ABI Updates
Notes from the Autism and Behavior Interventionist
January 2020
We are in that stretch of the year....cold, darker, indoor recess, weeks between breaks....our students can get stir crazy, depressed, stressed.....and caring for them can get exhausting and heavy. Continue to take time for teacher self-care. Know that what you are doing is making a difference and that we are all in this together. And we GET to do this together. I have seen great things throughout this district - caring, compassionate educators, professionals and support staff putting in the hard work daily to surround kids, lift up kids and each other and to focus on what we can control and what we can change for the better. I am inspired by so many of you. Keep up the amazing work!
This month:
- Activities to build Regulation
- Acting vs. Reacting
- Expressing Feelings/Needs
- Be Focused App
- Finding Fred Podcast
- Good Reads - The Reason I Jump
Building Regulation
When students are upset, anxious, scared, frustrated, sad or angry, they are functioning within their emotional brain. The emotional brain is not wired for reasoning, thought or learning. Regulation does not equal reason. Regulation for these students begins in their body and breath. The four main factors to regulate and "upshift" from the emotional brain back into the thinking brain are connection (relationship), breath, movement and novelty. This month we will look more into Breath and Movement.
Movement:
- Rhythm - Rhythm is central to our development and regulation of our senses. We develop bathed in the rhythm of our mother's heartbeat and that primitive stimulation continues to be calming as we age. Add rhythmic clapping to a transition time, use a clap and response as a calming movement break, have students sit in a circle and add to a beat that you start or pass a rhythm around the circle. Have students alternate being leaders to create a beat for the class to follow. Think about rhythm as you chant multi-step directions. Pass a ball around the room to a metronome as a quick brain break. Allow students to tap pencils on their desks to a beat as they count by 3s, 5s, 10s or as they repeat vocabulary words.
- Cross Lateral - cross lateral exercises integrate both sides of the brain, which prepares the brain for learning. Examples of cross lateral exercises are....Cross-Crawl: as students march in place, have them extend arms out to the side, parallel with the floor. Then have them touch left hand to right knee, followed by right hand to left knee as they continue to march in place. Windmills: Students stand with feet apart, arms stretched out to the side and parallel to the floor. Touch left hand to right foot, stand up, then touch right hand to left foot. Elephant Ears: While seated or standing, hold and rub your left earlobe with your right index finger and thumb. At the same time hold and rube your right earlobe with your left index finger and thumb. Cross one foot over the other. Breath deeply for 4 breaths. Lazy 8: using a large poster or overhead projector, display an infinity symbol in front of students. Have students extend both arms and interlace both fingers, but extend their index fingers. Using their fingers as a pointer, have them slowly trace around the large symbol, beginning in the middle and moving up to the left, around to the middle and then up to the right. Add a breath in as they trace the left side and breath out as they trace the right side.
- Heavy Work: Any activity where the muscles are engaged in lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling is considered heavy work. Carrying a heavy box of books/paper, pushing a loaded cart or rolling office chair, wall push-ups, chair push ups, pulling a cart by a rope or handle, stacking boxes or books from various heights are all examples of heavy work that provide calming proprioceptive sensory input.
Breath:
Trace the outline of your outstretched hand. As your right finger moves up the side of each finger on your left hand, breath in. As your finger moves down the side of each finger breath out.
Tracing the hexagon, breath in, hold, breath out, repeat.
Tighten all your muscles and breath in. Hold for 2. As you breath out, slowly relax all your muscles. Repeat.
Acting vs. Reacting
Unexpected behavior will happen. How can I have a plan to act rather than react?
- Shift the goal from getting rid of off-task behavior to instead maximizing learning time
- Disruptions are expected and anticipated and planned for.
- You only have to respond in a way that helps you make the most of your instructional time.
- If a pair of students are playing around during station work, walk over to them rather than raising your voice across the classroom. Use a low voice to hold a conversation about the expectation. Use positive statements for what they should be doing.
- During whole group, have a task the group can do (pair/share, eye spy, find the letter/number, get started on work, partner up) while you can address the unexpected behavior of the target student(s). This keeps the rest of the kids engaged in learning while you address the behavior needed.
- State expectations using anonymity. "I need all eyes forward." Build momentum and narrate the positive. "I need three student's eyes forward. Great, now I need one. Thank you, we are ready to start."
- If a student is disruptive, ignore the behavior as long as it isn’t unsafe and get the rest of the class started on the expectation. Then discuss privately with that student. Use a calm down technique or think sheet/behavior journal if needed.
- Have a "Plan B" if you need to talk to a student in the hall. Plan B can consist of practicing spelling words, reading a book, completing homework packets, etc. Plan B should also include expectations such as voices off, stay in your seat, don't come to the hall, etc. Practice Plan B during a calm time so that students know what to do when you need it.
- Choose a consistent response for behaviors that are repetitive. Consistent responses can eventually extinguish the repetitive action. Responses can be delivered as "broken record," repeated without given attention to the behavior:
Asked and answered: for students that continually ask the same question.
Hands to self: short directive and can be used with gesture or visual.
Talk time is over: short directive and can be used with "wait" visual or hand up
inspired by Truth for Teachers Podcast, Episode 178, 10/2019
Expressing needs and feelings
Many individuals on the Autism Spectrum (as well as children struggling with emotional regulation) have difficulty expressing their emotions and identifying the source of their emotions. Visual supports can also be used to facilitate communication at times when expressing feelings and needs are difficult. Depending on the student, the visual below can be used as a full sheet or as a three part system by simply cutting the sections apart and placing them on a ring together. After identifying an emotion, students can point to possible reasons for their feelings, followed by selecting a choice to help meet their need. This type of visual support can be individualized with selected choices based on student's interests and needs.
Be Focused Timer
Set the visual timer for a work interval followed by a break interval and watch a dot move around a circle to let you know how much work time is left. A numeric countdown timer also is included. You can set a "break" timer that begins as soon as the work interval timer is over. Also has an option for a larger break after completing a set number of smaller work/break intervals. Great to keep kids focused and giving them time to reset, but also good to keep our own efforts focused while working at home! :)
The Reason I Jump
Written by a very smart, very self-aware, and very charming 13 year old boy diagnosed with severe Autism, this quick read is a one of a kind memoir that demonstrates how one autistic mind thinks and feels in ways far beyond his perceived level of functioning.
Finding Fred
Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood fame doesn’t need anyone to vouch for his character, but it’s hard not to obsess over his kindness anyway. A man of profound emotional intelligence who used his PBS TV show as a way to mentor children, Rogers was cerebral, polite, and humble. Finding Fred and its host Carvell Wallace seek, most of all, to understand its subject’s unique compassion. The host and his guests channel the goodness of Rogers in every exchange and ask listeners to be better by extension.