Who is prepping more work boxes this summer? I just love getting new ideas, especially for our older life skill students! Christina Bailey, a transition life skill teacher, offered to share a bunch of her work boxes on my blog! Thank you Christina! Christina works with transition aged students (19-26 years old) with severe cognitive and/or health impairments. Her school serves students from multiple school districts within the county who learn best in an alternative placement. Are you ready? Here they are!! Putting together (or taking apart) flashlights. Bonus points if students can get the batteries in correctly and get the light to turn on! (Motivation!!) Ice cube tray and colored pebbles with tongs. I love the fine motor aspect added here. Marker packaging. I absolutely love this task and would be a great one to buy during back to school marker sales (especially on those really cheap markers you don't really want to use in your classroom!) Erasers on pencils. This has always been one of my favorite tasks! Silverware sorting. A must for every work task station, am I right? And a super easy and cheap one to put together. Silverware rolling / packaging. I love this task as it is perfect for vocational preparation. Putting together curlers. Ribbon threading around a wire basket. I never would have thought of this task! I love using the wire basket to thread the ribbon, and bet students would have fun with this task too. Sewing kit packaging. Packaging tasks like this are great! Tea candle sort. I love this age appropriate color sorting activity. Toiletry packaging. Wouldn't it be awesome to get donations of items like this and put together kits to give out to the homeless as a classroom service project? So, there you have it! Did you get some more good ideas? Happy task box prep! If you ever have anything you want to share, feel free to email me. I love being able to share your fantastic ideas with other special education teachers like yourself!
Have you ever had to use a district curriculum that doesn’t really fit the levels or needs of your special needs student? It can be hard to make a purchased program work for our students, but it IS possible! To do so, though, we need to be flexible and creative….We totally rock flexible and creative, ... Read More about Modifying Curriculum For The Special Needs Student
My students use morning binders during our morning meeting and throughout our academic portion of the morning. I love using binders because I can personalize and individualize each binder according to my students needs.
Get detailed teacher input regarding students on your IEP caseload. This form includes a checklist (teachers love this option because we are SO busy), and also areas for teachers to note student strengths/weaknesses, current grades, observed skill deficits, and much more. Teachers LOVE this form because it doesn't take them too long to complete, but perfectly outlines how the student is doing in their classroom. -Great tool for progress monitoring -This information fits perfectly into the present ed levels -Send home with progress reports Consistent communication with general educators will ensure that your students are receiving necessary accommodations and/or modifications to be successful in any setting. ************************************How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases: Please go to your "My Purchases" page. Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you feedback credits that you use to lower the cost of your future purchases. **Also, be the first to know about my new products, freebies, and discounts by clicking on the green star next to my username! Thank you so much! :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is for personal use only. If anyone else would like a copy of these files, please direct them to my TpT store, or buy additional licenses. Don't hesitate to ask any questions or make requests for future products. Enjoy!
Special ed teachers collect data for IEPs. Learn how to collect data using daily data sheets in your special education classroom.
Special eduction law can be a bit gray at times. Although it should be clear cut, it can be difficult to get explicit answers to some of the basic questions that pop up in the day-to-day life of a special education teacher. Here is a scenario that you may have run into before. You need to set up an IEP meeting, but have been unable to confirm a meeting time with the family. How many attempts do you need to make to set up an IEP meeting with a family? What do you do if they don't respond? Can it all be done through email and phone calls or does one of the attempts need to be a letter? Does one attempt need to be a certified letter? While there are laws related to these questions (which you can find HERE), you may find the answer given still leaves you a bit confused. When it comes to these questions, and many more, the law does not give specifics. The specifics tend to come from each state's interpretation of the law and from court case rulings. So how is a special education teacher supposed to make sense of the scattered out information and try to teach at the same time? Well... it's really hard. Some districts have incredible administrators who have a deep understanding of the law, current court cases, and best practice. Many of these districts also reach out to lawyers for guidance. They do the leg work so you can focus on providing your students with what they need to be successful. With that being said, it is still in everyone's best interest to know how to seek out the answers to your own questions. If you do not have this level of support in your district, you will have to take the extra steps to become informed of your role and responsibilities as a special education teacher. I cannot answer all of your questions here. However, I can provide you with some links and resources that will empower you to become more informed and confident in your understanding of special education law. I am going to share a ton of information. I recommend bookmarking this page so that you can refer back to it as questions arise throughout the school year. But first, let's start with the basics. There are three main federal laws that address disabilities. I recommend you click on the links and skim through each of the laws. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) - The primary purpose of IDEA is "to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living." IDEA (2004) This is a major law in the world of special education and there is a lot jam packed into this act. You can use the search feature on this page to find information related to a specific topic. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) - This is a civil rights law prohibiting discrimination based on disability. This law is less applicable to public education, but is still valuable to review. Section 504 Rehabilitation Act - Section 504 extended civil rights to people with disabilities in education and other settings. The act outlines the need for a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) which may include reasonable accommodations. Unlike IDEA, students do not need to qualify for an IEP to fall under the umbrella of 504 services. Please note - this is why it is extremely important that the accommodations listed in the IEP or 504 plan are being followed. If they are not, it becomes a civil rights issue, not just a special education issue. Click on Subpart D for information related directly to preschool, elementary, and secondary education. If reading through those three acts seems daunting, don't worry. I am going to share with you some great resources for synthesizing the plethora of information found above. WrightsLaw - I cannot recommend this site enough. It is run by Pete Wright, an attorney who represents children with special needs, and Pam Wright, a psychotherapist who has worked with children and families since the 70s. They summarize court cases in a way that is easy to understand and provide concrete takeaways from the rulings. They have also written numerous books related to special education law and provide training around law and advocacy throughout the country. Make sure you sign up for their newsletter to stay on top of current court cases. The website has quite a bit of information and can be a little difficult to navigate. However, you can click HERE to watch a quick video about how to sift through all of the information. Center for Parent Information and Resources - This website was produced under the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. While it is geared primarily toward parents, it serves as a great resource for anyone working with students with special needs. Their resource library provides links to documents related to disability services and special education. This site is easy to navigate and the information is accurate and concise. National Education Association (IDEA & Special Education) - This site offers "IDEA Briefs" to explain developments about and aspects of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). They are presented in a question and answer format, and are quick and easy to read. The site also offers a nice summary of the 2004 reauthorization of IDEA found HERE. Department of Education - The specifics surrounding special education law can vary between states. Search your state's department of education website for state specific laws, codes, and policies. You can search for your state HERE and get a list of helpful links. State Specific Education Association - Many states have their own rules and regulations that expand upon those found in IDEA. Your local union (if applicable) may have resources to help you learn more about special education law in your state. If you are unable to find answers on the website, don't hesitate to reach out to your local union reps to see if there are any resources or training opportunities that may be available for special education teachers. Understanding the law is a huge undertaking and I hope that this post has given you some guidence and resources to make it a bit easier. Do you have any other go-to resources for special education law? Please share in the comments below!
Are you scrambling to navigate the virtual world of online teaching? Times have changed due to the Pandemic and special education teachers have a new set of challenges in teaching remotely. Here are tips to help you succeed in remote teaching special ed.
One of the biggest changes I have dealt with this year was going from a classroom with 2 classroom paraprofessionals to 5 one-to-one paraprofessionals. It's great to have support...but I had (and still have) a lot to learn about managing so many adults in my classroom.
Teaching the different between public and private is important for so many reasons for our students with special needs. When teaching these concepts, I first talk about the difference between public and private places. We come up with a list and sort those places accordingly using visuals of one person versus multiple people. I created this sort from a boardmaker template and uploaded here on Board Maker Online. After talking about places, we move on to talking about both public and private places AND behaviors. We talk about what behaviors are appropriate in each area. This book and additional resources are found for free from SET-BC here and are available in PDF or Boardmaker files. (update: direct link here - other link now takes you to search) I love cut and paste activities because not only do they reinforce the skills taught, but also incorporate fine motor skills...and it takes a little while to complete :) Here's the other Board Maker Online activity that includes both public and private places and behaviors. Plus, check out all of these other great activities for this topic on Board Maker Online. I think it's so important for students to realize that private behaviors aren't bad, but they just need to be done in private! Here's to hoping there is no more nose picking or inappropriate self stimulation in my PUBLIC classroom! :) If you are looking for something more detailed to use with your students, I found this resource here. It is very informative and I didn't feel the need to go that in depth, but completely understand how some students might need those specifics.
When I posted a couple of my products on Teachers Pay Teachers this summer, I had not yet used them myself. I had brainstormed the ideas over the summer for my new kiddos! I knew that I would be receiving more kids than any other year (and no additional adults) and I needed more ways to incorporate independent work for my students to keep them busy and learning all day (which prevents boredom and temper tantrums!). For my students with higher academic and social skills, I was not too worried...I have plenty of stuff to keep them busy and they are great at adapting to new activities (check out this post for what my higher academic students do at Reading/Math Centers). However, for some of my lower functioning students independent work is harder to come up with and new activities do not go over very well (this group of students in my class struggles a lot with any sort of change). As you probably know if you have read my blog, I love using work in binders for my students. It keeps the work predictable and lets students know exactly how much work they have to complete. It also allows for switching different work in and out without the student feeling like too much has changed. I store these binders in a little plastic bin. I put a piece of velcro on the side of the binders....that way when a student is bringing their schedule picture to the station, they attach it right to the binder they are responsible for completing. This is what is in my reading binders for students who can match letters. This is from my Functional Spelling Product on TPT. The product also comes with pages that have blank boxes, for kids who are beginning to spell words on their own. I store the pieces in a labeled baggie on the back of the previous page. I use these in my reading binders as well. This is from my product Sorting Pictures by Letter from A-Z on TPT. Each kid only has 3 or 4 letters worth of pages in their binder and we switch them around every couple weeks. Again, pieces are stored in a baggie (I ask for these as school supplies in the beginning of the year since we use so many). For the example below, students sort pictures of alligators to the left side page and apples to the right side page. I also have some students who are not yet able to match something as complicated as a letter and cannot yet sort. For these students, in their reading binders, I use matching pages from my Easy Matching product on TPT. When I made this, I tried to make each item on the pages (there are only 4-6 pictures per page) a different color to help aid in visual discrimination for some of those beginning matchers. Not all of my students make it to my "Math Centers" station which takes place in the afternoon because we get so busy with inclusion and functional skills stations (life skills classroom, science lessons, social time, drama time, etc.) Don't worry, we still work on math...just not independently as often as reading. So, these binders are a bit less developed. Right now, I am just using pages from my product Patterns and Beginning Math Skills on TPT. Students match patterns in blank boxes below a given pattern. I tried to use picture of common items/things my students like to make this activity more engaging. That was kind of a long post...happy Tuesday!
Editable Digital + Printable Data Forms for Special Ed | Data sheets are a special education teacher's best friend. This bundle of editable, printable and digital data forms is the perfect addition to any special education classroom. What is included? You’ll find printable data sheets for/on: • Accommodations Cheat Sheet • Modification Cheat Sheet • Accommodation + Modification Master List • Reading / Writing Accommodations List • Mathematics Accommodations List • General Accommodations List (2 pages) • Intervention List All printable data sheets are editable in PowerPoint. Printable PDF included. 8 total printable data sheets included. You’ll find digital data sheets for/on: • Accommodations Checklist • Accommodations List • Modification List • Accommodation + Modification Master List • Intervention List • Implementation Checklist All digital Google Form data sheets are editable. 6 digital data forms included. Looking for more data forms? The printable data sheets can also be found in this larger bundle. The digital data forms can also be found in this larger bundle. Some of the printable data forms may also be found in the IEP Binders. Looking for more resources for data collection? Shop all data collection resources here. Connect with me: • Newsletter • Blog • Facebook • Instagram • Pinterest • Don't forget about the green ★ to follow my store to get notifications of new resources and freebies! Thanks for Looking and Happy Teaching!
Special ed teachers collect data for IEPs. Learn how to collect data using daily data sheets in your special education classroom.
Great set of suggestions on how to teach special ed online. Support students with special needs during distance learning or at home learning.
Making sure our students have enough math practice is vital. Thankfully, there are math websites that are great for special ed!
Listen to this Special Ed Podcast with 15 great ideas for Functional Centers for students with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism in High School. Read more and subscribe today!
IEP goal bins will help you keep your students' goals and materials organized so you can focus on what's important: the students.
The first two weeks in a special ed classroom are more than academics. Ideas on what to teach, what to practice, and what you should be doing.
What do you do as a special ed. teacher when a student with autism refuses to work? It depends on the function of the behavior! Learn the 12 Best Strategies!
4 Must Do's on the First Day of Pre-K. Worried you missed something while lesson planning for the first day of school?
Visual schedules are a great way to help students manage their school day and see what is coming next. Free flip schedule template only at Mrs. D's Corner.
Learn all about the types of student schedules I use in my classroom: first-then, 1-2-3-choice, vertical, and checklist schedules.
Whether you're fresh out of college or a veteran teaching who needs a change, it always feels good to be prepared for an upcoming interview. This list of 58 - and growing! - interview questions for special ed teachers will help you feel prepared and confident for your upcoming interview. Blog post at Mrs. D's Corner.
Direct instruction is a crucial component of special education programs. Our students require direct instruction in order to learn, master and generalize skills. Here are some tips to help make your direct instruction time easier. In my classroom. we set aside an hour a day to do direct instruction centers. During this time, we take ... Read More about Direct Instruction Hacks For Special Education Classrooms
A blog about autism resources and support from a special ed teacher with first-hand experience.
Special education teachers experience stress and burn out of the classroom at record rates. So I shared ideas to help teachers cope and care for themselves to prevent burn out. #specialeducation
Whether you're fresh out of college or a veteran teaching who needs a change, it always feels good to be prepared for an upcoming interview. This list of 58 - and growing! - interview questions for special ed teachers will help you feel prepared and confident for your upcoming interview. Blog post at Mrs. D's Corner.
ideas and tips for working with special education students with significant disabilities
Defiance is an inevitable and generally not a welcomed part of a classroom. You are spending your day getting through your content, building community, and regularly demanding that students do tons of tasks. From time to time, they are going to have different ideas. Even walking down the hallway can be a struggle without one
Today I want to share with you about my “color-coding” classroom organizational system. Although it sounds silly, assigning my students a color at the beginning of the school year is my go-to for organization. It has saved my sanity. With 3 instructional assistants, a lead teacher, and a student teacher, keeping data and student
Make Teaching Prepositions Simple Adapted Books and Interactive Task Cards Are All You Need The best way to teach prepositions is through hands on practice. This adapted book and task cards set gives you the best of both worlds, your students will have to both show and tell each of the prepositions with this set. […]
Job ideas for students in special education to do in the classroom and around school
Special Ed Data using Google Forms - check out these user-friendly tips and tricks for busy special educators to streamline IEP tracking and student progress monitoring!
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!
I love it when we have a birthday in my class because it's a great opportunity to practice tons of life skills! Whenever we have a birthday to celebrate, we plan a party. This is usually pretty low-key (because I usually don't think of it until the day of) but awesome just the same and my students love it!
Do you use a progress monitoring schedule in your special ed classroom? Let me show you why using a progress monitoring schedule is essential!
Kindergarten art lessons with finish-the-drawing pages for each letter of the alphabet. The easy prep ABC pages teach art concepts.
Special Education Teacher Blogs to Follow
If you are anything like me, the first 10 days are a struggle. You have so many new ideas for the new year, so many things you want to implement, and you feel pressure to start on the very first day. Here’s my number one tip: DON’T. Just don’t. In special education, and more specifically […]
An IEP binder for teachers is the key to tidying up your daily caseload, organizing special ed info, and focusing more on your students than the paperwork.
Ever wonder what Specific Learning Disability your Special Ed student or students have and what it means to have that disability? This chart helps Special Ed and General Ed teachers understand specific learning disabilities and how they can help accommodate to the student(s) so they can learn the best way possible. As a Resource Teacher, I created this chart to help students in my caseload. I distributed this chart to my Administrators, Paraprofessionals, and my caseloads' other teachers, all of whom loved it! They all had a better understanding of the students' disability and followed the accommodations they were able to do. How did I do this? After reading through my caseloads' IEPs, I wrote down each of their processing disorders. Then, under each disability, I typed in each of my caseloads' names. Easy!! You are now helping your students and fellow teachers!! Specific Learning Disabilities Chart by Mayette Bernardo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Cookie23.
