your child plenty of time to associate the picture with the activity. It’s tempting to give up too soon if this takes some time. However, if you stick with it you should gain a tool that will reclaim some order in all of your lives.
Chapter 4
Your Computer as a Valuable Resource
Information on autism, chat rooms, support communities, resources and advice are all now available at the click of a mouse in most homes. However, we have to be selective about the sites and resources we use and wary of information posted about autism that is misleading or exploitative. In saying that, the computer can save us time and money, especially when it comes to finding resources and materials: we can make our own picture cards in a fraction of the time, source innovative activities, and use interactive programs designed to assist our children’s understanding in specific problem areas such as recognizing emotions.
To help you through the overwhelming maze, here are some activity websites, ideas and downloads which I feel are the most useful.
Remember that ‘ABA’ has come a long way as an early intervention strategy and even though you may not be on or wish to be on such an intensive plan, the sites set up for and referring to ABA can have extremely useful resources to use when you are working on directed learning activities.
Free picture communication aids
There is no longer a need to invest large amounts of money to create a bank of picture aids for your child. There are unlimited images on the internet for you to print off and use, from the logo of your child’s favourite restaurant or play area to standard Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) cards for typical activities such as dressing and bathing. Here are some useful sites:
www.speechteach.co.uk
Free picture cards and games that can be used for communication; click under resources and find the links.
www.childrenwithspecialneeds.com
Click on PECS for more free picture and photo cards and matching activities.
http://trainland.tripod.com/pecs.htm
Scroll down to ‘Free standard size PECS pictures’ for links to hundreds of symbols.
www.abaresources.com
Click on ‘Free downloads’ for picture symbols for commonly read children’s books and popular games.
www.do2learn.com
Many free printable cards, or for a small charge you can download ‘Make a Schedule’ for access to over two thousand colour and black and white images for using in schedules and Social Stories™.
www.angelfire.com/pa5/as/asteachersites.html
Click under ‘positively autism’ for lots of free printables, aimed at teachers but great for structured learning time at home.
Remember that if you are looking for a specific image and can’t find it, key it into an internet search engine such as ‘Google’ and search in ‘images’ and choose the cleanest, most representative picture. Keep backgrounds to a minimum and avoid ‘overly stylized’ illustrations. If the picture looks too busy, copy it into Microsoft ‘paint’ (or equivalent) and use the eraser tool to remove some of the ‘fussy’ elements to leave you with a clean image.
Websites to explore emotions
www.transporters.tv
Anecdotally, children with autism seem to find Thomas the Tank Engine highly appealing. Based on this observation, ‘The Transporters’ is a world of imaginary toy vehicle characters who have emotional experiences and adventures. It aims to help children enhance their understanding of the causes of emotions and of emotional expressions. Children who don’t naturally want to look at people’s unpredictable faces may be interested in the characters’ faces which are ‘grafted’ onto beautifully predictable, attractive vehicles.
On this site you can watch/download the episodes and play the quizzes. You can also download the characters’ faces and make your own emotions matching/recognition games.
www.dotolearn.com/games/facialexpressions/face.htm
A computer generated face from which you can choose to view eight pre-set emotions or program your own. You can use this activity in a number of ways: for very young children, try printing off two each of the set of emotions to make a ‘snap’ game , you could simplify this by just starting with ‘happy’ and ‘sad’. For older children you could show them the print and ask them to make the matching face on the computer and then match it with their own expression in a mirror. Have your printed emotions on hand during the day to show your child what their face/siblings’ faces look like as events unfold: ‘excited’, ‘angry’, etc.
www.tulareselpa.org/Autism/Communication/EmotionRing.shtm
This page includes links to a free software application that can be used to create an ‘Emotion Ring ‘ (a collection of emotion cards on a binding ring), which can be personalized and used as a first step in introducing emotional identification, understanding and regulation.
Video modelling
www.modelmekids.com
This is an American site providing social skills-modelling DVDs; it would be useful to check out samples of the DVDs first (which you can do) to see if they are useful or appropriate for your child. The site is aimed at parents delivering ABA style programmes in the home, however these DVDs would be useful for children on the Asperger end of the spectrum requiring concrete examples of how to tackle specific social situations. There are also free downloads of worksheets and colouring pages such as ‘turn-taking’, ‘waiting’ and ‘taking criticism’.
Website for schedules/calendars/tokens
www.abaresources.com
Click on ‘free downloads’ to print off token themed pictures (e.g. Spongebob), pictures for rewards on behaviour charts or at structured learning sessions. Also includes weekly and daily schedules.
Websites for worksheets and craft activities
www.do2learn.com
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