What is a developmental disability?

ByKori
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Welcome to another day of Autism A to Z. Today I want to talk about developmental disabilities because that’s what autism is. So what is a developmental disability? We’ll talk about the general definition as well as talk about a few developmental disabilities in addition to autism. When it comes to autism specifically, usually the terminology is lifelong developmental disability. That is also the case with other developmental disabilities. As defined by NIMH, a developmental disability is: Developmental disabilities are severe, long-term problems. They may be physical, such as blindness. They may affect mental ability, such as learning disorders. Or the problem can be both physical and mental, such as Down syndrome. The problems are usually life-long, and can affect everyday living. Often there is…

Freebie Friday: Managing My Feelings

ByKori
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I mentioned earlier this week that I was going to offer a new free printable pack every week for Autism Awareness month. I want to start doing this more consistently anyway so I figured that this was a good of a time as any to get that into gear. For the first week, I’m offering up a pack called: Managing My Feelings. Sweet B, as I may have mentioned before, uses PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) to help her out but I also create my own printable packs for her when PECS doesn’t quite meet our needs. Hence why I have quite a few of these free printable packs for autistic children. She does have a pretty decent feelings set that I purchased elsewhere but…

What is Autism?

What is Autism?

ByKori
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As you know, autism is very much a part of our lives. It’s been an immediate part of my life since Sweet B’s diagnosis. But prior to her diagnosis, I was mostly unaware as to what autism really is. If you had asked me what the early signs of autism were? I didn’t have a clue. Now it’s different but back then? I was clueless. I had a vague idea.. mostly from watching Rain Man but beyond that? I was clueless. After her diagnosis, I gave myself a crash course and started to learn as much as I could. And of course with the internet, now it’s easier to answer the question: What is Autism? And it’s also easier to find out what it is…

One of the Pillars of our Afterschooling

ByKori
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  Pillars of Our Afterschooling As we’re continuing to refine our afterschooling program with Sweet B in terms of supplements and other things, I felt that it was high time that I should talk about one of the pillars of our afterschooling program. One of the reasons I wanted to start afterschooling with Sweet B was to increase her literacy and fine motor skills. Fine motor skills have always been a big area of hers as far as what to work on and literacy is close behind. It’s difficult to measure her literacy since she’s non-verbal but she has shown improvements over the past few years. She’s still nowhere near peers of her age and developmentally is around 6 or 7 years of age. This…

Using a Weighted Sash

ByKori
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We’re going to be starting afterschooling with Sweet B in November. I realize that it’s already two full months into the school year, but I needed to have all of the components ready or at least close to ready. Sometimes we’ll use printable packs (both from fabulous bloggers and made by myself specifically for our focus lesson), sometimes we’ll use board games, sometimes we’ll use crafts, and sometimes we’ll use our All About Reading. I want to mix it up for her, so that it’s not the same thing every day. Right now, I  wanted to talk about one of the necessary components for afterschooling or at least for Sweet B. [Tweet “We love our weighted sash from @FunandFunction! “] Since she was little, she’s…

Autism and Afterschooling

ByKori
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Because of her disability, and learning level, Sweet B doesn’t have homework. That’s not to say that she isn’t learning at home, but it wasn’t really structured. That was something I wanted to change, but I was kind of at a loss with where to start. That was until I treated it like an IEP meeting and developed some goals and how those goals would be reached. I understand, also, that I need to be flexible with this- especially in the beginning. It’s a change in routine for her, though once we’ve found something that works, I’m sure Sweet B will flourish. Autism and Afterschooling: The ‘IEP’ First, I had to create a set of goals, similar to what would happen if this were Sweet…