Visual Bridges for Special Learners

Julia Moor has been working as a teacher with adults with learning disabilities for 18 years, delivering creativity, communication, life skills and intensive interaction courses at day services and educational settings. She has also worked as a trainer for autism awareness and has a son on the autism spectrum. Julia is the author of Playing, Laughing and Learning with Children on the Autism Spectrum: A Practical Resource of Play Ideas for Parents and Carers, also published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. She lives in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

Introduction. Section 1. Learning Skills; Senses, Process and Recall. Introduction. Activity 1.1. Senses: Which Sense? – A Group Warm Up. Activity 1.2. Process: A Group Tactile Discrimination Game. Activity 1.3. Process: A Sound Discrimination Activity. Activity 1.4. Process: Rhythm Bingo – Sound Memory. Activity 1.5. Recall: See, Imagine, Memorize. Activity 1.6. Recall: A Group Picture Study. Activity 1.7. Recall: Picture Prepositions. Activity 1.8. Senses: A Sensory Composition. Section 2. Cooperation and Teamwork. Introduction. Activity 2.1. Manners Bingo. Activity 2.2. Hands on the Line. Activity 2.3. Act it Out. Activity 2.4. Board Game Builder. Activity 2.5. A Flock of Poems. Activity 2.6. Team Menu Maker. Activity 2.7. Collage Race. Activity 2.8. Team Art. Section 3. Introduction. Activity 3.1. Awareness of Self and Others; First Impressions. Activity 3.2. Self Awareness: My Choices – A Picture Preference Portrait. Activity 3.3. Self Awareness: What am I Feeling? – Identifying and Labelling Internal States. Activity 3.4. Self Awareness: Understanding Me – Outside In. Activity 3.5. Self Awareness; Several Steps to Bloom – A Visual Strategy for Personal Goal Setting. 3.6. Awareness of Others: Using Preference Portraits to get to Know Others. 3.7. Awareness of Others; Situations, Feelings, Actions. 3.8. Awareness of Others: Different Perspectives. Section 4. Early Literary Skills; “The Fruit Bowl”. Introduction. Activity 4.1. (2 levels) Mark Making – Copy, Colour and Control. Activity 4.2. (2 levels). Rhythm and Rhyme, Finding and Using Rhymes to Make Poetry. Activity 4.3. (2 levels): Discuss and Describe – Language Development; Adjectives. Activity 4.4 (2 levels). Storytelling; Take a Picture, Weave a Narrative.