Building Skills Beyond the Letter board
When working on skills beyond the board it is important to remember SENSORY, MOTOR, and EMOTIONAL readiness. Students lacking in one of these areas will have a harder time having success. So with these students a little goes a long way.
Most motor skills are taught by a motor model (hand over hand teaching how to do--teaching the BODY how to do. The student most likely understands already) and then complete physical independence. That is important. Verbal prompts and air prompts are faded as time goes on just like on the letter board and all skills in RPM.
We want students to move and aim with intention both in 2D (letter board) space and 3D (everywhere else) space. Moving with purpose gives a student quality of life and independence. The four goals of RPM lessons are: Skill, Tolerance, Educational/Cognitive, and Communication. Here I focus on Skill, but really Skill needs Tolerance, Communication and Education. If anyone is missing one of these, then ability to function is limited and opportunities can be lost. While communication is a big deal, without the other three it is limited in its depth and power. Skill building is therefore, extremely important for all of us.
With time I will continue to add video clips to hopefully help you on your journey in hope that all our students, children and adult children will communicate, function and have fulfilling lives!
Please note that while what I am doing is working for him, the steps and various ways of teaching some of these skills are not shown. I have try to list the booklets and books for more information in each section. The books and booklets are available at HALO Online Store. Here is the link by pushing on the button "HALO":
Most motor skills are taught by a motor model (hand over hand teaching how to do--teaching the BODY how to do. The student most likely understands already) and then complete physical independence. That is important. Verbal prompts and air prompts are faded as time goes on just like on the letter board and all skills in RPM.
We want students to move and aim with intention both in 2D (letter board) space and 3D (everywhere else) space. Moving with purpose gives a student quality of life and independence. The four goals of RPM lessons are: Skill, Tolerance, Educational/Cognitive, and Communication. Here I focus on Skill, but really Skill needs Tolerance, Communication and Education. If anyone is missing one of these, then ability to function is limited and opportunities can be lost. While communication is a big deal, without the other three it is limited in its depth and power. Skill building is therefore, extremely important for all of us.
With time I will continue to add video clips to hopefully help you on your journey in hope that all our students, children and adult children will communicate, function and have fulfilling lives!
Please note that while what I am doing is working for him, the steps and various ways of teaching some of these skills are not shown. I have try to list the booklets and books for more information in each section. The books and booklets are available at HALO Online Store. Here is the link by pushing on the button "HALO":
MANIPULATING MONEYIn this student the iPad has a picture of the lay out of the money. The student is asked to point to the money on the iPad to indicate his response and then point to the money on the table to practice working in 3D or the motor skill task...Pointing to a 2D surface and then 3D makes it easier to aim for many students.
It is hard to see what he is doing on the iPad as the camera is in front. Sometimes the picture moves so I have to reposition before he points. Now there is a currency board and booklet: "Navigating the Currency Board Using RPM." |
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READING, TURNING PAGES, PLACING BOOKMARKIn this clip the student practices reading by pointing with intention to each word as I read it. We then have him practice opening a paper made book and place a book mark in it. This was done in connection to a lesson on post-it notes and the history of them.
To understand more, you will like to obtain this booklet. "Developing the Visual Skill of Reading Using Rapid Prompting Method" |
MOSAIC USING POST-IT NOTES--AIMING at OBJECTS ON TABLEConnected to a lesson about the invention of post it notes. The student tells the color he wants, aims at the post-it note by pointing (more accurate aim then grabbing) and then he pulls off the note. He then points where he wants to put it to complete his mosaic made from post-it notes. In this video I skip some of him telling me the color he wants to focus on the motor skill.
To learn more about aiming at objects correctly: "Learning Life Skills Using RPM" booklet and the book "Developing Motor Skills Using Rapid Prompting Method." |
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USING A RULERIn this video the student is being taught a math lesson in connection to the motor skills associated to using the ruler. The clips are choppy because the focus is on the skills and some of the teaching, but there is still teaching and student responses via spelling on the letter board throughout the sessions. I motor model and then require PHYSICAL independent practice immediately after.
NOTE: When I ask him to point to the 3 on the ruler he freezes I flick the ruler and it gets him to move. While this can be effective to get a student to look, it isn't ideal to flick boards or objects with that much energy because it can make some students feel nervous about missing and some onlookers don't know what you are doing. |
THREADING A NEEDLE AND SEWINGThe student learns how to thread a needled. I start with larger areas to thread and then get smaller and smaller. Then I have him sew. He spelled EYE out when asked on a flat letter board. I give a few air prompts and verbal directional prompts as we are in the process of generalizing his aiming skills to a flat surface. This is a 'known' word other wise I would not have gestured or given directional cues.
He use to need a lot of motor modeling and resets. He struggled greatly with threading a needle and sewing was very slow. SO he has made great progress motor wise. |
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AIMING AT BODY PARTIn this clip the student uses a post-it note to label a body part after learning about the history of post-it notes. He is a fluent speller when the letter board is held up (no directional cues or air prompts) and currently working on the board flat on the table (hence some of the air prompts when he starts the word as I only show part of it). Then it is motor modeled so he learns the movement to place the post it note on his fingers.
More information on this is in the motor skills book and life skills booklet. |
BEADSHere he learns to string beads to make a gift. We start by just getting the motion down with bigger hole and pipe cleaner. Then we go to beads and pipe cleaner.
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SPORTSI start by teaching how individually before I teach how to do it with a friend.
Here the student plays with a friend. I motor model the correct position of the paddle so he can hit it through the goal. The person with the least amount of strokes to get it through the goal wins! I didn't start out with the paddle. I started with just a line to get the ball over and a plain pencil. The idea of sports and beginning with paper was presented by Soma at the 2017 RPM conference. |
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This is a lesson plan on the invention of the post-it note which some of the above videos come from. Remember that if your child is not fluently communicating on the letter board, this might be too advanced to fully partake in. Remember sensory, motor, and emotional readiness.
You will also need to add in commentary between the statements to make it more discussion like. |
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HANDWRITING AND FLAT LETTERBOARD ON TABLEHandwriting is sometimes thought of as not as important. However, there are many benefits.
This clip begins with the student handwriting open ended thought on a clip board. I am holding it up in performance range. If I am to drop it on the table I will not get open ended responses. The second half I drop the clip board down and have him spell on the laminated board flat and then transfer what he spelled to handwriting thus working towards independently handwriting his thoughts with nothing being held. The desire is that the same complexity of thoughts that the is able to produce on the letter board is produced in handwriting. |
BEGINNING HANDWRITINGTo start handwriting I make sure a student can first write the letters. I hold up a folded piece of paper as seen here. I have a student touch a letter and then motor model how to write it, then have them write it physically by themselves. Once that is pretty good, I do dictation and teach/ask (so known responses). Once I don't need to guide through the letters and their formation I start into pre communication words such as "give me a word that goes with sky." These are predictable. Sometimes I do even more predictable such as "tell me an animal with a long neck, spots and is from Africa." Here we all know the answer is giraffe, but the student has to retrieve the word and write it without it being said. Then I continue to progress to more open ended and sentences as the student becomes fluent. In this video I am just demonstrating mostly that she can do handwriting.
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ART (and some HANDWRITING)
First picture is how she draws when you hand her a pencil and ask her to draw a man when the paper is flat on the table. The second picture she drew with me teaching her, but the clipboard held up in the air and physically independent--also she adds her own unique style... and some had no motor modeling. She drew the first picture after I taught her how to draw the second picture, thus showing the need for and the existence of putting things in the 'performance range.'
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First picture...drawing when flat on the table...memorized moves that she will draw every time if it is put flat and asked to draw a person
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Second picture...drawing it when held up on a clip board in 'performance range' (see video). As you can see she can draw much better. She as not copying. I taught her how and she drew in her own style. See below for what the motor model/practice drawing looked like.
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This is the same artist as above. She draw this third picture 3 months later. No modeling. See how she remembers principles but does some stylistic differences as well. But again in performance range she is able to draw well.
Next is the write up she did in connection with this picture. She named this person Soo Gage. We had done a lesson on Mesa Verde and then I had her draw and write about it. The writing is independent, open ended while the clip board is held in the air. If I put the clipboard on the table I would get nothing...she can write with dictation flat on the table, but not open ended. Of course the next step after we improve the fluency and penmanship a bit more is to have her writing open ended with the clipboard flat on the table. Writing: "Soo Gage--she likes to go shop on the pool on the Mesa. She holds her long little blanket." |
The bold one with 'jaw round' written above it is where were practiced. The artist above had a similar model for her first drawing and see how much different both of these artist draw.
This second artist is Matteo. He can draw stick figures with the paper flat on the table. But when I hold up in 'performance range' he is able to draw a very distinctive drawing as is the artist above able to from my teaching. They do not copy my drawing. I show and motor model if needed then make sure they can't see it when they draw as for some students they can copy but can't do original drawings as you will see in the next display. We hold the letter board up for the same reason...as when the board is held up students can communicate. With time the 'performance range' can generalize to a flat surface and three dimensions. Matteo can now spell on a board that is flat. See here. |
Again, notice how in my step by step example/motor model I have multiple options for hair and a very different style then she chose. Some you can see she did without any model (again, I didn't let her copy) like the bow...see how she chose her own hair even with my different options. It looks better then my example in my opinion.
She named her Mary Smice...a literate 1700's woman among other things she wrote :) |
This student can copy pictures perfectly. I wanted him to do what the others can do an that is come up with his own drawing on his own. The first drawing is what happened when I handed him a pencil and told him to draw a bat with the paper flat on the table. The second is the bat he drew when I held the paper up on a clip board, and did a few motor models of how with him. Then I let him loose to just draw because he was ready. Again in 'performance range' students who are ready are able to produce their own style and much more sophisticated work.
Here is his story about his bat picture: "Draco was a nice bat. He loved to eat insects. His favorite was gnats. He swooped through the sky catching them. He is a happy bat. |
In this video I motor model step by step what to do to draw a bird. After each motor model she draws. Then I let her draw her own bird. This is her first time trying her hands at drawing. On the table she scribbles and colors. She is not able to draw what she wants to on the table...yet.
We had just finished discussing the first stanza of Langston Hughes' poem "Dreams." Then we drew the bird in connection to the stanza we discussed: Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. |
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