I wish I could have back all the time I’ve spent looking up whether or not I doubled the consonant in a word when I added a suffix! I know that sounds a bit ridiculous but think about all of the words you’ve spelled in your life and how many times you’ve needed to know this concept. For some reason I always thought that this was one of those things […]
Read more
28
Sep
2020
Know the Rules so You Can Teach the Rules!
The only phonics rule that I ever remember learning was the one that went like this. When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking. HA! That rule only applies 15% of the time! Now what about the spelling rules I learned. Zero. UG!!! I want to make sure that you know the rules so you can teach the rules!!! I’ve learned so many things since I’ve been […]
Read moreDuring the Orton-Gillingham training that I attended during the summer of 2019, I was introduced to some resources that I could tap into to help students learn grammar. One Fellow-In-Training, an educator working on the last requirements for becoming an official Fellow in the OG approach to reading, joined our cohort for a couple of days. She drew a simple T chart on the board and said, this is the […]
Read moreWhat was the saying, “The only guarantee in life is death and taxes.” In 2020, we can now add “change” to that statement. Things we took for granted now have to change. Maybe temporarily or maybe permanently I don’t know, BUT what I do know is that we can count on things changing. One of those things is how we help students with behavior issues to calm. Gone are the […]
Read more
07
Sep
2020
What to Do About Face Shields!
For the first time in my life, I’m wearing a face shield! Not all the time, of course, but there are times when I really have no choice. I do adult professional development as part of my job, so I need to be able to have people understand what I’m saying. I am also aware that a face shield alone does not adequately protect you from COVID-19. A face shield, […]
Read more
31
Aug
2020
Autism After the Pandemic
I can’t believe it’s been 22 weeks since we’ve posted a blog/video!! If you were experiencing anything like I was, you did not need one more email with information you didn’t need at that moment to add to your stress and overload. I was trying to keep up learning new technology like Zoom. I was trying to figure out how I would do my normally in-person professional development in a […]
Read moreIf you are like me, I did a lot of “zooming” over the 20 weeks we were out of school! I even tried to use Facetime to work with a student I was tutoring. It was a disaster! While a Zoom call allows you to see others, chat and show your screen, that’s about it. It offers nothing to the therapist who needs tools, materials, options, resources. As a former […]
Read moreOn January 6, 2020, our school district started offering our staff and community a way to help our students and families who are struggling! It’s anonymous, it’s free, and it’s a win/win! How many times do you know about a student who is sleeping on the floor and you wish you could help? How many times do you know that a student could use a new bookbag, snacks on the […]
Read more
