Visually supported lessons are an ideal way to help the literal-minded sort out homophones, idioms, slang and other tricky bits of the English language. Scroll down for more…

Communication difficulties and literal-mindedness (two hallmarks of autism) make understanding the subtleties and nuances of the English language even more difficult for kids with ASD. Tricky bits like homophones, idioms and slang need special focus because kids with autism are not likely to infer their meaning from context.

Homophones

Visually supported lessons help to both define and make memorable the meanings of homophones. Being able to attach images to the various meanings and spellings of the words makes it easier for a person with stronger visual processing skills to both understand and retain the information. Check out these examples:

• Bare or Bear? VizZle ID Number: 32029
  Images and text with audio about the difference between bear and bare, with popups and quizzes and a custom celebration
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

• Bear or Bare? VizZle ID Number: 31997
  Image (of either a bear or something bare) TO text, field of 2 choices with set distractors, 15 pairs, with custom celebration
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

Idioms

Idioms can be especially frustrating for the literal-minded. Visuals can clarify what they don’t mean as well as what they do mean, which is sometimes just the mnemonic needed to retain the information (especially if the incorrect image strikes the funny bone). Check out these two examples of the many lessons you’ll find available by running a keyword search for “idiom” in Share, the VizZle shared library:

• Idioms 9, VizZle ID Number: 14861
  Images and text w/audio about true meaning of idiomatic phrases, 20 pages, with custom celebration
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

• Idioms 9.3, VizZle ID Number: 15306
  Each tile has an image with a popup matching quiz that tests understanding of idioms from the unit, 10 tiles, number spinner
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

Slang

Slang can be even trickier and more frustrating, because it changes all the time. One approach is to help students figure out the context clues to watch for that signal the use of slang. Another approach is to gather slang currently used with the student’s peer group, maybe even by going on a “slang hunt” to find what is current. Examples of both approaches from the VizZle shared library are:

• Using Slang, VizZle ID Number: 29348
  Images and text w/audio about slang–what it is, and simple rules for using and for understanding slang. With popups for discussion, videos and a custom celebration Slang Symphony classic cartoon (6 minutes)
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

• Common Slang (OH, USA), VizZle ID Number: 29381
  Images and text w/audio about slang typically used by older teens and young adults in the suburban Cleveland, OH area in 2010/2011, with popups and quizzes, 12 pages with custom celebration.
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

• Slang 1.0, VizZle ID Number: 29387
  Text with audio definition TO text w/audio slang word or phrase common with teens and young adults in suburban Cleveland, OH, 2011, field of 3 choices with set distractors, 21 pairs
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

Lessons for recycling are usually a big part of plans for teaching about Earth Day (April 22). Recycling is a great real-world task that builds both ADL and vocational skill sets. For tips and visually supported lessons that will help students with autism understand recycling on both an intellectual and a practical level, scroll down…

Generalization

Because most people with autism are visual thinkers and learners, they often have trouble generalizing from a specific example to the broader category. This can make it particularly challenging for them to understand concepts like recycling. At its core, recycling is about sorting common objects into broad categories.

So for teaching concepts like recycling, visually supported materials with lots of varied examples of each category are vital. The greater number of specific examples someone with autism has to draw from, the better their understanding of the broader category will be, and the more likely they will be successful generalizing unfamiliar examples into the correct category in their daily living.

Good examples of lessons for this kind of generalization practice are:

• Generalization : Recyclable Glass , VizZle ID Number: 33011
  Image of glass recycling sign and text directive (i.e., “Find recyclable glass.”) TO image, field of 3 choices with set distractors, 25 pairs, with custom celebration
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

• Generalization : Recyclable Paper , VizZle ID Number: 32990
  Image of paper recycling sign and text directive (i.e., “Find reclyclable paper.”) TO image, field of 3 choices with set distractors, 25 pairs, with custom video celebration
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

  More Memorable

  

  Visually supported interactive lessons also help make the intellectual concepts of recycling more concrete and memorable. Images, video or a catchy jingle can act as a mnemonic, making the information easier for the student to remember and access when needed.

  The following lessons are excellent examples that cover many different ability and age levels:

  • What Is Recycling? , VizZle ID Number: 11950
    Images and text w/audio about the basics of recycling, with a video of the “Recycling Song” on the last page, 7 pages
    (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

  • All About Recycling , VizZle ID Number: 12278
    Short text sentences to describe recycling with the inclusion of Captain Planet to encourage recycling in the classroom, 15 pages
    (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

  • The Three R’s of Recycling , VizZle ID Number: 11982
    Images and text w/audio about Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, with a video on the last page, 16
    (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

  • Communities and Resources , VizZle ID Number: 17562
    Images and text w/audio about natural resources in U.S. communities, including gold and oil, and the need to nurture U.S. resources, 11 pages
    (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

Always on the lookout for videos for VizZle or for teaching kids with autism? Check out the article Top Ten Alternatives to Youtube in Tech & Learning Magazine, which lists some interesting resources for educational videos. Click here for their suggestions.

If your student scores consistently in the 80% to 100% incorrect range on a lesson, in all probability that skill has been mastered. So how can you change that incorrect to correct? Scroll down for more…

Wrong is Right?

Choosing the wrong answer consistently doesn’t mean that the student doesn’t know the material. Just the opposite in fact. To get it wrong every time, he has to know the correct answer in order to avoid it.

80% to 100% incorrect usually means that whatever is being used to signify a wrong answer is more attractive than the correct answer’s reinforcer. Changing your prompts or reinforcers is a simple thing that can have a huge impact.

What is a Reinforcer?

Reinforcers increase the likelihood of a student choosing correctly in the future. Problems creep up on us when a prompt we meant to let him know his choice was incorrect becomes a reinforcer–the big red “X” is more attractive to that child than the smiley face chosen to reinforce the correct answer.

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How to Turn it Around

The first step is to identify the reinforcers. In many interactive lessons, the prompt for a wrong answer is the culprit. If you are working one on one with a student, it may be your reaction that has morphed into a reinforcer. That theatrical grimace at an incorrect answer can have exactly the opposite effect than you intended.

Once you have identified the problem, change it! It is all about customizing for the individual you are working with. Make the sure the only reinforcers are a) something that child likes, and b) only reinforcing positive outcomes. Change or even remove entirely anything that inadvertently reinforces the wrong answer. If the prompts or reinforcers aren’t customizable, you may need to seek alternative formats.

Examples

For VizZle lessons, changing the prompts and reinforcers just takes switching toggles in the options.

For examples of how different the experience of the lesson becomes with these simple changes, check out these three shortened edits from the same lesson, and guess a wrong answer first.

• Emotion Synonyms X , VizZle ID Number: 31487
  Image and text w/audio label TO identical image and tect w/audio label of synonym, field of 3 choices, 4 pairs
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

• Emotion Synonyms D , VizZle ID Number: 31486
  Image and text w/ audio label TO identical image and text w/audio of synonym, field of 3 choices, 4 pairs
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

• Emotion Synonyms N , VizZle ID Number: 31489
  Image and lext label w/ audio to identical image and text w/audio label of synonym, field of 3 choices, 4 pairs
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

VizZle’s own Dr. Howard Shane and kids with autism provided insight into the way technology can reach, teach and bring greater independence to kids with ASD during the iPad 2 announcement. Click to check out the video (at ~ the 4 minute mark)

This week’s VTip uses lessons for spring to show ways to differentiate lessons so a wide variety of ability levels within the same group will stay engaged. Scroll down for more…

Videos & Discussion Engage

A book with videos and popups geared to discussion will engage a wide variety of skill levels. Matching or print lessons in support can use information from the main lesson differentiated to suit a variety of skill levels. For example:

• Spring , VizZle ID Number: 10477
  Images and text w/audio about common associations with spring, with popups and videos including a chick hatching, lambs frolicking and time lapse growth of plants, with custom celebration, 17 pages
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)



• Spring , VizZle ID Number: 10478
  Image and text w/audio question TO image and text w/audio label, for comprehension from book of same name, field of 3 choices, with custom celebration, 10 pairs
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

• Spring Vocab 1.0 , VizZle ID Number: 30184
  For print, for vocabulary from story Spring, vertical column of text vocab words on left, with matching images on right and text directive to draw a line from the word to the picture, prints on 1 page
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

• Spring Vocab 1.1 , VizZle ID Number: 30197
  For print, images and text labels in two columns with text directive to draw a line to the matching picture, for vocabulary from the book Spring, prints on 2 page
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

• Spring Vocab 1.2 , VizZle ID Number: 30199
  Image of vocabulary word with blank to write in word, with text word bank of vocab to choose from, prints on 1 page
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

Add a Language

Especially when some of your students don’t speak English as a first language, repeating the text in English and then in another language is great way to include kids with different skill levels in the same lesson:

• Spring / Primavera , VizZle ID Number: 19189
  Images and text w/recorded audio, first in English, then in Spanish, about the spring season, 7 pages
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

Add Quizzes

The same story can be easily edited with multiple hotspots. Popups can be color coded and have quizzes made to test specific comprehension (English to Spanish, or Spanish to English).

• Spring / Primavera II , VizZle ID Number: 30152
  Images and text w/ audio about spring, first in English, then in Spanish. With differentiated quizzes for identical image English to Spanish (red circles), English to Spanish text (blue circles), Spanish to English with identical images (black squares) and Spanish to English text (green squares), 7 pages
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

Include Student Names

Color-coded popups can allow students working towards very different IEP goals to be equally engaged in the same lesson and feel like part of a group. For even greater engagement, edit a lesson like this next example by putting specific student names on each label. You’ll be amazed at what a thrill students get seeing their name right in the lesson!

• April Showers III , VizZle ID Number: 30129
  Images and text w/audio of spring rhyme about flowers, with differentiated quizzes for flower ID (black), writing practice-for whiteboard (red), rhyming (blue) and identical matching/discrimination (green), 12 pages set for single page playback
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

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Want more in depth information on differentiating group lessons? Click here to check out the archived VTips webinar at VizZle U.

What is your favorite VizZle lesson? Send it via VizZleGram to lessons@monarchtt.com with your story of why it is your favorite in the message, and both you and the lesson’s creator could win a $25 Amazon gift certificate! Scroll down for more…

My “Aha” Moment

When I was first approached with this idea, I knew immediately what lesson I would choose as my favorite in Share. The lesson represents an “Aha!” moment for me. The VizZle-Gram message telling my story would go something like this:

This is my favorite lesson in Share because I got to watch the student make it. She first gathered and made the story out of the images, which brought home to me in a very concrete way that she really does think and prefer to express herself in visuals. And from this story, I found out that she not only understood the concept of dialogue, but knew how to punctuate it! Who knew? (Thanks to VIzZle, now I do!)

Lesson Name: Morgan’s One Two Buckled My Shoe
Description: Student author’s unique take on “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe”, 14 pages
VizZle ID Number: 25299
(Don’t have access to VizZle? Click here to see a browser version of the lesson. Remember to maximize your browser and click Play at the bottom.)

Do You Have and “Aha” Moment?

What is your favorite lesson? Is there one that represents an “Aha!” moment for you? Do you have a “go to” lesson that you use for assessing? Or a lesson that you found that meant you didn’t have to make one yourself? Maybe it is one that gave you an idea of a way to teach something that you hadn’t considered before? Or maybe it is because it is your students’ favorite, and they are compliant in a way they never were before?

Send us your story (just a sentence or two will do). And if we use your story in a future VTips, we’ll send both you and the lesson’s creator** a $25 gift certificate as our way of saying thanks for sharing!

How Do I Send It?

Find the lesson in Share and click on it. Click on the VizZleGram button in the Activity Summary on the upper right of the screen. Put lessons@monarchtt.com as the Friend’s Email, and type or paste your story into the message.

What if My “Aha” Lesson Is One I Made and Didn’t Share?

Then Share it! Find your lesson in your folders and click the “Send to Share” button in the Activity Summary. Next, send us an email addressed to lessons@monarchtt.com with the lesson title and your story. We’ll expedite the moderation of the lesson into Share and enter it into the contest.

We look forward to hearing from you! (I hope you win!)

**“The creator” is defined as the registered user at that account email, or anyone that user so designates. Employees of MTT are not eligible (but will preen greatly at the praise )

Have you ever had great success teaching a student a skill, only to have another member of the teaching team or the parent look at you blankly as if to say, “Really? Well, he won’t do that for me…”? (Scroll down for more…)

When a student with autism learns something in one setting, often times they will associate what they learned with the setting, and be unable to apply it elsewhere. But a lesson learned in the speech therapy room, then repeated in the classroom and at home has a far better chance of being accessible when the child needs to apply it to regular conversation than if the lesson was just presented in a single setting (no matter how well he seemed to “get it” in that setting).

This can be problematic with many visual teaching materials—nobody wants to lend out all the carefully cut, laminated and velcroed pieces, only to have the set returned missing vital bits (if it is returned at all…). Ease of sharing is one of the great benefits of online lessons, and it has gotten even easier now with the new VizZleGram feature just released in the VizZle 3.2.1.

VizzleGrams Help Generalize!

Even if the other members of the teaching team or the parents don’t have access to VizZle, if they have an email address, they can use a VizZle lesson. Any lesson in Share can now be shared via VizZleGram. Just click the new VizZleGram button in the upper right of the Activity Summary, and a browser-friendly version of the lesson will be sent to the email address you specify (along with any instructions you’d care to add in a message).

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Awesome New Lessons (With VizZleGram Links)

A VizZleGram is how I generated the links to the browser versions of these lessons recently added to Share. (And what a treat for me to have an excuse to share some of my new favorites! A shout out and many thanks to the uber-creative and generous VizZle users who shared these awesome lessons!)

• Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? , VizZle ID Number: 26947
  Images and text echoing the classic Eric Carle book, with sound bites of the real animal noise for each animal being “heard”, 24 pages
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

• Simon Says 1 , VizZle ID Number: 24737
  Each numbered tile has a popup with an image and an audio directive, some beginning with “Simon says…” and some not (e.g., “Simon says tiptoe” or “Oink like a pig.”), 19 tiles, number spinner
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

• Class Officer Elections , VizZle ID Number: 22730
  Images and text about voting for class leadership positions, and the jobs those leaders will be in charge of (e.g., “In Y02, we are going to vote for an Ambassador. The Ambassador’s job is to meet people. In Y02 the Ambassador’s job will be to greet people who visit our class by shaking their hands.”), 9 pages
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

• Synonyms in Context , VizZle ID Number: 22470
  Text w/audio context sentence (e.g., “Amanda didn’t want to wait for dinner because she was hungry.”) with key word in red underneath TO text of key word’s synonym, field of 4 choices with set distractors, 10 pairs
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

• Respecting Personal Boundaries, VizZle ID Number: 22723
  Each tile has an image with a popup image and text w/audio question (e.g., “If you ask your friend to get together and she says she can’t meet with you because she is going somewhere with some other friends, what should you do or say? Why?”), for discussion of appropriate responses to social situations and discussion of personal space/boundaries, 12 tiles, color spinner
  (No access to VizZle? Click here for a browser version—remember to maximize your browser and click play at the bottom.)

Want to share one of the lessons you created? Click here to find out how to turn one of your private lessons from your folders into a VizZleGram.