Video Games - The Ultimate Learning Tool

In the past I've seen a lot of parents put iron clad restrictions on their kids video game playing. I was one of those parents. But I've come to learn the right video games aren't such a bad thing. My son loves Minecraft and at first I was like why would anyone want to play a game that on the surface looks so old school. Come to find out it's a limitless adventure that teaches our kids a ton of different subjects. As he began to play the game, my son started picking up on many different disciplines including physics, electronics, geology, and chemistry. For example physics, my son has loved physics since he was a baby and Minecraft gives him the opportunity to test out his contraptions before he builds them and allows him to quickly make adjustments. He builds roller coasters and catapults and also understands the theories behind the actions. The other day I commented on how surprised I was that he didn't bang his car door into the one next to us and he looked at me and said "that's because I have a good grasp on trajectory" lol talk about making me laugh. The best part is it doesn't stop there. He has also gained an affinity for electronics now because of Minecraft. He loves creating machines in Minecraft with Redstone. This has helped him learn about circuits, pistons and repeaters just to name a few. As for Geology he started picking up on the different types of ores in Minecraft and their properties. In turn this lead to learning more about the elements and what happens when you combine them together, hence the use of chemistry. 

Parents out there, before you are quick to not allow game play, give your kids a chance and let your children explore. Allow them to tap into their natural curiosity to learn through play. Help them tap into their strengths.

Stop to Think - Classroom Visuals

I made these signs for my 7 yr old. He tends to over feel in situations and his para's tone of voice can send him into defiance mode. I created these as a visual to help cut back on the emotion when trying to direct him to do something. The teacher laminated them and they lay one on his desk when needed. They work so well that the teacher started using them with other kids in his class. I know they are working when my son comes home and says mom I didn't get any stop signs today and I had 3 way to goes. Success!

The signs include a stop sign, a way to go sign, and specific signs for staying in his seat and keeping his hands to himself.

Please feel free to use them. The original freeware vector signs were created by Vectoriano. I just adjusted them to fit our needs. These are intended for non profit or personal use only.

What's The Plan

One thing that I've learned that is very important for Aspies is their inner plan. Mess up their plan for the day and all hell breaks loose. But.... the problem is that most people don't know their plan and it doesn't get voiced, so as an innocent bystander you are completely flabbergasted when a huge meltdown ensues because an inner plan got messed up. One time my husband explained a situation to a psychiatrist friend of ours of how upset he was when I changed the plan on him one day and because I changed the plan I made him lose his hat. The thing that struck me about the conversation is that the psychiatrist looked at him and calmly said did you tell your wife your plan? If not, how could she know she was breaking it. The same issues with the plan happen with our son. If I pick him up after school and we have a last minute errand to run sometimes a meltdown ensues because that's not how he planned the evening to go.

Here is an interesting article on teaching Plan flexibility. Very useful for any Nero-typical working with an Aspie.

http://special-ism.com/my-plan-vs-your-plan-seven-tips-for-parents-to-promote-a-shift-in-your-childs-rigid-thinking/

Get Moving - Movement Break Backpack for School

The new school year brings much excitement but for special needs kids and their parents it can bring much anxiety. One thing we have learned to help our son fight anxiety at school is to have scheduled movement breaks through out the day. As we approach the new school year I decided to make my son's teacher a movement break backpack. I created a sheet that shows all the items in the back pack and what they are used for. In addition I created a dice game to facilitate the movement breaks. That way anyone, even if they are not trained in sensory therapy can help my son. 

Here is a link to a customizable excel file for the Backpack contents. Please feel free to use it.

Sensory/Movement Break Backpack Excel File
This is a fairly big file - 38mb

Sensory/Movement Break Backpack Printable pdf

Movement Break Dice Game

Here is the dice game I created for the backpack. I took 3 alphabet blocks that my son had when he was a baby and created a pictures for all the sides and glued them on to the blocks. You roll the 3 dice in the middle of the room the 1st dice tells you how to move to an area, the second dice tells you what to do once you get there and the third tell you how many times to do it and then you go back to the middle of the room and start over. 

Sensory/Movement Break Dice Game Printable pdf

The original idea for the dice comes from YourTherapySource.com. Here is her video on how it kind of works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8koLkOXuXQ&list=UUXc-pJwTicMicc0QXybWRgQ


Note: This is not professional advice - I'm just a Mom trying to help her son make it in this world. A lot of the items in this backpack are geared toward Proprioceptive and Vestibular activities.