Category:

Timed Prompt Steps as "Place Holders"

7/8/2013

Do you need to add in a timed prompt/break between steps in your schedule using First Then Visual Schedule HD?

Try adding a "holding step" between regular steps in your existing schedule, then attaching a timer for the length of time that you desire for the prompting step. You can add in an audio prompt of your choice (voice, etc.) to "alert" the user and remind them to stay on task.

When your schedule plays out, they will have an extra "step" in between regular schedule items to bring them back to the task at hand. This is effective for those individuals may need a small break between steps to redirect them to their schedule.

Choose an existing schedule to add place holder steps, when extra prompting to complete tasks is desired.

Place holder steps can have any title or image you desire. Whatever works to motivate the individual to move to the next step in the schedule.

Once your place holder image and sound have been saved, switch to User Mode and enable timers using the Options Tray.

Place holder steps only need to be long enough to prompt the individual to move to the next step. Make sure to consider this when recording your audio.

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Teaching Appropriate Dress For Weather

7/7/2013

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Teaching Appropriate Dress For Weather:

There are many reasons an individual may not be able to dress themselves appropriately for the weather. Sensory aversion to certain fabrics, lack of body awareness, etc. can all contribute to an individual's inability to properly dress according to the weather outside. Here are a few suggestions that may help - while also teaching the individual how to dress comfortably for hot, cold, and/or inclement weather.

Scene Speak can be used to create social stories about different types of weather. Hotspots can be added with text or speech that further enhance the story. Read along text can also be added to each VSD in order to make the story even more dynamic.

Create a book of clothing descriptors, or build your own social story.

Add details about the types of clothing available during certain weather, and the function of accessories.

Our My Choice Board app can be used to quickly get images and display them efficiently for the app user to choose their own initial outfit.

Create a choice board with a variety of different clothing types, or multiple choices within the same category, depending on the ability of the individual.

Make sure all choices within the choice board are available and appropriate.

For those individuals who already use First Then Visual Schedule (HD) for dressing schedules, adding in a choice board - for example, "Put on shirt" could flip to a field of several choices, long and short sleeved...or "Put on pants" could flip to a choice board containing both shorts and long pants - can afford the individual the opportunity to learn how to gauge what should be worn according to the weather outside. Further prompting can be used to promote the environmental awareness necessary to gauge for themselves what articles of clothing should be worn in different types of weather.

If the individual cannot offer input on their entire outfit, try targeting one specific clothing item.

Include up to eight different choices within the category per choice board. You can choose to include options for the clothing item itself, or weather-based choices.

We strive to provide apps that are as multi-dimensional as our hopes and dreams for our loved ones. =)

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Independence Through Video Modeling With FTVS HD

7/1/2013

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Trying to teach independent life skills?

Break down the task into simple steps and use First Then Visual Schedule HD to make the skill visual. For instance, a step for each article of clothing in a "Getting Dressed" schedule, coupled with an audio prompt. This can help simplify these tasks by breaking them up into small and easy-to-follow steps. You can add video for those tasks requiring extra visual prompting.