For kids who need extra help with sensory integration, motor, language, communication and attention skills, cooking offers a multitude of opportunities to help them work on these skills while having fun! Professional cooking teacher and parent of a son with autism, Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer, shows how, with a little planning and preparation, parents and teachers can make cooking a rich learning experience in The Kitchen Classroom: 32 Visual GFCF Recipes to Boost Developmental Skills book. Kaplan-Mayer also believes cooking together is a way for a parent and child to connect, establishing the type of shared experiences that are the foundation of a cognitive behavior therapy called Relational Development Intervention (RDI), which has proven to be very effective in helping children with autism, including her son.

The Kitchen Classroom includes a book for parents and teachers with quick and tasty gluten-free (GF) and casein-free (CF) recipes with specific teaching tips and a color photo of each finished dish. Also included is a CD-ROM with simple step-by step instructions and almost 500 color photos illustrating the process of each recipe in detail, so kids (readers and nonreaders) can follow along, see what happens next and practice doing some steps on their own. Print the photo sequences and put them in a binder for future use, or view them on your laptop during cooking sessions.

The Kitchen Classroom engages kids of all ages and can be used with students with a variety of developmental or learning disabilities. Instructions in the book include handy icons that tell parents and teachers what skill can be practiced at what stage of the cooking process. Kneading dough, breaking eggs, pouring, stirring, measuring - all these activities offer the chance for sensory input and to practice language, math, motor and social skills. Advice on safety in the kitchen, making easy substitutions and adapting activities to meet the needs of different children makes this a complete resource. 18 months and up.

Includes 144 pages (32 recipes)and CD-ROM with instructions and nearly 500 color photos.