Welcome to the Well Being Spot!
A safe space to explore well being activities, feelings and more.
Mrs Pollington
Attention Bucket is a very useful programme to develop attention skills.
You can follow the programme as follows:
- Decide on the rules you want your child to follow e.g. 1. Stay seated OR 1.You can get up from the chair 2. You can not touch the screen 3. You have to watch the whole video
- Watch videos in order so start from Level 1
- You will see in the videos that clearing up is part of the programme. The intention is to help the children understanding the concepts of ‘Finished’ and ‘Next’.
- Enjoy!
The first video highlights useful strategies behind the programme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMOHHFFtcQA
These are a selection of Level 1 and 2 sessions for you to watch with your child:
How many times do you try to get your child’s attention to no avail? How many times do you have a conversation with a teacher about a child who is unable to manage distractions?
Attention skills are necessary for all sort of tasks and activities and are part of communication and social skills too.
At Howard Primary we talk about attention skills as follow:
- Sustained Attention. The ability to attend to a task for extended periods of time without losing focus or concentration.
- Selective Attention. The ability to focus and concentrate on a task even when distractions are present.
- Divided Attention. The ability to divide focus between two tasks and complete them simultaneously.
- Alternating Attention. The ability to shift focus from one task another efficiently and effectively.
When children join Reception, we work on attention skills using a programme called Attention Bucket. It was originally designed by Gena Davies for children on the autistic spectrum. However, it has been adapted for children in mainstream school such as Howard Primary. In yr1 and yr2 we work in small groups on Attention Bucket.
There are 4 levels :
- Stage 1: Attention bucket (to focus attention)
- Stage 2: Attention builder (to sustain attention)
- Stage 3: Interactive game (to shift attention)
- Stage 4: Individual activities (to focus and sustain attention in a group, then transition shifting attention to individual activity and then refocus on the group
Have a look at the video with the amazing Gena Davies explaining what the programme is all about in the context of developing attention in children on the autistic spectrum. The main ideas are applicable to a mainstream setting too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFYnc4xcZ6k
Then have a look at Stage 1 and 2 Easter Theme video. It is a lot of fun, children love it!
I will be posting more videos so you can do Attention Bucket at home. No props needed. Just sit with your child and watch the video. Please decide the rules you want to follow and talk them through with your child: for example : 1. we can stand up from the chair 2. we can not touch the screen 3. we have to wait till the video is over before we leave the room
Please don’t be shy! If you have any questions you can contact me on : sdalziopolling.306@lgflmail.org
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Today is World Autism Awareness Day!
We all know someone who is on the Autistic Spectrum. What can we do to understand and support a friend, a colleague, a relative who has autism? The most helpful thing we can do is to understand what autism is and how it can affect people.
Watch the animation video to find out key aspects of Autism. What can you take from that?
Then watch the second video which contains lots of practical tips. What tips would you put into practice to support someone with autism in your class, family, place of work, neighbourhood?
Understanding is the first step to acceptance. As we say at Howard Primary School : we are all different, we are all equal!
If you have any questions, please get in touch : sdalziopolling.306@lgflmail.org
Many thanks
Mrs Pollington[/dropshadowbox]