Ways to Indicate Yes and No There are so many ways we all say yes and no every day. None of us is limited to just one means and our students should be either. In teaching our students a yes/no response we aim for the most universal - verbal and/or head nod/shake (at least in the USA, in English) but if those are not possible any other system is better than none at all. Here is a list of some I have seen used by people with significant special needs over the years: Verbal response (yes/no, ok/no, yeah/nah, si/no, uh ha/ut ah) Head Nod/Shake Body Language (smile/frown, look/look away, reach/push away) Pointing to symbols with Finger Hand Foot Head Eyes Other Activating a voice output switch Finger Hand Foot Head Eyes Other Activating a speech device Yes/no wrist bands – raise hand or look at hand Yes/no symbols on arm rest with hand movement or eye gaze to symbols Sign yes/no (or sign approximations) Eyes up for yes, eyes down for no (and vice versa) Eyes left for yes, eyes right for no (and vice versa) Facial expressions – smile for yes, frown for no Thumbs up/thumbs down Look at partner for yes/look away for no Yes/no cards Yes/no wearable tag/necklace Hold up fist for yes/open hand for no Tongue click for yes, none for no Eye brows up for yes/down for no (vice versa) Lip raise for yes (smile) and nose wrinkle for no (sour face) Point to chin for yes and nose for no Clap for yes, tap tray for no There's an app for that Or any combination of a yes and a no from above!
It's already back-to-school season for this girl. I've been trying to get my binders and planners and classroom student ready! After a friend mentioned that she laminated her data sheets so that she
Check out this ultimate list of over 200 free speech therapy materials for all of your needs! Save your money for what really matters!
Need ideas for getting more repetitions during articulation therapy? Here are some articulation activities speech therapy high-trial ideas!
For our learners who need to work on foundational learning skills, such as simple matching, I have always love creating hands on task boxes put-in tasks and color sorting tasks. My classroom closet always looked like it could be featured on an episode of hoarders. I kept every shoe box, coffee container, baby jar, and
Help your students achieve generalization in speech therapy with these self monitoring speech therapy activities.
At the beginning of the school year, it is the special education teacher's job to share IEP information with school staff. This blog post includes some important things to think about when completing this important back to school task.
I have been meaning to update my Read and Sequence pack for a while now. This pack is a combination of all of my Read and Sequence...
As SLPs it's important to keep up-to-date with EBP. I've gathered together 8 of the best sites for you to get EBP info to improve your therapy practice!
Use the special ed inclusion documentation forms to keep track of service times, lesson plans, and more. Streamline it all quickly and effectively!
Information about what is autism, what causes autism, what is autism spectrum disorder, signs of autism, symptoms of autism & treatment of autism.
Building Functional Pretend Play Centers in an Pre-K Classroom
Check out our collection of great gifts for the speech therapist in your life. From taco socks to cool prints, there's something for every taste!
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A step-by-step plan for how to fix a frontal lisp in speech therapy: therapy activities, video demonstrations, & word lists for interdental /s/.
It's Freebie Week on the blog this week! That means each day I'll have a different mini-freebie for you, so be sure and check back! It all leads up to some super fun happenings on Friday, so you'll just have to wait and see! :) Biscuit is back and he's trying to sneak off to school. I love Biscuit books, as I'm sure you're aware. This one is a little different than the others though. It's an "I Can Read" book, so I'm able to use it with more than just my preschoolers. My first and second graders can practice decoding and comprehending with this one. Check out Biscuit Goes to School. You can still add velcro and place the pictures inside the book to practice vocabulary. You can check out some of my previous Biscuit posts to see how I do it. I've got a little mini-companion pack for you to use with this book, in case you need something for that first or second week of school! Of course, it comes with some cute vocab cards. You can use them for simple describing or labeling or velcro them inside to make it more interactive. It also comes with apple comprehension questions to help with both answering WH questions and story retell. Students can also draw pictures to retell and sequence the events in the story using this chart. Also included is an open-ended coloring sheet that can be used with any target...artic sounds, language concept, fluency, etc. Several of my preschool and kindergarteners are working on prepositions, so the packet comes with a section to target just that. Just cut out and have students place the puppy in different places in relation to the school house. Hope you can use these! You can grab these freebies HERE! Happy back to school for those of you just starting :) Please leave a comment below if you download.
Use these story sequencing cards printable activities to teach sequencing and order to your preschoolers. These cards will help preschoolers visualize and retell their favorite stories.
Here is a list of very easy at home activities that you can practice throughout the day to strengthen and improve auditory processing in your child.
Special Education teachers are the masters of data collection! At times, collecting data can be overwhelming, especially when you sometimes have to outsource the collecting to other teachers, specialists, or teaching assistants. Tracking accommodations is necessary to make sure an IEP is being followed and can be helpful in determining which accommodations should be added to or removed from the IEP. Believe it or not, collecting data on accommodations and modifications does not have to consume your life! Share Information Be sure to share vital information with all teachers and assistants that work with your students. I have an accommodations organizer that I organize all of the information of my class. The information is in one place which is helpful for sharing information with assistants, special area teachers, and substitutes. When I first began teaching, I did not bother sharing such information with special area teachers until it was brought to my attention that a student of mine did not complete a test in physical education class. That student had trouble reading and was supposed to have his tests read. The PE teacher was unaware of his accommodations and therefore did not deliver them. I use a special form that reminds me of who needs to be informed of accommodations and modifications at the beginning of the school year and after an IEP annual review. Train Your Team If you have paraprofessionals in your classroom working with students, it is important to train them in how to deliver and how to track accommodations and modifications. Some interventions are more detailed than others. Observe your team while they are working with students and provide feedback as needed. The time you put in to properly train your team to record data the same way you would is so well spent! Use Checklists When I first started teaching, I used to write notes on a post-it that included which accommodations and modifications were used on assignments along with their effectiveness. It was very time consuming and often times, I forgot to add some things. Finally, I came up with a few checklists and forms to help the process. Level of Support One of the forms I use tracks the level of support a student needs from an adult. I use this one to determine the need for a 1:1 teaching assistant. It is useful before adding a TA and to collect data to see if continuing the intervention is a necessity. The adult that works with the student at that time fills it out while working with the student. Accommodations and Modifications Tracker I use this form two ways, depending on what I am collecting data for. As an IEP meeting approaches, I like to review the need for the interventions on the IEP. I can track the types of interventions are needed for different types of assignments and activities. More importantly, I can track the effectiveness of such interventions. I can also cut this tracker apart to staple it onto work samples. The work samples can be to show the Committee on Special Education the student's growth or regression. I also like to send work home with students with the form filled out from time to time so parents can see what kind of help the student needs in order to complete assignments at school. Frequency Tracker Another way I like to track the use of accommodations and modifications needed in school is with a frequency tracker I created. This gives me a quick visual of which interventions are being used and which are not. I focus on this during the weeks before a meeting so I can determine which accommodations and modifications need to remain, be added, or be removed from an IEP. Data collection is so important but it doesn't have to take over your entire life. Once you create a few checklists that fit your classroom or purchase one of the many checklists and charts from my TpT store, you will save yourself a ton of time and will have more data than you've ever had before!
A few weeks ago I got a few questions about what I store in my core vocabulary tubs. I have been meaning to work on this post since then, bu...
Hey everyone! I hope you had a great holiday and if you’re like me you’re definitely enjoying your time off school. Yes I love and miss the kiddos and have seen some updates about them on FB but I’ve really enjoyed no alarms, comfy clothes, Netflix, organizing my home, and staying up late. The joys ... Read More about Read and Recall Freebie Update!
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Thanks to Terry Kappe for posting this on our FB page!
It’s such a pleasure to have Angi Pearce back on these pages to share her experiences and passion for teaching students with AAC needs. Angi is a teacher at Kowhai Special School in Hastings,…
Do you find yourself repeating everything you say multiple times? With our students less talking and MORE VISUALS. Get your students on track fast with a set of keychain visuals. Do you find yourself repeating directions over and over? Do your students often get overwhelmed with too much prompting? If so, here’s a tool that will help immensely. These key-chain/wearable visual cues will change your classroom and the way you teach. They will: Decrease disruptive behaviors and increase student independence Get students on task quickly and quietly Eliminate unnecessary prompting and minimize distracting verbal stimuli If you haven’t used these before, now’s your chance because the best part is that they are free to you for signing up for weekly e-mail updates. Updates which will include sneak peeks and exclusive offers. Click Here to get your set now.