Tasks Galore: Book Notes: Introduction

Tasks Galore Book Notes
Laurie Eckenrode, Pat Fennell, Kathy Hearsey.  (C) 2003. USA.  ISBN: 978-1-934226-00-1

Introduction
Page 4:

• should keep in mind features of structure that have proven useful in classrooms and prgorams for students of all ages with learning challenges.
• organisation of physical space
• scheduling
• teaching methods
• KEY is INDIVIDUALISATION
• mission of books is to help design meaningful, individualised tasks with an emphasis on functional academics - presenting academic material in a hands-on approach.  Require movement of sensory input while processing and learning new information.
• children are either incapable of doing traditional task work or do not see meaning of it - e.g. pencil and paper tasks.
• receptive language of child may hinder their understanding of what is expected of them - directions for tasks must be organised and systematic for child to be successful - learning experiences that provide physical movement of some sort of motoric manipulation can displace inattention and distractability.
• Resistance to change and lack of motivation may be overcome by teaching to the child's strengths and interests.
• Teaching should take place at a student's level of understanding.
• Visual component important to each task - use visual structure to incorporate concrete visual clues into the task itself; capitalises on the aptitudes and strengths of visual learners. 

Page 5:

• Some students rely too heavily on verbal or physical prompts and may not become independent workers - require visual information to support them further and allow them to comprehend meaning; visual clues tell them what to do with the materials and therefore complete the task independently without intervention.
• completing a series of actions in a sequential manner is at the core of most tasks.
• it is often difficult for students with special needs to organise their thoughts in such a step-by-step manner; it is also hard for them to choose the relevant details needed to connect concepts (often students focus on irrelevant details and fail to grasp the relationship between the parts and how they connect to form the whole).
• once students become confident with visual instruction sequences, they will likely follow similar instructions in other settings
• PRIMARY GOAL - teach independence, teach how to generalise information learned from one environment to another - accomplished by teaching students to approach the environment and look for visual information.

Three key elements to VISUAL STRUCTURE:

1. visual instructions
2. visual organisation
3. visual clarity

1. Visual Instruction (page 5) - provide means for students to understand what is expected of them, will vary considerably depending on functional level of child.  GOAL is for student to be able to complete the task independently.  Instructions of include materials defining the task itself: - cut out jigs, visual outlining, colour-coded written directions, written directions, colour-coded self-correcting sorts, picture jigs, left-to-right sequences, top-to-bottom instruction jigs, product samples.

2.  Visual Organisation (page 6) - organising the sensory environment (materials and space) helps to modulate the sensory input to the child and helps them to complete the task.  E.g. container organisation (seperate containers, pencil bags, backpacks, etc)  To allow the student to see all the necessary components of the task as a unit a self-contained task is the most structured way to organise materials.

3.  Visual Clarity (page 6) - helps students to discriminate among details relevant to the completion of the task.  Common techniques - highlighting important information/relevant concepts, using colour-coding, using labeling.  At a basic level, visual clarity is achieved by LIMITING the materials to only the information needed to complete the task successfully.

Page 6:
Some questions to ask when setting up a work area:

• what visual information does the student already understand?
• what visual information can the student understand through teaching?
• is the student given enough information to complete the task independently?
• do the physical setting and organisation of materials help convey directions to the student?
• are materials presented in an organised manner?
• are there too many materials presented at a given time?

Children learn best by watching, handling, and manipulating materials. It is important for children to participate in a wide variety of learning experiences to bring about success in the development of the "whole child".

Tasks Galore looks at developing tasks that address skills across curriculum areas, within the following categories:  Fine Motor Skills, Readiness, Language Arts, Math, Reasoning, and Play.  Creating a fun, satisfying, and meaningful collection of tasks that can be used to help students reach their full educational potential, based on their strengths, interests, and IEP goals.