How To Teach Rule Following
Rules and routines are a large part of classroom functioning. Management of the classroom and instructional control come from clear and concise definitions of rules. Creating rules as a group or individually does not always have to be a lecturing style. Teaching and...
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...
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...
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...
Visuals Are Everywhere
Visuals are everywhere, we rely on them daily and most of the time, we probably don’t even realize how much we are utilizing them. Think about when you drive somewhere new, order food at a restaurant, shop at the grocery store, or navigate your way through an...
Presents, Cookies, & Books for December!
The weather in Maryland is turning chilly again so what better way to keep active learning engagement than with presents, cookies, and themed books! There are so many ways to differentiate and extend the following activities so do not feel like you must stick with...
On Campus Jobs for High School and Transition Students: Part 3
This is the third and final installment of my blog series about on campus jobs for high school and transition students. In part one, I discussed all the steps that need to be taken to prepare for the jobs. In part two, I explored some of our common on campus jobs...
The Need For Play In All Grade Levels
What is play? When I used to think about children playing, I would imagine a group of children surrounding a pretend kitchen set working together to make a meal pretending that they are a family. The reality is that this is such a late stage of play! Once I began...
On Campus Jobs for High School and Transition Students: Part 2
In part one of this series about on campus job opportunities, I discussed all of the things that need to happen before our students start work. Creating visuals, teaching routines and setting up systems is so important in order to facilitate independence for our...
On Campus Jobs for High School and Transition Students: Part 1
This blog is the first in a series where I will highlight how we set up and engage students in on campus job training opportunities. While we have always offered a variety of on campus and community based job training opportunities, we have had to be especially...
Scheduling A Core Word of The Week
Using language paired with visuals is a key component to our classroom. When working with learners who have difficulty understanding spoken language and/or difficulty in speaking to communicate their wants and needs, research shows a high success rate in using vocal...
Back to School Tips
First Day of School Tips I'm going into my 18th year of teaching, and I still have butterflies in my stomach at the thought of the first day of school. That healthy mix of nerves and excitement has me out of bed and up early that first day, excited to meet my...
How To Include Functional Gross Motor and Recess Activities
In all of my years of teaching, recess has never been my all time favorite time of the day. I love the time for our learners to get outside, enjoy nature, let out energy, play with peers, and have fun, however, I have experienced a lot of frustrations and tears due to...
Play Targets, Language Targets, and Free Cheat Sheets
This post turned out to be an unplanned part 2 of my blog How To Set Up Structured Play Boxes! After pulling some toys and getting the boxes we wanted together, we had to create ways in which the team would use them. How would these boxes benefit our learners the...
(FUN)ctional Routines
Practicing functional routines is an essential life skill. In doing so, our learners will work on becoming independent in the classroom, their homes, and their communities. Functional routines can be fun and motivating, even if they are challenging and stressful right...
Engaging Lesson Plans for Remote Learning
Gaining and maintaining attention through an iPad has been very difficult. Now that it is December, my team and I are working harder than we were in August to keep our kids wanting to come to virtual school! Many of our students are used to navigating the iPads while...
Encouraging Independence During Remote Learning
Many of our families are struggling teaching functional routines such as dressing, hand washing, what to do when you are leaving the house, how to clean up after eating, etc. When we were in the classroom, we worked on these skills and kept data on these routines and...
Proactive Strategies for Behavior Part 2
Recap of Part 1 In part 1 of my list of proactive strategies (check it out here), I reviewed the beginning steps of being proactive. Whether in a full remote, hybrid, or in person model right now and in the future, these steps will help. Being proactive when teaching...
Pre-K Classrooms and COVID
As I write this post, I am (like many of you) awaiting on our state superintendent of schools to speak about the latest update on schools and COVID. As teachers we like to be super prepared and a pandemic just does not lend itself to normal planning. By now I would...