How many of you struggle with remembering which kid has which testing accommodations? This year, I have 12 students with IEPs and 1 student with a 504 plan. They all have testing accommodations, but they are all DIFFERENT! Did I mention that I have 4 paraprofessionals to help me administer the tests? I am so thankful for that! I don't know what I would do given the variety and high needs for testing sessions. With so many kids and so many adults, I needed to find a way to streamline our processes for our testing days. For years, I would scramble to group the kids and place them with an adult according to accommodation. On top of that, I would have to search for space to put the groups. Why did I keep reinventing the wheel for each test? Testing folders to the rescue! First you will need to get a folder for each adult that is available to provide testing accommodations. On the front of the folder, you have the adult that will be proctoring, the location, and the students in the group. On the inside of the folder, you put the Testing Accommodations Organizer with the accommodations for the students in the group. Front of Folder Inside Folder When it is test day, just put the correct number of tests inside the other pocket. Be sure to include an extra test if your proctor is reading the test aloud to the group. Easy Peasy! I also keep a few other things stocked in the test so my TAs won't need to scramble to find anything. Here is what a fully stocked testing folder contains: You can find the form in my TpT store. I even included an editable version in the file so you can type in your information instead of writing it if you want. I return to school in a couple of weeks and am finding myself organizing ev.er.y.thing! I have gone through the closets, cabinets, drawers, bins, pantries. I can't help it. I joked with my husband that the last time I organized like this was when I was about to have a baby. Then I thought of this: Happy organizing!
As a math teacher, you want all of your students to reach their highest potential. However, with increasingly diverse student needs in today's classrooms, it can be difficult to determine how to meet your learners where they are. This is where accommodations come into play! These small adjustments can make a world
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Accommodations to support students in your classroom who have Dyscalculia or other math disabilities be successful in school.
The discussion comes up a lot about the difference between modifications and accommodations in the classroom. In the shortest terms, a modification is a significant change to the curriculum for students who are far below grade level expectations. It is changing WHAT kids are learning. An accommodati
Inside: Browse, print, and use this comprehensive list of IEP Accommodation and 504 Accommodations. Includes a PDF.
Teaching handwriting to kids with dysgraphia involves modification, remediation and accommodations. This is how I teach my kids with dysgraphia handwriting.
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Students with ADHA can be successful in a general education classroom with clear expectations and a few accommodations in place.
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!
Accommodations to support students in your classroom who have Dyscalculia or other math disabilities be successful in school.
Do you have a child who is Dyslexic and you're spinning your wheels to get help for him or her in the classroom? I have been there. We homeschool now but this was something we worked
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Accommodations to support students in your classroom who have Dyscalculia or other math disabilities be successful in school.
We had another class Monday night with our new dual/ELL staff members, and this time we focused on differentiation and what that may look like across the subject areas. As we have done in the past, we had the teachers participate in a gallery walk and thus rotate around with their groups to add to a series of posters focused on this topic of differentiation. Yet again, our wonderful staff did not disappoint and came up with a wide assortment of ideas as to how instruction can be differentiated for our students! I typed up their ideas on a nice one page spread for them, and thought you all may find it useful as well! Click on it to grab a copy for yourself or a friend. Graphics/Fonts: Scrappin' Doodles, Rowdy Fonts, My Cute Graphics Also, (as if you haven't already heard ;)), I wanted to let you all in on the big secret. TpT will be hosting a "3 Million Teachers Strong" sale February 27-28th. In using promo code TPT3, you can get up to 28% off at my store along with so many more! How exciting is it to see this community of teachers growing and working together :)!
Here is a list of suggested classroom accommodations for children with dyslexia. These classroom accomodations can be used for your IEP or 504 Plan.
Are your teaching methods not working with your dyslexic child? When kids with dyslexia are taught with the right methods, they learn and thrive!
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Dysgraphia accommodations to use in the classroom or homeschool to help promote learning and equip children for the future.
Drops pencil on the floor, gets a tissue, gets a drink of water, sharpens pencil, twirls pencil, fall out of seat . . . everything BUT working on assigned work! Does this sound familiar? Do you have a student who gets distracted with everything under the sun, so he or she never completes schoolwork? Here are a few things to try: Bumpy seat: textured seat provides plenty of texture and will even let your wiggler move from side to side without falling out of his/her seat. You can buy this at your local Wal-mart, Target, or sporting good store. (click on picture) Bouncy seat: Sitting on an exercise or balance ball helps your wiggler get the wiggles out. There are different type of balls. If you have a tile floor, I recommend that you invest in the balls with sand in them so the balls don't roll away. You can buy these at your local Wal-mart, Target, or sporting good store. You might also check with your gym to see if they would give you their old exercise balls. (click on picture) Fidgets: Give your wigglers something to do with their hands. There are many commercially made fidgets like the long, skinny erasers. I like to make homemade ones out of a balloon and lentils. You can also put other things such as flour or sand in the balloon. Use a funnel to put the lentils in the balloon. Don't buy cheap balloons, or they will break quickly! You'll get more ideas here: Article #1 Article #2
One of the most common questions asked at an IEP meeting is, “Well, how do we fix it?” After hearing the evaluation results and learning that their child has a learning disability, most…
In my last blog, I focused on the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principle of representation. I described how blended and online learning can help educators provide opportunities for students to perceived and engage with information presented in multiple modalities. I highlighted some of the affordances available online that can help students to manipulate digital information […]
Understanding how dyslexic students learn and teaching with corresponding methods will make big impact on learning.
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by Valentina Gonzalez We’ve all been there: we teach a lesson and then assess students only to find that the students didn’t understand it. We are left with questions like What happened? How …
If you teach for any length of time, you will eventually have a student (or two) that is easily distracted. See if these scenarios sound familiar. Another student gets up to get a tissue, the "D" (distractible) student watches in complete fascination. A squirrel runs by on the tree limb near your classroom's window, your "D" student quits working to watch what the squirrel is going to do next. Anything and everything seems to be more interesting than doing what he or she is supposed to be doing. It doesn't matter if this student is supposed to be listening to the story you are reading to your class at circle time or a paper-pencil assignment, this student is distracted by the world around him or her. By this time of year, you have probably tried many different strategies. I have a few things you might want to add to your bag of tricks to try with your student(s). The most important word to remember with a "D" student is novelty. I can't stress that word enough. Novelty is key! Did you notice that with the strategies that you've tried in the past, the strategy worked with some success in the beginning but it quit being effective? Rotate your techniques on a frequent basis. I suggest rotating every one or two weeks. One of the things I did with my daughter when she was in the toddler years was to rotate her toys. I had different baskets of toys, but only used one of them at a time. I found she played better (stayed focused on the toys) when she only had one basket of toys. Each time I got out a new basket, she acted like these were new toys. It was the novelty of the toys! This works with school kids, too! You can do the same type of thing for our "D" student. Ahead of time, set up 4 tubs/folders or a calendar with strategies that you want to use with your student. Here are a few suggestions that you could include: 1. Set up an office space / study carrel away from distractions 2. Use a visual timer - you can ask your special education dept. if they have one that you can borrow. My occupational therapist loaned me a class size one and a desk size one. I love, love, love my visual timer. I found my class size timer helped all of my students. You may decide to invest in one to use all the time. 3. If this is a student with extra energy, set up a stamping station (stamp and stamp pad). Give the student an egg timer. He or she works as many problems as he or she can until the sands run out of the egg timer. Then the student gets up, walks over to the stamping station with his/her assignment, he/she stamps the assignment next to the last problem that he/she finished. Then goes back to desk, turns over egg timer and begins working again. When time runs out, goes to stamping station, stamps last problem that he/she completed, goes back to desk and continues this until he/she completes the assignment. To modify this, you can tell them they need to turn over the egg timer once or twice before they stamp it or you can use a different type of timer to give a longer work period. This is a great documentation tool. 4. Let them stand up to work. Ask your custodian if you can have an extra desk for this and also ask your custodian to raise the desk as high as possible. You can put the desk on boards, cinder blocks, or bricks to raise it. 5. Let them stand up behind your class when students are on the carpet. 6. Use tape to make a clearly defined box that student will sit in when you are on the carpet. Have the assigned place in the front corner. Painters tape works great for this! 7. Headphones are amazing tools. Your librarian or tech specialist will usually have headphones that no longer work. You can cut the cords off of these. If you have a super-duper distracted student, I would recommend using the headphones that guys that run jackhammers use. You can buy them at Home Depot or Lowe's. Warning: These are pretty pricey! You can ask your P.T.A. to purchase these for you, write a grant, or ask parents for donations.
Understanding how dyslexic students learn and teaching with corresponding methods will make big impact on learning.
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It's more than just 'bad handwriting.' Here are some symptoms of dysgraphia and some IEP accommodations if your child has dysgraphia.
Accommodations allow students with dyslexia to perform at their intellectual ability in the school setting even if they are still reading below grade level. Here are some great accommodations for students with dyslexia that really work!
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Accommodations to support students in your classroom who have Dyscalculia or other math disabilities be successful in school.
As a special education teacher, there have been hundreds of times I have had to have conversations with parents about their child and characteristics we are seeing at school that are consistent with ADHD or Autism. Some of these conversations were harder than others, but they were never personal until I sat on the receiving ... Read More about Parent and Teacher Guide to Approaching an ADHD Diagnosis for Children in School
