Everyday Teaching

Working with Tier 2&3 students, it seems that writing time is one of the most challenging times-  First, they have to select the right kind of topic in the unit. For example, if the class is working on informational writing, you should write something like, "I will teach you how to play basketball". Then, you should come up with a topic sentence along with several details.          To support kids in organizing their writing, these visual organizers have been super helpful.  Use of "Graphic Organizer" is even added to their IEPs, so that they continue to get the support as moving on to the next grade.  Let's say if a child is writing a story with some sort of timeline in the narrative writing unit. Then, this timeline graphic organizer is a simple but important tool for a successful writing experience.                                          Timeline Graphic Organizer:  Free Download  

In order to support kids in the "hot, steamy" moment, we have been using many visual tools.  Zones of regulation are a good one. The size of the problem is also a great resource for teachers and therapists. They are very popular in the field- mainly teaching to recognize their emotions first and to see the need to come down to the "green zone" to stay safe.  Recently, as learning so much more about the ACT (acceptance commitment training) matrix, I felt we need to teach them to use pre-taught strategies("my toolbox") to quickly change their behavior in the "hot" situation is more powerful to our kids.  It's all about teaching the right kind of behavior strategies for students. Through this "Emotion Meter" and "Behavior Scale" activity, students will learn critical SEL skills such as: •Recognizing your own feelings/emotion •Matching up your feelings to behavior strategies • Discussing different behavior and their

  When working with young students, “cause and effect” toys are your MUST HAVE. When you have one of those out in front of the kid, you are almost guaranteed his/her attention, joyful smile, as well as engagement.  Besides working on joint attention, this kid has to use his/her words(speech or aided communication tools) to say/request, “more” “my turn” “play” “turn it on” “me” and many more.  In ABA terms, you just created MO (motivational operation) by bringing the kid’s motivational objects in learning to increase his verbal behavior and engaging behavior- This is when the real learning occurs. Yeah!  Let’s speak the real world now. Budget issue? Plus, they are pretty bulky. I might have to move around the rooms when working with kids- or a lot of home program providers have to travel to several homes a day.  What can be good alternates? What about these handy and economical sensory-based toys and activity ideas that never lose their joyful power!   Kidney beans with small beads/obje

I remember those times when my baby daughter had to suck her thumb to fall asleep, or constantly asked for my car key to put in her mouth. She also liked the T.V. remote controller as well. 😝 This seems natural in the sense of a child's development, and the intensity and frequency of this type of behavior often decrease as they grow up.  While working with primary grade  kids(K-2nd) with autism or developmental disabilities, I still find many kids still seek out intensive oral sensory input or at some level throughout the day-  These sensory issues in children with autism are often reported from home as well.  If no supervision was available, any school/household items  may end up going into their mouths. Crayons, glues, lego pieces, etc. The intensity and frequency of this sensory-seeking behavior heavily rely on their mood/regulation changes depending upon the circumstances.  That is, during fun group activities with music components, my student does not seem to need anything fo

  Being a good special educator includes dealing with many different tools to keep you organized. IEP at a glance, daily data collection forms, communication log, service log...the list may go on and on.  #SPED#special education#ABA#data#communication#forms

  Download from Google Doc and send it to your IEP team members. It's free- and you can edit however you want.  Don't write- just TYPE !!!