Chalk & Curious

I'm a mum to a wonderful 5-year-old on the autism spectrum — and everything I create comes from what I've learned raising him. Over the past three years, I've been hands-on with his Occupational Therapy (OT), Speech Therapy, and Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) programmes — not just attending sessions, but reinforcing every skill at home through structured, visual, and sensory-friendly learning activities. I've sat on the floor with flashcards at 7am. I've redesigned worksheets at midnight because the font was too cluttered or the instructions had too many steps. I've watched my son go from non-verbal to using full sentences, from avoiding a pencil to tracing letters independently. That transformation — from struggling to thriving — is what drives every resource I make. I don't have a therapy licence. What I have is thousands of hours of real-world practice adapting mainstream curriculum materials for a child who learns differently. I know what works because I've tested every single worksheet with the toughest and most honest critic there is: my own child. My experience spans: • Adapting K-2 maths and literacy content for neurodiverse learners • Creating visual schedules, token boards, and structured task sequences • Breaking multi-step problems into single-step, scaffolded worksheets • Designing sensory-friendly layouts: clean fonts, low visual clutter, high contrast, predictable page structure • Reinforcing OT fine motor goals through tracing, cutting lines, and pencil control activities • Supporting speech and language goals through vocabulary-building, sentence frames, and picture-supported word banks • Implementing ABA-informed discrete trial teaching through structured, repetitive worksheet formats • Working across US Common Core and UK KS1 curriculum standards — we live in the UAE, where American and British schools sit side by side

My teaching style is built around one principle: if it overwhelms my son, it will overwhelm other kids too. So I design backwards — starting from the child's perspective, not the curriculum checklist. Here's what that looks like in practice: 🧩 Structured & Predictable Every worksheet follows a consistent layout. Same position for the name field. Same instruction style. Same visual hierarchy. Children on the spectrum thrive on predictability — and so do children who aren't. When a child opens a new page and already knows where to look, they spend energy on learning instead of figuring out the page. 🎯 One Skill Per Page I never combine three concepts on one sheet. If the goal is "addition to 5," the page does only that — with clear visual supports, worked examples, and enough repetition to build real fluency. This aligns with ABA discrete trial principles: isolate the skill, practise to mastery, then generalise. 👁️ Visually Clean No decorative borders fighting for attention. No six different fonts. No walls of text. My worksheets use high-contrast layouts, generous white space, consistent and simple icons, and dyslexia-friendly design choices. Every visual element earns its place — if it doesn't support learning, it's gone. 🪜 Scaffolded Progression Every pack moves from concrete (pictures, manipulatives) to pictorial (drawings, diagrams) to abstract (numbers, equations). This is the CPA approach used in Singapore Maths and recommended for learners with additional needs. Children aren't thrown into the deep end — they walk in step by step. 🗣️ Language-Supported Instructions use short, simple sentences. Word problems use familiar, everyday contexts. Vocabulary is controlled — I don't introduce a new maths concept and a new reading word at the same time. For children with speech and language delays, this makes the difference between engaging with the task and shutting down. 💛 Strength-Based My resources assume competence. They're not "dumbed down" — they're designed up. Simplified doesn't mean easy. It means accessible. My son taught me that a child who can't hold a pencil can still understand place value. The worksheet just needs to meet them where they are.

My biggest award doesn't come with a certificate. It's watching my son — who three years ago couldn't hold a crayon or say "more" — sit at a table, pick up a pencil, complete a worksheet independently, and say "I did it, Mama." That moment didn't happen by accident. It was built, one structured activity at a time, through years of OT sessions, speech drills, ABA programmes, and thousands of adapted worksheets and visual supports. Here are the milestones that drive everything I create: ⭐ My son progressed from pre-verbal to conversational speech through consistent speech therapy reinforcement at home — including the vocabulary-building and sentence-frame worksheets I now share in my store. ⭐ He went from avoiding all writing tasks to independently tracing, copying, and eventually free-writing letters and numbers — thanks to OT-aligned fine motor activities and the gradual, repetitive worksheet formats I designed for him. ⭐ His attention span for seated table tasks went from under 30 seconds to 15+ minutes — built through ABA-structured discrete trial worksheets with clear start points, consistent layouts, and built-in reinforcement. ⭐ He transitioned from a special needs centre to a mainstream inclusive classroom — and the adapted curriculum worksheets I created to bridge that gap are now available in my store for other families making the same journey. ⭐ Multiple therapists, teachers, and other autism parents have asked me to share the materials I made for him — and that's exactly why Chalk & Curious exists. I don't have a trophy shelf. I have a drawer full of completed worksheets covered in crayon and pencil marks — and every single one of them represents a breakthrough that someone told me might not happen

My formal education is in a different field — and I believe that's actually an advantage. I bring an analytical, design-thinking mindset to educational resources. Before creating worksheets full-time, I worked in consulting and project management, where I learned to take complex systems, break them into clear steps, and present information so that anyone could follow it. That skill translates directly into designing worksheets for children who need clarity above all else. My real education, though, happened outside any classroom: 📚 Self-directed study in autism spectrum disorder, sensory processing, and developmental milestones — I've read more research papers, therapy manuals, and parent guides in the last three years than I did in my entire university career. 📚 Hands-on training from my son's multidisciplinary therapy team: occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, ABA therapists, and developmental paediatricians. I didn't just drop him off at sessions — I observed, took notes, asked questions, and practised every technique at home. 📚 Practical expertise in the CPA (Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract) approach to maths instruction, the Orton-Gillingham approach to literacy, and the TEACCH structured teaching methodology for autism — all of which inform my worksheet design. 📚 Deep familiarity with both US Common Core and UK National Curriculum (EYFS/KS1) standards — because we live in Dubai, where my son's school follows one and his therapy centre references the other. 📚 Ongoing learning through autism parent communities, special education conferences, and professional development webinars. The research evolves constantly, and so do my resources. I may not have "B.Ed." after my name. But I have something many qualified teachers have told me they lack: the daily, lived experience of adapting every mainstream worksheet for a child who can't use them as they are — and the determination to make something better

Hello! I'm the creator behind Chalk & Curious 💛 I'm a mum, a maker, and — if I'm being honest — a professional worksheet obsessive. I live in Dubai with my husband and our 5-year-old son, who happens to be the most curious, determined little human I know. He's also autistic, and he's the reason this store exists. When my son was first diagnosed, I did what many parents do: I searched everywhere for resources. And I kept hitting the same wall. Mainstream worksheets were too cluttered, too text-heavy, and assumed skills he hadn't developed yet. Special needs resources were often too simplistic, or they felt clinical and joyless. Nothing in between. So I started making my own. At first, it was just for him — hand-drawn worksheets stuck to the fridge, printed activities adapted from his therapy goals, visual schedules taped to every wall. Then his therapists started asking for copies. Then other parents at his therapy centre. Then teachers at his school. That's when I realised: if I was staying up until midnight redesigning worksheets because nothing on the market worked for my child, thousands of other parents and teachers were doing the exact same thing. Chalk & Curious is my answer to that problem. Every resource in this store is: ✅ Designed for neurodiverse learners first, then tested with neurotypical learners too — because good design is good design, and what works for children with additional needs works better for everyone ✅ Aligned to real curriculum standards (US Common Core K-2 and UK KS1) — not watered-down "special" versions, but thoughtfully adapted mainstream content ✅ Created with sensory-friendly, visually clean, predictable layouts ✅ Informed by OT, speech therapy, and ABA principles — not just general teaching theory ✅ Tested at our kitchen table before it ever reaches yours I believe every child can learn. I believe worksheets should meet children where they are, not where the curriculum says they should be. And I believe that a parent who spends three years adapting materials for their own child has something genuinely valuable to share with the world. If you're a parent navigating an autism diagnosis and wondering where to find resources that actually work — I've been there. I see you. And I made this for you. If you're a teacher with a neurodiverse learner in your class and you need printables that don't require 45 minutes of modification — I made this for you too. If you're a therapist looking for structured, curriculum-linked worksheets to use in sessions — welcome. Pull up a chair. Thank you for being here. Every purchase supports a small, independent, family-run brand — and it goes straight back into creating more resources for kids like mine. With love and curiosity, Chalk & Curious 🎓✨ 📩 biartillery@gmail.com