I am SO excited about this latest do it yourself...save lots of money idea for the classroom! I just had to share how I made these!
So, I've wanted to make some more permanent task (or work) boxes for IEP goal work for a while now. I've previously used baskets and tubs (and have kept ALL of the IEP goal work for a specific child in one basket or tub). They just haven't seemed very permanent or organized, they can't be used independently at all and they don't give the child a clear visual idea of when the task is complete.
My search began! I found these beautiful task boxes for sale! Yikes! Each task box is between $35 and $45 (and they're not even clear boxes). I would much rather make my own, very individualized boxes (based on the child's individual IEP goal)...and I'm pretty sure I could make each box for under $5.00!
So, my search continued! I found lots of ideas for making your own task boxes...but I kept coming back to these slick boxes that clearly cost too much!
I realized that I wanted clear boxes (not cardboard boxes)! I also loved the idea of a container attached to the box to either hold a certain number of items for the child to then pull out and complete the task or to put the items in as they work on the task
*(When the cup is empty, the task is complete or when all the items are IN the cup the task is complete- very visual).
Finally, I hit on an idea I thought might work! I bought some plastic shoe boxes for $1.00/box. I bought plastic cups (6 for .80 cents). I used an Exacto knife to cut the hole for the cup and inserted the cup. It fit perfectly! The cup sits on the bottom of the box with just a small amount of the rim showing above the hole in the lid.
The idea is that the child will always work from left to right on the task, whether the task requires them to put items IN the cup or take them OUT. Therefore the placement of the cup on the box top may change depending on the task; but the child will learn that they work from left to right, no matter what.
This particular task box was created for a little guy who is working on reaching out for an item and grabbing it. Ultimately, the goal is to grab the stuffed animal and drop it into the cup.
We will probably use backward chaining for this task and start by handing him the monkey to hold and drop into the cup. We'll work backwards until he is reaching out, grabbing the ring, picking up the monkey and then dropping it into the cup. (This is one of the most basic task boxes I will make and would NOT be appropriate for all children. I will be creating more advanced task boxes as well!)
In order to make the stuffed animal more manageable to grab, I simply took a shower curtain ring and squeezed enough of the stuffed animal into the opening to make it hold! This way he can reach out and grab the ring to pull the monkey to the cup. He can focus on just this one item and one task. (And it's easy enough to simply attach the ring to another stuffed animal based on interest or topics we are focusing on in the classroom!)
The best thing about these task boxes is that when we're finished, we simply pop the top off, put the items back into the box and stack the boxes on top of each other!
We can easily see what items are in each task box. However, to make it even more user friendly, my next step is to take a photo of the monkey and attach it to the box so the child can clearly see what is inside and what task he will be doing.
Total cost for this task box: less than $1.50 (I had the shower curtain ring and stuffed animals already)
If you are interested in creating task boxes, stay tuned! I do plan on making more adveanced task boxes that I will share here! Oh, I have a ton of ideas for these! Off to the store to collect more plastic shoe boxes!
So, I've wanted to make some more permanent task (or work) boxes for IEP goal work for a while now. I've previously used baskets and tubs (and have kept ALL of the IEP goal work for a specific child in one basket or tub). They just haven't seemed very permanent or organized, they can't be used independently at all and they don't give the child a clear visual idea of when the task is complete.
My search began! I found these beautiful task boxes for sale! Yikes! Each task box is between $35 and $45 (and they're not even clear boxes). I would much rather make my own, very individualized boxes (based on the child's individual IEP goal)...and I'm pretty sure I could make each box for under $5.00!
So, my search continued! I found lots of ideas for making your own task boxes...but I kept coming back to these slick boxes that clearly cost too much!
I realized that I wanted clear boxes (not cardboard boxes)! I also loved the idea of a container attached to the box to either hold a certain number of items for the child to then pull out and complete the task or to put the items in as they work on the task
*(When the cup is empty, the task is complete or when all the items are IN the cup the task is complete- very visual).
Finally, I hit on an idea I thought might work! I bought some plastic shoe boxes for $1.00/box. I bought plastic cups (6 for .80 cents). I used an Exacto knife to cut the hole for the cup and inserted the cup. It fit perfectly! The cup sits on the bottom of the box with just a small amount of the rim showing above the hole in the lid.
The idea is that the child will always work from left to right on the task, whether the task requires them to put items IN the cup or take them OUT. Therefore the placement of the cup on the box top may change depending on the task; but the child will learn that they work from left to right, no matter what.
We will probably use backward chaining for this task and start by handing him the monkey to hold and drop into the cup. We'll work backwards until he is reaching out, grabbing the ring, picking up the monkey and then dropping it into the cup. (This is one of the most basic task boxes I will make and would NOT be appropriate for all children. I will be creating more advanced task boxes as well!)
In order to make the stuffed animal more manageable to grab, I simply took a shower curtain ring and squeezed enough of the stuffed animal into the opening to make it hold! This way he can reach out and grab the ring to pull the monkey to the cup. He can focus on just this one item and one task. (And it's easy enough to simply attach the ring to another stuffed animal based on interest or topics we are focusing on in the classroom!)
The best thing about these task boxes is that when we're finished, we simply pop the top off, put the items back into the box and stack the boxes on top of each other!
We can easily see what items are in each task box. However, to make it even more user friendly, my next step is to take a photo of the monkey and attach it to the box so the child can clearly see what is inside and what task he will be doing.
Total cost for this task box: less than $1.50 (I had the shower curtain ring and stuffed animals already)
If you are interested in creating task boxes, stay tuned! I do plan on making more adveanced task boxes that I will share here! Oh, I have a ton of ideas for these! Off to the store to collect more plastic shoe boxes!
congratulations! you are obviously a creative, hard working teacher and I look forward to more ideas! thanks for posting!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteLove the task boxes and I'm anxious to see what all you come up with. I had a child with autism in my preschool classroom last year and used task boxes a lot. He was a level three kiddo and has a lot of needs. My AEA had some of the shoebox tasks (I didn't follow your link, but it sounds like it is the same) available for checkout through the autism library.
ReplyDeleteI also bought the book 'How do I teach this kid' by Kimberly A Henry. It has fantastic ideas for task boxes with easy instructions and photos of how to make them. Your AEA probably has the book, if you want to preview it. But I found it to be well worth the twenty bucks or so.
http://www.amazon.com/How-Do-Teach-This-Kid/dp/1932565248
The cheapest place to buy the book when I was searching for it (about 18 months ago) was through the Boardmaker folks at Mayer Johnson.
I'm all about not reinventing the wheel and utilizing someone else's hard work when it comes to ideas like these.
@MReese- Thanks for the nice comment and for visiiting the blog- feel free to drop in again!
ReplyDelete@Stacey- I have seen this book and it looks wonderful! However, I don't specifically teach children with autism. I have a range of children with varying abilities and challenges (all"level 2 and 3".) I really hate to put a "level" on a child though! It means so little. I also put a lot of time and effort into writing very specific, graphable and individualized goals for each child. So, while I certainly am all for not "reinventing the wheel" I prefer to start from the point of the child's goal in order to make a task box! If I see too many examples before I make the box, I'm afraid I may try to taylor how we are working on the goal to some degree to fit the task box, rather than the other way around! does that make sense? I don't know- just my personal opinion! (of course, once I get better at making these, I certainly might look at examples in order to refine and extend what I already have!)