Getting Back into the Swing of Things

     School is starting back up after a very exciting couple weeks. Most of us spent the time off of our normal schedules and activities.  Getting back on to our normal activities and schedule can be stressful to special needs kids.  Just the change in sleep patterns alone can be disturbing let alone the eating and pressure of having demands placed on them again.  Be prepared for a few days to a week of transitioning back to routines.  It is important to be consistent with expectations and support at this time.
   Be sure to review home procedures for getting ready for school and what is expected when children return.  Review daily school procedures as well.  Talk with your child about what your expectations are for behavior as well as academics the first day at school.  Remember a bit of regression is to be expected and reassure your child that as long as they are trying their best you are happy.  No one is perfect especially when coming back after a long break. Help your child set realistic high goals of achievement, so that they can see success from the start of their return.  
     By working with your child and talking through expectations, you can help make the transition back to school smooth and easy.

Happy Holidays

I am taking the week off to spend with my family. I wish everyone a ver happy holiday. Enjoy your time together.

Following Directions, Teacing it Directly is a Must.

   Following directions, or rather the lack or difficulty with being able to follow directions, is one of the difficulties I have run across most frequently in my time as a special educator.  I often hear both parent s and educators frustrated with a child’s difficulty with beginning tasks or following through with tasks independently.  When I sit down and talk with both parents and teachers, what I find most confusing is their lack of tools to give the students to assist with learning to follow the directions.  A student with disabilities is not going to magically pick up a skill they are lacking unless tools and direct instruction are given to assist them.

                How can you help a student lacking in the skill to follow directions? One way I have found helpful is is to teach the student to write the direction for the assignment on a stickie note and place it next to the assignment.  If the student can only follow two steps at a time, break the work down into the first two steps and once that is complete come back and give the next two steps.  Be sure to give praise along the way for the independent work.  This can be done at any level.  It can be modified to picture cues made by the teacher if need be. As the student masters two steps, increase to three and so on.  It is amazing how the student feels after learning to master this independence.

        There are many fun group activities you can do to teach following directions in class where the students do not even realize they are learning.  White board cues are always a class favorite.  I pass out white boards, pens and erasers to everyone and then give simple directions for them to follow: draw a square in the center, write your name in the upper left corner.  As the students get more advanced you can add multiple directions.  Dance parties are another way to teach following directions as well as social skills.  You Tube the Electric  Slide, The Chicken dance or others and everyone has to learn and follow together.  Simon Says is also fun and this is an easy way to add multi step directions.  Be creative but directly teach the skills.

  In life everyone has to follow directions.  This is a skill that is usually taught in Kindergarten and first grade. Many of our students did not pick the skill up at that point thus it is up to us to take the time to directly teach  the skill, not just become frustrated that our students do not have it.

 

 

Making Informed Decisions

 Being a responsible learner is very important in today’s flood of information.  We live in a wonderful time where we have access to more information than ever before. With this access comes great danger.  There is as much, if not more, bad information as good information available. Being able to sift through and find what the truth is and what is smoke and mirrors is imperative.

   While at the UNT Autism Conference, one of the Keynote speakers was Dr. Brian Reinchow.  His presentation was about evidence based practices. He spoke about how  there are studies out there that have not been replicated, and  if they cannot be replicated then they are not valid. This is easily researched if you want to validate a practice on your own. One piece of information I want to pass on to you, that is very easy to implement when you do searches on the internet for information, is how to know how trust worthy a site is.  According to Dr. Reinchow, the most trustworthy sites end in .edu, .gov, and .org.  He also talked about advertising on sites.  His information was that the best sites had little to no advertising.  This makes sense.  A site that is trying to sell their treatment will have biased information. This research is not difficult and it can be amazing what just a little digging can find. 

  Let me give you an example.  My daughter went for a job interview to be a caregiver for a young man with Autism. During the interview the mother asked if she would be willing to come for a trial to work with one of the team she has working with him.  They have a strict protocol they are working with and would expect her to assist with it and follow it.  When she left she was given a DVD to watch before she returned. We went to the website of the center they were working with when my daughter got home. Our first sign it might not be reputable was it was very negative to ABA therapy.  That in itself was not enough to disregard it.  We continued to explore the site.  We saw a link to research.  Their research was one study done by their own staff. They had no independent research to back up their claims.  We decided to do some digging and could not find any independent research on this program.  We watched the DVD and saw it was a made for TV movie made in the 1970’s about a Hollywood Producer with a child on the Spectrum who created this therapy with his wife.  Neither of them had any training.   My daughter called the family and said she did not feel she could follow this protocol.  The woman seemed astonished that an 18 year old would say such a thing. Even an 18 year old can research a protocol on the internet. Anyone working with special needs children should do so before beginning any sort of treatment with their own child.

    With parents looking for anything that will help their child there are always going to be people out there who are willing to prey on the uninformed and desperate.  There are some wonderful programs out there for children with special needs that have studies and data to back them up. Take time to do your research before you put your money and hope into smoke and mirrors. 

I am not claiming the Therapy mentioned above is fake or you should not use it if you want to.  I am only saying do your research and make an informed decision.

For more information you can start here:

http://hstalks.com/main/view_talk.php?t=2053&r=444&j=756&c=252

   

Let the Repetitions Begin: Learning Takes Practice

   Patience is a virtue and when dealing with kids with special needs it is a necessity. Of course anyone who is working with special needs children needs patience to deal with the day to day routines and situations that occur, but what is most important is patience in seeing the fruits of your labor.  Change and improvement does not happen overnight or with just a few trials. It takes repetitions and consistency: patience.

   When I started in special education one of the most important things I heard in one of my classes was a comparison one of the instructors made.  I wish I could find the notes, so I could credit it correctly.  It takes a general education student a minimum of 3-7 repetitions to put something learned into memory. For a special student with a learning disability or other special need it can take from 100-1000 repetitions.  Ok now let that sinks in.  That takes patience, both on your part and the child’s. It also takes creativity. For a child with autism, who does not mind repetitiveness it is not very difficult to get the repetitions. For a child with ADHD or other disabilities it can be a challenge to keep them engaged enough to get the necessary repetitions. Luckily, with some of the computer programs available today, it is a bit easier.

   Behavioral changes are no different than academic improvement.  It takes time for the new skills to become habit. The child has to have to process what is being expected of them and when.  It is also necessary for the child to learn how to apply the skills to different situations. Transference takes time. It is important to continue to praise the child along the way as they develop and try to use the skills even if they do not use them correctly. You do not want them to give up trying, just as you wouldn’t if they tried a math problem and did it wrong.  They need to know that you have the patience to see through their learning this new skill.

  Remember all these small steps add up.  You will be able to look back in a year or so and see great changes.  It is amazing what these kids can and will do with a little patience love and support.

For more information you might want to start here:

http://www.yale.edu/eglab/pdf/PaulReprint.pdf

http://www.audiblox2000.com/learning_disabilities/overcoming_learning_disabilities2.htm

Have a Low Stress Thanksgiving

   I am sorry I am late posting today.  I was busy like many of you getting ready for guests and the holiday.  for those of you trying to juggle the festivities while worrying about the needs of your special  child I have one small piece of advice.  Enjoy! Enjoy your child, your family and your holiday.  Do not stress over spills and messes.  Do no stress over what the family will think or the impression your child needs to make.  This is not a time for your child to prove how much they have grown or for family and friends to be judging you and your child.  If they are, let them and know they are not living in your shoes.  Listen and smile then toss their uninformed, inexperienced, ignorant advice into the recycling bin and walk away knowing that you are the bigger person. Enjoy watching your child bask in the attention showered on them and see the love that surrounds you.

I wish you and your family a happy Thanksgiving.

Tired of Always Being the Enforcer?

                Some days I get tired of being the mean one. I would love to turn a blind eye to behaviors in class and just let them go.  Is it really hurting anyone?  I stop and think, yes, I would be hurting my student by not teaching them the independence they deserve or the socially skills to be accepted by their peers.  So I suck it up put on my big girl pants and become the corrector of behavior, the enforcer of independence, the TEACHER! 

                Being a caregiver or teacher of a special needs child is an exhausting job.  There is no down time when you can say I’m tired let’s just put on a movie and pass out snacks.  I won’t have to do anything then.  Let’s go over all the lessons that have to be reinforced during this down time event: personal space, hands to yourself, quiet during a movie, assistance with snack packages, assistance with choosing snacks, proper eating (mouth closed, no slurping), restroom breaks, proper way to address someone who is bothering you, proper way to respond to someone who asks you to stop something that is bothering them, to name a few.  There are positive ways to do all of this: by praising those who are doing things correctly, thanking a student when they do it correctly etc, but it is still a constant teaching moment.  There are times when it can feel overwhelming, and then you see it, your student who never  walked around a conversation and always walked right between people talking, he walks around two teachers talking all on his own and you cry.  You know it is all worth it.

                Our job is so much more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. Our job is to help our students in every facet of their life become as independent and socially accepted as possible.  We hear about the wonderful people and organizations who reach out to our kids. and I am so thank full for them, but we have to do our part to teach our kids to come as far as they can to meet them in the middle.  For some eating with their mouth closed may not be possible, but for many it is. It just takes time to be reinforced and think how much better their life will be if they do.  How many more people in the work place will want to eat with them.   Teaching students how to take turns and how to not always be the winner will give them the ability as adults to have full social lives.  The simple act of covering a sneeze and using a tissue makes it so people do not walk away from you.  While these tiny things are easy to over  look they are the things that will make our kids accepted or not as adults.  One thing I try to keep in mind is what is cute now or accepted now, will it be as an adult?  If the answer is no. then it is not acceptable now.  I cannot reinforce something now that will not be acceptable later because it is so much harder to unlearn later. 

  So while I may get tire of being the bad guy from time to time,  I try to remember my young man  simply walked around a conversation on his on, or my young lady who can now ask for help on her own when she couldn't before. Or a multitude of other firsts and then I pull up my big girl pants an move on.

     

           

               

     

Helping See the Way to the Future

  When a child is diagnosed with a disability,  a family goes through a morning process.  They are morning the child they thought they were going to have as well as the life they thought their child would have. As with any emotional process this takes different people different amounts of time, and they do this in different ways.  As teachers we have to be sensitive to where parents are in this process, while still being sure to help them insure the best for their child’s future. 

    One of the earliest bridges to cross with this is getting them to sign up for housing and services lists.  These lists can be 10-15 years long. Each state has their own system and organizations, but it is important to get parents to sign up for these services.  Some parent will say that they are planning to have their child live with them or do not need the services. No one knows what the future hold.  Families can always turn down the services once their name comes up or defer services, but if they are never on the list, the options are closed for 10-15 years.  One way to put it to a parent is that it is a kind of insurance policy in case something was to happen to them.  There is a backup plan.  It is very hard for  many parents  to think of their own mortality at this point or what would happen to their child.  It is our responsibility to ease them into thinking about this, and help guide them to where they need to go.

   As children start to get older the legalities and issues get more complicated.  There are issues with guardianship, social security and other living arrangements.  Some parents are open to discussing these issues, while others are not. It becomes very complicated to take custody away from an adult if it is not done before the child turns 18. Being honest about the process is the best idea.  There is plenty of information about guardianship and social security available to parents, and they need to access it early to understand it all. Your job is to give them the informational resources, not to advise on financial or legal options.  Be honest about the child’s ability levels so they can make informed decisions.

  Our job as special educators goes far beyond just books.  It is our responsibility too get our kids and parents ready for life after school.

Holiday Guest: Little Preparation Can Add to the Joy

                Holiday time can be stressful for anyone. When you have a child with special needs, the stress multiplies. The idea of having so many different, often new, faces around your child can add anxiety to any family event.  I came across this with my own children, and they are not special needs.  I had taught my children they do not have to give anyone a hug and kiss or accept one from anyone if they do not feel comfortable.  As you can imagine, this did not go over very well with some family members.  My thinking was that we spend so much time telling them how to say no about physical contact, they should always have that right.  Looking back, there were some things I could have done to make things go smoother.  I want to share those with you.

      The world has changed greatly over the past two generations.  It used to be that extended families all lived in the same towns and neighborhoods.  This is no longer the case.  Often times when family gets together, children are meeting family members for the first time or do not remember the last time they were together.  To these children, the family members are strangers.  In their minds, we do not hug and kiss strangers.  They have been taught to stay away from strangers.  It takes time to make friends and get to know these people. This can be a tough concept for some family members to accept. Be sure to explain this to your visitors before you get together. Take time to tell them what kind of relationship and reaction they can expect from your child.  Set up boundaries before they come.  Explain to them that these are not permanent, but if they want a good relationship with your child, this is the best way to build it.  Let your family know you will be doing some work with your child ahead of time to help quicken the process along. Hopefully this will make everyone understand and work together.

     Before everyone gets together, do some homework with your child to prepare them and have them get to know the people who are coming.  In this way they will not seem like strangers the first time they meet.  Find pictures of everyone who will be getting together so that faces will be familiar.  Tell your child stories about each of the people.  Help your child get to know what kind of person each family member is.  Be sure to keep your own feelings out of the stories if there is any bad blood and keep things positive.  You are working to make this experience as positive as possible.  Have your child talk to people on the phone or better yet face time when possible.  Take the time to do some relationship building before to make the holidays stronger than ever when they roll around.   

Following Directions: Take Time to Teach the Skill

   Following directions or rather the lack or difficulty with being able to follow directions is one of the difficulties I have run across most frequently in my time as a special educator.  I often hear both parent s and educators frustrated with a child’s difficulty with beginning tasks or following through with tasks independently.  When I sit down and talk with them, what I find most confusing is their lack of tools to give the students to assist with learning to follow the directions.  A student with disabilities is not going to magically pick up a skill they are lacking unless tools and direct instruction are given to assist them.

                How can you help a student lacking in the skill to follow directions? One way I have found helpful is to teach the student to write the direction for the assignment on a stickie note and place it next to the assignment.  If the student can only follow two steps at a time, break the work down into the first two steps and once that is complete come back and give the next two steps.  Be sure to give praise along the way for the independent work.  This can be done at any level.  It can be modified to picture cues made by the teacher if need be. As the student masters two steps increase to three and so on.  It is amazing how the student feels after learning to master this independence.

        There are many fun group activities you can do to teach following directions in class where the students do not even realize they are learning.  White board cues are always a class favorite.  I pass out white boards, pens and erasers to everyone and then give simple directions for them to follow: draw a square in the center, write your name in the upper left corner.  As the students get more advanced you can add multiple directions.  Dance parties are another way to teach following directions as well as social skills.  You Tube the Electric  Slide, The Chicken dance or others and everyone has to learn and follow together.  Simon Says is also fun and this is an easy way to add multi step directions.  Be creative but directly teach the skills.

  In life everyone has to follow directions.  This is a skill that is usually taught in Kindergarten and first grade. Many of our students did not pick the skill up at that point thus it it up to us to take the time to directly teach  the skill not just become frustrated that our students do not have it.

Do Not Cross the Enabler Line

     When you are a care giver or teacher of a special needs child, you walk a fine line between facilitator and enabler.  It is important not to cross that line.  It is our job to teach our children how to be as independent as possible for their well being as adults when we are not there all the time.  It may be easier, in the moment, to erase the paper for them, but is that really the best thing for that child in the long run?  Did you just take away the child’s sense of independence? Did you take away an opportunity to exercise that muscle group?  Did you take away the feeling that mistakes are ok, and the child can fix his own mistakes?  Remember every small ripple in the pond radiates outward.

    I do not want to make it sound like I myself have not been guilty of picking up the eraser or cutting the paper for the student for the sake of moving the class along, but I do want to make us all think of what we are doing in the big picture.  There are so many times in the day that we as nurturers do things for our kids that they themselves could and should be doing for themselves.  We need to take a step back and try to encourage them to do as much as possible now while we are there to support them and guide them.  It is so much less awkward for a school age child to learn how to tie their shoes than it is for an adult.  Do we want to send these children to whatever adult living environment having been coddled or do we want to send them with as many skills as possible?    

    When I sit down with parents, I always ask what chores does your child do at home?  Very often the answer is that the child is not able to do chores.  Even a child in a wheel chair can have someone put plates in a basket and be taught to bring them to the table to be a part of the family.  I explain that the chores may need to be assisted and may not be done to the standard the parents are used to, but it is important the children learn to have responsibilities and be a part of the family unit.  Most children can be taught to dust if someone clears off all the items in the way. Pushing a vacuum is simple and fun. Learning to set and clear the table is a life skill everyone needs.  Once I explain this, it is amazing how excited parents are when they come back and tell me how well things are going.  Just start out small with guidance and everyone can come out feeling more ready for the future.

       

Assessing: Take it One Skill At a Time

   Assessing students with special needs can be a difficult task.  It can seem overwhelming when a teacher looks at all the accommodations and IEP goals. A very important thing to remember when assessing our students is to limit what is being assessed at one time and give the proper supports needed during the assessment.

     Let’s look at math because it is the easiest to see how this works.  When a student is learning a basic arithmetic concept you would not give them a calculator or a multiplication chart, but once a child shows you they understand the concept through manipulative and has solved numerous simple problems.  I would do an assessment to document this knowledge and move on to using either a calculator or multiplication chart.   They will learn their facts as much as they can through repetition.  I would still reinforce through computer flashcards, but I would move forward in skill using available tools.  I teach my students multi digit multiplication using a calculator to do the single digit facts, but they have to do all the steps, once they show me understanding of the concepts, through an assessment, they then use a calculator for all multiplication.  When is the last time you did multiplication long hand?  This is a life skill.  It takes our students longer to acquire these skills. In order to move them forward it is essential to move them to a calculator as soon as they show mastery of the skills.  While doing geometry or other math they always use a calculator.  It is they concept not the arithmetic that is being assessed.

     In history and science try to decide what is being assessed and limit it to one thing at a time.  If you need your students to learn vocabulary great, but having them use vocabulary in a sentence is a very different skill.  That is a sentence writing skill. Having them read a selection aloud as a group is wonderful, but then answering questions is a second skill. I would reread the selection to them to be sure they had the information.  Do not forget in these subjects the repetition of information is just as important as in math and reading.  The concepts will need to be repeated many more times for our students to be able to retain the information than what would be needed for a typical student.  Doing many smaller assessments along the way can be easier than expecting them to retain the information or be able to sort through it at the end of a large unit.

  The most important thing to remember is to keep assessment simple and to the point.  What is it you want them to show you they learned?  Do not complicate it by having them try to show you too many skills at one time.  It is much better to take many smaller assessments that to take one large one where you cannot distinguish what it is that really is the problem.  In my own personal opinion, this is the best way to go when you are dealing with students with more complex learning difficulties. 

For more information you may want to start here:

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/what-are-formative-assessments-and-why-should-we-use-them

Letting go of the Apron Strings

         I want you take a minute and imagine that someone took away your power to make any decisions for yourself each day.  They told you what to wear, eat, where to go and what to do at all times. Now, imagine for whatever reason, you could not tell them what you wanted or how you felt about it.  In our society that is what we call prison and punishment.  For our children with the greatest special needs this is their daily life.  As care givers it is important for us to step back and remember this and try to find ways to let them have as much control over their lives as possible.

     With a normally developing child, it can be terrifying to let our children go and spread their wings knowing they will fall and bump as they learn to fly.  When a child has special needs, that fear is magnified. We cannot let our fears hold them back for it will only frustrate them more.  Try to keep in mind both the cognitive age of the child, the developmental age, as well as the chronological age when deciding what kind of control to give them and how to let them have it. Making it a team decision between school, therapists and home can help so that consistency is maintained and independence reinforced.  Everyone’s end goal is the same: to see the child as independent and happy as an adult as possible.

    How can you give the child independence and self-determination?   At home you can let your child choose their clothing and participate in shopping.  You can give them a choice in the order they get things done.  With their bed room, you can ask if they like the color and or decorations and change them.  It does not mean to give them control of the family, but to make them an active rather than passive member.  At school a teacher can do this as well by using a child’s interests in assignments.  Or letting them read a book of choice.  Giving the class a vote on two activities either of which fits the criteria needed also lets them feel empowered.  We sometimes feel it is easier for us to have our students sit together so we can assist them.  Give them a larger section or find peer buddies to help out so they feel less constrained.  When walking in the halls, let go of the notion of a straight line, let them walk and back off a little giving them a feeling of independence and confidence.  All of these small things add up to an individual who is learning to handle themselves confidently in the real world while we are still there to assist if need be.  You would be surprised at how little the assistance is really needed once they get the hang of it.

  If we are ever going to see our children as more than dependent special needs children, we need to start treating them as such.  We need to stop treating them as prisoners of their disability, controlling every aspect of their lives and teach them to make decisions and choices for themselves.  We need to encourage them to make mistakes and learn from them without getting upset before they are adults just as we do with our other children.  Let our little birds fly and they will soar.

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

The Teachable Moment

   Have you ever felt like you were in a bumper car, kept hitting the side wall, and couldn’t get moving forward?  You get out of the car run around and try again just to find yourself stuck in the same corner time and time again.  Did you ever stop to think maybe you need to go in a different direction?  When working with special needs kids, it is important to be willing to see when something isn’t working and be willing to go in a different direction.  I cannot count how many times I have had a wonderful lesson planned, but once we started, I realized this is just not working for them. I tossed it aside and found something else to do.  Sometimes, I would just find a fun review activity while I regrouped for the next day.  The important thing was I didn’t frustrate my students and myself by forcing a lesson that just was not working.

   There may be times that a lesson is working great for some of the class and just isn’t right for one or two other students.  It is important to be able to see that and figure out a way to make the time productive for everyone.  By taking a couple minutes out of your lesson to set up an alternate lesson, you are not only make the time more valuable for the one group, but also for the entire class by avoiding classroom management problems that would have arisen from a non-engaged and frustrated student or group of students.  Let’s imagine the class is looking up facts on a country for a geography class. Most of the class is doing fine with individual accommodations: list of what to look up, pictures etc. Two students do not understand what to do even if you bring them to the page and highlight the information for them.  The activity is too high for them.  You can quickly ask them to look up pictures of the country and paste them into a document.  Ask for 3 pictures of buildings, 3 of land and 3 of people.  They are engaged in the country, will visually learn about the country and will not disrupt the classroom learning.  In another example, you have planned to use protractors to measure angles.  Your students are having trouble physically manipulating the protractors you have and reading the small numbers.  Pull the assignment, do some measuring with rulers around the room and look for better protractors later.  You may have to make some yourself.  The time and frustration you save in having them use a tool that is inadequate will save you in the long run.  Flexibility in your planning will be your best friend.

  This flexibility goes two ways.  Always be on the lookout for that teachable moment.  When a student brings up and idea or concept that is important and there is interest, grab onto it.  Use their enthusiasm and run.  Your lesson will be there tomorrow, their desire and openness to the topic at hand may not be.  Engagement and full participation is difficult to get with our students, when they willingly give it, take it as a gift and use it.  Feed their desires for knowledge and they will reward you by being more open to you when you are instructing them.  Some of these unplanned teachable moments have been not only my best lessons, but my best teaching memories.  Enjoy the moment and be a true teacher!

For more information you might want to start here:

http://www.teaching-learning.utas.edu.au/orientation/flexible

Parent Teacher Communication Make it a Positive in the Educations Process

 The life of a special needs parent is a difficult road.  From the day you get the diagnosis you are told all the things your child will not be able to do that you thought they would be able to do. If You get the diagnosis when your child is a bit older and has been in school the likelihood that you have had phone call from the school, with less than positive news is great.  A parent can become warn down and almost dread the caller ID showing the school phone number.  The relationship between parent and school needs to be positive for the student to thrive.

      As a teacher it is important to make contact with the parent and share the positive achievements that occur along the way not just the negative.  Send emails to the parent when a student does something special.  Pick up the phone and share your excitement when a child initiates a conversation with a peer for the first time.  This lets the parent know how much you truly care about their child and lets them share in these moments of success. Be sure to let the student know that you contacted the parent as well.  It will let them feel that much more proud of their accomplishments.  When I call, I always start out by stating right off that nothing is wrong, this is a good call.  The reactions I get are varied, but usually have some sort of relief involved.  Always remember that parents of special needs students are entrusting us with their treasures and when they see that number on the caller ID, worry is the trained response.  We need to be sensitive to that at all times and honor that while building our relationships.

   When contacting a parent for a mishap that may occur in the classroom, I always remember my training from when I was a retail manager: give 3 positives for every negative.  Be sure to point out how you used the situation as a learning opportunity, so the child will not do it again.  It is also important to let the parent know how the student responded to the consequences, and how they were able to come back and function for the rest of the day. Emphasize this as a positive.  This is a very important skill for the future.  We need to communicate certain major occurrences in the class, but if they are minor and handled within the class think about if every  one needs to be addressed with the parent. Would you call a general education parent every time you had a small interaction with a student? You may want to set up ground rules with the parents for the times when you will contact them at the beginning of the year.  My general rule is if it does not interfere with the learning of other students and is corrected quickly with redirection or a simple in class consequence, it is not necessary to contact the parent. There are times things may not fit tightly into this formula, but it gives me a starting point. For frequent behaviors a communication log can also be established.   Do not forget to keep documentation of behaviors for your own records.   If you see a pattern arising and new strategies need to be implemented, then you contact the parents to discuss it as soon as you establish a possible pattern.  The teacher is able to handle discipline in the classroom and needs to maintain it in the eyes of the student. 

   The communication between parent and teacher is vital to a healthy school relationship.  Both the positive and negative events need to be shared.  The parents need to share the great things they see as well with the school. With both sides openly communicating the child will only do better.

For more information you may want to start here:

http://www.adi.org/journal/ss05/Graham-Clay.pdf

http://www.ldonline.org/article/28021/