A daily classroom schedule for a Kindergarten Autism classroom is ESSENTIAL for students to have success in school. With a daily schedule in place, everyone will benefit including the teacher, staff, subs, and most importantly the students! Imagine if you had no schedule!? It would seem like udder chaos! Errands would be overlooked and appointments would most certainly be missed. I bet you would feel disorganized, anxious, lose track of time, and have no motivation. Well, the same goes for our ... continue reading...
Search Results for: morning meeting
A Day in the Life of a School-based OT
I love working as a school-based occupational therapist (OT)! I work as a district employee at a public school in Pennsylvania. I am the OT servicing five of our district's buildings: two secondary and three elementary schools. I love the variety because it really keeps me on my toes! No one day looks the same, but join me in a "day in the life" of a school-based OT: Check out this OT room tour blog to see one of my elementary classroom spaces [that also doubles as a sensory ... continue reading...
How To Utilize AAC All Day Long
Staff Training The classroom staff are the first people to get on board when utilizing AAC all day long. Whether it is low tech or high tech AAC the staff is one of the keys to success when implementing AAC. Some school districts have an AAC specialist, look into having them come to your school to train the staff. If your district doesn't have an AAC specialist, they do have a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP). The SLP is able to conduct AAC trainings. Invite everyone! This includes teachers ... continue reading...
What I Wish I Knew my First Year as a Special Ed Teacher
As a first year special education teacher... I was stressed. I asked veteran special education teachers what they wish they knew when they first started... and they gave some MUST READ advice! "I wish someone would have told me that it is okay not to have it all figured out in year one. I spent my entire first year of teaching comparing myself to veteran teachers and beating myself up for not having a perfect classroom and structure. My best advice for first year teachers is to start by ... continue reading...
How To Start A Lunch Bunch
Is Your School In Need Of A Lunch Bunch? Most schools, if not all, would benefit from having a lunch bunch. A lunch bunch is a place for students who have difficulty making friends to eat and play games in a more structured setting than the playground. The goal of a lunch bunch is to facilitate friendships between students. Being able to mix students with Autism, special needs, and typically developing students can be really fun. Some students with Autism and special needs have very ... continue reading...
4 Tips to Make Pumping at School Easier
My pumping and breastfeeding journey is something I am really proud of. It was a hard and beautiful 15 months of my life. I started a new job when I found out I was pregnant and only 6 weeks of maternity leave. Notably, I remember feeling so overwhelmed looking at the pump and packing everything in my bag. Tears were shed in my car as a pulled up to my school parking lot. Subsequently, while still bleeding and sore, and lugging my breast pump bag/cooler, workbag, and lunchbox, I trudged into ... continue reading...
Tips and Tricks: Working with Support Staff
Let's chat about working with support staff. In my first year teaching, I had a SERIOUS case of imposter syndrome. How could I, a fresh out of grad school 23 year old, tell a woman who has been working at this school way longer than me what to do? So that year, I didn't interact much with my support staff. I put my head down and tried to plow through. I never really got to know this woman who was in my classroom for 10 whole months. This was the wrong way to work with support ... continue reading...
Middle School Remote Learning Setup for Special Education
2020 is a year like no other. We are all doing our best to adapt to this new normalcy - wearing a mask, working remotely, doing school remotely... For our students with special needs, remote learning poses more challenges than the regular education population. Being a special education teacher, we cannot help but want to help make this time easier for parents and students with special needs. When we know what we want to accomplish for each day, it makes our jobs this much easier! Below you will ... continue reading...
Whole Group Schedule
Scheduling for your substantially separate class can be tough! In order to have a fully structured classroom you must have individual schedules AND a whole group schedule to keep everyone on track. What's the difference between individual and whole group? My individual schedules can look a variety of ways. Wall schedules, binder schedules, desk schedules, dry erase boards- those are all about what that students needs. A whole group schedule is for everyone- including the ... continue reading...
How to Train Paraprofessionals with No Time to do it
I'm sure everyone tells you how important it is to train your paraprofessionals. If they don't know how your classroom runs, have each students behavior plan memorized, and know their duties how can they be successful right? Well, having time to train paraprofessionals is often considered a luxury. We don't have prep time, they don't have any extra paid minutes in the day, and we often get new people throughout the year thrown into the mix. How can we combat this? We couldn't run our ... continue reading...
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