OMAC Using Creative Arts

2011-01-01T13:00:00.001-08:00

I know that this has been a long time coming....but it takes a great deal of time (which I don't have) to get a website up and going...in addition to the OMAC Book to be published by Brooks Publishers and which should be available in the Spring.

I am now serving as the editor for Special Needs Resource Magazine. Join me there.

All of the OMAC information, links and helpful hints have been imported into the new site so you won't miss out on the information that you've been able to find here. This OMAC site will no longer be updated but there will be new articles, photos and helpful links posted on SNR.Mag.com to assist you in your day to day work with our special students. There will also be a special place to put Free Printables and even a page for posting great ideas for Bulletin/Teaching Boards.

So, please join me at the new site and sign up to receive the newest posted article via email.

Sensory Room Website

2009-09-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness - I have a treat for you. I know that many of you use Sensory rooms or sensory items for your students or children with autism or other spectrum disorders. Well, here is a great website that you could use in your classroom or in home schooling. It is called The Sensory World.

You just have to go to the site and look around in order to understand everything it has on the site. Using the mouse you can visit room in the House - a music room and kitchen and a sensory room. In looking around it also has a Money manager that would be a wonderful way of teaching basic real life money skills to our older students. The sensory room would be great for a group sensory activity using a Smart board (interactive white board).

The site also has a 5 page printable guide that I would suggest you print to help you get the most from the site.

This is a great site and kudos to the United Kingdom's Elizabeth Fitz Roy charity. The site was developed for students with learning disabilities.

Let's Cook

2009-09-07T14:36:00.000-07:00

One of the best ways to teach our students life skills is to get in the kitchen and cook.

Kids Cooking.com has a great list of 13 Non-reader recipes (scroll down the page). These recipes have photos of step-by-step directions on how to cook each item.

Here is another group of visual recipes. These are made with picture symbols.

Visual Recipes.com is a site that you have to register for - but it is free (remember I'm thrifty). Check it out. It has a huge group of recipes with photos.

Look at this great site! Mrs. Brown's classroom has not only a group of recipes but stories that go with them. It is a site for cognitively disabled students.

Making Learning Fun is really cute. It has a huge number of visual recipes and lots of other things too. Take time to look around.

Sensory Gardening

2009-05-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

You know I like to think outside the box and I love to use the Creative arts. I want our students to experience lots of things - sights, sounds, tastes and smells. I also want them to develop a love for something that will become a lifelong passion and leisure activity - something more appropriate than watching Barney videos over and over. They need to experience new things before they can develop new passions...so why not gardening?

I'm going to provide just a few resources for information about Sensory Gardening. It is a garden with plantings that provide input for all of a child's senses. Very interesting.

So here are a few things I want you to check out:

Sensory Gardens

Sensory Gardens layout

Gardening Coloring Sheets & More color sheets & even
More Coloring Sheets

You doing research? Here is a thesis on Theapeutic sensory gardens for students with autism. Great way to gather resources/research for valididating a grant request. The research is already done for you.

Here is a site that describes each of the sense and things to do.

Here is a grant that you could watch for when it opens again for 2010. From the National Gardening Association.....go for it!

I love to garden - I don't have time but I will soon. I love this site - KidsGardening. I've used it for years & they also used to give grants - so watch for them. I know we are talking about Sensory Gardens but what about gardening in general - a great way to create a lifelong leisure activity for your students with autism.

Aquatic Therapy and Autism

2009-05-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

Summer is coming and so is swimming! Sometimes though, a combination of swimming and autism may be dangerous and difficult to manage.

Here is a good article that talks about using Aquatic Therapy as a Recreational activity. There are several safety concerns that one must take into account when using water activities with students on the autism spectrum:

The student's sense of danger is skewed or nonexistent.
Sensory issues may be under or over stimulated and the water temperature may discourage the student from entering the water
Due to the significance of receptive language and the ability of the child to follow verbal direction - make sure to closely supervise
Some students have unusual behaviors such as licking and may swallow an inordinate amount of chlorinated or salt water
Due to unusual fears, some children may not enter the water at all

Some recommendations and resources:

If you are making a trip to the beach consider a tracking wrist band. ION kids has one that alerts parents when children get too far away. It looks like a watch and is water resistent.
Here is another tracking device that is available from a common discount store.
Try the Tatoo set that many are using for the students with autism.
Be careful with the bathing suit - try a tight t-shirt to help with the temperature shock of the water

I want you to help your child enjoy the summer and enjoy the water. What I do not want to happen is this.......so be careful around the water.

Spiderman, Music and Autism?

2009-04-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

How can you go wrong with Spiderman and Music? Do you have a student or a child who would do anything for Spiderman? I know there is a fine line between encouraging the restricted interest and using that interest to enhance progress in other areas.

Well look at this site. This is not a group of freebies but is a great place to order Personalized Musical songs about spiderman. What a great reinforcer!

There are also Books and CD's on Superman/ Wonderwoman. Batman, Garfield, etc.

There are even samples of Personalized Barney songs.

Online Art Gallery

2009-04-03T20:55:00.001-07:00

Have you ever considered an online art gallery to display the student's art work? Check out the Kids Tate site. It has an online site that you can create the cutest online gallery to enhance your use of creative arts in the classroom.

Our students and their parents would love to view the children's art work online. Use this to educate others about the talents and gifts our students have. Could you also use this as a fundraiser? or use it with your Autism Awareness activities?

Check it out and use it creatively!

Coloring!

2009-03-21T21:06:00.001-07:00

All children love to color... in fact I love to color! There are many of our students on the spectrum who also love to color - particularly those who are functioning at the higher end of the spectrum. I have had many experiences with students living with Asperger's syndrome who love the visual detail of geometric coloring pages.

Check out this site: Dover Publications. They have several freebie coloring pages - many of which would be great for teaching leisure activities, as reinforcement activities, or as a fine motor activity. Several are also geometric shapes but they have several other types of pages.

Here are a few examples:

There is also a free email service you can sign up for - you will receive free coloring pages.

You may find that the students enjoy the use of colored pencils more than crayons. You can certainly also use these for painting.

Autism Bibliotherapy

2009-03-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

All children love books. I don't know that I've ever seen a child not get excited when you offer to read them a new book. The colorful pictures, creative characters and imaginative stories. It is a wonderful way to teach social/emotional skills, encourage language, promote analytical thinking and enhance social awareness....even our children on the spectrum.

Here is a list of books about Autism that you may enjoy reading with your students.

Here are other books that are appropriate for use in an Inclusive classroom.

Here are books on Worrying.

Here is a list of books on other types of special children issues.

Felt Boards, Story Boards, and Autism

2009-03-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

Gone are the days of the felt board. I can so remember listening to Sunday School lessons watching with awe as the teacher placed colorful pictures onto a felt board and they stayed like magic. It was not only easy for her it was attention getting for a bunch of squirmy first graders.

Story boards are still just as interesting to our students. They bring a story to life as do puppets. I'm going to sing the praises of Kiz Club again, as I did on the Parent Page last week. But this time I want to introduce you to the story board visuals.

These story boards are wonderful visuals that you as teachers can easily use in the classroom. Use this page. Copy the visuals onto card stock. Cut out and place felt pieces or sticky back hook & loop tape. Use a large board covered with felt and use this when you tell the story.

Here is another a page with each of the stories read aloud. This would make a wonderful Center activity for our students on the spectrum.

Do you use Nursery Rhymes? This is a great way to encourage verbal language for our nonverbal or minimally verbal students. Teach the rhyme, going over it day after day. Then say the rhyme, stopping to let the child fill in the blank. This page of Kiz Club gives you not only the rhyme but the visuals to enhance the rhyme's story.

And if you want crafts, Kiz Club has those! This page on the site is filled with wonderful kid crafts that will not only enhance your teaching the subject matter but also enhance our student's ability to use verbal language, socialization skills and fine motor skills.

Games

2009-03-06T17:11:00.000-08:00

Let's talk a minute about games. I know of a wonderful site called AutismGames. This site is about Games that you can use with children on the spectrum. The author of this site, Tahirih Bushey, is a Speech Language Pathologist and writes about how and why to use games with our students. She gives many different video clips showing how to use the games she describes.

Playing games with our students helps teach so many different skills. As I have mentioned to many teachers before, we need to build in a structured leisure time into our classroom schedule. This should not be considered a break time for the staff but more of a teaching time for our students.

What kinds of things can we teach by playing games? You can teach how to:

Take Turns
Greet others
Work together as a team
Increasebasic motor skills
Deal with frustration
Win/how to lose
Develop a lifelong leisure activity

In addition to the Tahirih's site, there are several simple games on the market that you can use with our students, dependent upon their ability level. Here are a few from a website called Children Succeed.

Calming Techniques and Art

2009-02-27T20:28:00.001-08:00

You know that many of our students with autism struggle with anxiety and stress at a level that may be more significant than their age level peers. There are research studies that are now being conducted to measure the levels of stress in the body and it's relationship to the level of autism symptoms/behaviors.

Let's talk about the ways that the Creative Arts can assist our students in relieving stress and anxiety. This post will focus on Art.

I recently attended a wonderful class/session on the use of Art therapy with students to relieve stress. One of the activities that seemed to be the most effective was the simplest. We drew our breath.

Okay, I admit that sounds weird...and at first it was. But, it worked.

Our students with spectrum disorders get frustrated, stressed, and anxious. This may be due to sensory issues, social issues or maybe some sort of chemical difference that we do not know about as of yet. As they get stressed their breathing rate increases and becomes more shallow. But if you will notice in your own breathing, as you relax, your breathing slows and becomes deeper.

So, what does art have to do with teaching our students a relaxation technique? Well, let's talk about how to teach them to draw their breath.

First, give the students a crayon or marker

Next, stack large blank paper in front of them

Then, have the students close their eyes and listen to their breath

They then put the marker on the paper and draw a line that represents their breath

As I did this activity I noticed that my line resembled alot of tiny mountains. As I began to relax it began to look like larger and larger, broad mountains with deep valleys. It was really amazing how my breathing slowed-became deeper and with periods in between each breath of no breath at all.

I was able to concentrate on my breathing and calm myself - using a visual technique....does this sound like a technique for children on the spectrum? You bet it does.

Free Music Playlists

2009-02-18T20:03:00.000-08:00

Do you want to see something amazing?

This site is free! And there are 1000's of songs to choose from. You know how I promote music for use with our students on the spectrum. Music touches a child the way nothing else can. This is another tool in your OMAC Toolkit that you can use in many ways:

in a sensory area
as a reinforcement system in that you can program certain songs that you know are reinforcing to a certain student
use it for a music time during group - it makes it easy and is less expensive that trying to find a CD with a certain song on it

Just be creative. It is just another free way to make use of the internet while using another Creative Art form to enrich the lives of our students with autism.

Craft-Therapy

2009-02-12T17:10:00.000-08:00

No, there is no such thing as Craft-Therapy - I made it up. But, there is certainly therapeutic benefit from using art with students who have special needs.

There are so many ways to use crafts to benefit our students and here are just a few:

Increase fine motor skills
Decrease sensory aversion to certain textures/items

Increase social interaction and ability to work in groups

Increase relaxation through deep breathing techniques while using art

Decrease stress created by situations or events through drawing

Encourage communication through the use of drawing and use of color

To Encourage the development of a Leisure skill

To develop hidden talents of our students with ASD

There are several craft sites that will give you creative ideas of ways to incorporate crafts into your student's schedule.

Teac herPlace is one of those sites. This site has a way of searching for craft ideas by subject area and by age level of the student. This site is not directed at students with special needs but there are great ideas on this site.

KinderArt has has a page for Special Artists. This will provide for numerous crafts that are designed for children with special needs.

Family Education also has an area of their site that is filled with different types of craft ideas.

ArtistsHelpingChildren has lots and lots of ideas. Take the time to look through this site.

Of course the Crayola site has not only numerous products for sale but lots and lots of wonderful ideas to help

There are also several types of items for purchase that may be helpful for our students with ASD. Look through your local discount stores for these same types of items.

Art Spinner for our students who enjoy spinning items.

Spirograph for the same type of spinning activity just less messy than the paint version.

Sidewalk Chalk is a must. The resistance of the chalk on the concrete is good.

Clay is a great medium. This is a great stress reliever for our students.

Of course Fingerpaint. Wonderful for stress - the use of color to understand and express feelings and to desensitize to textures.

This is a start to getting your creative juices flowing and begin to see Crafts in an entirely different way.

Music Therapy

2008-10-19T17:57:00.000-07:00

You know by now that I love the creative arts and the use of those arts with our special students. I want to provide you more information on Music Therapy and the use of music with students with autism.

This is a PDF file on the use of music with students with ASD. You need to understand the use of music with our students - the goals of music. I preface this by saying that music will not cure autism and music will not cure behaviors, cause verbal language to suddenly begin nor will it totally irradicate the difficulty they have with peer interaction.

But.....music can enhance the sensory lives of our children and may also enhance their ability to use leisure time, their ability to interact with the environment and may enhance other areas such as academics and communication.

I also need to say that you should not expect your school system to offer music therapy - this is something parents may want to do privately but please do not expect this of the school system. Teachers and parents alike can certainly add music as part of the student's daily activities.

There are many sites for free music online. Here is one. This site has lots of free instrumental songs for download - you pick the style and type of music. You could use these just for transitions or for movement/dance activities, etc.

Here is an article that talks about Music, Movement and Learning. This will give you ideas on how to use music with our student who are on the autism spectrum.

Music and Learning

2008-10-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

Do your students love music? I know so many students with autism that adore music. It can be such a reinforcer and can be used in the creation of behavior plans - as the motivating activity in which to enhance behavior change.

Do you like free? Now, you know by now that I do. All teachers do! Well, here is a website that will give you a complimentary full length sampler music CD! I ordered one but haven't gotten it yet - so I can't give a review - so you do the same.

In additon to the CD, Tuned in to Learning will also give you free PDF's on how to use music with different groups of students - one being students with autism.

I promise I get nothing for reviewing websites.....but I also promised that I would let you in on sites that will be a help to you and ones that will help you help our kids with autism. Order a CD, read the information on how to use music with ASD and see what you think.

Using Imagination with ASD

2008-09-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

Here is a Great video on using all types of Creative Arts with our students with Autism.

This 30 min video on Teachers TV shows students at Rosehill Special School in Nottingham, using all types of creative arts. These pupils use Art, Dance, movement, photography and music to enhance their creativity and tap into their minds in order to explore untapped resources.

Just watching this is inspirational and may give you ideas of using different creative media with your students in order to tap into untapped abilities.

Teacher TV is free and has many other resources available. Check them out!

More Cooking

2008-09-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

I am a big believer that cooking can be a creative technique for teaching our students with autism. In addition to teaching functional skills, it teaches academics, social skills, etc. But you know as well as I do, it can be a challenge with our kids. I found a good site for Kids and Cooking.

You need to think safety first. Here is a Kitchen Safety poster that you can use at school or at home. It also has picture symbols so it will be great to use for our kids. Teach safety in the kitchen early in life. Don't just keep them out of the kitchen for safety reasons - teach them how to function in the kitchen.

This site has a list of videos along with the recipe that they are making. This is a great way to show the students what they will be doing in the kitchen by preteaching them or preparing them before you ever get into the kitchen environment. Now how well does that go along with our best practices in the world of autism!!

Here is a calendar to help the students plan meals, list of foods that are in season and on sale, chart with visual symbols for teaching measurement, invitation that kids can use to invite other school friends/staff to a cooking party.

Be creative and use the kitchen as an extension of the classroom - who knows you may have a budding chef in your group!

Art in the Classroom

2008-09-13T12:34:00.000-07:00

As we discussed in an earlier post, there are so many ways and reasons why we use Art in the classroom with our students who have autism spectrum disorders. The use of visual stimulation with color, design, texture and form can enhance the learning of basic skills. Also the use of fine and gross motor can not only enhance the student's abilities in these areas but also provide sensory input that may help calm the student. It also provides for learning a leisure activity that they may take into adulthood.

Karen Talmadge and Vickie Dobrofsky has written a great book on practical uses of Art in the classroom. Click on the book to get a peek inside. It carefully indexes all of the art tasks so that you can document these activities on lesson plans. Remember art is an important teaching tool and not just a filler activity!

This book is published by Tasks Galore.

Cooking

2008-09-08T15:53:00.000-07:00

I know that you may not feel that cooking is part of the Creative Arts but it can be. Think of the sensory input that is involved in cooking: Smell, Taste, Touch, and Sight. There are ways to use cooking to not only teach basic independent functioning skills - which is what I promote - but also to use this medium in order to touch your child in a way nothing else will.

I know many of our students on the spectrum may have eating difficulties. We'll deal with that in another section. Let's think of ways to use the act of cooking to encourage Socialization, Communication, and the development of a Leisure activity.

Here are several very easy recipes from Family Education that can be used to get your child in the kitchen. Tin Snips has some great recipes with printable visual supports. This is also a great site for picture symbol recipes. There are also several recipes for PlayDough made in the kitchen. You just need to be careful with our students eating the playdough - even though it may be edible- Pica (or eating nonedibles) is sometimes a concern for many of our kids.

Some of the objectives to the tasks could be:

taking turns
learning step by step OR first-next-last concepts
practice different fine motor skills (stirring, opening, closing)
feeling different textures and describe
smelling different smells and describe
tasting different tastes and describe
"use your words" to describe foods
categorizing foods (cold, liquid, dry, vegetables, sweet, hot, etc.)

Another suggestion is to get a 3-ring binder and create your own simple recipe book for your child - with Picture symbols. Create one page per recipe and laminate each page or put into plastic sleeves for protection. Use this recipe book over and over to promote mastery. I am certain that your child's teacher would also appreciate copies of the same recipe to use in the classroom.

Music in the Classroom

2008-09-02T17:53:00.000-07:00

We have all heard about Music Therapy and it's use in the world of autism. Here is some research based information on Music Therapy. But you need to remember that every classroom may not have access to a certified music therapist. There is something to be said for just using Music in the classroom and in the home setting with our students with significant challenges.

We are not going to say that the use of Music Therapy or even the use of music is going to cure autism. We are saying that for some students with autism, music may touch their sensory system in a way that nothing else can. It may also stimulate the student's level of engagement and may even enhance communication/social skills.

There are many ways to use Music in the classroom- here are a few:

1. Transitions.

This site provides are numerous songs about different types of transitions in the classroom and these are available for purchase.

2. Use music to teach academics.

Here is a site that offers free songs in .zip files and one math song and a coordinating math activity sheet.

3. Use music to touch emotions - to relax and to stimulate.

This page offers many suggestions on using music to relax, to stimulate and for learning.

4. Use music to enhance communication.

This site provides songs for teaching speech, language and communication skills. These are also for purchase.

Play Therapy using Puppets

2008-08-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting article on using Puppets to teach Social Skills to children with Special Needs. These kids with Asperger Syndrome seem to relate to the use of puppets in learning social skills.

Our kids with ASD have a difficult time in their perception of how their behavior affects others. They also have a difficult time in reading the nonverbal cues of other's behavior. The use of puppets seemed to allow of way for the kids to speak their feelings through using the puppets as an extension of themselves.

The belief in Theory of Mind and how it relates to Autism is the notion that students with autism do not understand that other people have their own beliefs, feelings, and points of view. Students with autism have a difficult time understanding these beliefs and feeling in other people. Could the use of puppets as an extension of themselves help with this? I don't know but it maybe worth trying?

Why Use Creative Arts?

2008-08-24T07:18:00.000-07:00

The use of the creative arts with our students with autism and even our students with other special needs is a wonderful way of not only enriching their lives but also a way of teaching academic, social and leisure skills.

Even though our students with autism have special needs they are still just kids. They love music, they love art, they love puppets. These activities touch and use the right hemisphere of the brain and help to enhance relaxation and creativity.

I'm not saying that the use of Art, Music and other types of creative therapies will cure your child of autism. You are only using these to enrich your child's life - as we do with all of our kids. I'm going to touch on several different types of creative arts and give some ways that you can use these to help our kids with autism