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How do you teach someone to stop and look both ways at street corners without getting locked into verbal or gestural cues?
I have found that a good method is to have 2 staff members while in the community. At times, 1 staff member can cross streets with students who have looked both ways. The other staff member waits for the remaining student to follow suit. The first staff person should say something like, "Johnny and Susan, you made sure there were no cars so you can cross the street with me."
Another method is to have the 2 staff members have a discussion together. For
example:
Mrs. A: "Mrs. B, do you see the yellow lines up there? I sure hope everyone remembers to stop."
Mrs . B: "I hope they remember. It isn't safe to cross the street without stopping.
I see a green car coming. Do you?"
Mrs. A: "Yes, I see it. I see a white van too. It is a busy street. It is important to stop."
Mrs. B: "I'm so glad that Tommy stopped. I want us all to get to McDonald's safely."
My daughter is 16. We'd like to for her to start carrying her own money and paying for items. She has no concept of money. Any suggestions?
My first recommendation is to select a purse, backpack purse, etc. with your daughter that she likes. Have her keep her money in the selected purse while at home too. Teach her to keep the purse in a safe place.
If your daughter goes into the community at school, I'd recommend teaching her to carry her purse back and forth to school. If that is not feasible, she should be taught to keep it in a safe place at school such as a locked file cabinet. Be careful not to teach her to hand over her purse to whomever asks. (This sets her up as an easy target for would-be thieves.) She should place it in the safe place herself.
Once your daughter has selected an item for purchase or has placed an order; work on next-dollar strategy with her. Next-dollar strategy involves having her carry 1 dollar bills only. Teach her to give 1 more dollar than the amount requested. For example, if an item costs $2.55, she should give $3.00. If an item costs $8.01, she should give $9.00. Using this method, she should never be "out" more than a dollar.
You will need to teach her to wait for change and to appropriate place that change into her purse. Eventually, you can work on 5 dollar and ten dollar bills as well.
I have found that it works well to start teaching children to carry their own wallets/purses by about second grade.
Have you found that going to a place in the community twice in a row locks you into a routine? This happens with a man with whom I work. What should I do?
Overwhelmingly, YES, I have experienced the 2 times equals a routine phenomenon. To avoid it, I don't let routines begin. At the start of a new school year, or after a vacation, I change the routine and make plans to not get stuck in it again. This doesn't mean that I never go anyplace twice. It does mean that I go to several different places before going back to one for a second time. Also, I never follow the same pattern. That is if I go to Burger King, then Mc Donald's and then Dairy Queen; next time I might go to Burger King, then Arby's, then Dairy Queen and finally Mc Donald's. I try to insist on menu variations as well. That is, the second time at Burger King, I'd push for a different order than the first time.
I allow routines for some things. Perhaps we always go into the community on Fridays. However, I also teach that "sometimes Mrs. A is absent so we won't be able to go out today" as well as "it's snowing too hard to walk today." Social stories or pictures showing the changes
in routine do wonders. The only sure thing is change. Establishing a routine of using a schedule to show daily events and changes helps a great deal.
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