Picture Cube
When developing turn-taking skills, or working on waiting for a turn, create a personalized game cube. Cut a cube of Styrofoam the right size for the hands of the players, and collect digital pictures of the participants. Print the pictures in a size that fits one face of the cube and affix them with a low temperature glue gun, covering the cube.
Other applications for this technique could be assigning classroom jobs for the week or deciding on a snack for the group, using images of tasks or available snack choices.
For many learners, the act of tossing the game cube and "reading" the picture that comes up seems to confirm the choice for them, and helps move the activity along with a more positive spirit.

Hard Cards
An easy way to protect frequently used visual cues for learners with ASD is to size the cues so they can be placed in collector sports card holders. These holders are made of rigid plastic and usually have an interior measurement of 2 ½ inches by 3 ½ inches. They're usually sold in packs of 10 for a very reasonable price.
Younger learners or learners with beginning skills levels might be handed their cue in the card as needed to reinforce a skill they're working on, such as "Quiet hands" or "Quiet feet". They might carry a card with a visual cue for walking appropriately in the halls as they travel from one room to another in school.
For older learners, daily schedules or lists of rules they're working on can be shrunk to fit in the card holder. They're a good size to travel in a jeans pocket. The plastic can also be drilled and the paper inside punched to fit on a binder ring or attached with a clip to a backpack.

Grids
Almost all our students with ASD have shown some difficulty with organizing their written work. It seems like they are learning the material, and working on the physical task of writing the letters and numerals and finding the right place on the page to put the answers. We can help with the last one: here are three different sized grids which can be downloaded.
The larger sizes (10 x 10, 13 x 13) were created for younger students or students with lower skills levels. They can be used for practicing writing names or spelling words by copying from a model. To make the directions even more visually clear, use a bright highlighter to outline the configuration of the words, using one cell for most lower-case letters and two for capital letters or lower-case letters that extend above or below the line. This grid is also useful for addition and subtraction practice, and highlighting the cell(s) where the answer goes organizes the task even better.
The smallest size (18 x 24) was created for students in the upper elementary and middle school years who had the skills to do longer multiplication and division arithmetic problems, but were getting them wrong simply because their columns didn't line up on their regular lined looseleaf paper. With a little guided practice, our learners quickly became independent in using these.
(Note: the gray lines on our grids reproduce on most color printers and black and white copiers. We chose this color value because it is dark enough to define the space for our students, but not such high contrast that it became another visual distraction for some of them!)

Downloads:
(Adobe .pdf files): 10x10 grid 13x13 grid 18x24 grid

Cued Note Paper
For our middle school and high school students in the general education program, note-taking (whether from textbooks or lectures) is a really tough job!
Our most capable students with ASD seem to have ongoing problems with judging what information is most important and which details need to be noted. We can try to support them in this with pre-formatted note paper.
The top section of page one identifies the lecture or reading. There is a specific place to list new terms or important names. The "main points" section is deliberately limited to two-line segments to promote flow from one idea to the next.
Page two has more space for vocabulary and terms, more space for "main points" and a place for students to summarize the material following the reading or lecture.
We would also recommend trying this cued paper for students who have a paraprofessional to scribe for them in lectures. The consistent format provides an orderly way to review information for quizzes and tests, and pages could be color-coded by subject area.

Download:
(Adobe .pdf file): Notepaper

Guided Writing Paper
How did any of us ever learn to write?
The letters -- and so many of them! - all have nonsense-syllable names. They're formed by making random lines and curves, sometimes from the top down, or bottom up or right-to-left or left-to-right! And then there are the CAPITALS…which usually don't look anything like their lower-case selves.

And for many kids with Spectrum Disorders, writing also involves organizing the space on the paper, and coping with sensory-motoric areas and eye-hand integration.

We can't change the alphabet but we can address some of the spatial and organizational issues with guided writing paper. Like traditional primary writing paper, it has a top line and the dotted middle line to help with letter formation and proportions. The bottom line, however, also has markers for letters and spaces. Each marker gets one - and only one -- letter or punctuation mark on it. To leave consistent spaces between words, skip one marker and begin again on the next.

We've worked with many students on the spectrum who have developed good, usable, legible handwriting. It does take practice, and we hope this specially lined paper makes that practice a little easier.

(Click below for one-inch lines or 5/8-inch lines. Once kids can manage smaller spaces, they usually don't need the extra support any more.)

Download (Adobe .pdf files):
1" Guided Writing Paper
5/8" Guided Writing Paper

That's Funny!
'Then you should say what you mean,' the March Hare went on.
'I do,' Alice hastily replied, 'At least I mean what I say - That's the same thing you know.'
-from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Many times difficulties with social language exacerbate difficulties with social behavior, but we know that both children and adults with ASD can make substantial and on-going progress in learning the intricacies of pragmatic language.

There are many strategies to support people with ASD in going beyond the literal meaning of words and increasing their understanding of idioms, irony, and figurative language. One tactic is the use of jokes and riddles. We've seen that many of our students really enjoy retelling jokes, riddles, and "knock-knocks" once they get it…once they've unlocked that special language puzzle that held the meaning.

Here is a link to a G-rated, kid-friendly joke site that has some wonderful humor. Many of the entries are categorized, so focusing on "that special interest" can be an added motivator.

(For general educators, we found a way to get more reading into the school day several years ago when we put a folder outside one of our classrooms with "the daily riddle" on the top of the folder and the answer inside. It was irresistible…and here's a supply for this school year!)
www.kidsjokes.co.uk