Videos of Alana working on Work Boxes at her TEACCH Model Work Station at Home

Alana's Work Box Tasks for TEACCH Work Station at Home; Videos of them being done to come next!

Here are some pictures of the work tasks Alana was doing yesterday at her Autism TEACCH model workstation here at home. I videotaped her doing each one and that post is next!! So stay tuned!

The picture above is the file holder that has worksheets, file folder games etc. in it to use for her tasks.

This I just wanted to point out that I am the biggest procrastinator and from the green over to the "shire" is file folder games that I have yet to actually put together into a folder. I copied them all from a book I borrowed from her teacher last year.


This pizza puzzle file folder game I got from abcteach.com among many other things I got from there. It is difficult because you do not match the shapes but the pepperonis and they all look very similar! You can make this harded by not having the picture to match the piece too.. just them putting it together like a regular puzzle. I printed it on cardstock, but only laminated the pieces (not the paper glued to the folder) and use velcro.

This is tracing sheets, Letter and her Name.. I place these in the same bin together. I have masters that I just copy as needed.

This is of course a puzzle. It's one of the more difficult ones because a) it is an actual picture while most 25 piece puzzles are cartoony and have more solid lines, b) its a free standing puzzle (not a board that it is placed on that shows its border etc.). If I am giving her a puzzle that does have a board with it she gets 3 of those in one bin because they are easier. But for this one, one is good. Puzzles can be used by most ability levels, by outlining the puzzle pieces on their matching board, numbering them with matching numbers on the board, making a board that goes with a free standing puzzle, using peg puzzles, starting at simple 3 piece peg shape puzzles.

This is a gripping activity that also teacher patterns, very good for fine motor. Before I bought this I used cheap clothespins from the store and carboard colored the same colors with marker, so that is always an option!! I bought this from Abilitations.. and have lost a yellow and blue pin.. ughh I hate little pieces!

This is what we used before I bought the one above.. I think these were like 2$ at the store.

This is nuts and bolts activity, I give them to her put together and then she takes them apart and puts them back together. Good for fine motor also matching. I got thses from abilitations (comes in a huge pack of 24 I think).. but you can always use some from the hardware store but we have little piece issue here and these were cuter lol.

This is a Sticker Dot Letter activity. I have every letter for younger kids you can start with just one letter but I do the full page of 2 letters. I got these from her teacher and keep a master of each letter (a to z) and copy as needed but you can probably be easily made yourself by hand or in a paint computer program. it helps with fine motor (the stickers) as well as letter recognition.

This is a cutting activity, I got some of these cutting sheets from her teacher and again keep what she gives me as masters and copy them as needed. The thicker outline makes it easier to cut, and could easily be done with any coloring book page and just outlined with a thick black marker and copied as needed. The scissors you see here are from abilitations catalog, they have many different types.

This is her last box which is normally the reward box, this is dot art page she used an art dobber to "color". Other ideas for a reward box are playdough, candy, any toy your child likes. A folder with pecs type pictures so they can choose the reward, (audio book, outside, ticker, squeeze, books, computer time, candy etc.)

Just a few pictures of the station (bins start on the left and when completed move to the right)

If your child isn't distracted by it supplies can be kept on the top of the REINFORCED shelving units and on the bottom shelf. I have the file holder up there (2 actually) and a bin of flashcard that I use to do some activities and folders (see a previous post on using them for folder games) and a bin full of puzzles etc. and of course her work light since she is often working in the evening after school.

File Folder Games, Work Station, TEACCH, Tasks, Desk, Workjobs

So yesterday I spent the better half of the day making up some file folder game work tasks for Alana for her workstation... I even have the mess I made to prove it. And as promised I said I would share. If you have no idea what I am talking about you might want to check out this post first. There is a few more I want to do this coming week, one with pictures of animals with the word. A few with alphabet flash cards.. the picture of the apple and she has to match the letter A to it etc. Oh the possibilities.

Tips:
1. Flash Cards usually are not tolerated by kids with autism as it is a dual activity. Utilizing those flash cards in a file folder form is much more efficient.
2. If you are glueing or even velcroing a back of a card to the folder and you need that other side for any reason (like copied the number answer to the how many picture on the other side) always keep a folder of a copy of the backs of the cards.. THIS way if you lose the copied number etc.. you will have a backup, because once its glued you will not be able to copy it again. Think of it like when you keep the original worksheet and only utilize copies.
3. Some people prefer not to glue at all but use all velcro, this can be beneficial because you can rearrange the picures/cards to thwart off your child purely memorizing where they go. This can also be aggravating if you have the type of child who would rather remove them all then actually do the work.
4. Laminate, laminate, and laminate. As much as possible laminate. I did not laminate the cards on these because I dont have enough laminate paper but if you do laminate the cards too! Always laminate anything that is not a cardstock, normal paper will never last unless its laminated. You don't need a fancy machine, I just buy self laminating paper in the office section of Walmart. It comes in many sizes I buy the photo size normally. The larger letter paper size is a little harder to manipulate plus I dont want to waste a large one if I have a small piece to laminate.
5. Have lots of velcro on hand.
6. You can add envelopes to the front of the folders to hold the pieces.
7. Most of my flash cards, I found near the puzzle section of the thrift store, and the dollar store as well. Very few were actually bought at Walmart, etc. but even those are cheap.
7. I am steering away from "pure" matching because that takes Alana 1 second but that would be the first step in these file folders for younger kids or kids that are new to this concept. I am matching words to pictures, versus picture to picture. Matching things by category, alike, opposite, etc. rather then just matching the same picture to the exact same picture.

This picture shows the "answers" that I photo copied off the backs of flash cards you will see below. I then cut them and placed them on the laminate paper. I have double sets of the numbers because I will be using those on the actual bins themselves so she goes in number order instead of just picking what she wants.

All cut up, laminated and ready now.

These are my extra copies that go in a folder since I will be gluing the cards on the folders I won't be able to access them again and if she loses a piece of one of the file folder games I can simply make another one from these "originals".

Laminating paper.

This folder is go togethers. How they use this is there would be one in each section and the "matches" would be in the bin or an envelope on the front and they would need to put them where they go (this goes for most file folders). Place it back in the bin and to the finished side of the desk. This one is all velcro, no glue so I can move around the pictures if I want if she starts to memorize them. These cards were made as a go together set.





This one is also go togethers in carebears, this was just a flash card set of "words" but I found a few that went together and am utilizing it that way. Also all velcro.

Inside of above folder. need to draw lines on it though.. oops.

This one is cards that are ryhming pictures, same idea as the go togethers you leave one on and the "matches" are set aside for them to place where they go. Also all velcro.

Inside of above folder.

This one is opposites in sesame street of course. This was also a "words" flash card set that happen to have alot of opposites in it so I utilized this one in that manner. Gotta draw lines.. oops. but same idea as the others just a different way of "matching". All velcro.

More opposites from sesame street.

This one I photo copied both sides of these flashcards and used the photocopies laminated to be kind of a dry erase activity. The child has to circle which number is the correct one for how many there is. You could always just laminate the actual cards and do this but I wanted the cards as backup in case something happened to these.

These I bought at the dollar store I think. They are a dry erase, one side has the words with all letters and the other side has the "red" letters missing and they have to fill it in. So it shows them what goes there just makes them write them in, which as we all know writing instills it into our memory better then just seeing the word.

These are her name worksheets, the same ones they use at school because we wanted to be consistant with the name writing. She traces these. and hates it. She is a huge perfectionist and gets mad. lol. Other worksheet ideas are dot to dots, they have some sticker dot designs and letters too that most kids like and requires no actual writing. Also tracing anything shapes, lines etc. Also cutting tasks are good get a clearly defined cutting paper like a person that the background is all black.. they cut the person out. Just place it and the scissors in a bin. I will post about worksheets, etc. more indepth another day.

Pooh go togethers this one is one card glued to the folder and the "match" velcros to the card it goes with. I took the spoon off the bowl and the flowers off the vase to show you the cards underneath :-).

This one was just a few cards I found in one of the sets that I found task worthy, I think I will make up a middle, under and over answer pieces to change it up every nowand then. The cards are glued down. We are tring to encourage readin and word recognition, that is where we are right now.

This shows the answers place on it. (answers were on the backs of the cards)

I think these time ones are over her head right now but I had the cards and its never to early to try new stuff! Its only the hour and half hour times, no 7:08 etc. The clocks are glued down and the times are velcro answers she would place where they go. (answers were on the backs of the cards)

Colors.. The first step to this well after just matching the exact pictures to the same exact picture would be to match color to color, one way to do this is make the "answer" word blue in blue font, word orange in orange font etc. So they are matching the color but also see that word associated with it. Alana is beyond that step so I am trying to branch out to the just the words. This requires some level of "reading" which really isnt reading in our normal sense but more so memorization that she knows that particular word is associated with that object/color. Cards are glued down and answers velcro to the cards. (answers were on the backs fo the cards)

Same idea with shapes/word recognition. (answers were on the backs of the cards)

This one is a combo folder I did, when first starting out you wont want to do mix tasks like this. Its directions with word recogonition, and identifying money/ word recognition again. Money and arrows are glued and the "answers" are velcroed. (answers were on the backs of the cards)

More time..

Number/counting recognition. The numbers were on the backs of these cards, I copied them and velcroed them into little answer pieces. I think I am going to make number words like four, six etc as answers to change this one up as well every now and then. Cards are glued answers are velcroed to the card.

Directions, cards are glued answers that were from the backs of the cards copied and laminated are velcroed.

More Pooh go togethers. One card is glued and the matching cards are velcroed to the glued card.

Alana's "Work", Autism, TEACCH, Home Program, Workboxes, Shoeboxes, Work Station, Therapy

So I am going to share a bit of what we do with Alana everyday which can be put to use with any children really but especially Autism, ADHD etc..

Alana is in the TEACCH Program at school (which is awesome btw).

The TEACCH program is basically a very structured instruction with visual supports, teaching kids independance, academics and readying them for the workplace.

Each student has their individual work station (in most situations, some classes use one station and interchange it throughout the day between students). The station is intended to minimize distractions and keep the child focused. They usually consist of a desk or small table and a bookshelf or partions on each side of the desk and for some kids even behind the desk. This is not to be put in a play room (because toys are tempting!) or in view of a TV if at all possible

In Alana's class they have their own stations, in this station they do tasks that they can complete independantly or with very very little reminders, these tasks make it clear what needs to be done, some with picture directions, written directions, etc. if needed. Examples of a few of these tasks are File Folder Games which are mostly matching type tasks, the folder has things that they have a match to that they velcro to the same one in the folder. Workboxes, Workjobs & Shoeboxes , etc. which can be made or bought to suit the child, these are tasks the child can do independantly like sorting, matching, hand manipulation etc. etc. , puzzles, and worksheets. (links show examples, the etc one the tabs at the top have TONS of examples) A book about tasks and ideas.

The tasks are changed out every so often with new ones and then usually brought back just for a "refresher" so they don't forget. They start out with just have 3-8 tasks on the left side of them and when each is completed they are transferred to the right side of them. After that they are moved into numbered tasks they must complete in order, and so on.

So here at home we set up a work station for Alana to do some of these tasks here at home. Its a form of therapy, keeps her brain working AFTER school, and keeps her busy instead of running around like crazy. We are still in the beginning stages and need to make more creative work boxes with some of the ideas linked above! It's a work in progress! For now we are more on the things we already have that dont need to be "made" but shortly I will be making others along with Jennie her caregiver. I will be posting these as we make them!

But for now here is some photos of Alana at her work station at home yesterday with commentary on the tasks she is doing.

This one is pegs, here she is just putting them on the board, its a fine motor activity, to enchance this activity you can take a picture of how you want them put on the board and they follow the picture.

This one is just a bin of clothes pins inside that they have to put on the edge. I didnt start taking pictures until after this one because this is a very hard activity for alana, the strength needed to squeeze these clothespins onto the end of a bin is not easy for her. It really helps with hand function and the ability to control it.

These were just some larger scale shots I took to show the "station" the green bins on the left are tasks she still needs to do, then to go to the right when she has finished them. The bottom shelf is extra tasks and supplies to change out with the current ones. The files on top are worksheets and future file foler games, also her "reward" file.. some use these some don't when the kids start doing numbered bins in order the last bin can be a leisure activity like playdoh, or an award folder.

These are puzzle "words" good for puzzle fine motor activity as well as sight reading the words.. that are with the pictures.

This one I was doing something and didnt get pictures until she was done with it, its a 25 piece puzzle w/o a border. If you don't know what I am talking about when I say a border..think the cheap 3 pack you can get at Walmart that the picture doesnt stop at the pieces, the board/cardboard that pieces are placed on also has part of the picture.. Those are kind of like the puzzle being started already for the kids.. Oh here is an example. the first in puzzles would be Peg Puzzles then the chunky puzzles the next ones would be puzzles that are put together on top of a picture of the puzzle so its kind of like matching (you can buy some like this or actually photocopy the puzzle or take a picture yourself), the next step would be a puzzle with a picture border then the next one would be a puzzle with a board 24-48piece to place it (but no picture border, only pieces are the picture) the next one would be the above where only the pieces are the picture and there is no border or board, it is just put together on the table. (Alana uses a board to help her with these because it helps her with the edges to have something there, but the puzzle on this board does not fit the board and did not come with it, its a board from another puzzle.) (also sometimes tracing the puzzle pieces shapes on the boards and/or numbering them can help too.) Okay enough about puzzles..

This next task(s) is again a type of puzzle but it helps subconsciously with spelling and reading and recognizing letters. The next step I plan on doing after this is having her have a file folder with animals and then a laminated word of the each animal and she must match the word to the animal.. this would show she could read the word or at least memorized the word goes with that animal.. works for me!

Again another puzzle task this one shows opposites, yes we need to be more creative but like I said we are just starting lol..

Lining them up at the top of the desk..

And Beading.. another great fine motor activity, we are ahead of the just beading she is doing here in this photo. The step after this which we have done and still do is to draw or photograph an order you want the beads in and they must follow the photo or drawing. This can be done for many of tasks even giving them legos and have a picture of the legos made into a car that you want them to make (sometimes depending on the child and where they are you can jsut have a photo of the finished product, or you might need to have photos of each step)

Now I KNOW this desk is bringing back school memories right?? lol