WHAT'S IN YOUR TOOLBOX?

One of the best tools a special educator can have is an treasure chest of visual supports.
Visual supports cover a large range of student needs. For students who have difficulty communicating with others and difficulty understanding what others are communicating to them, visual supports can be a life saver. I know they have saved me many times.
Visual supports present information in a way that is easier for kids to comprehend. They can be customized to meet the individualized learning style of each student. Sometimes they can be that one thing that gets the message across.

A wide range of needs can be met by using visual supports such as increase independence, understanding classroom and school rules, provide a system to organize tasks needing to be completed, aid in making choices, facilitate transitions from one task to another, clarifying what work is to be completed and in what order that work should be done. These are just a few of the things visual supports can do.

In the special education classroom, we constantly work with students exhibiting challenging behaviors such as anxiety, anger, frustration, eloping, and more. Visual supports are a great way to present behavior expectations and direction while diminishing some of these challenging behaviors.

There are many different kinds of visual supports. Today I will touch on just a few.

1) Visual schedules are a great way to communicate many different types of activities in a classroom. This can be done for the entire class or group within the class. For me, using them individually has worked the best.
One year I had a lot of students that were able to transition from center to center in the classroom. I needed something to help them understand what was on their schedule next and where they would be going.

CENTER SCHEDULES

With this type of visual support, they were able know the order of the work centers using the number on the cards and then they could also tell which center they should be doing. They matched the sea creature on the card with the matching sign at the center. In addition to helping the student it also was great for me because it controled the number of participants at each center.

2) Checklists and organizers can help by breaking down larger tasks into smaller more manageable steps. Checklists can contain pictures or pictures and text to aid the student in completing the correct steps in things such as arriving at school or preparing materials to go home at the end of a day.
Here are a few examples of checklist and organizer visual supports. Thanks to Chris at Autism Classroom News and Resources for sharing this.

MINI SCHEDULES FOR CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

3) Behavioral supports can help
manage and prevent challenging behaviors. These could include rules and guidelines of what to do in certain social situations such as fire drills, or asking someone to play. These are particularly useful in preparing the child for what comes next, and what will happen when challenging behaviors occur. Behavior supports can tell the student how to complete steps such as going to the bathroom, taking a break or asking for help.

FIRE DRILL VISUALS

 Check out how this next idea has designated partitions on the table to show the space for each person.  These spaces also have a reminder at each spot for the behavior expected while at the table.

LOVE THIS! Thanks to Autumn for sharing these great ideas. You can check out her blog post about these here. 

BEHAVIOR EXPECTATION STRIPS

4) Routines in the classroom are another  great use of visuals. These great visuals  from Nicole Chavanne show a visual indicating when bathroom passes are available provide a great way to communicate using pictures. Visuals such as these can cut down on interruptions of the classroom and help students know when its okay to use the facilities. Check out these BATHROOM VISUALS

The visual at the bottom is a great reminder for students about the noise level in the classroom. 

NOISE LEVEL REMINDERS

 First/Then boards can be a simple type of schedule we can use to communicate. You can use these for schedule issues and behavior issues. The great thing about First Then boards is they can be used for the even the smallest behavior you are reinforcing. In the picture below, the student is being asked to FIRST raise their hand. THEN they can have their preferred activity such as the puzzle card shown here.

FIRST THEN AND TOKEN BOARDS

I found it worth my time and effort to spend some time making as much of the visuals ahead of time. For instance, I liked to make the first/then boards and the cards to go with them, get them all organized. Then when the need arises in the classroom you can pull the needed visuals and implement them quickly. 

Make sure your visual support tool box is well stocked and ready to go at any time. 

2

REPETITION, CHAOS AND ORGANIZATION!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin REPETITION, CHAOS, AND ORGANIZATION!! I cannot stand having to do things repeatedly especially if I can design a way to make it work better for me. I spend A LOT of time in the classroom making and remaking schedules. It was needed for sure! Changing schedules for changing needs of students, Redoing schedules and choice boards because I put the wrong item on the schedule even after double checking.
RE-DOING the schedules AGAIN!
NOT HAVING THE BEST SCHEDULE FOR A STUDENT - CHAOS!
GET IT STREAMLINED and YOU GET BETTER ORGANIZATION!

I LOVE organization but I do have difficulty maintaining it. But this idea seemed to work for me.

So, if it works better for me - I want to share it with you because just maybe, it will help one of YOU also. Take a look!

A few weeks back I shared with you about a new product coming out. The plan didn't exactly happen as I had planned.
Of course life happens, Thanksgiving came and went  and other product ideas got in my head, but finally I do have it up in the store.
This is something I have used in different ways in my classroom but never put it all together.

In my classes, I served a variety of skill levels, ages, grade levels and disabilities ranging from moderately to significant.  One thing they all had in common over the years was that they could all learn independence in the classroom at some level and in some capacity.

Of course as we worked on increasing independence, more and more students worked on their own schedules. Each child worked with whatever type of schedule worked best for them. I truly operate on an individual basis in my classroom. Some children worked with picture schedules, some with pictures and text and some with just text and occasionally I have that student that can work independently.

Some students carried their own schedule with them, some are mounted on the board, some in notebooks or clipboards. Some are fastened on desks and tables and some were managed by the adults in the classroom.

Many of the children also  have choice boards as well. Some are incorporated into the schedules and others are separate from them. The choice boards give them the options they can choose once their work is complete. This may be an IF/THEN board or a token board or it could just be a board of fun, relaxing or preferred items they can pick from once their work is completed.

With all these schedules and choice boards in the room it can get pretty confusing at times and I wanted a way to keep all the schedules and choice boards in an organized manner so that all adults in the room could access them quickly.
So I came up with a schedule/choice board flip book that is bound with a binding coil. It has removable visual cards so options can be changed quickly without hassle and all the pages can be together in one place for multiple students.

I made multiple copies of the boards for me and also for my paraprofessionals. This way everyone had a copy at their fingertips.
As we all know- schedules and choice boards rarely stay the same for long, so I wanted something that could be modified quickly and easily. Here is what I came up with.
The book is tabbed so you can easily flip to the specific student you want, The visuals are fastened with hook and loop fasteners so they can be exchanged quickly when needed.

 This is an editable product. The 6 tabbed pages can have student names typed in prior to assembly. A prepared title page is available as well as an editable one so you can personalize it. You can type on the tab, use a marker or just add names with label tape.
Above is a picture of some of the 144 visuals I created to go with the first version of the product. There are multiple choice items, school activity cards, and subjects. Some of the items have multiple cards showing variations of the topic such as 1 card showing a swing set with children on it and one card shows an empty swing set. Some of the other variations include activities showing girls or boys doing activities and others show photos of items while others are clipart pictures of the same item.

I would like to hear from you. Pick this item up in my store before the price increases.
 Send me suggestions as to what additional visuals and choices you need to make it work for you. All schools and situations have different activities and or subject names for things. Let me know what YOU need for your tabbed book. As soon I have accumulated additional visual card ideas, I will update the product with your suggestions. You will then be able to download them and any other I add FREE of charge.


You can find this item in my store http://bit.ly/flpbk562 .

Being organized and streamlining everything you can in a special education classroom helps make the entire day run smoothly.

Take it easy and everyone have a great week! The holidays are almost here!

2

Special Education BTS Blog Hop and Giveaways

A 20 PLUS teachers all giving away FREEBIES ! Click on this awesome ebook link below to look at the Back to School Tips Book. Included in the book on every page are links to freebies along with helpful tips to help you get started just right this coming school year.

One of the most important things you need at the beginning of every school year, especially in a special education classroom are schedules.
Schedule help students know what they are supposed to be doing, they help the class to flow better and often help make students, especially those on the Autism Spectrum feel more at ease know what they will next.
Not only are schedules good to use in the self-contained classroom but they are great to use in inclusion classroom as well.
I have found schedules extremely useful in many types of classrooms and with many different types of students. Think about yourself or people you know. What would happen if they lost their planner or their phone with their schedule and calendar on it? Some of these people would be fine but others would be "lost", not knowing how to function without their phone and while most adults would not pitch a fit because they don't know their schedule or the next thing on their day, some would. Kids, especially those with disabilities find it hard
what they will do next, or get distracted after they have completed one task and do not know what to do. A schedule can keep them focused and on track.
Schedules can help can also help the child that has difficulty with unexpected changes in the regular schedule.  Using a schedule has also been shown to help increase independence! IF a student can tell from a schedule where he/she needs to be, then they will require less prompting from the adult.
So as you get ready to start another school year, think about schedules for your students and what type they may need. In the meantime click the schedule picture above  to pick up yours for a discounted price this week.

And to keep your summer going great, I'm having a giveaway of 3 products from my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Click on the Rafflecopter Giveaway below to enter for your chance at 3 FREE products

HOST GIVEAWAY
RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY
a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

13

2015 Summer Bloghop

THE ABC'S of Special Education Classroom Scheduling    


Scheduling in a special education classroom (next to organization) is one of the most important things. It can get a little complicated, but stick around and lets walk through it together. I spent many years being the only special education teacher at a small neighborhood school. I had no one to bounce ideas off or share ideas. I only wish the internet was available then ( yes, I've been around that long) so I could see what others were doing . So stick around and let me share a little of how I schedule my classroom. It is my hope that some of what I do can help you or give you an idea of ways to make it easier for you.
Step-by-step and piece by piece it will come together. There are so many different factors to consider when scheduling in a self-contained special education classroom but we will consider just the basic starting points in this post.

• Assemble all your information regarding what your students needs are. Read your students IEPs to get their goals and objectives. Tracking the students progress throughout the year is imperative so the first thing is to look at goals and objectives for each student.  Ask yourself: Where am I going to start with each student? What is my next step academically and behaviorally as well as in the areas of social skills, independent functioning and health issues(if any)?
• What related services do your students receive? Do your students receive Occupational Therapy, Speech/Language Therapy, Physical Therapy? 
• What special activities such Art, Music, Computer do your student attend? And of course, don't forget Lunch and P.E. 
• Once you have all your information about your day (or as close as you can get), move on to the next step.

I use 2 primary schedules to map out my classroom information each year. 

One way that I started in the last few years was to take all the components of the schedule and prior to putting it on paper, I used post it notes on a white board to get the schedule to a manageable  point. Manageable means until I could understand it in my head! Using the postit  notes seems a little old fashioned for tech- savvy teach but it worked since you could see the whole schedule or all the schedules at one glance and move things around to try them out until your hearts content. With the postit notes, I could still

Color code. Color coding for my classroom makes me calm! 

Then when it was more manageable (in MY mind) a.k.a the schedule was about 80% done I would do it in excel or in a chart in Word.

#1    SCHEDULE STUDENTS STATION TIMES

The first is a CENTER ROTATION schedule of when activities are held during the day and what station each student goes to. For example, Student 1 goes to Reading Station from 8:45-9:00 and Student 2 goes from 9:00-9:15. With times down the left side in increments of 15 minutes and student names across the top. I complete this schedule first in order to make certain every student is assigned each station and there are no overlaps.

#2 STAFF SUPERVISION ASSIGNMENTS 

This chart tells which staff member works with which student(s) at what time. With this chart I can make sure all student have supervision, Paraprofessionals have their breaks and all areas of the classroom are covered.

• I prefer to use color coded schedules myself as the color gives me one more way to organize my thinkings and see the classroom organization at one glance.

• I created an IEP goals/objective form, that my paraprofessionals and I use to track the student's progress.  It lists the goals and objectives down the left side of the chart and a place to record the data for each; whether that is trials correct or percentages.
  I was lucky for the last couple of years to have a fairly stable class in which 95% of the students returned to me each year, so I was aware of their skill sets, their goals and objective as well as their limitations from the day they walked back into my room, yet I still made sure I had these charts. 

I have included both color and black and white forms in the pack.  Below you'll find a link to several of these forms that I've used in the past. I have left them totally editable in MS WORD format so you can modify them to make them your own.

Thanks to Kim Geswein fonts.

Continue your travels to the next Summer Bloghop site by clicking below.

Keep traveling on our Bloghop. Click above to go to

Kinder Sped Adventures

Thanks for stopping by. See you next time!

6