I turned in my students' "alternative assessments" this week, and May starts just this next week.   Finals in the Clark County School district are the first full week of June.  I should be  hearing where I will teach Extended School Year this summer.  I'm hoping to have KIDS (early intervention autism program) class in the part of town where my job will be.  As I'm wrapping up a year at my middle school, I'm also getting ready for this summer and next year.  I will have a primary autism classroom, where I can use lots of ABA as part of my certification program.

For this summer, I am already working on resources for Early Intervention Extended School Year.  I am still working on worksheets for my Circus unit, which I hope will be up soon.  There will be an undersea unit, a cowboy unit, a circus unit, a patriot unit (for the fourth of July) and one of my favorites, a pirate unit.  We'll start with a camping unit, but clearly the first week will be devoted to teaching our routines (you know how I love my routines!) and getting everyone on the same page.   I hope my resources will help you have a successful ESY, as well.

Recently a video by the Stuart Chaifitz, father of an autistic boy from Cherry Hill, New Jersey went viral.  On it, the father details the repeated meetings he and his wife were having with his son's teacher, who was reporting aggression.  When nothing seemed to improve the boys behavior, dad sent his son in with a recording device in  his back pack.  It was amazing.   I have added a link so you can hear the tape for yourself. YouTube Link.

The controversy has moved to the teacher, who was reassigned rather than fired.  I do wonder:  isn't she responsible for her aide?  One of the problems, of course, is that the rules for supervising an aide often leave the teacher powerless.  As I take a new classroom I hope to be involved in interviewing candidates, but my hopes are not high.  From what I have heard from a resource room teacher in a graduate class I am taking, the pickings are slim.  One candidate she helped screen announced "I don't much like those special ed kids," to which the principal replied "You did read the job posting, didn't you?"

A lot of things leave me baffled.  Cherry Hill?  It's one of the most affluent districts in the country.  If the teacher had a master's degree and 13 years of experience, she could be making more than $100,000 a year.  Yes folks, they pay Read More...

Students with disabilities really get hammered sometimes by transportation.   Those who ride their regular school bus to their neighborhood school often exhibit misbehavior.  They may have ADHD along with their learning disability, and may have trouble sitting still in any situation.  Add in the excitement of seeing peers, often peers they want to impress, and students with disabilities get themselves into real trouble.

Students in specialized, self contained programs often need to ride the "SPED bus" because their inability to appreciate the danger of walking in front of vehicles or staying in their seat means that they need closer supervision.  Sometimes those students attend school in buildings far from their homes, and they may spend hours on the bus.  I had a long correspondence with a veteran who moved his family to the upper peninsula of Michigan, and his daughter spent hours on the bus every day, often getting only 4 (rather than 6 and a half) hours of instruction.

One thing we can do to help our students and  their families to succeed is to provide behavior monitoring tools to the bus driver that will help the student understand appropriate and inappropriate bus behavior, will give parents and teachers feed back, and hopefully  help students succeed on the bus.  I have provided two different free printable contracts you can use to support your students with their bus rid.

I'm deep into administering the NAA (Nevada Alternate Assessment) which involves videoing the sessions I do with my students.  At the same time, I'm interested in keeping my students engaged and reviewing all the social skills we have been focusing on for the year.  I like to use my favorite movies to support teaching social skills because my students with Autism Spectrum Disorders are such visual learners and they love media. (Ask one who is scripting, what show it is - you'd be amazed!)

One of my favorites is "The Sandlot" which tells the story of Scotty, an eleven year old who just moves to the central valley of California.  He doesn't have friends, his mother has just remarried and he lacks skills to succeed at the sport his neighbors are all involved with:  baseball.   It's a charming story, but it's also a good way to support students.  I wrote 3 lessons using the movie that include  Social Skill Cartoon Strip Interactions you can use with your students.

I find games are a really successful way to support instruction, as well.  I created a baseball game that you can play with your students.  The students pull cards from the top of the deck of cards I give you in a printable pdf file, and complete the interaction on the card for the number of bases on the card.

In the end, I decided to wrap it all up in a unit that you can use with your students.  This baseball unit provides a review of the rules of the game, a baseball game and lesson plans for viewing "The Sandlot."  I hope you find it useful!