Free Keyboarding Games

Want to learn how to keyboard or brush up on your keyboarding skills? Check out this website . The site contains a list of web sites that have free online keyboarding lessons and games. The games at http://www.freetypinggame.net are especially useful. They can be customized for keys included and speed.

Bingo Cards

The previous site also has bingo cards you can customize.

The Family Corner - Custom Chore Charts

Use your child's interests to engage them in tasks. This site lets you create your own custom chore charts. You choose the theme that will engage your child (Pokeman, Yu Gi Oh, Dora, Veggie Tales). Decide what chores you want to include. Presto! Instant chore chart!

Thinking in Pictures

Are you intrigued by the video you watched on Dr. Temple Grandin? Here is an article she wrote on Thinking in Pictures. It is equally as fascinating!

The Woman Who Thinks Like A Cow

Why would a leaf on a path cause a cow to stop dead in its tracks? Watch this video on Dr. Temple Grandin titled "The Woman Who Thinks Like A Cow." It is a 48 minute documentary produced by the BBC. This remarkable woman with autism describes what it is like to think visually in our world.

Thinking in pictures gives her a better understanding of animals. Realizing she experiences the world much as animals do, she can relate to them in ways other people can't. Although autism is very different for each person who has it, Dr. Grandin feels the common thread is the ability to notice detail. She developed this talent into skills that turned into a satisfying career. Having a PhD in animal science, she has dedicated her life to the betterment of animals.

Education should have a strong emphasis on building strengths, not just on addressing deficits. Who knows where talents can lead our students!

Other key points in the video:

• deep pressure is calming and relaxing (notice the "squeeze machine")
• people with autism have sensory based thinking (think in pictures, in sounds, in touches)
• sensory defensiveness can create havoc with an individual with autism
• fear is the main emotion in autism (needing to escape from stressful situations)

Daylight is Back!

Another hour of light graces us in the evening. The days are getting longer.

Exposure to light is known to enhance both alertness and performance in humans. I know I feel better!

Understanding Sensory Differences...Ask James

Honoring differences is what we strive for as occupational therapists. This starts with understanding. The blog School OT thoughts talks about a young man with high functioning autism who has an advice column called "Ask James". He answers a question about his sensory challenges and strategies that helped him. Read his response and you will better understand why many of the children we work with react as they do.

To read the post, go to "Ask James Williams" about sensory processing.

James Williams is an eighteen year old who has written books/essays and presented on the topic of autism. Go to his website to learn more.

WYSIWYG...or is it?

What you see is what you get...not really! Be sensitive to how we present visual information to our students. Sometimes we don't "see" what another person might be noticing. For instance, I was with a youngster in the computer lab. This little girl was making faces at the computer but not attending to what was on the screen. I realized there was a strong reflection from the lights above. Even though I was looking "beyond" the reflection to notice the important information on the screen, the student was using the computer screen as a mirror!

Think about how we laminate materials. Is the glare from the surface going to affect what the child sees? If so, use contact paper if you need to protect the materials.

Have you guessed what the image is above? Is it a glossy gym floor at my niece's volleyball tournament. You can imagine how a particular child might focus on the lights instead of the action, making it difficult to discriminate the relevant information from the background.

Students on the autism spectrum often have trouble making sense of our visual world. They might be focusing in on visual details and patterns rather than the "whole picture". An unfamiliar environment might cause an individual to go into sensory overload. Difficult behaviors could result from trying to shut out the onslaught of meaningless sensations. A wonderful description of this is from the book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon. Check it out.

Creating and Sharing

Never before has it been so easy to produce and share content, whether it is music, video or writing. You can even publish and sell your own book online. The new web opens the door for creating and sharing. Why not step in!

Micheal Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology from Kansas State University, created this video called “Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us”. It's worth watching and pondering.

Laptop or Photocopier?

Students do a variety of writing in school, by hand and on the computer. Providing experiences with both is beneficial, but don't use a powerful laptop as a photo copier.

Why is it that students are writing with pencil and paper, rewriting multiple drafts, editing and then copying it by typing on the laptop? Is this final step really necessary? If we are putting laptops in their hands, let's allow them to use all the features to compose, revise, edit and publish.

Word processing gives students automated tools to help them spell, check grammar, and choose the right words. It allows them to electronically cut and paste written material and freely sequence ideas in ways to that make sense. Inserting information is done with a click of the mouse. Word processing is a functional skill that students will be using extensively in college and at the workplace. Joining what’s going on in the outside world with what’s going on in the classroom is key to preparing our students to work in the 21st century using 21st century tools.

See Education Week for a recent article on using computers for writing assessments.

Eighth graders using computers scored higher on writing tests than their peers who wrote with pencil and paper in a study out of New England.

SOURCE: "Examining the Effect of Text Editor and Robust Word Processor on Student Writing Test Performance," Boston College, 2004

Free Fun Folders

Check out the new resource library located in room 213. We've just added some fun activity folders that work on color, letter recognition, counting, and coins. All of our resource files are available to borrow. If you find something you really like, we can give you a copy of your very own.

Google Docs and Spreadsheets

Create and share your projects online and access them from anywhere.

Have you looked beyond the basic search feature of Google? One useful item is Google Docs and Spreadsheets. It is a way to collaborate online. You decide who you want to invite to work on a document with you. You can create a team assessment, record group consultation notes and more. If you start a project at work, it is to online for you to continue it at home.

Think of all the student applications. If two students read the same book and are writing a book review together, they can be writing at the same time. How many times do we see one student sitting by and watching the other type? Let's make them both active participants!

When students work on group projects, it is not always possible to get together outside of school time. By creating a Google document and inviting peer collaborators, each person can add their section to the project. You got to love Web 2.0!

For more Google tools, go to Google for Educators.

Dive Into Del.icio.us!

I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.

Pablo Picasso

It is so easy to be a life long learner this day and age. Not only do we have a wealth of information at our fingertips, but we have many opportunities to share, produce, create and collaborate.

Why not start with del.icio.us, an online bookmarking site. Have you found yourself sitting at one of the library computers saving an interesting site, then later wondering where it was (computer # 8 or was it #9) ? And what about that site you saved at your home computer that you were hoping to use with a youngster at school? Worry no more. Your sites are saved online and you can access them from any computer anywhere.

It doesn't stop there, however. Since these sites are online, they can be shared with everyone. The Hosmer special education staff has a del.icio.us account. Go to http://del.icio.us/hosmersped. Take a look to see what they have considered worth saving!

If you are ready to create a delicious account for yourself, please see Karen Janowski's site, Ed Technology Solutions - Teaching Every Student: Online Bookmarking Resource for Educators. She wrote a recent post on the process.

Digital Natives

Fifteen years ago, the web went world wide. That means the students we work with at Hosmer School are all born AWWW (after world wide web). The internet and other digital tools have been part of their lives since they were born. Their generation is often referred to as "digital natives". Marc Prensky used the term in his 2001 article titled, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants - A New Way Of Looking At Ourselves and Our Kids.

If our students are digital natives, we are digital immigrants. Some of us struggle to learn the new language. Those of us who have attempted to educate ourselves still retain our old accents. There is no getting around it. As adults, we bring with us a certain trepidation when approaching new technology.

Now we have begun vacation week, take a minute to watch this entertaining video called "Introducing the book". It is guaranteed to bring you some laughs.

Do you recognize yourself? I do! Each day, I try to be more "kid like" in my approach, however. Kids tackle a new digital task without the fear of making a mistake. They are not afraid to push a button, click on an object or explore a program. They try, fail, try, fail, try, fail, try and then succeed. We can learn from this process. Don't hold back...begin your discovery! Become a life long learner.

This video was posted on Karen Janowski's blog, Teaching Every Student. Visit her site for a wealth of tips, information and ideas as you continue your journey as a digital immigrant.

The Creative Organizer

Here is a video my nephew created trying to clean his room. Although it took four days, you can watch the process in 26 seconds. If only it was that easy. Enjoy!

Get It Out Of The Desk!

Material Spatial Disorganization is a term coined by Dr. Mel Levine from All Kinds Of Minds. It refers to a challenge in organizing our physical world. Young or old, some of us have an uncanny ability to know where things are at a moment's notice. Others of us struggle with locating an object which leaves us frustrated and stressed. If this lost object is a homework assignment or a signed permission slip, then the consequences can be great.

We all know that a student's desk can be a black hole, accepting many objects but with no assurance that they will come out again. Our principal offered this solution. Use a folder bin to keep folders "at the ready". It makes filing loose papers more efficient...no digging through your desk to find the desired folder.


When in doubt, keep it out!

Make It Visable

Continuing on with the theme of accessibility, this is a nice strategy for those students who need to "see" the contents of their desks. Do you remember the old lift top desks? To retrieve materials, you raised the desk top to have a clear view of the desk contents. With today's standard "front loading" desks, you need to bend and peer into darkness. Try to construct a pull out drawer that fits standard folders and notebooks. We make ours from the covers of copy paper boxes. They are the correct width and just need to be cut down in length. Now the student is able to pull out the drawer to see what materials they need.

Who Can Refuse?

Please Pop!

We tape a sheet of bubble wrap on the wall next to the door of the OT/PT room. This gives students a chance to pop a few bubbles when they enter. The benefits? Finger isolation, tripod grasp, deep pressure to index finger joints and increased alertness.

All the kids know is that it is fun.

Why Power Stations?

As occupational therapists working in schools, we have a unique job. Our primary focus is to improve the occupational performance of children as learners. Participation in all areas of the school day is our goal. "Best practice" guides our interventions, which are based on clinical reasoning and evidence.

Why power stations? We know that providing theoretically sound interventions during daily life routines improves participation (Dunst etal.,200,2001,2002,2004). Sensory processing interventions need to be part of the natural context to support generalization (Hanft & Pilkington, 2000).

Stay tuned for more ways we integrate our interventions within the school environment.

Power Stations

One teacher wondered where in her classroom she would fit suitable sensory activities. They don't necessarily need a lot of space. Have you noticed the "power stations" popping up around the hallways? Look outside the OT/PT room for one example.

Tape a set of paper hands on a vertical surface for wall push ups. A student does 10 push ups against the wall to boost his/her attention and alertness level.






Here is a set of numbers for quick, explosive "power jumps." A student tries to jump and touch the highest number on the wall. This provides input to the muscles and joints, which in turn helps to organize a youngster before entering class.








No space required!

Remember, if you have an idea to share with the rest of us, please click on the comment below and let us know your pearls of wisdom!

Drowning in Piles or Keeping Afloat?

Now that we are striving for order, let's be realistic. Piles happen. After all, if a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what is an empty desk a sign of?

Piles have their purpose and most people have a general system to seemingly unorganized mountains of paper on their desk. These are the "active" projects, not yet ready to "sleep" in file drawers. Visit the design your life blog to read the post on Piles: Everyone Gets Them.

I especially like Mike Essl's idea in the comment section. He uses clear pockets (called Job Ticket Holders available at Kinkos). If you are not ready to condemn paper or projects to the file drawer, place all related paper in a clear pocket. They are accessible on your desk as a distinct pile, ready to receive your attention. It may be the difference between drowning or keeping afloat!

Organize with Color

Color coding can make filing twice as fast. The eye recognizes color faster than it reads text. (Think about it: traffic signals use red-yellow-green lights, not signs marked “stop” “slow” and “go”).

Staples sells a set of transparent colored folders, ideal for sticking in that report you don't want to misplace in your bag or your homework you don't want to lose in your backpack.

Do you notice the comment area below? Click and share organizational ideas that have improved your productivity or have helped your students be on top of their game.

Mel Minute - Be an Organization Ally

Mel Levine, M.D. is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He is also the co-founder of All Kinds of Minds, a non-profit Institute for the study of differences in learning, with financier Charles R. Schwab. Dr. Levine has established a framework for understanding why children struggle in school. He provides a system for recognizing variations in the way children learn and uses their strengths to help them become more successful students.
Watch Dr. Mel Levine speak about being an organizational ally for a child. Visit his website, All Kinds Of Minds, to read more about Getting Organized and Good Work Habits.

Cool School Tool - Spatial Order Idea

Do you want to limit distractions while maintaining order on your desktop? Craft a desktop easel. We make ours from copy paper boxes...the folds are in the right places! If you have a sheet to study or copy, clip it to your easel. It also folds flat for easy storing. Try it, you might like it.

Voices from the Students

Do you ever wonder what kids would do if they ran the school? Well, here is one fifth grader's idea:

Me as Principal

What would I do if I were principal of Hosmer School? To begin with, I would be nice to the kids. I would give them what they need. Also, I would make a shorter school day. It would be three hours long. Finally, there would be more science and more experiments. For example, I would show them experiments on electricity. It would be good for kids if I were principal of Hosmer School.

Organizing is Here to Stay!

January is Go Get Organized Month. Getting organized is a lot easier than staying organized. A key element is scheduling time in the day to maintain the order you have achieved. Students need time throughout the day to file papers as they go. Walking them through the steps is essential sometimes. Be sure to keep an eye on those students who go for the shove method! It is also helpful to have a once weekly desk clean-out to clear the unwanted litter.

Even with this structure, some students struggle with the spatial order of materials. The less materials to manage in a desk, the better. In these cases, you can add a seat sack to the back of the chair to keep essential items (agenda notebooks, homework folders).

Look for upcoming examples of adaptations for spatial order!

Thinking On Your Feet

There are some students who just cannot contain their bodies sitting in a chair. Their attention suffers as they writhe and wiggle through lessons. In response, try to provide standing stations in the classroom. Find a counter or table high enough to accommodate the standing student. You can add a slanted desktop or large three ring binder as a surface. It is amazing to see the effect this has on their performance!

The idea of standing to work is popping up all over. The European work community offers this option to its workers by providing sit-to-stand desks (changing levels with a touch of a button).

The company Levenger offers sit-to-stand products in its current catalog. These include podiums, laptop lifters and desk risers. Adjustable desks are available at Relax The Back stores.

James Levine, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic, has developed a classroom of the future. What is missing from this classroom? Chairs! Conventional desks are swapped for standing desks which are similar to small adjustable podiums. The sitting is replaced by movement. The students stand, kneel or sit on exercise balls to work.

Breaking tradition has happened before. Do you remember the old desks with attached chairs? Instead of cup holders, they were equipped with inkwells. Change is possible! Having standing options in the classroom is a step forward, providing each student what he/she needs to be successful.

By the way, I am told that Winston Churchill preferred to work standing up.

Music To Our Ears!

Although we often use songs to enhance learning tasks, we don't always think of music as a valuable tool for changing the alertness levels of our students. Read what this educator has to say on the subject.

Raleigh Philp, M.Ed. MAT, is a trainer and educational consultant specializing in brain-compatible approaches to learning. He is a former elementary and secondary teacher, a Pepperdine University professor, and a consultant for the California State Department of Education.

When I do my workshops, one thing I try to get across is that kids can listen only for a short time -- probably fifteen minutes max, maybe twenty. And you've got to find innovative ways to change the psychological state of your learners about every twenty minutes: Get them up on their feet, change the environment using music, have them interact with each other.

I encourage teachers with a variety of strategies. For instance, how can you use music effectively in the class in order to make it an emotionally welcome place? A lot of teachers use music, but the nuances of how to use it are really important. I see more teachers saying, "I can learn to control the physiological state of my learners much more by using music at the right time."

So, for instance, maybe you should play something calming when they come into the classroom, like maybe classical music?

That's the perception most people have, that you should have music playing when kids come in. But you would also want to have playlists for other kinds of music, too. When kids come in to the class, you probably want to use music with an upbeat to it, eighty beats per minute or something. Other times, you'd want to use music in transition, between activities, or when you're writing in journals, maybe fifty to sixty BPM.

I'm a fan of public radio, and I'm amazed at how well they can integrate little pieces of music. So I try to encourage teachers to use emotional songs when they're doing readings. You remember the Ken Burns series The Civil War? There's a musical theme running through it, a resounding, beautiful melodic piece. It would be a great piece of music to play in the background along with a reading of Civil War letters.

And a lot of teachers don't realize how easy this is today. With laptops, iTunes, and inexpensive speakers, it's easier than ever to use music in the classroom.

Are your students having trouble attending? How can you intergrate music into the school day to engage, motivate and focus?

Just For Fun

SNOW! Who isn't excited when the first flakes fall? Let's harness that excitement into a learning activity. Visit SnowCrystals.com for images, information and activities.

We might not have seen snow all month, but you can make your own. All snowflakes have six sides. To make a snowflake cut from paper, start by folding the paper like this. To make a digital snowflake, check out Make-a-Flake and have fun "cutting" with your mouse.

Hold It!

As an OT, I cannot keep my eyes off of how the world grasps writing utensils. Anyone is suspect to my observations...the local cashier, the UPS man, teachers at our staff meetings. The variety of pencil grasps seems endless. Do you find yourself wondering how to encourage your students to hold a pencil correctly? What is the right type of grasp? Are there other acceptable ways to hold a pencil? Check out this site for clear photo examples.

One good indicator of an appropriate grasp is the "web space". It is the circle formed by your index finger and thumb. When this is closed, you are also shutting down the very powerful thumb, rich in receptors traveling back to the brain. Keep communication open...maintain your web space!