Transition Goals: Finding a Path that Fits Each Child

   I have three amazing kids.  I one is starting her career as an educator.  My middle child is starting student teaching, something I would never have dreamed of in a million years, before he continues his education in the field of historical archiving.  Finally, my youngest is starting her second year of college on the road to becoming an occupational therapist.  These are all paths I would not have pictured for my children when they were in middle or even high school. All children have to navigate through life to find their own way and interests.  What is difficult with special needs children is guiding them to what is practical and realistic with their abilities, issues and needs. As parents and caregivers it is our responsibility to help guide them to realistic goals while still helping them to reach for their dreams.

   Everyone has interests, strengths, and preferences when it comes to work and work environments. There are many ways to find out what kinds of things interest a child. You can find surveys for them to fill out if they are capable.  If not you can show the child pictures of different items and let them point to the things they like: animals, plants, people, computers, stores, office, outside, inside, alone or with others. Help the child make a chart that shows them what their work interests are and create a work profile for them.  Once they have this work profile, you can help the child to find jobs or careers that would fit that profile and their desire for further education.  This will help eliminate things like a doctor, but you can possibly put in medical assistant or child care if it is taking care of people they really like. If they wanted to be a veterinarian, you can explain the schooling and then give them the options for veterinary technician, pet groomer or pet store worker. Depending on the level of the child, there are usually jobs that will fit for their interests if you think creatively. The important thing is to help the child see a future and see a goal to fit the learning.

    Setting these goals helps the entire family.  Parents and siblings start to see the future of the child.  How will the child get to and from work? How will they choose clothing? How will they record and remember and schedule? How will they communicate information from work to home? These are all things that caregivers need to start planning for.  The school system will not always be there to support the child.  It is the school system’s job to help prepare the child as best as possible for after school. This includes teaching the child and family not to depend on the school as an intermediary. Starting in middle school the parents need to start taking responsibility for getting information from the school websites rather than expecting the teacher to give them information made available to all parents. It should become a weekly if not daily habit to check the school website for updates and information on coming events and activities. Teachers need to make sure that parents are given this information at the beginning of the year, so they are aware of this responsibility. With general education students, the parents and students usually both do this and it slowly transitions to be more and more the student’s responsibility.  Like much with special needs children, this responsibility will stay with the caregiver the rest of their life.

  Starting in Middle school the job of educators becomes complex.  We are responsible for academic growth, but also for transition growth.  We need to look at the future of the child and the family after school.  What are the goals for the child and how can we help them get there.  Helping to choose a career goal and setting up communication is just the start of this transition planning.  

Prepare for days you will be gone

  Today's post will be short but important as I am headed out of town.  When you are planning a trip for a day or an extended amount of time, be sure to give as much warning as possible.  Mark it on the calendar. Discuss who will be there in your place.  Let the child/children know you have left detailed plans about the routines and plans.  Most of all be sure they know when you will be back and that the trip has nothing to do with them.  If you do these things, you can go knowing they will be calm and ready to continue while you are away.

Finding the Right Reward System

   Reward systems with special needs children who have any kind of behavioral issues are an important tool. The literature you are going to find is going to talk about finding one that fits the student’s needs.  This is of course the most important aspect of any system, but one thing I have found over the years that is not emphasized enough in my opinion is finding one that fits the care givers as well.  I have gone through may a system that just didn't work because I could not follow through with them. They did not fit into my flow and thus I did not comfortably use them. It is important to find that balance between the children and the caregiver.

                If you establish a reward system and find that it is not working for you because you are having trouble keeping up with it or following through, take some time to figure out what is it that the child is looking for from it and how can you make it work for you?  If the child is working for stickers on a chart, but you have difficulty getting the stickers on the chart, ask yourself how important is the actual chart?  Could you just give the sticker to the child and let them do as they please with it?  Could you have a place for the stickers and let the child go and get the stickers themselves?  If the student is working for a token they collect in a container, again could the student be responsible for getting the tokens themselves? This of course can only be done with students you can trust not to cheat, but you can teach this easily with consequences for most children. There are many Apps available for tracking behavior. Trying some of these and having a daily reward may make your life simpler if you are a tech and gadget person.  Some can be personalized to student interests and are engaging for the children. Be willing to establish the reward system you are starting is a trial and that if it does not work, you will work together to find one that fits everyone involved. 

Some Tracking and Reward Apps:

http://www.classdojo.com/

http://www.inov8-ed.com/2011/10/theres-a-special-app-for-that-part-10-apps-for-behavioral-management-and-intervention/

Perseveration: Work with it Not Against it

    When you work with or have a child with Autism, you hear the word perseveration quite often. What does this word mean and how does it affect your interactions with the child you are working with? Let’s start with the definition.  Perseveration: 1. Uncontrollable repetition of a particular response, such as a word, phrase, or gesture, despite the absence or cessation of a stimulus, usually caused by brain injury or other organic disorder.2. The tendency to continue or repeat an act or activity after the cessation of the original stimulus. The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. Those of you dealing with children on the Autism spectrum have probably seen behaviors that fit this definition, but it can also be seen in children with other disabilities to lesser extents. Teaching children to handle perseveration is important.  Like sensory sensitivity, you cannot cure it, but you can teach a child how to deal with the perseverations in order to function in day to day life.

  What do these perseverations look like?  They can manifest themselves in infinite ways.  A child’s need for a schedule that is consistent is one form, a repetitive word that is said over and over again, having a favorite game to play or book to read that is done over and over again.  All of these are forms of perseveration.  Each form can be dealt with if you look at it, recognize it as a perseveration, and handle it as a need of the child.  Remember to work with a child’s perseveration, not against it.

  The schedule is the easiest of all to deal with even though it may seem daunting at first.  While the child may seem to need the exact schedule every day, you can usually work with the child to get to where you can visually warn the child of upcoming changes in advance, and the new schedule will be fine as long as there is a schedule to follow.  In my class, as soon as I know there will be a schedule change, we begin talking about it.  We mark the day on the calendar as a special day.  The day of the schedule change we write down the new schedule and go over it. I answer any questions about the new schedule the students may have to alleviate any fears they may have.  If unplanned schedule changes come up during the day, even unscheduled announcements, my administrators tell me in advance, so I can let my kids know. Using these warnings, the children still have a schedule, they just learn to adapt and adjust with help. 

  If you have a child that is perseverating on an item there are many things you can do.  You can give the child specific times to use and focus on the item using if then statements: If you do this then you can use your blue blocks for 10 minutes. Or you can allow them to put them in a safe place for use at a specified time.  I do this in my class.  Each student has their own carrel and they have their own items they need.  They know that at the end of each class they are allowed time to go to their seats and have time to themselves for sensory or perseveration time whatever they need.  Another thing I do is use these favorite things to grab their attention in lessons.  I make lessons using these items for the students to engage them and keep them interested.  For example: if I am doing a lesson on capitalization, I write sentences about each student and their interest. I have them correct their own sentences. The entire class is engages looking for their own name and to see if I get the right interest for each of their friends.  EX. tim went to the park to play on the train   If I had a student who perseverated on trains.  Instead of fighting the perseveration, I use it as a tool.

  The most difficult form of perseveration is when a child begins to perseverate on another person.  This can happen and this does need intervention.  In this instance the student needs to be taught the appropriate way to relate to other people.  You cannot stop the student from perseveration on the other person, but you can and must teach them socially acceptable ways to interact.  I have found that letting your child know that their actions will drive the other person away to work the best.  Ex. “When you sit so close to her, send her notes and run her down in the halls she feels uncomfortable and does not want to be your friend anymore.  Do you want her to be your friend?  Ok, let me help you learn how to keep her as your friend.”  Then give very specific guidelines to your child and practice them.  Also, this needs to be something that is communicated between parents and teachers so that it is supported in both settings.  With both parents and school working together, the student can learn to develop healthy relationships.

Everyone perseverates on something from time to time.  With our kids,  just take it a little farther.  The important thing to remember is to work with it not against it.  

For more information you may want to start here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOcl5iWLl2U‎

http://www.pediastaff.com/resources-autistic-perseveration

http://www.projectlearnet.org/tutorials/perseveration.html

Positive Teaching: Errorless Teaching

The red pen can be a frightening tool for any student.  When dealing with a special needs student, it can be even more terrifying.  The color itself can bring up fear and anxiety.  Having someone pointing out errors and focusing in on what was wrong can set a student on the defensive and shut them down from being able to learn anything past the mark on the paper. How can we address errors without fear?

   From the first day of class it is important to emphasize mistakes are how you learn while you go through your classroom policies and procedures.  It is also important to establish a safe learning environment where no one is allowed to laugh or demean another classmate because they make an error. Errors need to be seen as a way for the teacher to know what to teach, not as a way to judge what the student did wrong.  That is how I explain them to my students.  If they do not make any errors, then I know we are ready to move on.  The errors tell me what I have to teach and work on with them.  I turn them into a positive tool for me rather than a negative for the students. I also never grade in red.  I personally use green, but you can use purple or orange, whatever color you like, just make it consistent.  I leave red as the color for self-editing.  They have control over the red pen.  It is empowering.

    Another strategy I use to take away the intimidation factor is to not use the X for a wrong answer.  I simply use a dot to mark the problems they need to look at again.  It is not a sign You got this wrong, but rather, let’s look at this again and figure out where you went wrong.  It is a learning opportunity rather than a judgment.  Even if it is an assessment, it can be a learning opportunity as well. The students are less fearful and more willing to take a risk when they do not feel judged in my experience.

    There are many ways you can choose to grade the work from this form of errorless teaching. You can give average grades for the two: before corrections and after.  You can just give the first grade.  You can just give the second grade.  You can give completion grades.  This depends on the students and your class.  It is important to be consistent and that your parents understand both the marking and grading system you are using. The fundamentals of errorless teaching are that you introduce the topic without letting the students fail.  You cue or prompt correct answer and gradually fade until they have mastery. The grading comes in when you begin to assess for mastery. If you will be using errorless grading you may want to put it into the accommodations at the IEP meeting. There are many references available for errorless teaching on the internet for more information.

   With our kids, it is always important to focus on the positive.  When they do well on a project or paper, give rewards and praise.  Put a sticker on it.  Let them show it off to a favorite staff member or peer buddy. Send a quick email home and read it to them before you hit the send button.  Remember to make the special moment shine, so they can work through the harder things to seek out the rewards.

For more information you may want to start here:

http://www.projectlearnet.org/tutorials/errorless_learning.html