06
Apr
2014
Wanna Know a Brilliant Way to Handle Swearing?
Hot Topic Alert!!!! This is a topic that I’m sure you’ve been involved in at one time or another! Children using swear words….. Children pick up swear words from everywhere and if limits are not placed on them, the words continue to get used and have value for the child. If there is one thing that a child understands is that swear words come attached with emotions. How else […]
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It’s not uncommon for one of our classrooms to have a student who inflicts injury on himself/herself. The important thing to remember here is that this behavior is no different from any other behavior that a student displays. Behavior Communicates! We know that our children/students are trying to tell us something. We just sometimes have a hard time figuring out exactly what that is. There are reasons that a student […]
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Too many times teachers are forced to pull information from here and there. That takes time and often the information does not have any kind of scope and sequence or it’s just not comprehensive. Just bits and pieces. When you have a new student who’s a mystery as far as reading skills go, you want something at your fingertips to quickly figure out what is going on. Today I’m passing […]
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As I travel around from school to school and speak to teachers and parents, one thing is clear. They want their children to read. There is no longer any mystery about what a child needs to learn to read. The point of this week’s video is to make sure that both parents and teachers understand what five components make up the foundation of reading. Sometimes figuring out about where the […]
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10
Mar
2014
Where do you begin to build a communication system for a child who has low cognitive abilities? Try this!
Do you have a child who has a cognitive level of 18 months or lower or do you have child who may be higher functioning but you just can’t quite identify what he/she likes? For students like this, you must be able to identify what is reinforcing to the child before you can begin to build a functional communication system. What is the cornerstone here? A multi-sensory approach!!!! This approach […]
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04
Mar
2014
Need an APP for Progress Monitoring? Check Out iNtervene To Track Your Students With Special Needs!!!
seamus smith managing Do you have a notebook full of data on each of your students? It’s kind of like having a data monster in your room. It’s big, unruly, unpleasant to think about and hard to be around. Be honest….When is the last time you made time to analyze it and then use it to direct your instruction??? Who has time for that? I get it. It’s hard enough […]
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24
Feb
2014
Idioms
Idioms are hard for our children on the spectrum and for our students whose native language is not English! I was recently working with a young lady who has autism and has great difficulty with idioms. It was hard for me to use idioms with her because she would just look at me and not know what to say!!! I started teaching her what to say quickly when an idiom […]
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Are you looking for something that can catch the interest of your child who doesn’t like to do math? You’ve got to see this app! Thanks Kristie Lofland! Sometimes apps are like a magical tool that can actually make the difference between success and failure. Check out the video! How about that? Talk about wanting to do problems longer and more often. I think this app could do it! Just […]
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There are so many transitions that our children have to do and it’s hard!!! Transition back to school: from dad’s house from mom’s house after a week-end at home after a one or two week holiday break after a snow day after a whole summer off We all know what kind of day we may have when these events occur!!! Either you are at home trying to get your child […]
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You’ve heard the expression, “Necessity is the mother of Invention”. That’s exactly what happened here when I needed SOMETHING to help my student who was non-verbal. He used a voice output device, but as much as I love and respect the powerful role these devices play in providing a communication system for children and adults, there are limitations. They must always be handy and it does take a few moments […]
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