Tag Archives: Sensory

Sep24

Week 4—Fall and the Letter D

Posted on September 24, 2011 by jd785

Our themes this week were Fall for the sensory group and fine motor groups and the Letter D for the alphabet group.

Sensory Group—Fall

We read Cara’s book “Its Beginning to Feel Like Fall” using our voice output device.

While reading the book, we took turns shaking a leaf garland to listen to the “rustling leaves”. We also used a hairdryer to simulate the cool fall breezes.

We looked for the letter F hidden in assorted dried beans. Our students really enjoyed the varied colors of the beans.

We looked for soft squirrels, hard pumpkins and strands of soft yarn in the fall colors of brown, yellow and orange. It was fun to watch our students pick out their favorites. Some of our students on the autism spectrum were particularly drawn to the colorful yarn strands.

We found some silk leaves at the dollar store.

We used the hair dryer to blow the leaves away to reveal the word FALL that was taped to the tray. Blowing the leaves (great for visual tracking) was a huge hit and our students loved gathering them all back up (working on grasp patterns and eye hand coordination). Yes, it was a little chaotic but lots of fun!

Joy made brown playdough using coffee and whole wheat flour. We used cookie cutters to make fall leaves.

Corn flakes made a delightful crunching sound, just like dried leaves.

We finished up with water play using Spiced Apple body wash and then Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin lotion from Bath & Body Works. Lovely scents reminding us of the fall season.

Fine Motor Group—Fall

We started by reading Cara’s book, shaking the leaves, the cool breeze from the hair dryer and stroking the soft squirrel.

We tore pieces of tissue paper into small pieces. A great bilateral coordination activity.

We talked about the shape of our paper and number of leaves (drawn by Joy) which are both math access points. We added food coloring to our glue to help our students differentiate the designated areas on which to glue their tissue paper. We found this to be very helpful.

Our student with a visual impairment glued silk leaves onto his paper.

On Thursday we continued our Fall theme.

We cut brown yarn into small pieces. Many of our students use adaptive scissors, such as this tabletop version. We set the yarn aside.

The students then painted a squirrel (drawn and precut from poster board, by Joy) with brown paint. We like these brushes made with larger handles that are easier to grasp.

We then squeezed some glue onto the tails and the students practiced their thumb/finger grasp patterns by picking up the yarn and dropping it onto the glue. A googlie eye was the finishing touch! We talked about the color brown and that the paint and the yarn were the “same” color.

After the paint and glue dried, Jeannie practiced number skills with the students by counting the number of squirrels they had made.

The Alphabet Group—Letter D

We used our home made playdough again. We rolled it out into long snakes, working on graded fine motor control.

We joined the ends to make a Donut.

Next, our students Decided how many bones to feed the Dog. We like giving our students choices of 3 as they have to choose between 3 answers when taking the alternate assessment. This activity also works on number identification and as we count the bones out: one to one correspondence.

Then we used tongs to pick up the bones and feed the Dog. This toy was purchased from the Lakeshore company catalog. Tong activities are great for building pre-scissor skills and eye hand coordination.

For our students whose motor difficulties preclude tong use, we adapted (hot glueing a plastic shower curtain ring) a toy Dog. Loop velcro was glued to his mouth and hook velcro to some of the bones. Linda Burkhart (if you ever get a chance to hear her speak—don’t miss it!!!) originally came up with the idea.

For our next activity, we put Dots (round stickers) on a Duck Drawn by Joy. Peeling off the stickers works on developing a pincer grasp.

Placing the sticker on the students thumb was a way to adapt the activity for those students with increased muscle tone.

Delightfully Decorated Dotty Duck!

We played Cara’s sound matching game. She used Boardmaker pictures to make the board and computer generated sound bites.

Our students really enjoy the post-its. We try to pick up the post-it or point to it each time we repeat a word and the students really enjoy watching the array of words build up during the session. We also try to give them opportunities to identify some of the words.

Wow, another week gone by! Please join us next week for more fun Group by Group!

Sep17

Week 3—Red, White and Blue, USA and the Letter C

Posted on September 17, 2011 by jd785

Week 3—Red, White and Blue, USA and the Letter C

This week our themes were Red, White and Blue for our sensory group, Symbols of our Country for the fine motor group. We chose these themes to follow the Unique Curriculum, which our county uses. The topic for this month is government. In our alphabet group, we are on letter C.

Sensory Group—Red, White and Blue

We read Cara’s book “Symbols of Our Country” and talked about who was wearing red, white or blue shirts. Then the students voted on what color to make the oobleck.

We like to give our students choices of 3 items because when they take our Alternate Assessment they are given an array of 3 choices.

We counted how many votes each color received. Then we talked about which color got the most votes. Dani, one of our teachers, suggested that we use cold water for blue oobleck and warm water for red oobleck so that we were also addressing one of the science access points regarding temperature.

We made the oobleck (one of our all time favorite substances) by adding water to cornstarch and adding koolaid for color. If you are wondering why our oobleck doesn’t match our vote tally its because we actually do our sensory group in 4 different classrooms during the week and ended up with pictures from different groups.

We rinsed our hands in cherry scented water and used cherry scented lotion as we talked about cherry pie as a symbol of our country. We would have preferred to use rose scents, as our book discussed the rose as a symbol of our country, but were unable to locate some in time for our group. We have learned to be flexible !

We searched for the letters USA in rice. Joy added a couple of teaspoons of rubbing alcohol, some drops of food coloring and a cup of rice into a ziplock bag. She mixed the ingredients then sprinkled them out onto a paper towel to dry, which took less than 1 hour. Repeat for each desired color. It was a nice effect and we had some students who rarely engage become very participatory with the rice.

And finally, we explored the concepts of hard and soft (a properties of materials access point) in addition to colors using mardi gras beads and pom poms. This box was a real hit with our students!

Fine Motor Group—-USA

We read Cara’s book Symbols of our Country and Jeannie brought out an american flag that the students were able to look at and touch. We then proceeded to make our own flags. First we handed out a sheet of white paper. We talked about its color (white) and shape (rectangle).

We then cut red strips using a paper cutter and then counted how many we had cut.

We then cut out some blue rectangles. Many of our students used our adaptive table top scissors to do this. Again, we discussed what shape we were cutting.

We assembled our flag placing our red strips in an “across” manner (visual copy/prewriting skill) and putting our blue rectangle at the top. This was finished off with some star stickers. We discussed the shape as a math access point. Peeling of the stickers was great for facilitating a pincer grasp. We always have the students hold up their finished product while the table gives them a big “Ta-Da” and this student was especially proud and excited about his work which he was able to complete with very little assistance.

On Thursday we continued our theme by making Uncle Sam beards after reading Cara’s book again. For the beard we used a triangle shape and cotton balls. We learned about shapes and the concept of soft. We also talked about the colors red, white, and blue.

We started with a precut triangle with a slightly concave top. The students then glued on cotton balls.

We counted how many cotton balls were on the beard and also reviewed the concepts of hard and soft. We then put chenille stems through the holes, working on eye hand coordination.

We used the chenille stems to hook the beard around our ears. We borrowed a fantastic hat from Brenda, our music teacher. Jeannie’s students had a great time posing with their beards and hat.

Alphabet Group—-Letter C

We Clapped our hands to make the Crab wiggle. The sound sensitive toy was purchased from tfh Special Needs Toys.

We then played catch. We used a soft ball that was easier to grasp for our students

The students Chose what Color ink they wanted and rolled their Cars over it. Then they proceeded to make Curves on a large brown paper grocery bag.

We opened the bag to make it a Container. We Crumpled paper (a great activity for working on palmer arches, strengthening hand intrinsics and bilateral coordination) and placed it in the bag.

We Closed the bag with Clips (we wrapped the handle of the clip with a rubber band to make it easier to open)

and……

Colorful Clothespins

to make……..

a Comfortable Cushion for our Cool Cat!!

Cara made a sound matching game. Our students had so much fun trying to match the sounds they heard on the Computer.

And finally, we Counted all the C words that we wrote on our post its!

Please join us next week for more fun Group by Group!

Sep11

Week 2—-Apples and the letter B

Posted on September 11, 2011 by jd785

Week 2—-Apples and the letter B

This week our themes were Apples for our sensory and fine motor groups and the letter B for our alphabet group.

Live and learn and BACK UP EVERYTHING!

Sensory Group- Apples

We read Cara’s book Apples Apples for Me. We recorded the sounds of an apple falling from a tree and someone crunching an apple on one of our sequencers. On the other we recorded the repetitive line “Apples, Apples Just for Me”. As we read the story the students were able to participate by activating the switches.

Prior to the session we used templates from Autumn Activities: Apples Apples Everywhere by Peggy Hundley Spitz, OTR and purchased from Therapro to make Apple glasses.

They were pretty goofy and a lot of fun!

We searched for letter A’s hidden in “apple seeds”. Dried black beans are a great stand in for real apple seeds.

The beans have a great tactile feel and searching for the hidden letters addresses object permanence.

Joy made apple scented playdoh. She substituted apple juice for the water called for in the recipe. The scent was a little light but the red food coloring made it very eye catching.

We finger painted letter A’s in applesauce.

We used Country Apple body wash from Bath and Body works to give our water an apple scent and then put in some realistic plastic apples.After drying their hands, we rubbed them with some of the Country Apple lotion so our students could smell yummy all day and help remind them of the lesson.

Our students who are able to tolerate oral tastings got to try some applesauce with caramel syrup—-a mini caramel apple!

Squeezing the syrup and holding the spoon works on bilateral and eye hand coordination. Squeezing also works on hand strengthening.

Fine Motor Group—-Apples

On Tuesday we made apples using a craft idea from Autumn Activities: Apples Apples Everywhere by Peggy Hundley Spitz, OTR and purchased from Therapro.

We used a paper cutter to make strips of red and green paper. Our students really loved using it.

The green strip is folded in half and then stapled to the ends of the red strip . We talked about the shape (circle) that was formed—a math access point.

The students hung their apples on the tree.

Then we all sat down for a crunchy apple snack!

On Thursday, our Fine Motor group continued the apple theme by making great big red apples.

We crumpled scrap paper and stuffed it into a red paper lunch bag (purchased from Target). Crumpling paper is great for working on hand intrinsics.

Of course, we counted the bags as we handed them out.

We wrapped a pipe cleaner “worm” around the top of the bag—great for bilateral coordination.

Then we counted out 2 google eyes and glued them to our worm. During this activity we incorporated lots of access points by having the students work on math by counting apples and google eyes, work on colors: red, green, and yellow, work on shapes: lines and circles and of course following directions. The students really enjoyed this actitity.

The finished product——-Ta Da!

Alphabet Group—letter B

We started with Bowling. Each student pushed their Ball to knock down the Bottles—-then counted how many they knocked down.

A 3 ring binder made a great ramp!

We strung Big Blue Beads. For some of our students aquarium tubing was easier to manipulate.

Students colored Bobby’s Beard Brown….

and then trimmed it, to work on their cutting skills.

Cara recorded some sounds to play “guess the sound” and the students used BoardMaker picture symbols to identify them.

And to end, we reviewed all our Post Its—-we sure found a lot of B words today!

Whew, thats it for week 2. Check back with us next week as we have more fun Group by Group!

Sep4

week 1—Beach, School Tools, and the Letter A

Posted on September 4, 2011 by jd785

week 1—Beach, School Tools, and the Letter A

This week our themes were The Beach for our sensory group, Cool School Tools for our fine motor group and the letter A for our alphabet group.

The Beach

Cara made a super book (she will upload it later in the week) with a repetitive line. We recorded the sounds of waves and seagulls on one sequencer and the repetitive line “at the beach” on the other. Our students were able to add the auditory component by pressing the switch after the page was read. In addition, we passed around the “mer” smell from the Follow your Nose game.

We sprayed water up into the air so it would gently land on the students—-like the ocean spray.

We used coconut scented lotion as our “sunscreen”. We also had goggles and sunglasses for the students to wear.

A hairdryer placed on “cool” setting made a wonderful ocean breeze!

After we finished the story we started our water and fluid play activities.

We made salty sea water.

We used large shells and playdoh stampers in the moonsand.

Students practiced their pincer grasps finding small shells in the play sand.

Cool School Tools

In our Fine Motor Group we talked about Cool School Tools. Cara made another wonderful book (uploaded next week) with a repetitive line. After we finished the book we got to work on our activity. Joy adapted an idea she saw in Family Fun Magazine to make a giant pencil.

First the students cut a small paper plate in half using an adaptive scissors.

Then they picked a marker and colored one half of their halves. We like markers because they have less “drag” than crayons and have vivid colors. They also have nice fat handles which make them easier to grasp.

The adults then folded the plate into a cone shape and taped it closed. We pointed out that it was a CONE shape, which is a math access point.

Precut yellow and pink rectangles were passed to the students. We talked about the shapes, the colors and counted each one as it was passed out.

Students practice writing their names then turn the paper over. The pink rectangle is glued to the bottom of the yellow rectangle. Squeezing glue is great for hand strengthening!

Next we passed a precut blue strip that was then glued on top of the pink rectangle.

We turned our rectangles over and glued them around paper towel rolls.

Smoosh the cone into one end.

The finished product! Some of our students started pretend writing with their pencils—–very cute.

The Letter A

In our last group, our students practice their fine motor skills, literacy and communication skills reinforcing the “letter of the week”.

We used tongs to Add Ants to A bowl. Counting the bowls as we passed them to each student.

Joy has a variety of tongs for the students to choose from. Working with tongs is a great pre-scissor activity.

We keep some post-its and a marker handy to write down any A words. We stick them on the table so the students can see them, point to the words etc. If we use one of the words again, we pull the post-it off and hold it up.

Next we buttoned Apples on the Apple tree.

We then passed out worksheets from Autumn Activities: Apples Apples Everywhere by Peggy Hundley Spitz, OTR and purchased from Therapro.

Students were given a choice of red, yellow or green tissue paper. When taking the Alternate Assessment our students have to pick from 3 choices.

The tissue paper was then torn into smaller pieces and glued onto their apples.

Tearing paper is a great pre-scissor/bilateral coordination activity.

Well that’s it for our first week. We hope you find some useful information and come back next week for more activities Group by Group!