Using Flipboard to Turn Autism into Awesomism, is a game changer. We are a Flipboard family for almost 10 years, now. To be be honest I am not sure how we would get along with out it. Flipboard is every ” social media” app rolled into one. The best thing about it is, it is all the good things of social media and basically none of the bad.
We use it all the time for Team Awesomism Virtual Academy. When Peyton and I go out and about we take videos and pictures. We put them into magazines we have made private. It is a great way for us to keep them organized, and a lot less stressful.
When Peyton was young I would bring in piles of magazines and lay them out on the couch. He would flip through them and pick out or tear out or circle the images that he liked. We would then talk about why he liked them. We then would discuss what was in the picture and we would do word association with the pictures. I then asked him questions, such as which picture is the lady with black hair smiling. This helped him see facial recognition, as well as learn what words meant.
I found that this not only increased his vocabulary, but inspired him to want to learn. There were days we sat on the couch for hours. Some times there were not really “Right or wrong answers” so he would not get frustrated. I saw where he would try to level up his learning.
Letting him select images based on what he was drawn to, even without a conscious understanding of why he liked that image. This allowed him to have a connection to an image or subject, rather than trying to select photos that fell under a certain category.
Together we worked on comprehension questions like these:
- -We selected pictures for him to describe in his own words.
- – To work on his vocabulary. I would start a sentence “I see a _________” and Peyton had to repeat the sentence and find the picture. Then we talked about what the item is used for,if we had one, the colors etc.
- – We found pictures that were similar but yet different and ask him to find the differences.This would teach him to compare as well as contrast. We used varied forms of words as well. such as the “person with the biggest watch on” he then learned to understand compare and contrast.
- – There were days where we would only find objects in a magazine, that started with certain letters or sounds.
- – Peyton found different pictures in the magazine that were funny, sad, calming etc. This was great to help him with reasoning skills.
- I found pictures that were similar to places we went and ask him to tell me about what he liked or didn’t like about that place. This was a great way for me to help him not stress as much.
Being a creative person not analytical, I encouraged that in him, as well. This type of picture association has similarities to things such as free-association writing. That is where the person just writes without editing their thoughts. This encouraged him explore things that interested him, without boundaries.
I wish I had Flipboard when Peyton was young, our “magazine Therapy” as we called it, would have been easier. We also most likely would have had even better results, as well. To this day we use Flipboard as a learning tool.
Over the years I found that this approach often resulted in him not only reading more, but comprehending what he read. He likes to have a knowledge of something before he does something. A good example of this was a trip we took to South Texas.
Before we went on the trip he made a Flipboard Magazine about where we were going. This not only made him more excited for the trip, but lowered stress. He became a lot more engaged in the trip, and took a lot of pictures of places he had read about prior. All of us learned a lot on that trip about Texas history, and to this day, he looks at the magazine.
This is just one such example of how much we use Flipboard. I find the benefits to be huge, and it truly is easily adapted for all autistic learning styles and the full spectrum.
Peyton feels he has a choice in what he learns because he is making the making the magazines. This has helped him with thinking things out and making better choices.
His vocabulary grew by him making magazines, because he is reading more as well as getting many different perspectives on a topic. An example of this is he has a magazine about the Oceans. He finds so many different articles, videos and pictures related to the ocean from many different sources. This opens his mind to many different viewpoints.
Asking questions about what he was seeing in magazines, opened him up to asking himself questions about what he was seeing. This sparked him to research more and rely on “given answers” less. I found that by using magazines to show him opinions vs facts.. it has taught him to understand the difference. This is something I see less of in society today, and I am thankful he understands the difference.
Flipboard is amazing for so many topics, but what I am most thankful for is how it helps us. When I had the privilege to meet Mike and Marci McCue the Founders of Flipboard, I asked them where has Flipboard been, all my life? I know some autistic adults struggle with regressing. This happens when they are not stimulated enough. Let’s be honest, we all struggle with that.
Flipboard does help with learning/stimulating in a very calming way. I describe it as sitting on a beach, thumbing through a beautiful magazine. You are learning in a passive way, so the stress level isn’t there.
We are putting a Flipboard class on Team Awesomism Virtual Academy. I feel very strongly that it will help autistic adults, in ways words can’t describe. I am happy to be able to share Flipboard with the adult autistic community. There are many tools out there, that some do not know about. Flipboard is one of them.
We would love to have your support of Team Awesomism Virtual Academy! we keep it FREE for all autistic adults, by getting both individual sponsors and business sponsors. Here is a link that gives you all the details!
Here are some other blogs we have about Flipboard, as well as podcast
Thank you for reading this blog.. please share with others.
Together we can Turn Autism into Awesomism for so many.
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