When Maths are combined with creative and playful activities, Flora can concentrate and absorb the new knowledge more easily. More information about Autism and Maths can be found here.
Flora is learning the different shapes as well as following instructions. To achieve this, we ask Flora to draw a little house by giving her the necessary visual instructions. This way Flora is learning the basic shapes, such as the square, the triangle and the parallelogram, by drawing. Once she becomes familiar with the shapes, we add spatial concepts such as up, down (see here) to the description/instruction. The ultimate goal is for Flora to learn how to follow more complex instructions with or without visual support.
I need:
Instructions
paper
pen
Draw a square (simple instruction) Draw a square on the base of the paper (complex instruction)
2. Draw a triangle ( simple instruction) Draw a triangle on top of the square ( complex instruction)
3. Draw two squares ( simple instruction)
Draw two squares inside the square ( complex instruction) .
4. Draw one parallelogram ( simple instruction)
Draw one parallelogram inside the square (complex instruction)
To support our students to maintain and generalise the knowledge they have obtained, we can organise activities that ask the child to make the shapes they have learned, for example with playdough (see here).
Further instructions can be added to the activity depending on the cognitive level of each child, e.g. a circle for a sun etc.
We will share more tips and activities in the future, so keep visiting us.
We are looking forward to hearing your views and experiences. You can email us at florastophasma@gmail.com.