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I love data. It's one of my favorite things about being a special educator. I love being able to see exactly where my students are at, the progress they have made, and what I need to change to help them learn. Not only is data a requirement for any teacher, but I also take data on pretty much every program that is run in my classroom, regardless of whether it aligns with an IEP goal. One of the main reasons I do this is because I am not the only person teaching in my classroom. My paraprofessionals and my peer tutors provide instruction. However, I am still the teacher, so I am responsible for each program and each student's learning. Without data, I don't know how my students are doing. There are tons of ways to take data and streamline your data collection. Here are a few tips & tricks! Graph your data. I am a visual learner. When I look at graphed data, I can quickly see whether the student is progressing. I can see if a goal or benchmark has been mastered, and when a student is not progressing. Then I can take a closer look at the data to see what needs to be changed. I graph immediately after completing data. In each data binder, I have a yellow graph and a white data sheet for each program. When I finish recording my data, I flip the page and quickly graph it. It takes less than 30 seconds and makes my life so much easier! This graph is my absolute favorite. It's super simple, editable, and easy to read. You can grab a copy here. Get organized with a data system. Decide on an organization system. I use individual binders in my classroom but have seen teachers who use clipboards, Google forms, etc. It doesn't matter what your system is, as long as it's organized and it works in your classroom! Here's what I do- Each summer, I prepare my student data collection binders. I create data sheets and graphs for each program. This saves me so much time once school starts because I can go in, train paras on programs, hand them a pre-made data sheet, and they can start teaching. Each student binder is organized by class period with program graphs, data sheets, and program materials (like worksheets). I use post it tabs if there are multiple programs being run within the class period so that it's easy to flip between data sheets. I also put a pencil pouch in each binder with a pen, a pencil, and a calculator. Finally, each student's binder has a copy of their progress report with all IEP goals written on it. This helps with progress monitoring (see tip #4). Be consistent with data collection methods. I've found that adding as much information as possible on the actual data sheet helps greatly with fidelity in my classroom. This is especially important for data that are collected across the day with multiple staff, like behavior data, motor, etc. On the top of the data sheet, I include the student's IEP goal and objectives, implementation instructions, prompt hierarchy, and data key. Streamline IEP progress monitoring. Align your data collection system with your progress monitoring. When I write an IEP goal, I also design the data sheet so I can be sure that I can accurately take data that aligns with the criteria of my goal. For example, if I write the mastery criteria for 4 out of 5 trials, then I make sure my data sheet has a spot to record all 5 trials. I also include a progress report in each student's data binder. You can grab a copy here. Each month, I average my student's data for each goal and record it on the progress report. When it's time for parent teacher conferences, I enter the averages into the typed version of the progress report, add a comment, and send it home. It's quick and easy and makes my life so much easier when it's time to send home progress! Train paraprofessionals to take data. Finally, and most importantly, train your paras to take data! They are there to help, and data collection is a huge part of your job. Train them! They can do it! And it will make your life so much easier! Data collection and progress monitoring can be so stressful. I hope these tips help you get a good system in place! Good luck this school year!

A mail delivery program is a perfect way to practice and generalize social skills, pre-vocational skills, and even sorting! My students LOVE delivering mail, and it allows our faculty to get to know them better. Mail delivery is a great classroom job. Ready to get started in your special education classroom? Read these tips! What is a Mail Delivery Program? Our mail delivery program works like this: We pick up teacher mail from our mailboxes in the faculty room and deliver mail to each teacher during that teacher's prep period. If the teacher doesn't have mail, we bring them a No Mail treat. Students practice greeting the teacher when they enter the classroom, and some a conversation with the teacher if that's a goal area. What You'll Need for a Mail Delivery Program a cart of some sort to put the mail on a crate hanging files for each class period or part of the day that you deliver a file folder for each teacher that you deliver to a container for your No Mail treats visuals data clipboard if you are recording data How to Get Started with Mail Delivery To start, you'll want to first get permission from your principal. Second, send out a Google form to each teacher in your school (or give each teacher a printed form) to find out if they want to participate and when their prep time is. Then, set up your mail delivery cart, create your schedule, prep your visuals, and you're ready to go! I assign one student per class period to deliver mail. This way, they learn their "route" and can build relationships with the teachers they deliver to. I plan on about 10 minutes for mail delivery, but it may be more or less depending on the size of your school and the ability of your students. It's important to provide specific feedback when the student is learning their route, just like you would with any new skill. When needed, we also role-play and practice our greetings before we leave the classroom. Also, fair warning, some teachers may need some training up front on how to interact with the students and what the goal of the program is! How to Accommodate Your Mail Delivery Program To help students identify the teacher's mailbox, you can color code mailboxes and your files with a simple sticker or different colored tape. For low vision students, you can place textured paper/materials on the file for the student to feel. Match the texture to the teacher's mailbox and classroom door. For non-verbal students, program their AAC devices with the mail script, or use a Big Mac switch to record a greeting. Mail Delivery Starter Kit Ready to get started? I've created a Mail Delivery Starter Kit just for you! Inside, you'll find: File folder labels Daily schedule Teacher sign up letter No mail treat tags Visual schedules Mail delivery scripts AAC switch labels You can download your FREE Mail Delivery Starter kit in the resource library. I'd love to hear how it goes!

Color coding classroom materials by level is one of those things that wish I had started my first year of teaching. It's been a life changer in my classroom! Most often, our special education classrooms are full of students whose instructional levels vary greatly. I like to have materials and activities that are easy for students to access independently and for my paras to assist with, but I want my students to complete tasks that are at their level. To do this effectively with minimal interruptions, I use a colored-coded level system. Here is how it works. This post contains affiliate links and I may earn a small commission when you click on the qualifying links at no additional cost to you. As I purchase and prep new activities, I organize them into one of 5 colored levels. Each year, I assign students a color. When it's time for independent work or when there is downtime due to a schedule change or behavior, students can just grab a task of their color and get to work! I use this system for file folder activities, task cards, and centers. My color coded level system looks like this: Red: 2nd-3rd grade reading level, numbers over 100, multiplication, division, fractions Yellow: 1st grade reading level, counting and numbers to 100, WH questions, addition, subtraction and calculator math Green: writing words, CVC words, sight words, counting & numbers to 20, letter sounds Blue: identical matching, tracing, counting & numbers to 10, letter identification, etc. Purple: Errorless Here are some of the items that I use to keep everything organized. The images are affiliate links- you can click on them if you're interested in purchasing! Colored file folders: For file folders, I prep them on the correct color folder so leveling is super easy! Colored book bins: These are perfect for storing file folders or adapted books! Colored dot or star stickers: If you have regular manila file folders, just place a sticker on the tab to level. You can level task cards with these as well. Astrobrights paper: I print all of my center labels directly on Astrobrights paper, then attach the label to the baggie. Do you level your classroom activities? I'd love to hear how!

It's Back to School time! I don't know about you, but the school supply section of every store is like a magnet to me. I just can't stay away. I do a lot of stocking up for the year during August, so I'm here to share my essentials with you. Don't worry, this isn't another post about buying lamination and Velcro. But if you still need the basics, you can check out Part 1 here. This post contains affiliate links and I may earn a small commission when you click on the qualifying links at no additional cost to you. Goo Gone Remove anything sticky with ease! I always had a bottle of Goo Gone in my classroom. If you need to clean your Velcro scissors, this stuff is great! DVD Pouches These DVD pouches are great for storing picture icons. I used them to store the pieces for adapted books. Just punch in the binding machine and add it to the back of the book. You can also use them for visual schedules. My students placed their icons in the pouch when finished. Adapted Scissors Adapted scissors are great for students with fine motor challenges. Lens Cleaning Wipes I used lens cleaning wipes to clean iPad or tablet screens. Many of my students had AAC devices, so I kept a box of these to wipe off their gooey fingerprints! Timers We can never have too many timers in our special education classrooms. These digital classroom timers are magnetic, so you can just stick them on the whiteboard and grab one when needed. Dab & Dot Markers My students loved these Dot Art Markers! It's a fun way for students to record their answers on a multiple-choice worksheet. We also used them to record how our day was in our daily communication logs. Plastic Tote Bins Plastic tote bins are my go-to for task boxes, task cards, etc. So many uses! Tablet or Book Stands These stands are great for holding iPads or tablets, but they are also great to hold books or student materials. I have had several students who require picture icons presented on a large board. I used a book stand to hold the adapted book while I presented the answer choices. That way, they can still see the book if they need to! Looking for more? Check out the entire Amazon list here for everything you could possibly need! What are your classroom essentials?

Do you have a peer tutor program at your school? I cannot recommend it enough! Working with peer tutors is one of my favorite parts of my job. There are so many benefits for everyone involved!If you don't and are wanting to get started, check out this great Q&A post, then come back and finish reading these tips. If you're ready to start, or you want some tips about improving your program, then you're in the right spot! Let me tell you about how I run my Peer Tutor program. First, let me give you a quick run down of my program. Students register for Peer Tutoring during school registration. I do require that they get a signature directly from me to sign up. This way I can keep count and only sign up the amount of peers that I need (I've learned from experience that too much help=chaos and more work for me). Each class period, I have between 3 to 5 peer tutors, and they stay with me for the whole trimester. After training peer tutors, I assign them to a student and it becomes their job to help that student throughout the trimester. My peer tutors do everything from going to general education classes with students to running programs. I also grade my peer tutors, which means I require them to complete assignments each week. Tips for Running a Peer Tutor Program: 1. Require active participation. Peer tutors are there to work with the students, so let them! In order for this to be successful, it's important to find a good match between peers. I generally take about a week to assign peer tutors to a student and spend time observing their interaction in class. I also have them fill out a questionnaire at the beginning of the trimester to help find a good fit. I want everyone to have an enjoyable experience! You can grab the questionnaire here! 2. Take the time to train. I get it. You're busy. But if you don't take the time to train right from the beginning, you're adding more work to you're already full plate! The first week of school, I plan lots of simple activities and centers that my paraprofessionals can run so that I can train my peer tutors. If you are unable to do this, I recommend creating training videos or PowerPoints that you can have a para play for the peer tutors. (Do this over the summer so you're ready to go on day 1!) There are some things I train everyone on every trimester. Then, depending on who the peer tutor is working with, I do a more in-depth, one on one training! 3. Set up expectations, responsibilities and/or assignments. I like to have assignments for my peer tutors because it's how I keep them responsible and accountable. All of my assignments relate to working with individuals with disabilities and require some sort of reading or video to watch and then a reflection on how the peer tutor can apply the skill. If you don't want to do assignments, I still recommend at least a weekly reflection log or check in of some sort. It helps students feel like they have a purposeful and meaningful job and like you care about what they are doing and want to know how it's going. 4. Keep the lines of communication open. This is your classroom and you are responsible. Make sure that you know what's going on with your peer tutors and their assigned buddy. I do a weekly check in. Every Friday, my peer tutors complete a Check In questionnaire on Canvas in my classroom. Here's what I ask- I find that I get a lot more info out of my peer tutors when it's in a written format instead of just verbally asking. (You know how teenagers can be!) I also complete observations at least once throughout the trimester so I can give my peer tutors feedback and additional pointers when working with the students. A few final words of advice- Make it simple and make it work for you. You don't have to run your program like someone else. Make it do-able for you and make it work for your students needs. Always be sure that your peer tutors know their purpose. They are there first and foremost to be the student's friend, not another teacher. You have to put in the time upfront to train, teach expectations, and routines. Just like with any classroom of students, do it right or do it again (and again, and again). Make it fun! This is your opportunity to share your love for working with individuals with disabilities with other students. You have the opportunity to inspire young adults to become special educators. It's an amazing thing! Finally, if you're looking for more ideas, I recommend checking out these websites! Kentucky Peer Tutoring The Peer Buddy Program Website Questions or Comments? I'd love to hear about your program, or what's stopping you from having one! Leave a comment below.

In order to develop a true educational team for our students with special needs, parent communication is essential. Here are my favorite tips and tricks for simplifying parent communication in the SPED classroom. 1. Communication folders: I like to put myself in my student's parents shoes from time to time. If I had a student who was nonverbal, or had limited communication skills, I think it would be extremely frustrating not to know what my child did on a daily basis. This is the main reason I send home communication folders. Also, it's a quick and easy way to let parents know that they need to send in items or to send home completed work. I always have some parents who do not take the folders out of the student's backpack, but I still send them, in case they ever want to! For these parents, it's important to have another method of communication for important notifications and messages. I use the plastic pocket folders that you can get at any office supply store. They (usually) last me the whole year, aren't bulky and are super inexpensive. Walmart always has them on sale during Back to School. You will want to decide if you will be the person filling out the folders, or if you want your students to fill out their own folders. I have done this both ways. If you'd rather fill it out yourself, you can create a quick and easy sheet that works for your schedule or you can use these editable ones. Last year, I used these amazing communication sheets from Brie at Breezy Special Ed and Dab and Dot markers from Amazon. 2. Newsletters: I love sending home newsletters. It's an easy way to share what we are doing in class and to provide information and training to my student's families. I send home a monthly newsletter because I don't want to bombard my parents with papers and notes. In each newsletter, I include info about our Core Vocabulary words for the month, our community based instruction focus, donation requests and a blurb with advice about transitioning to adulthood (this is something that I am really passionate about and believe needs to begin in middle school!) I send home a paper copy in the students communication folders and an email copy. Tip: Put all your parent email addresses in your BCC address box to keep them confidential. 3. Google Voice: Guys, this has been a lifesaver! I use text messages as a main form of communication with many of my student's parents and I used to give them my personal cell phone number. Not anymore! Google Voice is free and super easy. You create a phone number, install the app, sync it to your personal number and voila, you are all set! I give this number to my parents and they can call and text it. The best part is that all of my phone records, text messages and voicemails are logged and sent to my email. Boom- instant communication log! Seriously, go check it out! (I'm not getting anything for telling you about this, I just love it and want to make your life easier.) What's your preferred way to communicate with parents? Leave me a comment below!

I have a love/hate relationship with math. I hate doing it, but I love teaching it. I think I love teaching it because I want my students to learn it differently than I did. Teaching math in special education, specifically for students with significant disabilities, is like throwing darts while blindfolded and hoping that you hit the board. There is very little curriculum available and most instruction and IEP goals focus on functional skills, like telling time and counting money. Additionally, most special educators do not take any instructional math courses. On the opposite end, regular education teachers have very specific curriculum, time blocks, and standards for teaching math. But how can you use what you are required to use to help the students that just aren’t “getting it”? Here are some of my go-to strategies for struggling mathematicians. The great thing about these strategies are that they can be adapted regardless of the curriculum you are using and can be used for any mathematical concept or skill. Teach using a concrete-representational-abstract (CRA) teaching sequence. This teaching sequence is a research based approach that ensures that students have a complete, thorough understanding of the concept or skill. If a student first develops a concrete understanding of the concept, they are more likely to be able to perform AND understand the skill at an abstract level. Begin by modeling and teaching the skill using concrete materials (manipulatives and objects). When students demonstrate mastery at the concrete level, move to the representational (or semi-concrete) level. In this level, the skill is modeled and taught using drawings or symbols that represent the manipulatives that were previously used. Last, when students demonstrate mastery at the representational level, you are ready to move to the abstract level. In the abstract level, the skill is modeled and taught using only numerals and math symbols. Reminder- make sure you provide plenty of independent practice at each level!!! Here is an example of how I teach multiplication using the CRA approach. The math curriculum Equals by Ablenet and TouchMath both use this approach. Many of my students will not make it to an abstract level, especially in one year, and that's ok. They are still learning math skills and I can ensure that they are proficient at the concrete or representational level. Teaching with this approach has helped my students understand how and when to use the skill. When we are teaching real world, functional skills to students who have disabilities, this is the goal! They don't need to be able to complete a 20 problem worksheet. They need to know when they have to add to get a total price when they are grocery shopping or that they need to subtract when figuring out if they have enough money to make a purchase. Model, model, model. Please, just model. When you are trying to help those kiddos that are struggling, don’t give them a chance to ingrain errors from the beginning. Show them exactly what to do AND talk through your thinking. Talk through the barriers and struggles you hit when solving the problem and how you can work around them. Talk about how you know what steps to take. Modeling not only provides students with the correct way to solve a problem, but by modeling the language, you are providing them with a model of perseverance and teaching them how to think and talk about math. This may seem like such an obvious step, but I still find myself skipping over it. I am always finding jumping too quickly to guided or independent practice but when I ensure that I model the skill at each of the above steps (concrete, representational and abstract) my students are so much more successful. It's important to be intentional and include modeling in your lesson. Connect it to real life. Students that struggle with math generally don’t understand why they need to learn the skills. Connecting the concept to real life not only provides a rationale but also allows them to practice the skill in their daily life. It takes a bit more effort but you can make most math skills functional. I start by asking myself, "When will my students need to perform this skill?" When do I solve multiplication problems in real life? When do I need to understand greater and less than in real life? This gives me a ultimate goal and it's easier to break the concept into teachable parts if I know what my end goal is. Plus, is there a better way to stress the importance of a skill than to actually see how we use it in our lives? Hopefully these strategies give you some ideas to help your struggling mathematicians. See ya next time! The math curriculum Equals by Ablenet and TouchMath both use this approach. Many of my students will not make it to an abstract level, especially in one year, and that's ok. They are still learning math skills and I can ensure that they are proficient at the concrete or representational level. Teaching with this approach has helped my students understand how and when to use the skill. When we are teaching real world, functional skills to students who have disabilities, this is the goal! They don't need to be able to complete a 20 problem worksheet. They need to know when they have to add to get a total price when they are grocery shopping or that they need to subtract when figuring out if they have enough money to make a purchase.

I love my independent work task station! I think it's so important for our students to be able to complete a task independently!!! Disclaimer: I call my station TEACCH tasks, although I haven't been officially trained on the TEACCH program (it's on my bucket list 😊). If you are unfamiliar with TEACCH, you can read more about it here. This is my independent work task station. I am extremely limited on space in my classroom so I have been unable to use the traditional plastic shoe box storage system that you see in a lot of SPED classrooms. Instead, I use a cube shelf, cube bins and pencil pouches. I have labeled each of my bins with the tasks that are inside. All tasks in bin 1 are simple motor tasks, bin 2 is sorting and matching tasks, bin 3 is language arts and bin 4 is math. On top of my shelf are functional/ life skills tasks. I have taped the symbol on each task along with visual directions, so students can easily find the task and know exactly what to do. Student schedules are set up daily by one of my paras. When it's time for a student to complete the independent task, the student checks his schedule, finds the task that matches the icon on his schedule and completes the task at the work station. When finished, students put the task in the "finished" bin. It's extremely important that students do not take apart the task that they finished for a couple of reasons. First, you want to be able to check that they did it correctly, and second, we want them to see a purpose in completing a task. I don't do work just to immediately undo/redo it and we shouldn't make our students either. After completing the task, students take the icon off of their schedule and place it in a finished pouch. At the end of the day, one of my paras resets all the completed tasks and puts them away. Here are some of my the independent tasks that I use in my classroom. Most of my tasks are ones that I have found for free online or created from items at Dollar Tree. If you are looking for task ideas, I highly recommend the "Tasks Galore" books (affiliate link). For more ideas, check out my Work Task board on Pinterest and the Independent Work Tasks in my store. Where do you find ideas for your tasks?

Working with and managing paraeducators is one of the toughest parts of being a special educator. I am constantly hearing SPED teachers begging for help with their paraeducators. The fact is we couldn't run our classrooms without our paras. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of time or resources to put into training and teaching them, but luckily, there are some wonderful people who created resources for us. AbleNet Recorded Webinars: AbleNet is curriculum and technology company that creates products for individuals with disabilities. Not only is their curriculum amazing, but they have a wealth of free webinars available for educators. You can also sign up for live webinars for free. Currently, AbleNet has several webinars related to paraeducators. Some are specifically for paraeducators and others are for the teachers managing the paraeducators. Check them out here. PaTTAN Training Series: These free training sessions for paraeducators are great. There are so many topics! You do have to create an account for this one, or you can just download the training materials here and wing it. Project Para: This is a self study program for paraeducators that is currently free of charge. You have to request registration for your school but then you can add as many paras as you want. Each unit has a pretest, an activity, and a posttest that must be evaluated by the teacher. There are 14 units, from special education basics to assistance with certain subject areas. Units take an average of 2 hours to complete. You can sign up here. You can see how I work with my paras in this 3 part series- Part 1: Hiring & Establishing Expectations, Part 2:Scheduling & Ongoing Communication and Part 3: Training. How do you train your paras???

Have you heard? Teachers Pay Teachers site wide Cyber Monday sale starts tomorrow, 11/28! You can save up to 28% using the promo code CYBER2016. My whole store is on sale! I am linking up with some amazing sellers to share my most wishlisted resources! You can check out the original post from Daisy Designs here. #1: IEP Goal Graph {Editable} This is my best seller and favorite classroom tool! I use this goal graph for every program and IEP goal that I run in my classroom. It's so easy to use and makes progress monitoring a breeze. Plus, I am a visual person, and being able to glance at a graph to see how a student is progressing is so much quicker! #2: Grocery Store Budgeting Unit for Special Education This is a must have for secondary special education classrooms! It includes worksheets, task cards and visuals at three levels to teach all of your students basic budgeting. And bonus, all proceeds from sales of this product are being donated to the amazing Family House San Francisco, an organization that provides free temporary housing for families of critically ill children who are being treated at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital. #3: Editable Punch Cards These punch cards can be used for so many things- bathroom passes, homework passes, classroom goals, etc. And they are editable so you can customize them to meet your classroom needs. I use these in my classroom for our weekly classroom clean up. My students can trade in their card for a free pizza coupon from one of our local pizza chains. They love getting their card punched each week! Head over to TpT, make sure leave feedback on your past purchases to get your TpT credits for the sale tomorrow, and then load up your cart and shop away! Don't forget the promo code! Happy shopping!

Hi teacher friends! I am here to talk to you today about my favorite functional skills instruction, environmental signs! I just love teaching about signs! There are quite a few curricula available for teaching signs in special education. In my classroom, I have both Edmark Signs Around You and Pro Ed's Survival Signs. Edmark teaches 100 words total and Survival Signs teaches 80 words total (40 indoor/40 outdoor). I also have designed my own curriculum called "Reading in Real Life" and I have a signs edition. You can read more about it here.I generally run a functional skills class period, which includes sign instruction, with each of my students. I have created the Reading in Real Life word list of signs that my students should know now (in middle school). I have this list split into 4 sections- warning & safety signs, indoor & lobby signs, community signs, and directional signs. Each section has 25 signs and I introduce up to 5 words at a time, depending on the student. Regardless of what program you use, there's 3 components to include when teaching environmental signs. Like when teaching academic vocabulary, it's essential that students build comprehension and understand the meaning of the word. For example, if you can identify an employees only sign but don't know what "employees" are, it doesn't really matter that you can read the sign. Students must understand what each sign means. In addition, it's beneficial for them to know where certain signs are located. I also post as many signs as I can in my classroom, in natural locations, so we can generalize and practice in real life scenarios Over the years, I've created tons of resources for teaching environmental signs and have them posted in my store. You can grab a free sample of my Reading in Real Life: Signs Task Cards here! Thanks for reading!

I don't know about you, but as a SPED teacher, I feel like 75% of my job is creating visuals! Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but seriously, visuals are so important for our kiddos! This year I have 6 out of my 7 students who are non-verbal or use a communication device, so every activity and every lesson requires some sort of visual. Here are my favorite tips and tricks for creating and managing visual supports in a special education classroom. 1. Color code or number your visuals. If you have multiple schedules or students with picture communication systems, assign a color or a number to each student. Print your visuals on colored paper, or number the back of the icon and when you end up with extras stuffed in your pants pockets, scattered across the room, or randomly appearing throughout the school, you will know exactly who to return them to! 2. Have a system for organization. This is my favorite. I've also used a binder, CD pouches, Ziploc bags, or pocket charts. 3. Print extras! Whenever I need a visual, I always print extras. I put them in my organization system (see #2). 4. Save Velcro, use chip clips! This has been my new favorite thing this year. I use these black felt boards a LOT. They are great to eliminate distraction and present visuals at eye level. However, to use them, I have to put the hook Velcro on the back of all the visuals, even the ones we only use for one lesson. So to save Velcro, I've started clipping the visuals on using chip clips. It's quick (not as quick as Velcro, but you win some, you lose some) and cheap! 5. Save more Velcro, use felt. Another way that I save on the amount of Velcro that I use is by using felt in binders to stick the visuals too. You can buy sheets of binder size felt for less than a quarter each at any craft store. I just hold punch the sheets and use them to store my visuals on when I need them in binders. 6. Place stationary visuals around the classroom so they are always in the same spot and easily accessible. These are a few that I have around my classroom. 7. Create templates. I use PowerPoint to make my visuals, but you can also do this with Boardmaker or Smarty Symbols. Create a new document filled with the correct size of squares and save it as a template. Now, every time you need new visuals, just open up your template and place your images into your pre-made squares. And if you have students who need different size visuals or high contrast text, you can make a template for each student. You can check out my "Visual Supports" Pinterest board for more ideas on using and managing visual in your classroom. I'd love to hear your tips and tricks for using visuals! Leave me a comment below!

If you're not using visual schedules in your classroom yet, you are missing out! Not only do they provide students with a visual reminder of the events of the day, but they help with anxiety, provide organization and structure, teach time concepts, and promote independence. Here are ten different ideas for types of visual schedules for your students with autism or other disabilities. 1. Red Yellow Green Visual Schedule I love how this schedule uses the stoplight colors to indicate what's currently happening and what's next! 2. First/Then Schedule I'm a huge fan of the "First, Then" schedule. And the binder storage for extra images would really help keep everything organized. 3. Task Schedule with Reinforcers I love, love, love how the pill box holds a reinforcer. This would be perfect for students who need immediate reinforcement after completing a task. 4. First/ Next/ Then Schedule This takes the idea of "First, Then" to the next level, and it's perfect for students who are beyond First/Then but not quite ready for a full day schedule. 5. Color Coded Visual Schedules Keep track of what visuals belong to who by printing on colored paper! I also love the icons at the top of these schedules for an extra visual cue. 6. Flap Schedule Students close the flap when the task is done. This is great for students that don't have the motor skills to place the icon in a "finished" pocket or container. 7. iPad Visual Schedule This $13 app looks amazing! Drag and drop when the task is finished. 8. Finished Box What a great idea to use an index card holder to place the icons in when finished. 9. Whole Class Daily Schedule This is a great way to display your classroom schedule in either a special education classroom or a general education classroom. This type of schedule would be great for students who are working on telling time! 10. Clipboard Visual Schedules These are easy to carry around and display! I love the To Do and the Done side for task completion. How do you decide what type of visual schedule to use in your classroom?

Want a smooth start to your school year? Teaching rules, expectations, and procedures are a MUST, regardless of what kind of classroom you are in. I always start my first few weeks by teaching, reviewing, practicing, and practicing some more. I like my classroom rules to be general and applicable to all areas, but for students to understand each rule, we need to give them specific examples. Visual supports are a must-have for teaching classroom rules in a special education setting. Here's a great way to introduce classroom rules to your students. My new classroom rules are: 1. Be safe. 2. Be kind. 3. Work hard. 4. Have fun. I love these rules because I can fit almost every positive behavior under one of the four, and they're short, sweet, and easy to remember! On the first day back with students, I introduce our rules with a fun sorting activity. After introducing the rules, I gave each student a positive behavior example. The student shares it with the class and then places the image underneath the rule that it goes best with. All of my students can participate in this activity, and it really helps them understand what each rule means and which behaviors align with the rules. And it's super easy and low prep, exactly what you need for a first-week activity! After teaching your rules initially, make sure you review and practice throughout the first few weeks of school. It's important not to teach them once and expect them to remember! To help you start your year off better, you can grab the rules and the behavior visuals here for free in my resource library! Leave me a comment and let me know how the activity worked in your classroom. Happy Back to School, and good luck!

I can't believe its back to school time already! Where has the summer gone!? I hope you've had plenty of time to relax and rejuvenate before heading back to work. I was enjoying my vacation on the beach when I started getting emails and notifications about TpT's Back to School Sale. You can read more about TpT in this post. I LOVE this back to school sale. Today, I'm linking up with Speech Classroom News to show you all of the awesome resources that are in my cart! I love me some file folders and these are going to be great for my students this year. One can never have too many data sheets. Check out these super cool sticky note data sheets! I love the idea of a Fun Food Friday! These visual recipes are great! I'm always looking for low prep reading activities and I love these! And here are some of the best selling products from my store. This calendar set is my favorite! You can see what it looks like in my classroom here. I love this grocery store budgeting unit in my secondary special education classroom. It includes three different levels so you can print and use it with all of your students. These Match It tasks are a great addition to your work task system! Check out the other link up's here and comment below with your must-have purchase from the sale!

Trying to decide on a classroom theme for the new school year? Here's a peek at my favorite classroom decor bundle! With cool colors and watercolor floral accents, it's a calming and beautiful way to tie your classroom together. Classroom Supply Labels These pen and marker cups will look adorable sitting on my desk, out of student reach! These classroom labels come in so many different sizes and shapes, and you can add your text and favorite font to organize your classroom supplies! Watercolor Word Wall These will be laminated and hung on the wall for our Word Wall. Grab them for free in the resource library. If you prefer alphabet posters with pictures for your younger students, they are a part of the Word Wall resource. Classroom Supplies Storage I LOVE these locker storage bins from The Dollar Tree. I snatched up all of these colors as soon as I saw them, and they haven't had the same color since. I'm going to replace the labels with the Calm & Cool labels set! Watercolor Classroom Calendar This calendar is by far my favorite part of the room. The colors look so good together, and they pop on the black background! Classroom Binder Covers & Spines Ignore the dirty binders. I love using data binders for each student. It makes data collection much easier in my classroom. Now I just need to teach the students to put them away in an ABAB pattern! Want to use a Calm & Cool Watercolor theme for your classroom? Grab the bundle! Tell me about your classroom decor! Are you re-decorating this year? What's your classroom theme? Leave me a comment below!

Fellow SPED friends, I have a confession. I am addicted to Teachers Pay Teachers. Have you heard of it? I thought everyone had, but lately I've found myself explaining it to so many people! Teachers Pay Teachers is an amazing website, full of products and freebies made by teachers for teachers. It's a wealth of high quality resources at your fingertips and if you're not using it, you need to be! Teachers Pay Teachers is quickly growing and is not only for elementary teachers, but is becoming chalk full of great resources for special educators, SLPs, and secondary teachers. You can check out my store here. Here are some tips for using TpT to find the best products and freebies to use in your classroom. Use the search bar and narrow your search. TpT has just updated their search feature and it's a great way to find exactly what you are looking for. You can narrow your search by keyword, grade, subject, resource type and price. Earn free products! Did you know that when you purchase a product on TpT and then leave feedback on the product that you can earn credits? Earn 20 TpT credits and get $1 off your next purchase. To leave feedback, go to the "My Purchases" section and click on Provide Feedback link. Please remember, teacher sellers work really hard on these resources. Of course, they want to create things that work for you and they appreciate your feedback. But please be kind. And if you are having technical difficulties or see a typo, please reach out to the seller through the Q&A section before leaving feedback. Most sellers are eager to help! You can check you credits balance by clicking on the Account Balance link in the My TpT dropdown menu. Access your purchases and your free downloads through "My Purchases". Log into your account and access your purchases from any computer or device. You can download your purchases as many times as you need to. And if a seller updates a product that you have purchased or downloaded, you can easily re-download to get the update for free! Download the free preview, if it's available. Many sellers include a preview of their product. To get a closer look before buying, download the preview. And remember, you can zoom in and see it closer! Many sellers also include a preview video of their products. You can view this by hovering over the video thumbnail and pressing play. Follow your favorite sellers. This is a great way to see when your favorite sellers post new products and quickly find your favorites when you are looking for a resource. Just click the green "Follow Me" link under the seller's name when you visit their store. TpT recently released a new fundraising tool called TpT ClassFund. You can use ClassFund to raise money to purchase TpT items. Just set it up here and share with your friends and family! Disclaimer: I do not recommend sharing your ClassFund link with your students or their parents, as it may be against your school policies. Get more information about a resource or what it includes by reaching out to the seller through Q&A. When viewing a resource, scroll down to the reviews and click the Product Q&A tab. Make sure you also click the "Email me when seller responds" box so you receive a notification when the seller responds. You may also want to see if the question you want to ask has already been answered previously. If you're looking for some great SPED resources, check out these sellers! High School/ Transition Age Breezy Special Ed Autism the Teen Years Adulting Made Easy Charley's Classroom Middle School Age Miss Lulu Special Ed Teach Love Autism Sailing the Spectrum Spedtacular Days AUsome Adolescents Adventures in Behavior Preschool & Elementary Age Teaching Special Thinkers Especially Education School Bells n' Whistles Autism Classroom Resources The Bender Bunch The Autism Helper The Resource Teacher Mrs. P's Specialties Mrs. D's Corner You Aut-a Know Supports for Special Students Simply Special Ed Miss Behavior The Designer Teacher Simply Visual Positively Learning Chalkboard Superhero Speech & Language Peachie Speechie Speechy Musings Cat Says Meow The Dabbling Speechie Live, Love Speech Occupational Therapy Sarah Bee OT Pink Oatmeal The OT Butterfly Do you sell on TpT? Are you a buyer? I'd love to check out your favorite stores! Leave a comment with your store name and your favorite stores! Thanks for reading!

Being a teacher is a hard job. And when you throw intense behavior, piles of paperwork, and collaboration and management with para professionals on top of teaching, it becomes even harder. 50% of special educators quit within 5 years. Here are a few tips that might help if you are struggling. Put you and your family first. I know you've heard this a million times. But it's so important so I'll say it again. At the end of the day, teaching is your job. Put yourself and your family above your job. Find an extracurricular activity. My first few years, before I had a baby and a life, everything I did revolved around school. People would ask me about my hobbies or what I do, and I had no answer because all I did, 24-7, was teaching and classroom related. For the sake of your social life, find a hobby! Take classes, workout, get artsy. Do something that doesn't directly relate to your teaching and try make time for it everyday. Delegate. You can't do it all. That's why you have paras to help. Learn what each of your paras really excels at and hand off some of your duties. Do you have to cut those picture icons out yourself? No. Do you have to create that behavior chart yourself? No. Do you have to IEP paperwork yourself? Yes, sorry. But there is SO much that you don't have to do on your own so quit trying to! Don't recreate the wheel. We are lucky to live in a world where the internet is readily available with unlimited ideas and resources. You don't have to create everything by yourself. Teachers Pay Teachers is an amazing website with amazing resources, even for amazing teachers. You can check out my store here. And here are some of my favorite SPED sellers. When it's really hard, take time to remember why you chose to teach. I'm guessing it probably wasn't because you love to write IEP goals or make tough parent phone calls. Take a day to spend with your students. Don't even turn on your computer (I dare you). Teach. Play games. Have fun. Because every now and then, we need a good reminder of how much we love our job and all the great parts about it. And I promise, the paperwork, emails, and IEP goals can wait a day. What do you do when you are feeling burnt out? I'd love to hear your tips! Leave a comment below. Thanks for reading!

For our students with significant disabilities, I can not stress enough the importance of beginning to teach transition skills early. Research tells us that transition planning should begin in middle school. It takes a long time for our students to master skills, and if we want them to be independent when they leave us at age 18 or 22, then we better start working on that independence early. One way to do that is through community based instruction. What is community based instruction? Community based instruction is exactly what it sounds like- instruction for skills needed in the community that's taught in the community. More specifically, community based instruction is regular and systematic instruction in meaningful, functional, age-appropriate skills in integrated community settings, using naturally occurring materials and situations. The goal is to provide a variety of hands-on learning opportunities to help students acquire the skills they need to live in the world today. Community based instruction, or CBI, is different than a field trip. CBI is sustained and repeated instruction, where a field trip is a one time experience. CBI involves teaching individual and small groups of students academic and other content during activities that occur naturally in community settings. When done correctly, CBI should provide students with opportunities to interact with people in the community, such as employees and customers. There are SO many benefits to community based instruction. Let's talk about a few of my favorites. 1. No need to generalize. Students taught in classroom settings are expected to generalize learned skills to other “real-world ” situations. Do you have students that can tell time on one of those unrealistic Judy clocks with 100% accuracy but can't tell time on a real clock to save their lives? This, my friends, is due to a lack of generalization. It is so frustrating to think that a student has mastered a skill only to discover that he can only do it in one setting, or with one person. When we teach a skill in the natural setting through CBI, we eliminate the need for a student to have to generalize the skill. They learn how to perform the skill in a real life setting from the beginning. 2. It provides exposure and access to community locations that we get to enjoy on a regular basis. The goal of special education is to provide access to education for everyone. This shouldn't be limited to school. Everyone, regardless of their disability, deserves access to the community. It's not something we have to earn. I don't have to complete my 40 hours of work each week before I'm allowed to run to McDonald's and buy myself an ice cream cone. Likewise, people with disabilities don't need to earn their way into the community by finishing school or with good behavior. It's a right that each one of us has. Unfortunately, our students with disabilities can be difficult to take out into community settings, and unfortunately, it's likely that their experience with their parents and family members in the community is limited. By using community based instruction, we are providing the access that all individuals deserve. In addition, we are able to teach those expected behaviors to hopefully make our family's jobs easier and increase community access at home. 3. Student motivation is increased during CBI. I have never had a student who wasn't motivated by community based instruction. With CBI, students are involved in real life activities that are relevant to them. CBI is driven by the student's strengths and needs and students get to see the rationale for learning the skills they have been working on in the classroom. 4. It's research-based. Using evidence-based practices is always the best way to go and CBI adheres to IDEA legislative mandates. Need I say more? 5. Community based instruction increases awareness of the potential of people with disabilities. We, as teachers and paras, have the opportunity to model to our community how to interact with people with disabilities. We can show them how much they are capable of. We can show the community the amazing things that we get to see in our classrooms each day. What an amazing opportunity that is! For more information about CBI, Beakley, Yoder and West published a great 190-page resource that's available online. Just google "Community-Based Instruction: A Guidebook for Teachers" and grab a copy. AND to help you start planning, I'm hooking you up with a FREEBIE! Here is the CBI planning worksheet that I use for my classroom. I'd love to hear how it goes! Leave me a comment or shoot me an email!

Teachers, I know how hard you work. You deserve a break! Luckily, there is this amazing website called Teachers Pay Teachers that makes your life so much easier. You can buy already made products, like this, that are perfect for your classroom needs, download them, print them and you're ready to go. And, lucky for you, I am giving away not one but two $10 Teachers Pay Teachers gift cards so you can shop til you drop! Enter below and make sure to check out my store during the TpT sale. Use the promo code CELEBRATE to save 28%. CONGRATULATIONS! Pamela and Mia- you win! Check your email for your TpT gift card! Thanks for playing, everyone!