Storyline online

Online reading resource
check it out   https://www.storylineonline.net/
storylineonline

Great selection of books that are read by celebrities and has the story written across the screen.

Good opportunity for our students to hear and see literacy.

                                                                                                               

Reading support - what is the goal?

Reading Support

I am currently supporting a 10 year boy with Autism and Attention Deficit disorder who is reading at a 6 year old level. He enjoys reading but does not like any written follow up task as he has limited fine motor skills.

I have made a range of activities to give him the opportunity to work on his specific reading goals without causing him too much anxiety.

The stories we have been reading have compound words . He is now very proud he can in his words read "big words" by recognise smaller words.

Word endings to encourage this young man to look at the ends of words and recognise they change eg looked, looking and read then appropriately.














     I created these to support his understanding of the new vocabulary in his new books.









I have created a book with enough pages that he can
recreate the book in sequence.
This allows us to sequence  the pictures
and discuss the story line. We can make up our own words verbally to go with the pictures.
He can match the sentence to the picture.
He can also underline the words that show answers to our questions on our laminted words.

Reading strategies

Guiding our learners through Reading

Reading strategies for our students.

Here is a copy of some of the planned strategies I am using with students working at Blue level (5 1/2 to 6 years) based on ideas from Sally Clendon. We are reading the same book each day for four days but for a different purpose. The students have other opportunities to read different reading material at other times during the day.

Our sensory system

I have had several people ask me about some of their students and why they react to certain smells, sounds and textures or have limited body awareness.

Are you aware our body has 7 sensory systems that help us understand the world around us? Some of our students have sensory ways give mixed messages.


We have 7 different sensory systems that our brain must integrate in order to interact appropriately with our environment. These sensory systems include: proprioception (muscle-joint awareness), vestibular (orientation in space), tactile (touch), auditory (sound), visual (sight), gustatory (taste), and olfactory (smell). Our brain works hard to integrate all of those sensations without becoming too overwhelmed, distracted, or disengaged.

Even things that don’t seem “sensory” actually are. Take handwriting, for example. In order to write, your brain must integrate a huge amount of sensory information: to remain upright in the chair (proprioceptive sense), to hold the pencil with an appropriate grasp using the appropriate force (tactile and proprioceptive senses), to form the letters appropriately with adequate spacing (visual and vestibular senses), to sustain endurance throughout the activity (vestibular and proprioceptive senses), to filter out distracting input (auditory senses).


Children (and adults) with sensory processing disorders (SPD) manage sensory input in ways that are not functional, meaning they interfere with their daily activities.

http://momentousinstitute.org/blog/making-sense-of-sensory-processing

Functions of behaviour

Social scripts

Social Stories  Social scripts are a social learning tool that supports the safe and

meaningful exchange of information between adults and learners who need additional support.

Written to help students deal with and understand difficult or confusing situations. Stories can be written to prepare students for upcoming events or to explain why other people act they do or what the rules are.

Social stories are most common with students who are on the autistic spectrum; however I also use them with other students when I see they need additional support. They are simple stories that help remind students about appropriate social behavior. 

What are social stories for?

Social scripts/ stories can be used to:

•  develop self-care skills (eg how to clean teeth, wash hands or get dressed), social skills (eg sharing, asking for help, saying thank you, interrupting) and academic abilities
•  help someone to understand how others might behave or respond in a particular situation
•  help others understand the perspective of a person and why they may respond or behave in a particular way
•  help a person to cope with changes to routine and unexpected or distressing events (eg absence of teacher, moving house, thunderstorms)
•  provide positive feedback to a person about an area of strength or achievement in order to develop self-esteem
•  as a behavioural strategy (eg what to do when angry, how to cope with obsessions).

I begin by identifying the behaviour that I want to modify.  For example, inappropriate hallway behaviour.  One particular student was having difficulty walking in the hallway quietly and keeping her hands off the wall.  Now that I have the behaviour identified, I go to Google.  

Sometimes I have to walk in the hallway.

I need to keep my voice and feet quiet in the hallway.

My hands stay at my sides.

It makes my teachers happy when I walk quietly in the hallway. 

I like to search for social stories that are already written so that I might not have to reinvent the wheel. I then adapt and personlised as needed,
I also include pictures to go with the story. These can be computer images or photos I have taken.

How do social stories/ scripts help?

Social scripts/  stories present information in a literal, 'concrete' way, which may improve a person's understanding of a previously difficult or ambiguous situation or activity. The presentation and content can be adapted to meet different people's needs.

They can help with sequencing (what comes next in a series of activities) and 'executive functioning' (planning and organising).    

By providing information about what might happen in a particular situation, and some guidelines for behaviour, you can increase structure in a person's life and thereby reduce anxiety.

Creating or using a social story can help you to understand how the autistic person perceives different situations.

• Present the social story to the person at a time when everyone is feeling calm and relaxed, using a straightforward approach, eg I have written this story for you. It is about thunderstorms. Let's read it together now.
• If it is preparing for a special event/ experience  make sure you have read through a few times before the event/experience

Social stories^TM were created by Carol Gray in 1991. They are short descriptions of a particular situation, event or activity, which include specific information about what to expect in that situation and why.

The terms 'social story' and 'social stories' are trademarks originated and owned by Carol Gray.

Early literacy.

Early literacy research states that:

• Early literacy development is a continuous developmental process that begins in the early years;


• Early literacy skills develop in real-life settings through positive interactions with literacy materials and other people.


Therefore a broad, deep and rich curriculum as advocated should ensure an environmentally rich literacy context, which gives children many opportunities for:


• Movement and developmentally appropriate experiences of both large and fine motor skills;


• Exploration of three dimensional props and books; 

• Real experiences of books, rhymes .

The development of early language and literacy begins in the first three years of life and is closely linked to a child's earliest experiences with books and stories. Young children come into contact with a range of materials including books, paper, and crayons. Together with the adults in their lives they are the important building blocks for language, reading and writing development. Current research demonstrates the critical role of these early experiences in shaping brain development.


For our students who have complications in the early years, whether that be medical issues, complex family dynamics or other situation that have limited the normal development of language we need to find ways to build on their language development. Opportunity is needed to build their developmental stages and experiences before we expect these learners to gain an understanding of formal literacy.


Views on learning literacy:


Learning to communicate and to read has changed dramatically and most recently due to digital technology. Vygotsky (1987) states that learning is a social phenomenon and emphasises that the learner must be involved in the whole activity as a meaningful context rather than discrete parts. This view supports the holistic approach to learning literacy based upon the fundamental assumption that reading and writing are learnt from whole to part (Goodman, 1986); (Goodman and Goodman, 1979). Learners should understand and experience the purposes and functions of language before learning to manipulate its constituent parts. Oral and written language have to be learned in meaningful and enjoyable circumstances, and thus children construct language as they use it. So in holistic approaches the child has the lead and the approaches vary between individuals in multiple contexts and via multiple interpretations. Harste et al., (1984), Cambourne and Turbill (1987) suggest that certain conditions support this approach with children, such as immersion in print, demonstration of how print and books are used, and encouraging children to explore through approximate and practical ways of using reading and writing meaningfully whilst giving supportive and instructive feedback.