Positional language: place in line and before / after, teddy themed, KS1, SEN, ASD

Resources used in my ASD specialist provision class last year, this was a mixed age and ability class who found positional language very difficult to master, even with lots of practical lessons! The pictures used are coloured teddies as we had teddy counters in class. I’ve chosen the colours to match the counter colours so we could use physical teddies for children who needed a more concrete experience.

Teddy before / after - 3 A4 sheets. Two of these sheets have a line of teddies at the top, with an arrow to show the direction that they have lined up in. Children need to answer ‘before’ questions (e.g. ‘who is before orange teddy?’) As most of the children had limited literacy skills, I included a strip of teddies at the bottom of the sheet so they could cut and stick instead. This allowed for more independence.
The 3rd sheet was an extension for my more able children. Children had to use ‘before’ or ‘after’ correctly in sentences about the teddies.

Position Teddy - 5 A4 sheets.
Sheet 1: 3 lines of coloured teddies
Sheet 2: simple tables
Children are given one of the 3 teddy strips which they use to complete the table on sheet 2.

Sheet 3: black and white teddy strips to colour
Sheet 4 and 5: directions strips
Children are given a black and white strip and a sheet of directions (e.g. ‘Red teddy is 1st’ so the child colours the first teddy in their strip red)

I chopped and laminated these where appropriate (the teddy strips and instructions) so they were reuseable. They can also be left as they are and glued into books.

Together with some practical work, these activities covered maths lessons for over a week. If laminated, they are also good to come back to as one off refreshers, or for 1:1 or intervention work.