The Benefits of Social Skills Groups
Social skills groups are important for all children. Social skills groups can create learning opportunities for children to practice what they have learned in real life situations. These groups help children make friends with the support of their teachers or...
Focus on Five: Teaching Conversation Skills
Teaching conversation skills is an important life skill that helps students learn to communicate and build social relationships. We often forget that we indirectly learned conversation skills growing up, however, our students need direct instruction on initiating and...
Teaching at the Farmer’s Market
Spring has sprung which hopefully means somewhere near you is a blossoming Farmer’s Market! I love going to the Farmer’s Market – fresh produce, flowers, local meat, and fresh squeezed lemonade – it’s my favorite place to spend a Saturday morning. But what I love most...
The Art of Planned Ignoring
Planned ignoring is defined as deliberately withholding your attention from a specific target behavior. You may be thinking, Aha! I do this with my own children/significant other/grandpa, and indeed you may. We do this in an educational setting to ensure that we are...
Spring Prep
Let's Talk Spring Prep Who's team prep early? I am! I didn't used to be. In fact, when I taught general education, I didn't prep anything in the spring for the following school year. Now that I'm in Special Ed. I take every opportunity I can to get ready for the next...
My Sensory Life: Smell
Here we are in Spring where April showers bring May flowers. I have heard that saying many times in my life and just figured that it was referring to the Mayflower that the pilgrims came on and the “April showers'' part just placed a picture of a calendar on the month...
Making Transitions Successful
Transitioning from early childhood to elementary school, elementary school to middle school, middle school to high school, and high school to postsecondary can bring on many emotions. Not only are emotions high for students with not knowing what will come with...
How To Start A Learner With An Object Schedule
Object schedules don’t have to be fancy! When creating them, I often need to remind myself to stop overthinking. When I started using object schedules, I tried to find objects that matched the area of the classroom exactly. After failing to find enough objects for a...
Ways to Color Code
I am so excited to talk about ways to color code in a special education/autism classroom! This is a topic I am super passionate about because I know how well it works. This super amazing visual aid is supportive of not only the students in my classroom but the...
Using Playground Equipment to Meet Sensory Needs
When you think about meeting the sensory needs of your students, it can initially seem overwhelming. You may feel like you need to purchase a lot of really expensive things or request a special sensory room. The good news is, that is not necessarily the case! There...
Maternity Leave Twice in One Year!
I had my first son in April of 2021 – he is now a wild, almost 11-month-old, crawling, and constantly climbing on everything! But, surprise, this week I will be having my second son – yes, you read that right! This means that I have become quite the expert on where to...
Michelle’s Classroom Tour: Task Box Center
I am so excited to show you my classroom’s independent task box center! Independent skills are a must-have in any special education classroom. In fact, the more independent skills we can teach and promote, the better! I have a total of four independent centers in...
Using a Traveling Schedule
Today I want to share one of the most important tools that I implement within my classroom, the traveling visual schedule. This manilla folder is a one stop shop to student success. With an individualized schedule on the front and token economy board on the back, your...
Executive Function and Why It Matters In Your Instruction
Executive Functioning You couldn't pick a hotter topic in education right now if you tried! It seems like everyone is talking about executive functioning, and rightfully so! In fact, I believe that special education teachers should be leading the conversation! If you...
My Sensory Life: Taste
Does your child or yourself fit under the labels such as “picky eater,” “particular about food,” “meticulous in taste,” or “precautious eater.” I for one fit under these terms, but I learned I’m not really the one to blame. When asked or persuaded, I do try new foods,...
Heavy Work Activities for the Classroom
All of the students (and adults!) in your classroom will present with different sensory profiles, and it is important to build a classroom environment that can meet a variety of sensory needs. As you build sensory experiences into your school day, consider...
Tips & Tricks for SEL at Your School!
Implementing Zones of Regulation Instruction School-Wide Working with students with high behavioral support needs, we routinely find ourselves discussing adaptive and maladaptive behaviors, and the importance of skill acquisition. But, when we step back and look at...
March Fun!
As a special education teacher working in early childhood (both in the classroom and in homes), some of the most language-promoting activities I have done involved following a visual recipe. Now of course with COVID-19 and different protocols, this may have thrown a...
How Data Should Drive Instruction
Letting data drive instruction means just that. Review the data and see where students or clients have mastered skills and which skills should be targeted. Within most public school systems, the need for data taking and analyzing the data is a large need. When...
How to Work With a High Student, Low Staff Ratio
Let’s talk about how to work in a special education class with a high student, low staff ratio! Now, I know, this is a touchy subject - class size. Special education is known for their lower class sizes, or are they? This year, in addition to having a large class...