Teaching Play Skills
Some of the most frequent questions I get from parents and teachers are how to teach play skills and what should I be expecting when I see children play? You might have had this beautiful, peaceful vision when you opened your play centers or implemented free play time...
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Sorry, Not Sorry
During a lunch conversation with a friend the other day I was reminded that typical adults and children need to be aware of individuals with autism just as much as kids with autism need to be taught to function in the world around them. It goes both ways. We get...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Using The PPLAC For Play With Our Learners
Play is important for all people in all grades. In the classroom, at a center, in the home, everywhere! Play is the best way for all learners to experience their world and connect with peers and adults within their environment. Did you know that play serves a purpose...
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3 Ways to Increase Opportunities for Inclusion
Inclusion is more than just plopping a student into a general education setting and calling it good. Being actively inclusive means that regardless of the potential barriers, all student's needs are considered and addressed; ensuring that they have the same...
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The Undercover Autistic in School
How do you know if you are average or different? Well most likely someone had told you that the particular actions you do fit under the normal or abnormal category. Or perhaps you made a judgment of your own by examining those around you and making your own...
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The Beauty of a Therapy Dog
Adding a dog into an already chaotic and busy classroom may seem overwhelming. I can barely find time to let myself go to the bathroom, let alone time to take my dog, Ollie, out during the school day. Do all my students feel comfortable with this 65 pound fluff-ball...
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How to Structure your Peer Model Program – Part 2
In part 1, you learned all about setting up your peer program (if you missed it, check out the post here). Now to the fun part, adding structure and planning! Over the years, I have found things that worked well and some that turned out to be more of a Pinterest...
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How To Fade The Adults During Play
Throughout the school day, it is an adult job to create natural environments and situations for students to learn. Teachers and other team members teach children by asking questions, lecturing, modeling, reading, playing, and so much more! When working on play skills...
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How to Teach Turn-Taking to an Autistic Child
Taking turns is a complex social skill that involves patience, impulse control, and appropriate social interaction. Yet, autistic children often struggle with these skills. Many children naturally develop this important developmental milestone, but children with...
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5 Steps to Set Up a Peer Model Program in Your School – Part 1
Let’s face it, the staffing shortage is not going to end anytime soon and we have to think outside the box to teach and support our students. That is why starting a peer program in your school is that “outside the box” idea. Maybe you have been thinking about trying...
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Incorporating Games Into Your Day
Let’s talk about game in the classroom. They teach so many skills and they are so engaging! Turn taking, waiting, listening to peers just to name a few. I use them every single day in my classroom. Here’s a few ideas for incorporating them into your schedule and...
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Making All of The Classroom Space Meaningful- Part 2
Once we have centers set up and decided as a team, the next step would be implementation. Meeting with the team to come up with a plan helps with buy-in. When an idea is voiced and listened to, you take ownership and pride. Following Jen’s suggestion about not going...
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Making All Of The Classroom Space Meaningful- Part 1
Center based learning is so much more than having different options. When using the evidence-based center-based learning in the classroom, all centers are meaningful. Each one has an intentional teaching strategy that focuses on the acquisition or maintenance of each...
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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...
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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...
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