As the weather starts to warm up and many are returning from Spring Break, it's a great time to think about using Floreo lessons to help transition back into routines. Whether you are using the Street Crossing lessons as a safe, repeatable experience prior to more community involvement or the Classroom and Cafeteria lessons to help your Learner settle into school, we are happy to be a resource for you along the way!
New Partnerships
THE FLOREO COMMUNITY CONTINUES TO GROW
A warm welcome to our newest partner: Enner Glynn School (New Zealand). We look forward to helping you serve the needs of your students and community!
Are you ready to join the Floreo family? We would love to discuss implementation in your school district or practice!
Sneak Peak of upcoming content
COMING LATER THIS YEAR: FLOREO STORE
You asked, we listened. Almost all of the content in our lesson library has been suggested by current customers. It is very important to us to build lessons that will be useful for and used by you. Our team is always asking for your ideas for new content and one of the top answers we regularly hear is: lessons that take place in the store.
Floreo's Art Director, Meredith Gammon, is hard at work building realistic grocery store scenes while our in-house clinical team plans several different lessons and interactions that will take place within the store. The shelves may look a little bare right now, but they will be full of virtual learning opportunities soon! Stay tuned for more details and a release announcement later this year.
A new angle on our content
FROM FLOREO'S DIRECTOR OF THERAPY CONTENT
The game "Simon Says" is about inhibition, a particularly important executive functioning skill involved in planning and organizing. (If you're interested in this executive function, there's some great information about it here)
"Simon Says" is a challenging game for a lot of kids (and adults) because the rules of following or not following the stated direction are couched inside a number of confounding conditions. One way to make this game a bit easier and less frustrating is to change the wording and the sequence of the direction. In this version, the Learner will always follow the direction, but is asked to inhibit his/her action until hearing the word, "Go."
Here are the rules to a modified game of "Simon Says" using Floreo's Imitation lessons:
- Go to All Lessons >> Imitate Actions at the Park, Level 3 >> Be a Copy Hero
- Tell the Learner: “Watch the boy. But wait until you hear me say ‘Go’ to follow the direction.” When you select an action, the boy will say "Do this" and will perform the action. For the first few trials, you should say "Go" immediately after the boy performs the action. (When the Learner performs the action, tap "Good Job" and the reward will be delivered.)
- Now, try one or two where you wait a second or two before you say, “Go.” Make sure you only tap "Good Job" if the Learner waits for the word “Go.” If the Learner performs the action before you say “Go,” give “Not yet!” feedback and tap “Repeat Gesture.” Make it just a bit easier the next time. You don't want the Learner to get too frustrated. You have to find that sweet spot where the Learner is being successful most, but not all, of the time.
- After you’ve played Simon Says in VR, take the headset off and play an in-person version of this game. If you would like some additional tips about the in-person version of this game, e-mail us at info@floreotech.com. And check out this document for more ideas for using Floreo lessons outside of their designed objectives!
Research study opportunity
FROM OUR PARTNERS AT CHOP
Our partners at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia are recruiting participants for a compensated survey about autism and police. Please consider participating or sharing with others who might be interested!
What have we been reading this week?
NEWS ROUND-UP
- What my autistic son taught me about listening and speaking
- Ernst and Young opened a program in Boston to boost neurodiverse recruiting
- Vacations made easier: some Beaches resorts are Advanced Certified Autism Centers
- A new mother-daughter memoir details the power of language
- Social media can provide connections for individuals with autism