Blog
Using the Buddy System to Create Peer Relationships Between Special Education Students and General Education Students
Similar to many elementary schools around the country, our school has 4 low incidence classroom programs, housing students with autism and developmental disabilities. As a teacher of one of the autism classrooms, building social skills in my 5 to 8 year olds is a major priority. Problem is, with a classroom of 8 students with…
Slowing Down the Day: The Importance of Teaching Life Skills
As a teacher of a very busy classroom, sometimes I catch myself forgetting to slow down. I get super wrapped up in time, rushing through the schedule to make sure we cover everything that day, that I zip a student’s coat before giving him a chance to do it first, or I jump at the…
Life Skills Lesson: Mailing a Letter
Ah, I honestly don’t want Valentine’s Day to ever come (except for the 50 shades of Grey movie, obvs). But in all serious ya’ll, the activities are just too.darn.cute!! In our class, we have a structured story time where I will try very hard to keep my friends’ attention through a story. Don’t get me…
A DAY IN AU: Kitchen Work {PLUS day ONE of the 7-day Autism Awareness Giveaway!!!!}
After posting the photo below on Instagram (@teachingspecialthinkers), I had a TON of questions about how I set up our kitchen work system. We are SO lucky to have an instructional kitchen attached to our classroom! Not only can we do fun cooking lessons, we can also teach our kiddos some essential functional life skills!…