2018 Disability Awareness Month and Observances

Posted on January 2, 2018 by specialneedsresourcetrainingblog

Annual awareness observances are sponsored by federal, health and non-profit organizations. Awareness campaigns serve the purpose of informing and educating people on a certain causes. Each year, the number of special needs organizations bringing awareness to specific disabilities and disorders seem to grow. Awareness activities range from one day to a month.
Here is a calendar of major special needs awareness months, weeks, and days. Most websites include awareness toolkits, promotional materials and fact sheets. Since it is still early in the year, some of the campaigns still have 2017 campaigns on their websites. I will add new information once the changes are up on the websites.

Helping Children Understand Person First Language

Posted on November 22, 2017 by specialneedsresourcetrainingblog

Pubished by: ASD
Written By: Nicole Dezarn

Person first language is an important ethical matter often discussed in the field of special education and disability advocacy. The idea that the important descriptor for a person is not their disability but that the disability is something that the person has is fundamental in framing the mindset that having a disability doesn’t mean that a person is less or incapable of success. It can be challenging enough to broach this subject with adults but how do we help children to understand what person first language means and why it is so important? I felt it might be helpful to share an approach with which I have had success. Click here to read the rest of the story

Study of Nonverbal Autism Must Go Beyond Words, Says Expert

Posted on November 8, 2017 by specialneedsresourcetrainingblog

Source: Spectrum
Author: Sarah Deweedt

Roughly 25 percent of people with autism speak few or no words. A generation ago, that figure was closer to 50 percent. Most researchers agree that the decline is due to the recognition of more people with milder forms of autism, as well as to the advent of early intervention programs that have helped more children. Click here for the rest of the story.

Autism Sensory Difficulties and How to Address Them

Posted on October 31, 2017 by specialneedsresourcetrainingblog

Autism Sensory Difficulties and How to Address Them

Source: Durham Region Autism Services

People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) typically have difficulty processing sensory information such as sounds, sights, and smells. This is usually referred to as having issues with “sensory integration”, or having sensory sensitivity, and is caused by differences in how the brain of a person with ASD understands and prioritizes the sensory information picked up by the body’s many sensory receptors. When this breakdown in communication becomes too intense, the person with ASD may become overwhelmed, anxious, or even feel physical pain. When this occurs, some with ASD may act out. Click here to read the rest of the story.

Choking Prevention for People with Developmental Disabilities

Posted on August 29, 2017 by specialneedsresourcetrainingblog

Children and adults with developmental disabilities have a higher risk of choking compared to the general population.

Risk Factors Include:

Some medical conditions that increase a person’s risk of choking are:

Cerebral Palsy
Seizure disorders
Neurological and muscular disorders
Down Syndrome
Brain Injury
Muscular Dystrophy
Inability to swallow certain food textures and liquids
Medication side effects which decrease voluntary muscles
Dysphasia (difficulty swallowing)

Other contributing factors include:

Eat or drink too fast

Have poor posture when eating

Swallow non-edible objects (PICA)

The following foods put people at greater risk:

Hotdogs served whole
Hard candy
Popcorn
Sandwiches
Broccoli
Raw carrots
Nuts

Teaching Material on Choking

Arizona Department of Economic Security

Eunice Kennedy Shriver-Dysphasia, Aspiration and Choking

Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities

New York State Choking Prevention Resources

Washington State Department of Social and Health Services

State Agencies Choking Alerts

Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities

Minnesota Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities

New Jersey Health and Safety Alert Choking

Autism and Wandering Resources (update)

Posted on July 7, 2017 by specialneedsresourcetrainingblog

Studies show that nearly half of children with autism attempt to wander off or bolt from a safe supervised place (Autism Speaks). Children with Angleman Syndrome also tend to have an obsession with water and will tend to wander if water is nearby. The following resources includes wandering kits, articles and additional resources on the topic of wandering.

Click here to download a printed version of this article

What is Wandering?

When a person, who requires some level of supervision to be safe, leaves a supervised, safe space and/or the care of a responsible person and is expected to potential dangers such as traffic, open water (drowning), falling from a high place , hypothermia, heatstroke, dehydration.

Types of Wandering

Goal-Directed Wandering- wandering with the purpose of getting to something ( a place of obsession, water, etc.).
Non goal-directed wandering- Wandering with no purpose, random from one place to another.
Confusion Wandering-Wandering due to disorientation or confusion.
Bolting/fleeing- The act of suddenly running or bolding, usually to quickly get away from something, or in negative reaction to an event, anxiety or stress.

Facts and Statistics

Roughly half, or 49%, of children with an ASD attempt to elope from a safe environment, a rate nearly four times higher than their unaffected siblings.
In 2009, 2010, and 2011, accidental drowning accounted for 91% total U.S. deaths reported in children with an ASD ages 14 and younger subsequent to wandering/elopement.
More than one third of ASD children who wander/elope are never or rarely able to communicate their name, address, or phone number.
32% of parents reported a “close call” with a possible drowning.
40% of parents had suffered sleep disruption due to fear of elopement.
half of families with elopers report they never received advice or guidance about elopement from a professional.

Source: Interactive Autism Network research report: Elopement and wandering (2011)

Source: National Autism Association, Lethal Outcomes in ASD Wandering (2012)

Caregivers Information

Autism elopement and wandering kit for families (Parenting Chaos)

Big Red Safety Toolkit (National Autism Association)

28 page toolkit that provides information on preventing wandering. The toolkit includes the following information:

Caregiver checklist
Family wandering emergency plan
swimming lessons tool
Root-causes scenario and strategies tool
Caregivers log
How to get tracking technology in your town.

First Responder Resources

First Responder Checklist– A checklist for first responders developed by the National Autism Association

First Responder Notification Form

First Responder Tips

GPS Tracking Technology

The AngleSense Guardian Kit

Comes with a GPS device, embedded SIM card, customized wearables and a magnet key for parents $39.00 monthly service plan.

7 tracking devices to find a lost child with autism (Friendship Circle)

Articles

5 simple ways to prevent wandering in children with autism (Autism Parenting Magazine)

Autism and Wandering (SFGate)

Autism and Wandering: How ABA can help keep kids safe. (HuffPost Parents)

Teaching safety skills to children with autism (Our Crazy Adventures in Autismland)

The autism epidemic that can no longer be ignored (HuffPost Parents)

Wandering: A hazard for more than a third of kids with autism (U.S. News)

Wandering & Autism: Elopement within the classroom (Autism Classroom Blog)

Wandering & Autism: Students who flee, bolt, run and elope (Autism Classroom Blog)

Resources on Teaching Scissor Skills

Posted on July 6, 2017 by specialneedsresourcetrainingblog

One of the ways to improve fine motor skills is helping children and adults develop cutting skills also help with pre-writing skills and pencil control. Below are resources that will help in developing and teaching scissor skills.

Cutting Skill Development

2 years- snips with scissors

2.5 years- Cuts across a 6-inch piece of paper

3.5 years- Cuts along a 6-inch line

4.5 years- Cuts out a circle

6-7 years- Cuts a variety of shapes and pictures.

Resources on Teaching Scissor Skills

5 easy ways to introduce scissor skills

How to teach a child to use scissors

How to use scissors

Scissor cutting skills: Why they are important

Teaching kids how to use scissors

Teaching preschoolers to use scissors

The importance of teaching your child how to use scissors

Tips for teaching scissor cutting skills

Practice Scissor Skills- The following links below include practicing cutting straight lines, curved lines and circles, zig-zag lines and mixed lines.

10-page scissor skills packet (Mama’s Learning Corner)- geared towards preschoolers and kindergartners.

12 free shapes and cutting page (www.mpmideas.com)- geared towards preschool aged children

Construction truck scissor cutting practice sheets (MO & MH)- Kids will practice cutting lines.

Cut, copy and glue for spring (Your Therapy Source)- Free 3-page packet in black and white. Includes a butterfly, ice cream cone and a snail.

Free cutting and coloring pack (Tot Schooling)- Cutting pack features straight, diagonal, curved and zig zag lines.

House scissor practice (Teaching Station)- Download free worksheets. Includes shapes of circles, squares, triangles, and rectangulars.

Printable preschool cutting busy box (Fun with Mama)- post includes ways to teach kids how to use scissors and develop cutting skills

Rocket scissor practice (Teaching Station)- Kids will practice cutting and pasting shapes to make a rocket.

Snake spiral worksheet (www.education.com)- Kids can both color and cut out the spiral design.

Trolls, hair-cutting (Tot Schooling Net)- Several different levels of difficulties.

Shopping Center Teaching Activities For Children and Adults With Special Needs

Posted on July 4, 2017 by specialneedsresourcetrainingblog

Shopping Centers (or malls as we call them in North America) provide a great way for customers to walk from one store to another without the hassles of having to leave one store in order to go into another. Through the years, Shopping centers have added on movie theatres, arcades, and food eateries. This has led to a variety of ways of teaching children and adults with disabilities a number of skills.

Money Management.

Increasing money skills can be used in almost all areas of a shopping mall. Opportunities include stores such as banking, clothing , restaurants, etc. examples of items to teach include:

Will identify coins
Will identify money
Will count change
Will create a budget
will fill out deposit slip
Will fill out a withdrawal slip
Will use an ATM

Sensory

A shopping center provides a low-cost and effective way of arousing more of more of the five senses (hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch). Yankee Candle offers candles with a variety of fragrances including apple pumpkin, apple spice, beachwood, black cherry, etc. Bath and Body Works also provides samples for both olfactory (smell) and touch. Samples of fragrances include lotions, cream, massage oils and fragrance mist. Window shopping is an additional opportunity to enhance visual cues with teaching a number of basic skills. Other places include day spas, massage chairs and nail salons. Examples of sensory teaching activities include:

Window Shopping (Visual)

Will describe the color of the outfits
Will identify which items cost the most
Will describe how many of the outfits are the same, different
Will describe the various shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangular)
Will count the number of items in the window

Olfactory (Smell)

Will identify a good smell
Will identify a bad smell
Will identify the smell (i.e. smells like apples)

Tactile (Touch)

Will identify the object
Will tolerate hand massage
Will touch the object
Will describe the shape of the object

*** Be mindful some children and adults may have sensory processing issues and can be oversensitive to sights, textures, flavors and smells.

Social Skills

Teaching social skills involves communication, decision-making, self-management and relationship building. Locations in a shopping center to develop these skills includes, eatery and restaurants, banks, department stores and movie theatres. Samples of teaching social skills includes:

Will greet the store associate
Will say thank you
When promoted, will ask for help
Will wait patiently
Will make eye contact
Will use appropriately voice tone

Teaching Prompts

A few guidelines in teaching new skills:

Teach a new skill at least 2-3 times. The shopping center allows multiple opportunities to work on a number of skills including money management, and social skills.
Allow the person to think for themselves use prompt levels to help navigate levels of independence: Independent, verbal, gestural and physical.
Allow for real choice-making. Choice is more realistic when it involves at least 3 items or more. Choosing a new outfit or an item from a menu are perfect examples.
Always remember to praise!

4 Tips On Task Initiation For Children and Adults

Posted on June 21, 2017 by specialneedsresourcetrainingblog

Task Initiation is often a challenge for children and adults with an executive functioning disorder. For a child, it may be lack of initiative in doing homework while for an adult, it may include forgetting or putting off paying bills. Children and adults with task initiation issues generally have a diagnosis of autism, ADHD, Intellectual disability or a learning disorder.

Click here to download a printed version of the article

Signs of a task initiation impaired executive functioning skill would be someone having difficulty in getting started on a task and keeping the effort needed in order to complete the task. A child or an adult require external cues in order to complete the task. Also, it will require understanding what is expected and understanding the task. Here are a few strategies:

Limit Distractions. In the classroom any type of added sensory input can defer the student from getting started in their school work.
Create a List. Visual support will help to increase getting the work done for a school-age child, you may want to create a to-do list which the steps are broken down into smaller steps. When a person with an executive function is given a task, it may be overwhelming, making it more difficult to get started.
Use Cues. A clock or a timer will help the child or adult stay on time and understanding the amount of time it will take to complete a task
Break task down. Create where the work is done in chunks so that the work will not be as overwhelming for the student.

Special Needs Resource and Training Company

Providing online disability awareness education and training resources

Category Archives: Autism Spectrum Disorder

2018 Disability Awareness Month and Observances

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Like this:

Helping Children Understand Person First Language

Like this:

Study of Nonverbal Autism Must Go Beyond Words, Says Expert

Like this:

Autism Sensory Difficulties and How to Address Them

Like this:

Choking Prevention for People with Developmental Disabilities

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