Help me give my students new play items so we can learn how to play in a functional way and acquire make believe play skills which are vital for learning about the world around them.
This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
I am a teacher in a low-income/high poverty school district. My preschool students have all been diagnosed with Autism and are all non-verbal. My students are faced with several challenges both in and out of the classroom. Because of the many challenges they face, I am looking to keep things simple and provide my students with a way to communicate as well as basic self-help and learning readiness skills.
My students are being raised in single-parent households and are lacking basic needs that others may others take for granted.
These things may prevent them from getting ahead early in life and may not provide them with the life experiences many of us see as "typical." From the minute they walk in the door of my classroom I focus on their independent skills to give them a foundation for learning. I may not be able to control their home lives, however, I can certainly control their experience during the school day.
My Project
The DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for autism includes “a lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play appropriate to the developmental level” as one of the indicators of autism
Play is a preschool child's most important job!
Functional play can be defined as play with toys or objects according to their intended function (e.g., rolling a ball, pushing a car on the floor, pretend feeding a doll). Play is a way children learn to make sense of the world. Functional play is a powerful tool for developing cognitive and social skills. Play develops a child’s problem-solving skills through the discovery properties of actions and objects (e.g., hard/soft, fast/slow, and how things work together). Functional play is also important in social interactions. Children interact with each other through play with toys, equipment, and action sequences. Most items chosen for this project are items that encourage make believe and/or encourage social interaction with peers. Some items though will be used to facilitate student and teacher interactions through shared cognitive tasks. All items regardless will be used to facilitate interactions with all of my students diagnosed with Autism. It is important to help these kids learn how to interact with their environment and the world around them
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Brickman and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
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