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Commtap - an online collaboration platform for speech and language therapists and all who work with or care for those with communication difficulties.
Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
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Recall what happened in a lesson The materials you had in the lesson. Picture prompts for the activities that were carried out. Piece of card to stick the prompts onto as you do the activities in the lesson. |
| You can work on recall of the main activities in the lesson, for example:
Strategies you could use if the student is finding this difficult: At the end of one activity say we were "listening", next we will draw a picture. Show a prompt card for each - so the student can see the progression from one activity to another. Ask them about these two activities at the end of the second one. |
Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
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Breakfast Breakfast food and implements, rough sketches or photos of each stage in the sequence to use as prompts. Ideas for sequences: Toast
Note: you can simplify the sequence - e.g. bread - toaster - spread butter. Or you could make it more complex. Make a cup of tea
As with the toast, you can simplify this or make it more complicated! |
| This activity incorporates some automatic feedback - if the student gets it wrong, then it will probably not work and they will need to correct themself. |
Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
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Practical sequences Camera to make the picture sequences (or alternatively you can draw them or use a commercial resource). Resources as appropriate to carry out a simple sequence Examples of sequences (with suggested steps to make pictures for): Putting on a jumper (get jumper, put head through, put arms through); Drinking a drink (jug and cup, pour water into the cup, drink it) Peeling and eating a piece of fruit (fruit, peel fruit, eat it) Sitting down and eating dinner Drawing a picture (pencil and paper, child drawing, finished picture) Looking at a book (get it, open it, look at it) | 1. Carry out the activity without the pictures; 2. Do it again, showing the relevant picture for each part of the activity as you do it; 3. Get the child to do the sequence, tell them what to do by showing them a picture for each part of the sequence; 4. Get them to show you what to do by giving you a picture for each part of the sequence. Try to do exactly as the picture you are given indicates, for example if they give you a picture of someone blowing bubbles without having given you the step for opening the bubbles container, try to blow the bubbles anyway (and act being disappointed when you don't get any bubbles). | At this level children may often be able to learn particular sequences of pictures without understanding that they relate to a sequence of actions, these activities are designed to address this issue. Seeing how the sequence goes wrong if the wrong picture is chosen (in step 4) will encourage the child to work out which should have been the right picture without you needing to give any further feedback. |
Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
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Self Care Activities Camera to make the picture sequences (or alternatively you can draw them or use a commercial resource). Resources as appropriate to carry out a simple sequence Examples of sequences: Clean teeth: get toothpaste, open lid, get brush, squeeze toothpaste onto brush, put lid back onto toothpaste, brush teeth, spit out, put brush under water, repeat, clean brush, put brush away. Wash hands: turn on tap, rinse hands, put soap on hands, scrub hands, rinse under water, turn tap off, dry with towel. Brush hair: get brush, brush hair, put brush away. Deodorant: get deodorant, take off lid, spray at appropriate area, put lid back on, put away. | 1. Carry out the sequence without the pictures; 2. Do it again, showing the relevant picture for each part of the activity as you do it; 3. Get the student to do the sequence, showing them a picture for each part of the sequence as they do it; 4. Get them to show you what to do by giving you a picture for each part of the sequence. Try to do exactly as the picture you are given indicates, for example if they give you a picture of scrubbing your hands before the tap is turned on/before you have the soap, try to do this - but appear confused when this doesn't work. | At this level students may often be able to learn particular sequences of pictures without understanding that they relate to a sequence of actions, these activities are designed to address this issue. Seeing how the sequence goes wrong if the wrong picture is chosen (in step 4) will encourage the student to work out which should have been the right picture without you needing to give any further feedback. |
Group for developing activities and resources for use in the early years. First job is to convert all Early Years activities sheets to the new areas of learning brought in in September 2012.
A group on Commtap is a place where you can collaborate, plan, organise, and work on projects. The pages that a group can create can be either public or private to that group (only visible to them). List of groups
Contact us if you would like to create a new group on Commtap.
The idea of private groups is not to have something kept secret, but rather to help people not have stuff in their searches of the site which they won't be able to use.
Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
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Likes and dislikes Optional - something to record the students responses on (e.g. paper/pen) which can later be used as a prompt; Soft ball or beanbag. |
| To make it harder, you can go around again asking for favourite drinks - so that everyone now has to remember a food and a drink for each student when they pass the ball (e.g "Tim - you like carrot cake and tea"). You could use favourite games, favourite places to go, etc. instead. |
Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
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What have you done today? Optional - way of recording students responses - e.g. paper/pen, whiteboard/marker |
| Variations
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What have you done today - with a ball Optional - way of recording students responses - e.g. paper/pen, whiteboard/marker Soft ball or beanbag |
Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
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Says ‘Hello’ to 3 familiar people
If you don't already have a symbol for "hello" you can find one in the Commtap Symboliser.
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| The length of these instructions show that this is quite a difficult routine to learn! The object of the activity is give the child conventional politeness. Allow time to develop this skill.
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Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
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I like/ I don’t like Laminated A3 sheet divided in half with a line, with an "I like" symbol on one side and an "I don’t like" symbol on the other side (symbols could be a smiley face and a sad face); Assortment of pictures of food, animals, cartoon characters, games etc.; Use Velcro or blue-tak to attach pictures to board. You can also get picture symbols from the Commtap Symboliser.
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Jump in the hoop Large plastic hoop. Assortment of pictures of food, animals, cartoon characters, games etc. (if needed). |
Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
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Sentence Sequencing cards Cards showing a range of nouns and adjectives plus the words "the" and "is". DLTK's examples. (https://www.dltk-kids.com/) Pencil and paper (optional) | 1. Lay the word "is" on the table in front of the child. Put the word "the" to the left of this, with a gap in between them. Check that the child can read both words; 2. Put one of the noun cards into the gap between the words "the" and "is"; 3. Put one of the adjective cards after the word "is"; 4. Read the sentence to the child (e.g. "the monster is green"); 5. Encourage the child to make up new sentences in the same manner. It doesn't matter if the sentences are silly; 6. You can use the paper to record the sentences made, or for the child to draw an appropriate picture on. | Only suitable for children who can read simple single words. |
What's in the bag? Feely bag containing a range of objects (choose objects appropriate for the children you are working with); "is" cue card as previous activity. |
Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
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Gain visual attention Use something that the person may be visually attracted by, for example:
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| Remember that although the room needs to have little visual distraction the light needs to be sufficient to allow clear eye contact to be made e.g. a low light sensory room may not be so good for this activity. |
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