AutismTeachingStrategies.com

11 wall displays / visual tools for autism social skills teaching. Free downloads.

joels — Sat, 11 May 2013 12:02:06 +0000

Many of my social skills resources for children with autism feature large visuals that can be used either as accessories during teaching or as wall displays. Below you will find links to eleven of my blog posts which feature large, illustrated panels as part of the kit.

To go to the resource, click on the PICTURE.

Rigidity / Flexibility Panels

These are part of a social skills kit which includes lots of scenario and role play cards.

Dealing with Losing and Disappointment Panels

These are a free sample from the People Points Kit that I sell

Tattling and Correcting Panels

These are a part of big free download kit which includes dozens of picture cards

Showing Concern Panels

These panels, which are part of the People Points kit I sell, are to help children with ASD with the complex verbal and nonverbal components of showing concern for others

Silly to Serious Kit

These are part of a big kit that includes dozens of situation and role play cards. Many teachers in autistic support classrooms have found the panels useful for behavioral classroom management. You can put an arrow on one of the four levels and say “We are at this level now.”

Teasing / Bullying Panels

This is part of a larger kit which includes a lot of situation and question cards to help children with autism to deal with the practical and emotional aspects of being teased and bullied.

Components of Listening Panels

There is also a simple worksheet using the same set of visuals. Conversation Train Panels

This is a free sample for the Conversation Train kit that I sell. This is very useful system for teaching pragmatic conversation skills to children with high functioning autism.

Reciprocal Conversation Panels

This is part of a kit that includes a card game activity for conversation activities with children on the autism spectrum. It is derived from a concept of RDI.

Compliment Matching Panels

These panels, a sample from the People Points kit I sell, is to help children on the autism spectrum to practice the social skill of giving compliments.

Panels on Relating to Girls

These are part of a kit which includes role play and situation cards for teen boys on the autism spectrum who are learning social skills relating to female peers.

14 Simple conversation social skills kits for children with autism: Free games, prompts, worksheets, activities

joels — Sun, 05 May 2013 12:22:37 +0000

Here are a number of my free resources to help children on the autism spectrum with various elements of conversation. This post is to facilitate access to them.

To link to the resource, CLICK ON THE PICTURE.

Nonverbal communication prompts for children with autism

Use these in combination with a variety of conversation practice activities. There is also a short YouTube video to explain.

Are You Listening Sheets

There are various ways to use these. If you are working with a small group, you can post one on the wall for each child, then add check marks for desired performance as you proceed.

All About Me Signs

These are designed to help kids with ASD to focus on the interests of the conversation partner. It works best if they actually wear them – this keeps them from looking at their own sign.

Green Zone Sheet

This can be used with all ages. Non-readers can draw little pictures. Two children fill out the sheet simultaneously. The free kit includes several other Green Zone visuals and a link to an explanatory YouTube video as well as the Green Zone kits which I sell. The sample shown was given to me by an attendee at one of my workshops.

Question, Comment, Compliment Sheet

This sheet can be used in combination with the Green Zone Sheet as well as most other resources in this post. This sheet is available in the Green Zone post.

Talk to Family Check-off Sheets

These simple worksheets are designed to help children with autism to acknowledge the interests of conversation partners within their families. The worksheets can easily be modified to provide visuals to support conversation activities in classrooms.

Chain Game

This activity, from Relationship Development Interventions, teaches back-and-forth conversation turns and topic coherence. You lay out the chain pieces in sequence while two children are talking. Abrupt departure from the shared topic triggers the broken chain.

Builder Game

This activity, also from Relationship Development Interventions, essentially duplicates the Chain Game but with a different set of visuals. There is a YouTube video to demonstrate this and the previous activity.

Conversation Train Wall Display

This is a free sample download from the Conversation Train Kit that I sell. It teaches beginning, middle and end in conversation, and is a step up from the Chain Game and Builder Game.

The Conversation Box

This resource, derived from ideas in Relationship Development Interventions, is based on the premise that there are eight valid categories of reciprocal conversation. The eight large prompts explain each category. The eight small cards are placed on a box, which children pull out randomly and use as conversation prompts in role play practice.

Pie Chart Visuals

These simple visuals are very useful to help kids on the autism spectrum who speak too much in groups / class and for others who say too little.

Compliment Maker Wall Display / Visual Aid

This set of panels, a sample from the People Points kit I sell, helps children with ASD to create compliment by matching word phrases with pictures.

Control-o-meters for formality, volume, personal space

These simple meters have a variety of social skills applications and kids on the autism spectrum seem to really like them. Shown below are meters for volume and personal space.

I enjoyed developing these resources and I hope you find them useful. They are “free,” but I would be very grateful if you could “pay me back” by emailing me to: 1. tell me how you used them, and 2. Photos showing how you used them.

joelshaul (at) gmail.com

Joel Shaul, LCSW

Using imagination, imaginary creatures and art to engage children with ASD in work on social and emotional skills, Part 2: Free worksheet downloads

Elaine — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 22:42:58 +0000

Here is a pair of worksheets designed to help children with high functioning autism to increase their awareness of social skills issues.

Many children with Asperger’s and other autism spectrum disorders are quite fond of fantasy characters. Social skill teaching interventions which employ fantasy characters can tap into these predilections, increase insight and sustain interest in the social skills teaching work.

Two months ago, in early March, 2013, I gave an all-day workshop in Seattle, “Harnessing Fantasy and Fascination to Promote Social Skills Learning in Children with High-Functioning Autism.” Based on feedback I received from participants during this presentation, I decided to create a series of structured drawing worksheets to help children in the process of identifying problems and beginning to work on solutions. You will find the downloads for these worksheets below. (The worksheets above are examples I created using kid art I found on the internet.)

Part 1 in this blog series examined a social skills fantasy character system devised by Social Thinking, and also another set of resources devised by me and Rebecca Klaw, the Ryuu dragons. Please read Part 1 by following this link HERE.

Children with high functioning autism seem even more interested in fantasy worlds than neurotypical children. Here are some pictures drawn by children with ASD which their parents submitted to our website, ryuuworld.com.

Why bother to incorporate imagination and art into social skills work with kids on the spectrum?

1. Children with ASD lose stamina in social skills work if we don’t lighten it up a little. Think about it. Many are in for years of listening to people like us scrutinize and edify them.

2. Children with Asperger’s and other autism spectrum disorders very often have a special fondness for fantasy worlds.

3. Children with ASD often do much better identifying problems if we employ a strategic, indirect approach to it. If you ask a child on the spectrum, “Are there ever any problems with changes or dealing with new schedules and routines?”, the child might answer “No, not really.” But if you show the same child a picture of Rock Brain (from Social Thinking) or Rigidity (a Ryuu character), and ask, “Do these characters ever cause any problems for you?”, you will very often get a completely different answer.

Drawing worksheets, based on fantasy characters, to explore social skills challenges in kids with ASD

Start by introducing social skills fantasy character kits such as the two introduced in Part 1 of this blog series.

Then, to introduce the drawing activity, you can try using language like this:

“No one is perfect. Almost everyone has lots of problems. There is a very important kind of smartness called “insight.” That means, you are able to look inside yourself to see what things you are good at and also what things are hard for you. People who have lots of “insight” are especially good at noticing what problems they have.

I wonder which of you kids is going to be good at knowing what your problems are?

To find out, we are going to do a fun and challenging drawing activity. There are two different ways to do it.

The first way is to pick out an Unthinkable character or a Ryuu Dark Force character that seems to be like you in some ways. Draw it, and describe how this Unthinkable or Dark Force character affects you. The second way to do this drawing activity is to invent your own Dark Force and Light Force character.”

The worksheets are in six categories and are designed to be completed in pairs

Don’t expect kids to complete all of these. I believe it would be satisfactory for most kids to complete one or two pairs.

1. Dealing with anger

2. Dealing with worries

3. Calming down your body. This could cover hyperactivity, or else finding appropriate places and times to stim.

4. Getting along with others. This could cover cooperation, conflict avoidance, concern for others, friendship skills.

5. Spending too much time alone

6. This one does not specify the problem category

How to print out the worksheets:

Click on the image. Allow it to open in another window. Press print.

I think you and your students / clients might really like these activities. I would appreciate hearing from you, actually, to find out. If you are able to email me any pictures, that would be great too:

joelshaul (at) gmail.com

Joel Shaul, LCSW

Here are 3 of the 62 Ryuu cards, available at ryuuworld.com.

Click on image. Allow it to open in another window. Print.

Using imagination, imaginary creatures and art to engage children with ASD in work on social and emotional skills, Part 1

Elaine — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 20:23:17 +0000

In this blog post, I show some ways to harness the power of imagination to engage kids on the autism spectrum in social skills work.

Imagination and creativity in social skills work

Many children on the autism spectrum have remarkable imaginations. In this blog post, I will tell you about two varieties of social / emotional teaching materials which were specifically designed to make strategic use of imagination to help kids with high functioning autism to work on skills such as conversation reciprocity, cooperation, social integration and emotional regulation. In the second blog post, I give you free downloads of simple art-based worksheets you can use to start harnessing imagination in your work.

[CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE SECOND BLOG POST WITH THE FREE DOWNLOADS OF THE DRAWING WORKSHEETS FOR KIDS]

Social Skills Town Citizens… Social Thinking book

Social Thinking™, Social Town, Thinkables and Unthinkables

I have enjoyed exploring various Social Thinking books by Michelle Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal. So far, I have gotten the most out of this particular book, which features dozens of characters. You are probably familiar with the premise of this popular series of books. The citizens of Social Town are under attack by Unthinkables, creatures who try to adversely affect people’s ability to communicate clearly, get along with others, concentrate, control their bodies and manage their emotions. Readers need to learn how to defend themselves from Unthinkables by using Superflex and his team of Thinkables.

The strength of the Unthinkables materials lies in the appealing and meaningful pictures, some of which were created by children. As I browse around Pinterest, I see numerous examples of how mental health professionals, SLP’s and special ed teachers have adapted the Thinkables and Unthinkables to their own work with their young clients and students.

My own imaginary characters, and how I use them in combination with Social Thinking characters

The Ryuu products, available at ryuuworld.com

Around the time when the Social Thinking people were dreaming up the Thinkables and Unthinkables, Rebecca Klaw and I were busy conjuring up the Ryuu dragons, Dark Forces and Light Forces. Stylistically inspired by anime, Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh, the Ryuu world features six dragons with autism who “evolve” through four levels as they learn various social and emotional skills. The dragons must protect themselves from 17 “Dark Forces” by learning the skills of 18 “Light Forces.”

Here is what Ryuu cards look like. Shown below are a sampling of dragons, Light Forces and Dark Forces.

These are what the Ryuu cards look like close up. The ones below show several of the dragon characters:

When I became familiar with the Social Town characters, I realized that I would be able to maximize participation, understanding and involvement with my own clients if I could fashion a hands-on format and simplify the character descriptions as much as possible. Many of my clients are quite young and/or learning disabled. So, after a couple weekends of work – and the kind permission of one of the authors, Pamela Crooke, I created my own private set of Unthinkables cards to use with my own clients, featuring a couple dozen key characters.

They look like this close up:

The terms of use for the Social Thinking images limits their use to private use without distribution.

Suggestions on how you can use Social Thinking Unthinkable characters and Ryuu characters concurrently

If you already use Ryuu cards and our other social skills materials, I think your students / clients might get a lot of out of using the Thinkables and Unthinkables along with them. There are fascinating similarities between the two social skills teaching systems. Both employ imaginary characters using a dichotomy of “good guys” and “bad guys.” Both systems are valuable for motivating kids, in a fun format, to identify problems they need to work on and strategies to try. Be sure to check out Part 2 of this blog series, where I provide drawing worksheets to help kids to identify their key Dark Force / Unthinkable characters and even to invent new ones.

Fun with finding similarities between Unthinkables and Ryuu Dark forces

Just for fun, and to demonstrate some of the similarities between these two picture-based systems, I lined up a number of matches and near matches. Enjoy.

This is Superflex, who heads up the Unthinkables. Those Ryuu cards are for Thoughtcatcher, who helps all the other Light Force characters.

I hope the kids you work with enjoy this stuff. Remember to check out Part 2 in this series, for some very nice drawing worksheets.

Joel Shaul, LCSW

Autism and listening skills: Visual prompt sheet and wall display to help

Elaine — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 22:39:54 +0000

In this blog post, you can download this worksheet (shown in color and black and white).

Visuals to help children with Asperger’s and other autism spectrum disorders to improve listening skills

Children on the autism spectrum can find it painfully difficult to tune into the words and meaning of other people. They may hear extraneous sounds in the room. They may be distracted by more interesting things to look at. The person talking may be competing unsuccessfully with the autistic child’s inner thoughts.

Picture worksheet to raise awareness of the components of listening

I have made a very simple sheet to help kids to focus when the teacher or another person is talking. Here are two suggestions on how to use it.

1. Place it on the child’s desk. Taping it down securely might be a good idea for some kids. Either you or the child can be the one to put check marks on the sheet. Putting little reward stickers on the various boxes should work nicely as well.

2. When you are working with a small group: Get a worksheet for each child in the group, and write their names on them. Place these worksheets on a vertical surface next to you, facing the group participants. As your group activity progresses, put check marks on each worksheet within the various categories to indicate observed success within the various categories. If you happen to be running your activity with a co-worker, this system works even better.

Here is one way to use the worksheets, which is explained above.

Here is one very simple use of the worksheet, sent in to me by someone who downloaded the images from the website. She put the sheet in a plastic sheet in a student’s folder to reinforce his listening during class time.

Wall display to help kids with ASD with listening skills

I designed these wall panels as simply as possible with a minimum of words, so they might be used in a range of grade levels. Here is what they might look like on your wall:

How to print out the worksheets and wall displays:

Click on the image. Let it open in another window. Print.

Other materials for listening skills: Click here to go to other downloads I have posted.

If you find some nice way to use these that I have not thought of, I would be obliged if you might take a photo or two and email them to me: joelshaul (at) gmail.com.

Joel Shaul, LCSW

Click on image. Let it open in another window. Print (color or black and white).

An afterthought: Here are two pairs of Ryuu cards which I co-created to engage children in improving their listening and communicating skills. To learn more, go to ryuuworld.com.

La caja de diálogos: Un método para ayudar a los niños con autismo a conversar

Elaine — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 20:47:40 +0000

Aquí Vd puede imprimir ocho tarjetas y otras cosas para hacer un juego útil para ni?os con autismo.

Para ver esto en inglés, vaya AQUÍ.

Joel Shaul, LCSW

joelshaul (at) gmail.com

Traducido por Juanma Cano con varios cambios de Joel Shaul

: El traductor de las tarjetas, Juan Manuel Cano Jimenez, con sus nietos.

For social skills work: Easy instructions to download YouTube videos to your computer and play them back at good volume

Elaine — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:56:50 +0000

[Follow THIS LINK HERE to another blog post which explains in detail about using YouTube videos in counseling with young people on the autism spectrum]

How to save YouTube videos to your own computer:

There are various free online services for this. The one I use is keepvid.com. I have used it about a hundred times and it has performed flawlessly. Follow the steps below in the order I present them.

. ..

Once you have taken these steps, the video is in your computer. I often edit the videos at this point if I am going to use them a lot, to get to the “good parts” you want to use for your counseling and teaching.

How to make the videos loud enough to hear

Computers, especially laptops, have weak speakers. A problem that often comes up with playing back videos on a computer, especially if you have a large group or a class, is inadequate volume. I am happy to report that there is a small, cheap product out there that really does the job. You plug it into your computer, and it recharges its batteries. It has a volume control. It can make your laptop loud enough for a small classroom. The laptop picture at the top of this blog post has the Kinovo speaker attached.

Kinovo portable speaker, available for 20 or 25 dollars, fits in the palm of your hand.

I wish you good luck with this. Be sure to go to the other blog post I refer to above – I provide dozens of links to great videos made by young people on the autism spectrum.

Joel Shaul, LCSW

Autism According to YouTube: Discovering, Enjoying and Using Videos Created by People with Autism

Elaine — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:55:35 +0000

There are literally thousands of videos on YouTube made by people with autism. In this blog, I discuss these videos, and explain how to use them in counseling and social skills work with young people on the autism spectrum.

The amazing world of YouTube videos made by people on the autism spectrum

Please watch the video below, made by a boy with Asperger’s next to his bunk bed. Then come back to this blog, and check out my links to several dozen more terrific videos made by young people on the autism spectrum on topics such as relationships, eye contact, stimming, emotions, and more.

Why you should use YouTube videos made by people with autism for counseling, teaching and your own learning

People with autism are often the best source of information about their own issues and how to deal with them. When looking for authoritative information on what it is like to be autistic, and how to cope, it often makes sense to “ask an Aspie.”

People with autism on YouTube provide good role models for our students and clients. If you are a teacher, speech pathologist, counselor or mental health professional working with young people on the autism spectrum, you are constantly trying to motivate and inspire your students and clients. Many children and teens with ASD are isolated and demoralized. The right YouTube video can really help children with high functioning autism to talk about themselves and work on problems.

Showing YouTube videos in your school or office – or at home, if you are a parent using these videos – is easy and foolproof. In another blog, I provide simple instructions for downloading YouTube videos to your own computer and for making the playback loud enough for a group or a class to hear easily. To learn about this, FOLLOW THIS LINK HERE.

The organization of the YouTube links below

I have organized my links to YouTube videos into a number of somewhat arbitrary categories. I will be adding to this list periodically. If you are aware of particularly useful YouTube videos which I have not listed, or if you have found ways to use YouTube videos which I have not described here, I would be grateful if you could please email me at info [at] AutismTeachingStrategies [dot] com.

Please be aware that YouTube url links can change as the YouTube sites hosting the videos move the videos or take them down altogether. Kindly email me if you discover that a link no longer works.

Autism Self Description

These videos can be used to help children on the spectrum to learn about their diagnosis and to help them establish a connection with the worldwide community of people with autism.

Alex’s video has gotten 1.4 million views, more than any other autism self-help video I am aware of. He talks about Asperger’s, his particular interests, auditory sensitivity, feelings of isolation, learning disabilities, and his sense of satisfaction about his conditon.

This very short and very funny animation is the first in a series of animations created by a group of teenagers with Asperger’s in England.

This computer animated feature was created by Bob Greenwade, and adult on the autism spectrum. It provides some good information about people with Asperger’s and pokes good-natured fun at some of their quirks.

There are two YouTube videos, one with brief interview clips of elementary school children with Asperger’s and another featuring high school students with Asperger’s. The videos are excerpts from a DVD called Intricate Minds. I recently spoke to a colleague who owns the DVD’s and uses them all the time for teaching students about their fellow students who have autism.

I really like this young man’s candid and humble description of his childhood experiences with social skills training in public schools and clinical settings.

This young woman provides a positive perspective. On her YouTube channel, you can also view a video of her interviewing renowned Asperger’s expert Tony Attwood.

Autism and Communication

The creators of these videos make interesting comments about their difficulties with conversation

Jonah has made a number of good videos and I provide links to a couple others below. He has very clear recollections of when he was in kindergarten and how his obsessions (his own term) with airplanes distracted him in social situations.

This 14-year-old boy describes his growing realization that others are put off by his style of speaking, which seems linked to his intense interests outside the realm of typical youth culture.

This computer animation, just 30 seconds long, captures the feelings of frustration and isolation at trying to make conversation in a crowded room.

In this second video by Aspie Bob Greenwade, he pokes fun at the tendency of individuals on the spectrum to interrupt and gratuitously correct others in conversation.

Autism and Eye Contact

A great many individuals with autism have posted YouTube videos on the topic of eye contact. Watching them has been a very important learning experience for me. Here are three of my favorite ones.

Matthew Ryan Morin, whose YouTube videos are included also in the Bullying section below, makes articulate comments about eye contact and how he has worked on it.

Arman Khodaie, who has posted dozens of YouTube self-help videos, provides a fascinating analysis of his eye contact challenges and how he has coped with them. He describes being punished by his grandmother for deficient eye contact when he was a child. Mr. Khodaie wears nonprescription glasses because it helps his eyes feel less vulnerable in social situations.

Katie Stanbridge’s video on anxiety is also included in the Anxiety section below. Turn up the volume on your computer when listening to this one. Check out the posts on her channel where she shows her art.

Autism and Sensory Sensitivity

If you are a neurotypical person like me, these videos might really increase your appreciation for how autistic people experience extremes of sound, taste and other senses.

This video, hosted on Vimeo, is the only video I have included in this blog post which was not actually created by someone with autism. I am putting it here because it particularly good and useful.

This short video shows a four-year-old on the autism spectrum reacting to the noise in a gym class.

This very short animation, created by the same teens on the spectrum who created the claymation feature I listed earlier in this blog, really opened my eyes into how light and sound is experienced by individuals with autism.

This is another very short feature by the Biomation teens. The narrator describes how she can easily become disgusted when foods are served together. After following this link, you need to forward through a few others in the series to get to this one.

In this video, this young man describes how he needs to wear industrial grade ear protection when he indulges his passion, train watching. In the section below on Fascinations, I provide a link to his YouTube channel where he has posted hundreds of videos of trains.

Autism and Stimming (self-stimulation)

The internet and YouTube provide a forum where autistic people trade information about stimming and offer people without autism a window into their world.

In this video, Matthew provides a demonstration of stimming, which he edited into a montage and set the music of “I like to move it, move it.”

Anabelle has a YouTube channel called “Way to Stim Wednesday.” Each Wednesday, she posts a new video of herself stimming in a different way. Anabelle’s remarkable website/blog contains archives of her art and photography, as well as short, precious posts full of insight, beauty and sensitivity: http://anabellelistic.com/blog.html

Arman Khodaie has made several videos about stimming. In this one, he assimilates feedback he has received from others who have written him comments. This demonstrates a common practice on YouTube, utilized often by individuals with autism who post videos – dialogue and information exchange, often occurring through “response videos.”

Autism and Anxiety

Many people with autism post videos on this topic. They describe their experiences and offer and solicit advice.

Here is Adam again, the boy whose video opened this series at the top of the blog. He shows great poise and insight for a person his age.

This is Jonah again, the same teenager who made the video under Communication above, talks about how anxiety affects him.

Jonah continues talking about upsetting emotions in this video. This is an excellent video to show to young people who are learning about cognitive behavioral therapy. Jonah has a sound grasp of the link between automatic negative thoughts and anxiety.

Katie, whose video on eye contact was featured above, gives an articulate account of her anxiety. She has a way with words – listen while she describes her “cascade of emotions.” Katie says that she finds it very hard to talk face to face with someone more than a couple minutes. But through the medium of YouTube, she offers a good and useful discourse and reaches quite a lot of people.

Dealing with Bullying

I only have several videos in this series and I am looking for more of them.

Watch this one all the way through. By all means do not miss the part where he acts out the parts of a bully and a mean girl who taunted him about his tics.

This is another very short animation in the Biomation series I cited above. Fast forward through several videos to get to this one.

Autism and Dating / Romantic Relationships

People with autism have posted hundreds of videos on these topics

Laura Paxton provides a clear explanation about the pitfalls of being too persistent in a relationship. In one part of the video, she uses two stuffed animals to demonstrate the risks of being too “clingy.”

This young woman, Victoria, addresses the same overall topic as Laura Paxton. She comments about how “being obsessive” (her own words) is common with people on the autism spectrum, and explains how this played out in her own life when she developed an infatuation with someone. Though I don’t agree with some of the advice she offers to people who are the objects of this kind of attention, her account is compelling and the response comments are very interesting to read.

Taylor describes her ambivilance about dating and her awareness of how her social skills deficits would affect such prospects.

Arman Khodaie has posted a number of videos on this topic directed to both males and females on the autism spectrum.

Fast forward a few minutes into this video to the place where he starts giving advice. A lot of it seems very practical and he delivers it with humor and a positive, hopeful attitude.

Fascinations and Fantasy

The first several videos deal with the general issue of preferred, fixated interests affecting people with autism. I follow this with a couple videos dealing with fantasy enthrallment, which is a particular interest of mine.

This is one of a large series of videos posted by the mother of this boy.

Anabelle posts a new photo or original work of art on the topic of jellyfish nearly every day on her blog, http://anabellelistic.com/blog.html

This young man on the autism spectrum, whose video about auditory / light sensitivity I featured earlier in this blog, has posted multitudes of train videos on YouTube.

Watch this video through to the part where he gives a tour of his home and shows us the accessories of his various unusual hobbies.

Taylor Morris’ description of her “other world” provides insight into how deeply enthralled autistic people can become with their own thoughts.

This man’s videos receive many views and comments from other people on the autism spectrum. In this video, he reflects on how fantasy and imagination affected him at an earlier age.

I hope you enjoy and appreciate these people’s YouTube videos.

Reminder: I have another blog post where I describe clearly how to download videos into your computer and play them back.

Joel Shaul, LCSW

Spanish translations of Autism Teaching Strategies resources

Elaine — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 18:29:57 +0000

A number of my social skills resources for children with autism have been translated into Spanish. They are available free online via SlideShare.

Spanish translations of Autism Teaching Strategies social skills downloads

A number of my social skills downloads for children on the autism spectrum have been translated into Spanish. The translations have been done by Juanma Cano and they are posted on SlideShare, a very user-friendly site.

You can access these materials in Spanish by following THIS LINK.

Here are a few screen-grabs below. The actual materials in Spanish are nicely laid out and the graphics and text look very good.

The picture shown below shows one small portion of the Spanish Version of a resource I posted called The Conversation Box.

The picture below shows the Spanish version of a resource I posted online designed to help children with ASD to explore their issues with isolation.

The picture below shows a small portion of a the Spanish version of materials I created on dealing with teasing and bullying.

Here are links to the original English-language resources in my website:

The Conversation Box

Materials for Social Isolation

Worry Cards

Panels and Cards re: Teasing and Bullying

If you do any translations of my free materials into Spanish or other languages, please contact me so that I can link it to my website. Reach me through this link.

Joel Shaul, LCSW

Cognitive-behavioral therapy teaching materials for children with high functioning autism: Seven engaging activities with free downloads

Elaine — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 21:14:43 +0000

Cognitive-behavioral therapy and children with high functioning autism

I have posted an extensive amount of free counseling and teaching materials on CBT in the website. The following post is to summarize them in one place and provide more convenient links to each of them.

To be connected with each free resource, click on the IMAGE.

CBT Visual Tutorial

This is a series of panels you print out. It provides a simple, visual-based explanation. This is a good place to start before moving on to the other resources.

CBT Thought Bubble Kit

This is a set of pre-printed thought bubbles. Half of them are “Poison Thoughts” (cognitive distortions) commonly encountered in children with ASD. The other half are “Antidote Thoughts” that can be used to counter the automatic negative thoughts. These have many applications in counseling and teaching children about upsetting emotions.

Simple CBT Worksheets: Five sets of seven worksheets. CLICK HERE

These worksheets walk the child through emotion identification, finding and correcting the problem thoughts, addressing self-defeating behavior, and dealing with physiological manifestations of upsetting emotion.

Mint New Thoughts Activity

This appealing activity uses the metaphor shredding old, flawed money and minting new money. I provide you with templates to print your own “Old Thought” and “New Thought” money

Help the Upset Person CBT Activity

This is a game to play with an individual child or a group. I provide you with a selection of upset anime faces. You tell the upset person’s story, and then ask the kids present to fix the problem by fixing the person’s THOUGHTS and ACTIONS. If the kids give good advice, you lower the picture little by little. If they give unhelpful advice, you raise the picture up higher and higher. The group “wins” or “loses” based on how well they fix the cognitions and behaviors of the upset person.

Filter the Upset Thoughts

This hands-on activity consists of a huge number of strips of paper with various upsetting thoughts written on them. Some of the thoughts are useful things to say when one is upset. The remainder are statements that might harm or upset others. Children are given practice sorting through their upsetting thoughts to determine which ones to say and which ones to “filter.”

Worry Cards

This is a set of cards designed to promote problem-solving abilities when children are faced with anxiety. The cards feature eight different children with different anxiety profiles. Children are encouraged to identify their own “worry profile,” solve the problems presented, and work on their own anxiety problems.

Flexibility Cards and Rigidity / Flexibility Display Panels

This kit consists of: 1. A set of cards featuring children who are thinking or behaving in a rigid manner, and 2. Two panels providing a very simple explanation of the difference between rigidity and flexibility.

Product for sale by Joel Shaul: The CBT Mind Traveler

I developed this kit to help mental health professionals and other involved adults to assist children on the spectrum with cognitive-behavioral problem solving skills. There are 103 illlustrated cards, 250 illustrated scenarios on the CD, and really useful printables for you to use. Click on the picture to link to this therapeutic resource.