File Folder Activities

One of the ways a child with autism can practice skills they have learnt is through a file folder activity. This could be one way to make learning interesting. Most children with autism are very visual. File folder activities provide a visual structure and can help practice the skills and build independent work behavior. I recently made some activities for Tuhina which we sit down and complete in short work periods. It is just the start and she is finding it challenging due to the eye hand coordination involved in sticking the card on the correct position, but she is able to understand the activity and makes an effort to work on it. I do hope it will help in her independent working, though I plan to take it at a slow pace for now.

Some of the folder activities I am using are

1. Color Sorting: 
   
2. Gender sorting: Tuhina knows the gender concept and can sort girls and boys. In the folder activity I have added pictures of bathroom icons for girl and boy, so that she can associate with these signs in the environment.
   
3. Categorization: Sorting of objects as per categories. I have used a single folder with replaceable category names that can be stick to it using velcro. The categories she knows are fruits, vehicles, clothes and animals. I change the categories to be paired every time. This way she would have to look at the categories to complete the activities and not just memorize the order.
   
   
   
   
4. Sequencing: I am trying to work on 3 step event sequencing using this 'first', 'then', 'later' board. 
   
   
   
    

Some other ideas could be shape sorting, number counting or practicing own name. using a variety of such activities can help the child practice the skill in various ways and can help in applying a learnt skill in a different way than it was taught.