activity Book (blog post 2/14/12)

• Faceland (blog post 3/10/12)

If they have sold out of our products at the conference or do not have exactly what you are looking for from Do2Learn, remember that you can always order directly from us when you return. We hope you all have a great time!

Eye Tracking and Autism

The research world has recently come alive with lots of information on eye tracking and how it affects those with the diagnosis of Autism. There are studies on how eye tracking can assist with the actual diagnosis and then there are studies on how eye tracking can help teachers in the classroom, like this one published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

One known fact is, if you have a problem with eye tracking, you are likely to have an issue with reading. Liken it to trying to read a magazine while riding in the back of a pick-up truck while it is going down a bumpy dirt road. That is what children with eye tracking issues experience when they are trying to read. It is a struggle to keep their eyes on the straight line of text. Their eyes may jump (unconsciously) from one line of text to the other and therefore the information they are taking in is jumbled. Eye tracking issues cause problems with information intake even when reading is not involved.

There are lots of programs available to work on eye tracking issues and Do2Learn developed one specifically for early learners many years ago. We knew the importance of eye tracking, emotions, and facial recognition, so we combined them together in a “two games in one” game pack. Fantastic Faces combines our Feelings Game and our Eye Spy game. Eye Spy teaches those early concepts of eye tracking that are so very important for children with Autism to focus on. The Fantastic Faces combo also provides trackable progress reports and printable activities. (this combo is only PC compatible)