Self Regulation Scale

I have a confession---when I see something good, I take it and use it.  I don't like to recreate the wheel, and I'm really not all that creative.      I also work with people that are very hard-working and creative, so when I stepped into my co-worker's office (Heather Petrusa, SLP) and saw this homemade self-regulation scale, I grabbed it (with her permission) and told her that this was worth using and sharing with all of my blogging friends!    She said that our mutual friend, an autism itinerant teacher, Leah Wilson, was actually the one who created it, and she (Heather) just tweaked it.  I'm sure Leah won't mind sharing, so here it is!

Anyone who works with children with autism knows the difficulties in regulating emotions.  Within an hour, a child can go from 'sleepy' to 'boiling' and not have strategies to get to the 'green' area.

 I liked this scale that Heather and Leah developed because it integrated elements from the 'How does your engine run?' program with emotional states and specific strategies (worded with 1st person statements encouraging more independence with handling regulation in the classroom.)

A therapist and teacher can use this scale to first teach emotions, strategies, and self-reflection, and then teach the child to apply these in the classroom.  So---thanks Heather and Leah!    I'm so happy to work with you!  I'm sure your kids are too!

To download in Boardmaker, click here!
    (You can then edit to fit your child's particular needs)
To download in pdf, click here!



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Quick as a Cricket visuals to download

Child finds the ending, then reads the sentence.

 One of my favorite books is Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood.  It's all about self-confidence and parts of a child's personality.  Here's the review on Amazon---

"I'm as quick as a cricket, I'm as slow as a snail. I'm as small as an ant, I'm as large as a whale." Parents and teachers choose this big square book for the message of self-confidence. Toddlers love it for the singsong phrases and Don Wood's large, silly, endearing illustrations, which feature a boy mimicking different kinds of animals. At one point, he is pictured sipping tea formally with a fancy poodle ("I'm as tame as a poodle") and on the very next page he is swinging through trees ("I'm as wild as a chimp"). Whether brave or shy, strong or weak, in the end the young boy celebrates all different, apparently contradictory parts of himself. With a confident grin, he lifts his arms up and declares, "Put it all together and you've got ME!"

 The repetitive line is great for my kids, but I always try to add visuals.  Some of the vocabulary is new, and good icons help with comprehension.  I've made some of my own boards in the past, but on Boardmaker Share, I found this great set, complete with a real Basset hound picture, and a poodle.   I rearranged the symbols a bit so that the child can manipulate the symbols to make a new sentence following the same pattern for every page.

Here's a link to download the Boardmaker verson--With this, you can change things even more!

Here's a link to download the pdf version---you can't change the board, but it's still good!


I do appreciate the person who put this up on Boardmaker Share to begin with.
Thanks, kind person!

The most fun part of this book is having the children identify their own personality traits and feelings. It's a bit of self reflection, and some can reflect better than others.  Basically, I print out a lot of feelings/character trait icons and allow the kids to each pick four.  Those that can, explain why they chose them.  I take a picture, print, assemble, and presto!  Here's an example of the result.  With this girl, if you look carefully, you can see where I penciled in her reasons for choosing the attribute on each icon. She said she was "fast in gym, pretty when I wear glasses, smart when I read, lazy when I watch TV, and nice to Ms. Kelley."  
  (This picture is actually about 8 years old--the girl is now in high school!)

So, that's my share of the day!    This is a great book and if you have additional thoughts or ideas about it, please share!

What can Dogs Do? A printable adapted book

A while back, I posted about a printable book--"What Can Cats Do?"    This has been very popular, but someone left a comment that they wished the book was about dogs.  I guess I take requests!  I looked on Tarheel Reader, and rewrote one of the dog books  so the sentences were present progressive, and I then added a question to each page.  I also included a page of Boardmaker icons for adapting this, and....... Presto!  That reader's wish has been granted!  I hope she reads this---it's my 'random act of kindness' for the week.

This book, like the cats book, is great for verbs, and the icons can be used to add different subjects---"dog swing", "boy swing".  The language is simple and patterned, and the pictures are great.  Sample activities--

• Act out each page with stuffed animals
• Print the book without the text--ask the kids to tell you what's happening
• Have the kids add a new page. They can draw (or act out with a stuffed animal) a different action.  Take a picture and add it!
• Compare and contrast the cat book with the dog book.  What's the same? What's different?
• Artic---lots of simple consonants here that repeat themselves!
• AAC---these words can all be programmed into a static cell AAC device along with some comments

I'm sure there's a lot more, but it's Friday night.  My brain is tired : /

I want this dog.

Title Page

Here is a link to a free download of this book and the icons from Google Docs. Google is miracle!


Have a nice weekend!  

P.S.  I now have a "Counting Horses" verb book here.