Bag Tags
In preparation for Jack beginning school next week, we have been working on some new ‘Bag Tags’.
These bag tags are not just the ordinary variety with the child’s name and contact details printed on them - these bag tags are also ‘reminder’ tags, designed to help Jack organise himself at the beginning and end of each school day.
We have mentioned previously that recently we have been working on ways to help Jack be independent with his day to day routine, and to help ease some of the anxiety and uncertainty in his usual tasks (and help him through times of transition). It is fairly common for children on the autism spectrum to use some kind of schedule or task board, and over the past week or two we have been updating Jack’s schedule and creating some new task boards.
So on this theme, we were trying to work out a way to help him remember everything that he needed to pack in his school bag in the mornings before leaving for school, and again in the afternoons when he packed his bag at school to come home. Finally it dawned on us that he needed a small reminder board (or tag) attached to his bag… so we created his new bag tags.
We have 4 different tags that we can use, depending on what day it is (and what he needs to take and bring home from school). The idea is that we help him work out in the mornings (according to his weekly schedule) what tag he needs for the day, and then he can use the tag to help him organise his bag.
We’ve had a practice run and so far so good, he is pretty excited about using the new tags - time will tell how successful it is!
January 24th, 2008 at 2:36 am
Fantastic! They look like they will be a good help. Keep us posted!
January 24th, 2008 at 3:15 am
Very neat idea. I hope they help. We have found that lists help our son - but he’s older and his lists are written. But they do help. Good Luck.
January 24th, 2008 at 4:56 am
Wonderful idea. I might have to steal it for Heidi’s kinder bag.
January 24th, 2008 at 8:07 am
I use tags like that with C. They are all over the place!
Good to hear Jack is excited about them!
January 24th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Sounds like a great idea.
January 24th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Will have to try that one using words instead of pictures. What a wonderful idea. Thanks for sharing.
January 24th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
That is awesome-tastic!
January 25th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
What a great idea! The Elder would LOVE those!!!
January 26th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
The tags look great nice and sturdy. Pictures are so helpful. Please let us know how it goes.
January 26th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
We started off with the Incredible 5 Point Scale a few years ago. We kept adding additional bits and bobs to support him during the school day. 4 years later the poor little guys back pack has enough ‘reading’ material on it to entertain a whole classroom of kids [it’s turned into quite a good ice-breaker with some of the ‘other’ kids which is is a bonus]
Cheers
January 26th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
What a great thing to have. I’m already wondering what to do for next year when J goes from class to class. Something like that just might be what he needs.
I may try that now. Myself and J’s paras are the ones who pack his backpack every day. Next year will be completely up to him. Better to start him now and have it part of his daily routine. Thanks for a wonderful idea.
January 27th, 2008 at 7:08 am
I am impressed…. I totally lack imagination when it comes to things like that.
January 27th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Great idea! I need to be step back and let SB assume more responsibility for packing his stuff.
I hope Jack has a good first week at school.
March 24th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
BRILLIANT!
I was looking exactly for this to share with my readers! These can be used with ANYONE of ANY age!