ECC PTA

Join us for our May ECC PTA on Tuesday, May 21! This month our topic is learning all about augmentative and alternative communication better known as AAC for students with multiple impairments and blindness. This is another free meeting for our parents, related servers and teachers. We are very happy to have Breana Cannon as our special guest presenter. Breana is a speech language pathologist and also serves on our augmentative communication team. She has a fantastic understanding of  students with multiple impairments. Read this post late? No worries! You didn't miss out. You can still access the recorded webinar by registering:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdMdsZtaqYrpVrGtpHxt7uNKSo6aWBIUqw9ozkyR1Z4wkX_dQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

Teach ECC Using a Daily School Schedule

Hi friends! I wanted to share an easy way to teach the Expanded Core Curriculum: use the daily school schedule! This gem of an idea comes from our talented preschool teacher, Sandra. I was visiting her classroom and saw her fantastic display. I saw her daily schedule and immediately started seeing ECC areas popping out everywhere!
[Picture #1 description: a daily schedule in the formation of two Braille cells. Each dot position has a print and object to represent a part of the day. ]

Check out the close up pictures of the Braille cell formation schedule.  Each dot position has a tactile object, large print and Braille. 

This daily schedule chart is oozing preschool to early elementary ECC concepts! Don't think that this is just a daily schedule. It is an easy way to embed ECC instruction.

 Here's just a quick overview of ECC areas that are covered by this schedule:

compensatory skill areas (more than just the Braille formation, think about concept development, organization, etc.)

career education (following a schedule, the chore chart, etc.)

ILS (time management, responding to the cue with the appropriate action)

orientation & mobility (spatial skills development; knowing the location of the center or activity)

recreation & leisure (following rules--you have to know how to follow rules when playing or participating in a recreation activity)

social interaction skills: the social discussion of what is happening during the day, turn taking)

self-determination (identifying what they can participate in; seeing how they are part of activities)

assistive technology (students can use low tech devices and pre-concept techniques for accessing information)

sensory efficiency (using all senses for concept development. I also want to point out the contrast that Sandra used. It is not a visually complex schedule for students to look at.)

Check out the accompanying chore chart. Chore charts are not unusual in classrooms. This teaches career education. I always want to encourage teachers to use chore charts and assign meaningful chores for students to do. This helps with concept development and foundation career skills. 

I love sharing easy ways where ECC skills occur naturally. That's the key to ECC instruction: find routines where ECC skills naturally occur or are naturally embedded. Hope this makes you think twice about using a daily school schedule!

CVI Supplies at Dollar Tree Holiday 2017

It is not a secret that now is the time to buy CVI supplies such as Christmas lights, garland, tinsel, ornaments, etc. I have blogged about it myself for years to buy up these hot items (and then go back again at Valentine's Day for more!!). I was at Dollar Tree again and saw the new displays of holiday decorations and thought I would share some sweet buys from this season. I also wanted to share some important tips for using these decorations without overwhelming your student. 

Let's get started:

• Most important:  how to keep your decorations meaningful for vision. The old saying KISS comes into play here. Keep It Simple for Students. Know your student's what and where vision. This means what can they see (color, shape, 2D vs 3D, etc.) and where can they see it (peripheral, central, left or right/up and or down). 
• Environment matters: This may be old hat to some of you but if you are new or unfamiliar to CVI, always remember that the environment matters. This means to have contrast (black background always works so that the decoration shows up nice without visual clutter). Other important factors are sound, lighting, etc. Some students simply cannot tolerate a cluttered background (includes sounds, smells and visual items). 
• Work in items gradually and then just wait and I mean WAIT! Present the decorations and then just let your student see the item.

Every year Dollar Tree puts out awesome holiday items. 

Here's this year's top picks for CVI this year:

(below picture is a rack of garland, ornaments, ribbon and snowman in traditional holiday colors)

The ornaments are good (I prefer going for the shatterproof ones at Michael's or Joann on sale). You can hang them in a variety of ways to catch your student's attention. I really like the garland! It is shiny, has fun movement and has good color. Don't discount the snowman either! They have fun texture, contrast and you can add lights. 

Picture (image description: lots of different holiday ribbons and bows in traditional holiday colors).

These curler ribbons and bows are totally a hit! You can pull at them or lace some bells or other fun toys on them and they are tough to destroy. I like the standard bows and add magnets to them. You can use a cookie sheet (also can be purchased from Dollar Tree) to do fun activities (see my last year post on Christmas/holiday activities: http://adifferentkindofvision.blogspot.com/2016/12/easy-accessible-christmas-activities.html). 

Picture (image description: shiny silver buckets, plates, for food display). 

I included this one because these platters, buckets, etc. are so fun to reflect light or even act as a mirror. Most people usually stick with the traditional holiday color/decorations but miss the silver mirror type objects. They are awesome accessory pieces!

I wanted to include the garland again because it is such a fun hit. All four of these colors: silver, red, gold and green, work together so nicely. The gold and silver provide a nice contrast to the red and green. Red is a fave CVI color but I also want to encourage you to try green. Green has been an increasingly great color with so many of my CVI students. This garland is pretty thick though so if you are thinking of using it to hang other items, keep an eye out. Your object must be larger than the garland. 

A few other items that I like are:

• the cookie tins (wrap them in shiny wrapping paper and put things inside to shake for sound). 
• wrapping paper (pick the shiny kind!)
• holiday leaves and decorations like poinsettia (they are just fun textures--watch for choking). 

I also recommend hitting up the coupons from Joann and Michael's. Joann coupon deals for fabric are top notch. I like to buy velvet or fur (you can get it in black!). I use it as a big mat/blanket for students to lay on or as a background. I have bought a TON of of ribbon in a variety of textures and colors from Michael's. There are so many activities to make with ribbon (both super fat width, normal and a little wide). 

Have some fun holiday fun!! 

Check out my post from last year that has a ton of fun holiday activities: http://adifferentkindofvision.blogspot.com/2016/12/easy-accessible-christmas-activities.html

Communication Desk for Students with Multiple Impairments

It's almost time to get back to school! If you are a teacher of a student with a multiple impairment including deafblindness or blindness, you need to read this!!

Communication is at the very top of my priority list when it comes to being a teacher. Our kiddos need consistent opportunities for expressive and receptive communication. The second priority on my instruction list is creating defined spaces. Defined spaces allow our students to be anchored in space/environment/body and then sets the framework for anticipation.  

If you are unsure on how to use a calendar box system, read these articles:

Let Me Check My Calendar by Robbie Blaha,

Routines by Millie Smith (via TSBVI),

Learning & Instruction for Calendar Box Systems (via NCDB)

The student communication desk idea follows tactual symbols/calendar box system strategy and using a defines space. The students that use these desks that are pictures are those with multiple impairments or show Autistic like behaviors and have significant vision impairments. All of the students are non-verbal. 

The teacher has done a terrific job of implementing tactual/object symbols for instruction. She was stumped because using a traditional finished box was not working. We needed to find a solution that would help students establish that a concept/lesson/symbol was finished but wouldn't fly away (if thrown) and was unique enough that they could comprehend "finished". 

Solution: The object symbols (routine for the day) are laid out across on top. The blue or red felt area that is perpendicular is the finished area. Notice that it is a defined area that is unique. It is a clearly defined finished area. Students place finished symbols on the felt area. These two areas teach spatial awareness (across and top/bottom), literacy (left to right, reading symbols) and self determination (students make choices and can communicate based on the location of the symbols) and communication. 

The student communication desk also teaches compensatory skills including communication and reading their name by tactually identifying their desk (notice the symbol placed at the bottom right of the desk and on their chair). 

Their academic piece as well as any career ed/work for reward also follows a consistent communication system. Notice the discreet trial training boards (penny boards) that have each students' unique symbol. 

Note: We placed their boards and binders on the desk for the purpose of this picture. All of these items may be on the desk at one time depending on activity. It is important to note that each of these items have a specific and consistent placement for students. 

I can't reiterate enough that knowledge is key for using the communication desk idea. You must have knowledge of calendar box systems, creating tactual symbols and communication strategies. There are some terrific articles out there about incorporating, implementing and standardizing tactual symbols for students with vision impairments. Here is one that I really like from Paths to Literacy.

The tactual symbols pictured were created from the APH Tactile Connections Kit. It's a quality kit that can be purchased on quota funds via APH. Make sure you have a quality hot glue gun and hook & loop (Velcro, too!). Always remember that symbols should be easy to replicate (always save extra fabric or duplicates of object). Symbols can be eaten, slobbered on and tossed in a heartbeat. 

I love this desk idea especially for our nonverbal students that do not use a complex communication system. You can build on these symbols and concepts. I love that this teacher uses consistency for the students. And yes, it does implement Expanded Core Curriculum objectives!!

Communication Symbol System

I was hanging out one day in our school and I found some really old stuff like floppy disk and these diskette binder sheets. I looked at these sheets and inspiration struck!! I didn't have any disks hanging around but I did have some binders. 

I serve on our school augmentative assistive tech team. I love it because I learn so much collaborating with some brilliant minds. A colleague on my augmentative team taught me about using partner assisted scanning-PODD (check out the video about this later in this post). 

I have students that have severe multiple impairments that I want to engage using calendar box systems. They all have wonderful interveners. These students are at the basic level of using symbols. Most of my students in this situation have CVI. I think using the partner assisted scanning system is a great fit for several of them. I came up with this binder symbol idea to help prepare them to use the partner assisted scanning technique and to incorporate  more language (using symbols) into daily routines. Enter the diskette binder sheets!!

**The pictures are from a prototype trial. You could easily use a different color binder. White may not be the right color binder background**

Here's the "how to":

1. Make symbols using pictures, real symbols or a combination of both. The real object symbols are helpful for basic level students because it allows the tactual feel to the picture. Consult your CVI matrix to help with progressing student to picture only. 

2. I like arranging the pictures landscape. The pictures in this post are portrait because it was a better fit for the particular student. 

3. Place velcro on the front of each pocket (this allows you place the symbol on the outside/front of the pocket). I would discourage your from keeping the pictures inside the pockets because it washes out the symbol. (See both above and below pictures).

4. The goal is to use the binder symbol system to train the student to look at choices and then to make them. They are placed at opposite corners on purpose. The opposite corners are to help with identifying a clear choice for students (if placed too close together, it could potentially be too difficult for the adult to interpret the choice). 

5. Use blank disk sheets for instruction. As you can see from the pictures, it is visually confusing to place choices (in front) with the other symbols in the pockets (see example picture below). I included this picture to point out this confusion. 

Here are some examples of the real object symbols. The top picture is the student's Eagle Eyes symbols. We were lucky to get the actual wiring that is used. The bottom picture is for the weekly music therapy. The black background is an excellent visual choice for the symbols.

Check out the partner assisted scanning technique. I have watched several YouTube videos on this and this is a great one for our students. If you watch other videos, you can see that this strategy can bring a lot of language to use. The students learn the system and can anticipate where the pictures are. The binder symbol system is a very basic way to pre-teach the skills needed to advance to the partner assisted scanning technique. Students may just keep working at the binder symbol system level as well. 

Book Ring Object Cards

Are you an intervener or para on the go that struggles with carrying all your object cards? It's tough to be a jack of all trades when you are in these roles. You have to sign or physically prompt, support the student and get the object into position to use. It's a lot of work!

I was visiting one of my classrooms where I saw this great little idea: object cards on book rings. Now I know that isn't anything unusual. Many people put object cards on book rings. But let me share with you why I thought this was a fun idea to share. This idea belongs to an awesome intervener, Angel, who let me take pics and share. She puts her student's cards on her keychain strap thing--can't describe it well (see the black loop in the picture) when they are on the move.  Angel needs two hands when she is working and she needs her object cards quick because attention spans can be like a blink of an eye. 

In case you are new to object cards maintenance, first thing is to laminate your cards first! Drool, dropping them in water, etc. is a likely situation not to mention crumpling, attempts at tearing and just general wear and tear. After lamination, punch a hole in the corner. 

I like the key ring set up that Angel uses (see below). By using the latch (as opposed to a traditional key ring), she can quickly load up her cards for each activity when they are on the move. Plus the latch allows doesn't destroy the card. She also uses book rings as opposed to key rings. Book rings have a quick open-and-shut feature that is also secure. You can purchase book rings from a variety of places such as Staples for about $4-5 a box. The other thing to notice is that she doesn't put all her object cards just on one ring. She has multiple rings so each card gets its on place. That's smart because she can use her cards in isolation or have them ready for a sequence.

 

Below is another view of her on the go object cards: 

Build A Sensory Garden!

Happy spring time! 

Last month I built a sensory garden with my students at our school. It was awesome! It is also something anyone can do so I've included some tips for your own DIY sensory garden geared towards children with vision impairments including multiple impairments/deafblindness. Why a sensory garden? My answer to that question is another question--have you been to a sensory garden? They are awesome with inspiring creativity, understanding, calmness, recreation and concept development. My love of sensory gardens came from this little tiny garden (it was literally two planter boxes) that I had when I was a deafblind teacher in Las Vegas. The point to the story that I will share is if I can make this happen in a little dirt/sand mix planter in Las Vegas, you can make it happen anywhere. Thanks to my best ever paraprofessional, Darlene Link, (who also taught me everything), we planted chocolate mint, jasmine, rosemary and all kinds of little flowers and herbs. Our garden became our basis of our science unit that allowed such great concept development to be discovered. That was about 10 years ago. Darlene messaged me to tell me that our rosemary from our little garden is still alive in her garden after all this time. Special memory to me as I searched out three different stores because I had to plant rosemary in my new sensory garden as an homage to my deafblind classroom. 

Sensory gardens also teach almost every aspect of the Expanded Core Curriculum for both typically developing children and those with who are MIVI. 

Here's some suggestions for ECC instruction using a sensory garden:

Orientation & Mobility: positional concepts (left/right, center, up/down)

Recreation & Leisure: gardening is a recreational activity that can be done alone or with others.

Career Education: discuss vocational jobs related to gardening including maintenance

Independent Living Skills: maintaining a garden

Social skills development: using appropriate conversational language, joining a gardening club or public garden, going to farmer's market

Self-determination: designing a personal garden, selecting herbs/flowers based on interest

Sensory efficiency: the whole garden project! We used a variety of different textures, scents, sizes, colors and tastes.

 Above: our intro to gardening table with our herbs and flowers. This student is smelling the basil. I sampled tons of herbs to make sure that we had a variety of tastes. My favorite one? I found stevia! It had a great sugar sweet taste! This was our pre-teach table where we discussed gardening topics.

A few other of my favorite additions to the garden were the wind chimes. We have several different types that play beautiful music as the wind comes through. I love it!

Our planter boxes were made for an Eagle Scout project. We used weather treated wood and made them about 8ft long and of various heights. We did this so that our preschool children and our older students who are in wheelchairs could access the garden boxes. We also put wheels on the bottom of the planters so we can move them around. I also bought these awesome large plastic pots from Lowe's for $10 that came in these bold, bright colors. We planted a variety of different flowers including this awesome tall grass in each pots. 

This garden was made on large scale. I also bought 9ft shepherd hooks and hung pots that had flowers hanging over. I did this so that our students in wheelchairs could look up at things. We spent an entire day planting, learning, smelling and having a great time. We also made stepping stones. Our students at my school help me water the garden. 

Take time to buy some planters or boxes or in the till the ground and plant some herbs and flowers! You can also plant fruits and vegetables. I am not an expert and still pulled off a great garden. I am quite thankful to Alex and Susan Westergard who were generous with their gardening skills that tutored me and helped with design. It's also an ECC skill session to go to a nursery or Lowe's and ask for assistance. We planted several marigolds (as several students could see them very easy and enjoyed their fragrance), snapdragons, pansies, lillies, daisies. Herbs: stevia, basil, bee balm, rosemary, lavendar, chives & parsley. 

It's not too late to get your sensory garden off the ground! 

Hello Pool Noodle!

It all started with a birthday idea for my son's Spartan Race themed obstacle party and a FamilyFun magazine idea....the pool noodle: not just for the pool!! We made an obstacle course for his party based on this idea from FamilyFun:

Pretty ingenious, right? We had a great obstacle course birthday party. After the party, we were taking down all the obstacles and I was left with a bunch of hoops and dowels when a light bulb went on in my head: these are great for my students!!! Once the light bulb went on, my mind lit up with ideas on how to use these pool noodles: perfect for defined work spaces on the go (put the work items inside the circle or do activities that require you to put inside the circle), small enough to teach concept development for early childhood (on/off, in/out, up/down), plus they are a fun vision modification for outdoor games like hopscotch or any other throw into a hoop game and of course a giant "horse shoe type" game (I'll post that picture). I've even seen some clever moms cut noodles and slide them on to PVC pipe and construct a bath seat for an older child (man do I wish I would have taken a picture of that cool idea---if you have seen one and can snap it, please do and send it to me!!). These noodle beauties can get wet, stepped on and a kid can tightly grip it and they take the hit! Plus if you get quality ones, when a little one pulls hard on it or even tries to mouth it, little pieces won't break off. 

All you need is duct tape and dowels from Lowe's/Home Depot and viola! You are in business!! A word on pool noodle selection: I advise buying from Walmart or Target and getting quality ones. They are more pliable and bigger when they are made into rings. I bought a few from Dollar Tree and they were just okay. We also found them at CVS that were good but I am sure they are everywhere and since summer is just around the corner I thought now would be the perfect time to blog about it. 

Now I am not a handy person. Crafty, yes but assembling things, no. So I tell you that these pool noodle rings (or Fruit Loops as I like to call them) are super easy and even I can do it (which means you can do it too). I love the richness of the colors and how well they stand out. The yellow one was purchased at Dollar Tree and you can see that it is smaller than the other ones purchased at CVS. 

Notice the candy cane striped pool noodle? I did that because I was worried that the kids couldn't see it standing up in the sunlight. We stuck this one standing up with a dowel at the bottom into the ground. The kids tossed rings and tried to get them on the noodle. Fun game for everyone but secretly a vision modification for our kids.  I haven't even scratched the surface of how many cool things you can do for our kids (preschool through school age including kids who are MIVI/DB and ASD/VI) so I decided to Google some images for other ideas of pool noodle fun:

Link to these ideas: http://trainupachildlearnaswego.blogspot.com/2012/05/pool-noodle-backyard-obstacle-course.html 

This is also from that FF article. These are called wickets (all you need are dowels!).

Then I found a great link on Pinterest with a ton of ideas (almost all are doable activities for our kids too!): https://pinterest.com/betterendings/fun-with-kids-noodle-dogs/. And of course I blogged about this idea when I showed off my colleague Yvonne's fabulous preschool toy modifications (but here's another pic from Google images):

Thank you pool noodle. You are just not for the pool or cool summer fun, you are a secret vision modification that allows our kids to have some super summer fun without needing the extra large modifications!!

Finding Nemo, Finding an Unlikey Mentor

I bet you might be wondering why I am blogging about the movie Finding Nemo. Have you seen it? I LOVE it! Not just because it is super cute but because it is the perfect movie for parents of kids with vision impairments. I bet you didn't know that! 

Most of our parents start out like Marlin does in the beginning of the movie. Marlin is happy, excited about the babies and life is good. Suddenly his world is turned upside down when unexpected events change the course of his parenthood (sound familiar?). He loves his precious Nemo as any parent naturally does. However, pay attention to his parenting style. He goes from carefree and fun new parent to the hover craft---totally over protective and anxious about keeping Nemo completely safe. 

He finally takes Nemo to school and it is a bit awkward. The part I want you to pay attention to is when Marlin tells Nemo "he can't do it." Sometimes it is easy to lose track of the importance of empowering independence. There's a lot on your plate concerning school, IEPs, paraprofessionals, etc but you can't lose sight of empowering independence. 

There really are a ton of wonderful parallels and I want  you to stop and really ponder this journey that Marlin embarks on. He has to go on a journey and learn from unlikely sources about how to empower and believe in his son. 

Now I know you are thinking, "Robbin, I believe in my child..." I am sure you do BUT I see too many parents forget to empower their kids and accept their vision impairment. Remember from my most recent posts: Everything I learned, I learned because my parents made me do it!! Nemo also had to go on his journey and notice that there are definite parts without Marlin. Nemo had to learn that he can do it. He had to struggle and problem solve. It's okay for your kids to have struggle. Our kids learn by experience. That only comes when they can actually do something. I repeat, it's OKAY for our kids to struggle and problem solve. The last critical part is the 'aha' moment at the end when Marlin not only reconnects with his son but truly lets Nemo be independent. The result of that is that Nemo does something amazing! 

I am going to post some of my favorite scenes that I want you to pay close attention to. 

Finding Nemo Drop Off (This is where Marlin isn't empowering. He's acting out of panic protection. Notice how Nemo feels.)

Meeting Crush and learning about how to let your child struggle. (I LOVE this scene! Remember parents, "kill the motor". Let your kids struggle!!).

Last step: Empowerment in real life!!

Watch the movie. Take notes. Ponder. Think about one thing you can STOP doing for your kids and one thing they can START doing for themselves today. It's okay to make your child do chores (in fact, 20 minutes daily is what I recommend for all my students!). Thank you Marlin for being our unlikely mentor! Pop some popcorn and have a movie date :)

Easter Projects

Happy Easter friends! I have a few ideas for this fun spring holiday. I have a couple on Easter eggs that you might like. A lot of people typically do the audible Easter eggs. It's a very popular way to have an Easter egg hunt. Make sure you do a good pre-teach with your kiddo (6-8 minutes long) and describe important landmarks and the boundaries of the area. Remember, you want to give meaningful information about the area. It's a good idea for them to have a mobility plan so that when all the kids are running around, your child has a base plan of attack.

I wanted to find some different kinds of crafts this year for Easter project. In my opinion Easter is one of the more difficult craft holidays because everything is so tiny and usually fragile. I found one fun idea in Family Fun for making a felted egg:

And then when I was Pinteresting I found this rad idea using regular eggs and glow sticks (both are a dollar at Dollar Tree right now!) Turn down the lights and this could get seriously fun (just remember to think about mobility as well---no large dark objects for our kids to bump into). I also thought this was a good idea for our kiddos who are MIVI---a few of these might be really fun to put in a large cake pan and then on their tray of a wheelchair. You could even add some beads or jingle bells inside (seal the egg with a bit of tape) so that our kids can shake them and have some more fun. 

And of course I had to find a fun cooking project!! Look at these! They are Easter s'mores!!! I can't stop using the exclamation points because I am SO excited about these!! These are the perfect cooking snack for preschool through teens. It's an simple 3 step sequence so it's also hit for our MIVI kids too! You can even add the vocational step by packaging them and putting on a label like the ones in this picture. Wait, there's more!! I know you are probably just as excited as I am right now until you think to yourself: "There's no way I can pull this off by Easter!" Do not despair my friends! This is also a fantastic spring project to do! Peeps will be going to clearance by Monday and you can turn this into a fab spring project--yay!! All you need for this project are: Peeps (they even make yellow ones for our CVI friends!), graham crackers and miniature (wrapped) Hershey's chocolates. Get some labels and snack sized plastic bags and you are in business!

Happy Easter everyone!

Love is in the air...

Hello my friends! I am back from my wedding fun and back to blogging! Well to be honest, I am buried in the snow! CT was one of the lucky recipients of Snow Storm Nemo.  Valentine's Day is just around the corner so I thought I would do some searches around Pinterest, Blogger, FamilyFun, etc. to look for some blind friendly crafts and treats. 

A few easy modifications for the classroom V-Day fun:
*Ask teachers to have the kids in their classrooms put their V-Day mailboxes in the same location at their desks. Usually mailboxes are made up of paper bags or boxes. Tape them to the same place at each desk (i.e. on the right side of each desk).
*Remind teachers to tone down the visual chaos! Sometimes V-Day gets a little visually overstimulating---hearts, candy, ribbons everywhere are just a visual nightmare. This can be especially true when crafting or baking. How do you know if it is overwhelming? Pay attention to your kiddo!! Look for them showing signs (verbally and non-verbally) that they are overwhelmed by things. 
*Put forth the effort to add some Braille to your cards. Get some Braille labels or just put them in the good ol'Perkins and put each classmate's name in Braille. You could even use some Braille to make a V-Day riddle! Have the sighted peers 'decode' and figure out the Braille on the card. 
*As with every holiday or event in the classroom, PRE-TEACH! Give our kids a heads up on what the special events are so that our kids can anticipate what's going to happen. 
*When crafting for V-Day, you may need to think about some contrast. As with most things for our kids, put a dark placemat (or play tray) underneath to provide some contrast. Dycem can also help, too. 

Are you a parent or a classroom teacher that's not sure what are some good activities for children with vision impairments? The activities and treats I found cover just about all of our kids. I think almost every one of these can be done for early childhood up to teens including kids who are MIVI (which includes DB and ASD/VI).
Here's some fun activities and recipes that I have found:
*Valentine Heart Button Craft. Here's the link: http://handsonaswegrow.com/sorted-button-valentine-heart/

This particular craft is geared towards younger children. I also thought you could vary the size of the hearts, put the paper on chipboards or foam boards (more sturdy). Good for early childhood up through primary grades in school age, MIVI kids too (as long as they don't swallow buttons). You could make this a 3-step sequence: first, paper--next glue--last buttons. The white glue on a dark red paper also creates a nice layer of contrast to follow the glue line. Make sure you put buttons in easy to access storage. The blog suggest cookie tins. 

*Egg Carton heart. Link: http://www.ivillage.com/kids-valentines-day-crafts/6-b-142009#142016

You can trend this up (like the picture) for older kids (teens) or it's also something that younger kids can do too. I think our MIVI kids can do it too with a little support from a teacher/parent.

*XO wreath. This was available on Etsy for purchase but I also thought it would be a good craft for us to make as well.

Another one that is doable for our range of kids. You could also add some fragrance to the mix to wake up the sensory input as well. The "O" may be a little tricky. I think you could go to the store and buy the "O".


*Valentine Chex Mix. Link: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/valentine-chex-mix-12-recipe/f6d4a741-f15c-4c78-8f40-94ab312a2e46

Another fantastic cooking project that is simple and easy. It's also another good one that can be made into a 3 step sequence: First: candies, Next: Chex Mix, Last: Sprinkles (or your last step could be the baggie that you can package them). You could also add another 3 step after you "prepare the food" (the steps I just wrote). The next round of 3 steps could be the 'vocational sequence': First: food, Next: package, Last: label. In case I was confusing:
'Cooking Sequence': First: candies, Next: Chex Mix, Last: Sprinkles. You combine all ingredients into a bag and shake (most kids love this step).
'Vocational Sequence': First: food, Next: package, Last: label
For kids with kitchen and cooking skills you can have them prepare the peanut butter mixture. You may have to substitute the PB mixture. You might need to try something like almond butter.

*Valentine's Pop Box Treats. Link: http://lilluna.com/valentines-pop-box-treats/

 

I thought the Pop Box was a great idea for teenagers or tweens. 

*Valentine's Bark. Link: http://therebelchick.com/an-easy-valentines-day-chocolate-bark-recipe/

You guys know I blog about doing peppermint bark at Christmas but I never thought about doing it at V-Day! What a great idea!! This is awesome for any ability or age!