Last week, we featured the Focusing lessons available in Floreo. This week, we would like to highlight our lessons that address Responding to Auditory Information and Emotional Regulation. Both of these early (and continuously developing) executive functioning skills are target areas of Floreo and relevant lessons are featured in their own categories. 

Challenges with executive functioning may include difficulties in responding to auditory information in one’s own environment. To address this area of need, we have gathered a variety of lessons under this category. We currently have 23 lessons here. We start with Join a Conversation: Park and Join a Conversation: Cafeteria where the Learner needs to attend to an on-going conversation, identify the topic and add a relevant comment to contribute to the conversation. Then, we have 12 lessons that provide the Learner with information about wild animals. These include: Chimp, Dolphin, Iguana, Koala, Lion, Orangutan, Sea Turtle, Sloth, Sperm Whale, Asian Water Monitor, Lemur and Rhino.

Following these lessons, the Coach can create listening comprehension questions appropriate to the Learner’s ability to determine whether the Learner has been able to attend to, retain and understand the auditory information that was presented. Next, we have 5 Listen and Find lessons (Listen & Find: 1 Animal, by Name, Listen & Find: 2 Animals, by Name, Listen & Find: 2 Animals by Name then Feature, Listen & Find: 2 Animals, by Feature then Name, Listen & Find: 2 Animals by Feature). These lessons ask the Learner to follow verbal directions that increase in length and complexity. The 1st lesson in the sequence provides simple directions (e.g., “Find the giraffe”), and eventually, the last lesson in this sequence provides directions that require the Learner to hold auditory information in working memory, interpret it and then follow the direction (e.g., “Find the one to the left of the tower. Then, find the one that flies.”) 

Listen for 3 Words & Tell the Coach is for our Learners who need a great deal of support with attending to and responding to auditory information. This lesson provides the Learner with 3 single words, spoken by an avatar, and asks the Learner to repeat those words to the Coach. Finally, the last 3 lessons in this skill category place the Learner in a more naturalistic environment (a yoga studio, a school library and an airport security line) and provide the Learner with either verbal instructions to follow or verbal information to which to attend. These lessons are: Listen & Follow Yoga Instructions, Focus on Important Information about Masks, Understanding Airport Security.

Successful executive functioning abilities also require individuals to be emotionally regulated. Our Emotional Regulation skill category includes 15 lessons, some designed for alerting, some designed for calming;  some built for Learners who are highly verbal and others built for non-speaking Learners. Our lessons that can be used by all Learners are the ones that do not involve language. These include: Watch the Train, Play the Marimba, Hang Out in the Aquarium, Find the Fish, Snowfall and Meet the Animals. 

Snowy Landscapes  also does not involve listening or speaking; however, it does place the Learner in a flyover scene with movement and may not be appropriate for Learners who are sensitive to heights, open spaces or movement within the VR scene. 

Breathing Train, Crystal Cave and Yoga Poses are for Learners who can follow simple directions and support body awareness and relaxation. Calming Reminders in the Crystal Cave,  Guided Meditation: Sitting in the Snowfall, Guided Meditation: Sitting in the Aquarium and Guided Focus for Body Relaxation are designed for Learners who can manage more abstract language. 

Let us know what your favorite Emotional Regulation or Responding to Auditory Information Lessons are!