Autism vs. Communication

Below is video about a girl named Carly. She has severe autism but learned to express herself through her computer. Check it out!

Morning Calendar

Every morning my class starts off the day by doing what we call "Morning Calendar". It's a chance for us all to sit and discuss what day it is, what the weather is like, and learn some basic daily facts like how many minutes there are in an hour. Originally, I did Morning Calendar on a whiteboard, but since the addition of an ActivBoard in my classroom, it's grown into a whole big activity. Whether you have an ActivBoard, a whiteboard, or a chalkboard, you can still take the general principles and use them for a fun lesson each day. At the top, we discuss the date, then we move onto the season. After that we circle what the weather looks like outside, then make guesses on what temperature we think it is. We write out guess next to our initials and click on the hyperlink that goes to a website with our temperature readout. Next we decide what the appropriate clothing would be for the weather outside, and dress this poor guy accordingly.

Next is money. For students who are just starting off with money, we do basic facts (quarter=$0.25, etc.). For students with a better understanding of money, we practice adding the money on the screen, then reveal the answer underneath it.Fractions are next. We count how many piece are total and put that number on the bottom. Then how many are shaded and that number goes on top. Every day I change the location and number of the shaded pieces.

Moving on to time. We discuss basic time facts and then read the exact time on clock.

Then we discuss facts about the calendar. How many days in a week, etc.

Next we answer some simple questions about ourselves (address, date of birth) and some questions about our location (zip code, coast). Afterward we click on the hyperlink to Google Earth and continue with our geography. We go through and list our planet, country, state, county, city, and school.

It took years for my students to be able to answer all these questions. If you implement a lesson such as this, start simple. Then move on to more complex questions.