Vocational/Work Activities

Vocational/Work Activities Bin Activities Fine Motor Focused for Writing Skills

Increase time on task-general focus toward completing a given task-to 20 minutes (exiting elementary school), 40 minutes (exiting middle school), hour to hour and a half exiting high school. Ultimate goal is to be able to maintain a vocational position/activity and work for 3 hour duration with a small break.

Applying the theory of structured teaching  Always work/assemble left to right  The visual layout of the task should answer 4 questions (just by looking at it) for the student 1. What do I have to do (can I look at it and determine what has to be done) 2. How much do I do (laying out all the pieces he’ll be using) 3. When am I done (usually indicated by all pieces being used up) 4. What do I do next (using his schedule or first/then pics)

Skills needed to gain employment-even at the elementary level (so although it’s important to focus on the skills in the task, it’s equally important that they gain skills that will carry across environments, settings and activities)  Appropriate social skills  Working at a level of independence/supervision  Adept at problem solving-use sabotage once skill is mastered  Adept with self-help skills Skills needed to maintain employment-even at the elementary level (so although it’s important to focus on the skills in the task, it’s equally important that they gain skills that will carry across environments, settings and activities)  Knowing how to ask for help  Knowing who to ask for help  Communicating lack of understanding  Requesting and taking a break *James Emmett/Chris Simlar/2009/Fall Conference

TASKS  Filling/packaging tins (Wilton makes small party favor tins with lids. Kids place “x” number of small objects (buttons, beads) into the tins. Thirty tins per package, purchased at Michael’s Craft Store. This is a packaging activity that works on the fine motor needed to pick up small pieces or to pick up and hold small pieces in hands, dropping one by one into containers, 1:1 correspondence for math (1 item in each container), the skill for “put in” and packaging (theory of structured teaching)-and all the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment.

 Sorting picture cards (Sorting animal cards into land/water, big/small, etc.) into baseball card sleeves. Works on the fine motor needed to open each pocket and keep it open while inserting the cards being sorted with the other hand. Works so that one page has land animals, another page holds water animals another page holds big and/or another page holds little. Or sort playing cards by color on the backs of the cards.

 Assembling and Packing small boxes (Small, flat packaging boxes (2” x 3”) purchased at an office store or The Container Store, students fold from flat into a box, fill the box with “x” number of objects, close it and put it in the “done” pile.) Builds in math, fine motor (box assembly), the skill for “put in” and the skill for packaging.

 Packing small boxes Fabric stores often have sturdy little decorative boxes-the size that holds earrings or a necklace preassembled with lids-so the kids work on packaging a particular number of small objects. Works on fine motor (picking up the objects), 1:1 correspondence for math (1 object in each box) and packaging (filling and putting the cover on), the skill for “put in” -and all the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment.

 Packing small containers –The dollar store has several small containers with lids. The kids can package one item in each container. Works on fine motor (snapping lids on containers), 1:1 correspondence for math (1 item in each container) and packaging (theory of structured teaching), the skill for “put in” -and all the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment.

 Folding towels/laundry/washcloths (Fold and stack)-if the staff will put dots on the corners of the cloths, it provides a visual guide for kids to fold dots to dots in a horizontal fold, then a vertical fold then stack. Works on beginning, middle, end, fine motor needed to match dots to dots, and the adaptive skills task of folding with the theory of structured teaching for the activity -and all the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment.

 Hanging shirts up (Pull shirts from a laundry basket or large box, hang them on hangers, button the top button, place the hangers on portable rolling rods-sold at Target-in the classroom) Works on the fine motor skill for buttoning, embedded in a more meaningful task, works on the skill for “take out” and allows the task to be set up to support the theory of structured teaching-and all the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment.

 Nuts and bolts (Student unscrews the nuts from the bolts, or visa versa, pack/sort/assemble and disassemble combinations of nuts and bolts). Works on the fine motor needed to screw and unscrew, time on task, the skill for “put on” or “take off”, and allows the task to be set up to support the theory of structured teaching -and all the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment.

 Stamping within a given line/guideline (Provide increasingly smaller space on which to place a stamp. Looking for this to transition to stamping envelopes with return addresses for the buildings). Our younger kids like to have an array of stamps to choose from or at least a f/2. Supports the fine motor needed for stamping within guidelines, supports choice making, supports the theory of structured teaching in the set up of the task-and all the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment.

 Hole punching-using craft punchers from craft store or Michaels, the students have a few colored sheets to choose from and work with using the craft punches to create confetti to fill up baggies to take home, or to decorate with for parties. Supports time on task, fine motor strength needed to press punches, choice making and sets up to support the theory of structured teaching-and all the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment.

 Lite Bright (Placing the pegs into the lite bright, can follow a given design or can work on time on task and fine motor by simply placing pegs into the holes without following a given design.) Travel lite brights sell at Target for about 7 dollars. This bin supports fine motor (hole in peg), time on task, can support patterns in math if the student can develop that as an independent skill, 1:1 correspondence (1 peg per 1 hole) and sets up to support the theory of structured teaching-and all the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment

 Number boxes (Michael’s craft store sells little wooden (5"X5") trays divided into quarters. Write the numbers 1-20, one each in the bottom of each divided quarter. The student identifies the number, places that number of items into the quarter and moves on. (Works toward packing things according to the number required.) Supports fine motor (picking up the little pieces, we’ve used tiny little clothes pins with characters on them), 1:1 correspondence counting, number sense (ID and meaning for numbers) and sets up to support the theory of structured teaching-and all the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment

 Fill mailboxes (Obtain a packing box from a liquor store. Turn it on its side. Students learn to fill it as if it were staff mailboxes. Move left to right and top to bottom. Learning to place one in every box. Can pass out stuff from the union that is going out one to each staff member using staff mailboxes.) Some of our kindergarten rooms let our kids put fliers that go in every mailbox into the student mailboxes. Supports the theory of structured teaching, fine motor for grasping papers and putting into the boxes, 1:1 correspondence for math and the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment.

 Package small desk supplies (Clips, D-rings, rubber bands, etc)-create a foam or tagboard template (jig). Our kids fill the template with the pieces needed to package in each container or bag. Allows them to use jigs, problem solve missing pieces and assemble packages. Supports fine motor (zipping zip lock bags closed), 1:1 correspondence, (1 item in each outlined space on the jig/template) and sets up to support the theory of structured teaching-and all the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment

 Fill salt and pepper shakers (Michael’s sells colored sand and larger plastic bottled containers. Their candy funnel works well as a scoop and fill utensil. Transition to salt and salt and pepper shakers when sand into the various sized bottled containers is established.) The kids like the colored sand it takes fine motor coordination to hold the funnel and pull the release lever to release just enough sand to fill the container. They have some cool containers that are zig zag shaped, round, tall, etc. Supports math concepts like tall/short, big/little, shapes, supports fine motor and sets up to support the theory of structured teaching-and all the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment

 Fold T-shirts (Using template created for folding. Fold and stack.)

 Assemble travel kits, hygiene kits, school kits (Using foam board for template, trace and cut out the pieces needed for the kit using an exacto knife. Student places, from left to right, the objects into the template. When the template is full, the student has the pieces needed for the kit. Pack the kit and put it to the side.) If the kits are packed into containers it supports fine motor for putting on lids. If the kits are packed into zip lock bags it supports fine motor for zipping zip lock bags. Supports assembly and packaging, and sets up to support the theory of structured teaching-and all the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment

 Sort coins –into containers with visual on each for the coin to identify and match. Supports money ID, fine motor, the task of putting in sets up to support the theory of structured teaching-and all the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment

 Sharpen pencils (Sharpen for the kindergarten room, during testing times, etc. Use electric sharpener.) Works on fine motor pressure (how much pressure needed to get to a point), supports time on task and sets up to support the theory of structured teaching-and all the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment

 Shred (Put out an all school email that you are taking on shredding. Ask for staff papers and put a bin in your classroom so staff will place papers needed shredding in the bin. Network in the community to see if there are offices that need shredders. Shred at the Administrative Center in the district). Supports fine motor (grasping papers and putting just right into the shredder), supports motor planning for grasping and putting in, supports math 1:1 correspondence or skip counting (shred by 2’s, 5’s, etc) or number sense (counting a particular number to shred at a time). Supports the theory of structured teaching-and all the voc skills necessary to gain and maintain employment

 Wipe windows/doorknobs-supports fine motor strength (pulling the trigger on the spray bottle). Use vis a vis markers to draw on surfaces (out of sight of our kids) and it provides them with a pattern for wiping. (top down) and lets them see they’re wiping things off. Supports the skills necessary to gain and maintain employment.

 Turn on/off computers and tv monitors –provides fine motor skill for button pushing (enough strength to turn on and off the monitors), make a map for the kids to follow (going room to room) enourages map skills, provides for movement with a purpose for kids who have a sensory diet, supports the skills necessary to gain and maintain employment.  Recycling (Using a large rolling bin, going room to room, collecting the recycled paper from each classroom bin.) Supports fine and gross motor involved in grasping classroom bins, juggling it to dump into the rolling bin, provides for movement with a purpose for kids who have a sensory diet, provides for heavy lifting with a purpose, supports the skills necessary to gain and maintain employment.

 Assembling objects (Purchase several hand held windmills at the dollar store. Disassemble them-or any objects that separate into at least 2-3 pieces-place the separated pieces into piles that encourage the kids to put them together moving left to right. First the sticks/posts, next the connectors, last the windmill. Can do this assembling flashlights using foam templates) Supports the fine motor needed to assemble objects, supports the theory of structured teaching and the skills necessary to gain and maintain employment

Linda Warning/DST 204/2010