Clipboard Surveys

  • Situation

    I have some students in my kindergarten classroom diagnosed with autism. They don’t seem to know the names of their classmates, or really talk to many of the other children. Is there something I could do to increase interactions with their classmates?

  • Summary

    The Clipboard Survey is a strategy that provides students with autism a structured way to initiate an interaction with a peer. Create a clipboard survey with simple questions for a student to ask another student, such as: “What is your favorite snack?” or “What is your favorite shape?”

    Encourage your students to ask each of their classmates these questions and place their photo next to the appropriate response on their clipboard. This helps to promote easy interactions between classmates that may struggle with socialization otherwise.

    For younger children, provide pictures of the other children in the class. The child taking the survey can match the pictures to the children, and then ask the survey question:

    For example, “Do you like cats or dogs?” The clipboard survey provides a tool for the child on the autism spectrum to interact with his peers in a structured, predictable way.

     

     

  • Definition

    The clipboard survey provides a tool for the child on the autism spectrum to interact with his peers.

  • Quick Facts

    • Child's Age: 3-5, 6-10, 11-13, 14-17, 18+
    • Planning Effort: Low
    • Difficulty Level: Easy
  • Pre-requisites

    Can match pictures of students to the student

     

    Can record survey responses

  • Process

    1. Create simple survey questions (i.e. favorite color, food, pet, shape, etc.) Copy the survey onto paper and laminate.

    2. Laminate small pictures of each child in your classroom.

    3. Clip the survey to a clipboard.

    4. Attach the pictures of the children to the bottom of the clipboard.

    5. Identify the student to be responsible for gathering information for the survey.

    6. The survey taker asks the survey question, hands the child his/her picture and waits for him/her to answer by placing his/her picture into the space beside the answer to the question.

    7. The pictures of the students give a visual cue of who to ask and also serve as the method for answering the question.

  • Documents and Related Resources

    Clipboard Surveys (link to purchase clipboard surveys)

     

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