I teach young people with social communication difficulties, including autism.
I have worked in both primary and secondary mainstream ARCs and also specialist provision and I love my job!
I am slowly uploading resources that have worked well so check back every now and again.
If there are any resources or activities that you would like to see in my shop, feel free to message me. I love making resources!
I teach young people with social communication difficulties, including autism.
I have worked in both primary and secondary mainstream ARCs and also specialist provision and I love my job!
I am slowly uploading resources that have worked well so check back every now and again.
If there are any resources or activities that you would like to see in my shop, feel free to message me. I love making resources!
Cards giving a selection of situations, child uses a clothes peg to select the answer. Best laminated so resource is more durable. I use these with children who have autism but also suitable for KS1 or children with other SEN / SEMH needs. Can be used 1:1 or in a small group. Some of the answers I’ve had have surprised me, even when I know a child well - I’ve found this quite an interesting resource to get to know my pupils in most depth.
Resources used with a mixed age group of children with autism when reading the Rainbow Fish during our seaside topic.
Sheet to generate describing words before writing about the Rainbow Fish, a wordsearch, 'feelings' activity for children who struggle to imagine how a character may feel, grammar activity (identify if a sentence needs a question mark or full stop). As there is a starfish in the book, we also learnt about starfish, using a symbol supported fact sheet to answer reading comprehension questions (differentiated).
Various winter topic activities. We have been reading Little Polar Bear so have learnt about the North Pole / Arctic and what adaptations polar bears have in order to live where they do.
Activities include picture of a polar bear / cards for children to stick on sheet to label (polar bear physical appearance)
Jungle / Arctic sorting table with 2 sets of cards for children to sort (set one - facts about the areas, set two - animals)
Polar bear adaptations worksheet / facts to stick. Two different versions of this, one is simplified.
Short North Pole PowerPoint
I have included resources in publisher and PDF format.
Used for children in KS1 and KS2 with autism. Also suitable for mainstream pupils / older pupils.
A resource I made for a mixed group of ks1 / ks2 children with autism / social communication needs. Aim is to develop greater understanding of feelings and to begin to develop awareness of other's feelings, also turn taking and attention and listening.
Resource includes a feelings poster and 18 cards describing situations that have happened to an imaginary child - e.g. 'She has a wobbly tooth'.
We discuss the various feelings an how children are feeling today. Cards are placed face down and children take turns to turn cards over. They consider how the person may be feeling.
More able groups could be prompted / questioned to consider would everyone feel that way in that situation (some people can't stand having wobbly teeth, others get excited...) further developing theory of mind and understanding that people can feel differently about situations.
Problem Scale activity. Designed for children who struggle with resilience or to differentiate a big problem from a tiny problem. Accompanying cards give problem suggestions for discussion of where each problem would fit on the problem scale - is the problem a huge one or a tiny one.
This activity is suitable for 1 to 1 or small group work. It could be extended by use of the feelings poster to encourage learners to think about how each problem would make them feel. Theory of Mind skills can also be promoted through discussion if a problem is viewed differently by learners.
2 CVC activities I have used in my mixed age autism / social communication ARC. These would also be suitable for mainstream learners.
CVC words- word shape:10 A4 sheets, with 6 CVC cards on each page. Each card has a picture of the CVC word and, underneath, the shape of the letters that make up the word. I laminated these and used them in a variety of ways but they could also be used as worksheets.
CVC Write the Room - my class love these! I chop up the numbered cards and blue tac them around the classroom. The class go around with a clip board and the answer sheet (included). I usually do 2 different write the rooms at the same time so more able children do a different version. There are 12 numbered cards to complete and an answer sheet. These too have the word shape underneath to act as a visual cue. 4 A4 sheets in total.
Most of my learners have ADHD as well as their autism so moving around the classroom allowed for physical movement and was more engaging.
The words are: rat, wet, hot, cup, cap, jam, bed, car, net, lid, saw, bus.
An interactive book I designed for pupils with ASD but also suitable for learners with Speech and Language Difficulties, SEN or KS1. Colourful Semantics support understanding of who / doing / what questions and also supports understanding of sentence structure.
I make up the book by laminating whole pages. I then print off an additional copy of the who / doing / what pages, then chop and laminate these as individual cards.
I add velcro to the whole page who / doing / what sheets and use these as a baseboard for the individual cards. I also add velcro to the who / doing / what table underneath each picture.
The book can be assembled with a keyring / treasury tag. Keep the who / doing / what sheets separate so the child has them to refer to when looking at the picture. It’s simpler than I’m making it sound!
I have used this type of book both as a one to one task and as an independent TEACCH task.
‘At the hospital’ - matching activity. Identify things found in the hospital. With this activity , I laminated and put velcro on the base board and matching cards. Two base boards included and two sets of cards for each baseboard - to cater for readers and non readers.
Also appropriate for use as a cut and paste work sheet.
‘Who board - emergency services’ - another activity which I laminated / added velcro. Matching images of emergency service workers to their names.
Again, also suitable for cut and paste activity if you prefer not to laminate.
Suitable for mainstream and SEN - created for KS3 learners with autism and learning disabilities.
Resources made for Science Week with a focus on ‘Staying Alive’. We learnt about the difference between living and non living things, that animals including humans grow from babies into adults, that some animals grow inside their mother while others hatch from an egg, children kept a food journal for later learning about a balanced diet. Before learning about basic needs, children attempted to complete a mind map, adding to this later.
Living / Not Living / Never Lived sorting activity / workstation task
What do you call a baby… table to complete
5 day food journal - table for students to complete (Monday to Friday)
Egg or Mum? Sorting activity / workstation task - did this animal grow inside its mother or hatch from an egg?
Human basic needs - male and female mind map activity, pupils to add what is essential for human life.
Designed for KS1 / KS2 children with autism but also suitable for mainstream learners or older learners with SEN.
I made this book as a weekly starter for a weekly RE lesson with a term theme of ‘Creation’. The books were laminated (whole page) and bound. I printed the last page twice and cut out the 2nd version so pupils had cards to match with each page in the book. I used the 1st version as a base board to store the cards when not in use.
Used with children with ASD / learning disability.
I made this for a little boy with autism who was working at mid P Levels. This was to develop his basic one to one correspondence of numbers up to 10 and ordering numbers. The activity is suitable for mainstream or any aged learner who is working at a basic maths level.
There are 10 A4 sheets in total:
5 have 2 cards on 1 A4 sheet. These sheets have apple trees with a numbered basket (1 - 10). The idea of these was that the child places the matching number of ‘apples’ on the tree. For apples I used red counters or small red pompoms.
There is an A4 apple tree with a space to place a number card on - this could be used in 2 ways: Adult (or peer) places up to 10 ‘apples’ on the tree and the child has to find the correct number card or the adult / peer places a number card in the space provided and the child has to place the correct number of ‘apples’ on the tree.
The other pages have apple themed number cards to use with the A4 apple tree. They could also be used on their own for ordering, identifying which number comes next or is missing…or print twice and use as a memory game.
This activity would be best laminated / velcroed.
Its a bit of a random addition but as he could also rote count in 10’s to 100, I included number cards for 10’s numbers to develop his ability to recognise the numbers.
Colourful Semantics / Narrative - Interactive book with an Emergency Services theme. Who?-doing?-what? sentences.
I laminated this to create a book, attaching with keyring rings. The child or young person goes through the book identifying who is doing what in each picture. For example: ‘Police officer-walking-dog’ or ‘Fireman-sliding-pole’.
Tips:
When printing, I printed the last 3 pages twice, using the first copy as a baseboard and chopping the second copy to make individual cards, which I attach with velcro to the baseboard. This works best for me as it keeps the pieces together and is easy to see if any cards are missing.
While the child is becoming used to this activity, I talk them through each stage, encouraging them to identify ‘who?’ first, then ‘doing?’, then ‘what?’ Once the sentence is complete, I encourage them to repeat the sentence as a whole.
If a child struggles to identify from a full page of options, try offering them a choice or two cards, gradually increasing the number of options as they become more familiar with the activity.
Some children need prompts to really look at the picture and think about what they can see.
This is an activity for children or young people with autism, or other special needs, including learning disabilities. Children use the PECS to request the items they need to make the craft, then follow symbol supported instructions to make the item.
Included are the instructions and PECS to make a paper plate spaceship and a puffy paint moon. I’ve made these to send out to my parents in home learning packs but they are equally suitable for use in school.
A bundle of 4 resources created for my ASD class to support understanding of basic time. Suitable for KS1 or any aged SEN learner. These activities could be used as part of a narrative / colourful semantics approach to develop understanding of ‘when’ or in maths to support basic time awareness.
Months: Table of the months of the year and a selection of 24 symbols. Teacher to choose which symbols are relevant and will be recognised by your particular group of learners. Students stick the symbols onto the correct month (e.g. Halloween next to October).
When I did this with my class I also included pictures of the children in the class and learners stuck pictures of their classmates in the birthdays section of the table. I have left this version of the table in, as it might be of use for some, but I’ve also included a copy of the table without the birthday column.
Day / Night Sorting: Instructions included. This could be used as a worksheet task or it could be laminated / velcroed and used as a re-useable workstation task.
Days of the Week homework: Worksheet to support learning and reinforce understanding about the days of the week.
Days of the Week School: Instructions included. Learners stick the days of the week into the correct order, they then stick symbols on to indicate what happens in school on particular days.
Change in pounds (£) and pence §, KS1, KS2, SEND Entry Level / Functional maths.
Peg card activity designed for Post 16 Learners with SEND, but also appropriate for KS1 / KS2.
Learners need to calculate what change would be due and place a peg on the correct amount. As a laminated peg card activity this is a reuseable resource but it could also be printed and used as a worksheet.
There are 3 different activities within this item:
Peg cards where child or young person calculates change from £1 (varying difficulty including 10s, 5s and single pence)
Peg cards where change is calculated from £10 (whole pound / 50p)
Peg cards where the learner has to recognise the coin or note, then calculate change (various amounts up to £10)
Each activity contains 12 different cards.
Children read the word and attach clothes peg onto the appropriate picture. To reduce the possibility of guess work, many of the pictures are of items which are similar to the word if read incorrectly, for example ‘scare’ shows pictures for ‘scar’, ‘scare’ and ‘share’.
Three sets of cards are in pack, 15 cards in each set, so 45 cards in total. Cards need trimmed and ideally laminated.
I designed these for my learners with autism / ADHD as a more interactive way to practice reading, but they are also suitable for KS1 / SEN.
Resources created for an SEN group, aimed at learners with autism, mixed KS1/KS2, during an Indian topic.
Included are visual supports and structured activities.
As our topic was India with a Geography focus, the blockbuster game also includes land-form questions. Questions are very simple due to the needs of the group, questions also include questions about the identity of Jungle Book characters.
The Indian animals booklet is more of a 'tiger fact-sheet' to go with the 'Tigers' power point. I had planned to create a booklet about Indian animals but ran out of time on the topic.
This is a pack of Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch resources I have used during a seaside topic with a mixed aged (KS1 / KS2) group of learners with autism.
It includes a planning sheet to think about the lighthouse keeper's cottage, differentiated TEACCH style structured sheets to support writing about the Grinling's cottage, and images of the cottage for pupils to stick in their books before writing about the cottage. There is also a word mat to support spellings and jog memories.
There is a mindmap type sheet to encourage pupils to reflect upon what the Grinlings thought about the naughty seagulls.
There is a symbol supported powerpoint about lighthouses and a lighthouse fact sheet for children to complete.
There are also differentiated grammar sheets for learners to decide whether to use 'and' or 'but' in a sentence.
Christmas listening task / interactive book. Editable with full instructions.
Students to listen to instructions, e.g. ‘Put star on the tree’, and select the correct image.
Used with learners with autism and SLD as a TEACCH type task but could also be used for Early Years or KS1.
A few resources from when we read Sharing a Shell. I teach a mixed age primary class, all with autism attending specialist ASD provision. Ability at the time ranged between P4 and approx Reception / Year 1 level.
Resources are also suitable for mainstream learners working at this level.
Download includes:
Sharing a Shell book review - A4 sheet, learners identify who is in the story, where the story is set and what happened 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
Sharing a Shell LA - position activity for my lowest ability learner, I used this with the child working 1:1 with a TA, discussing the picture and seeing if the child could identify ‘where’ (TA reading the sentence)
Position Sharing a Shell - 2 near identical worksheets for children to write the appropriate word in the gap.
I can draw… - these were to encourage mark making / fine motor skills. Frame with a prompt picture of the characters in Sharing a Shell. 3 x A4 sheets.
Who words dotted - We did a lot of narrative and colourful semantic work in English lessons. This activity was to reinforce / generalise understanding of ‘who’ and to develop mark making / handwriting / recognition of character names (more able).