An image of a person in a circle surrounded by icons representing life skills

Life Skills Assessment

Life skills are a broad topic to teach students. They can range from communication, safety, meal prep to managing money. Throughout our week, life skills are integrated into many activities we do. Our life skills program also changes as the need arises. We added a section in our life skills program about menstruation after our girls begun to get their period and we also added safety conversations after we learned about incidents at home and in the community.

Some common books to get you started with life skills program design and assessment are the FISH (Functional Independence Skills Handbook) and the Carolina Curriculum.

After connecting with parents early in the year about some life skills goals they had for their children, we developed a little 20 minute life skills time after lunch each day that looks like this:

Each student is assigned a life skill for two weeks. The assignment chart looks like this:

 

 

Each staff member is assigned two students to train in their life skill. The goal over the course of the two weeks is to move the student as close to independence as possible. Below is a portion of our assessment chart that helps us focus on where our students need assistance.  We may start with verbal and gestural prompts earlier in the process but by the end of their time on their assignment the need for prompts is reduced.

The goal of this life skills time is to have the student be contributing members of their family and the classroom. We have heard from many parents who are seeing the impact at home with students taking over responsibility of their own living space and helping with the care of shared space. My students feel good when they know that they have achieved a level of independence.

A drawing of a happy sun.

Top Ten Reasons to Work with Children who have Exceptionalities

If you are thinking about taking on a role of working with students with exceptionalities than this is the blog for you! Below are my top ten reasons why every teacher should consider working with students with developmental disabilities at some point in their career:

  1. The laughter never stops! I have never laughed so much as I have this year. My students say the funniest things and have the best sense of humour. They are continuously trying to make me laugh! They are motivated by my positive responses and are always trying to get me to crack up.
  2. Teamwork!! Teaching is such an isolated profession for the most part. You go to your classroom and spend all day with your students. No one else interacts with them as much you do and you have to make all the decisions alone. The only teaching job when you are not by yourself is when you have students who have additional support. Working with my ERFs this year has been awesome. It has been great to discuss things together and get input from another person’s perspective. It also has meant that I didn’t have to be everything to all my students at all times.
  3. Constant learning. Every day that I learn some new strategy or technique for helping my students be successful, I know that I am gaining skills to serve students that I will be teaching over the next 18 years. Taking this job has allowed me to focus on developing skills that are very specialized and take a lot of time to develop.
  4. Meaningful Work-In this role I am serving the part of the student population that is really vulnerable. I feel rewarded every day with every gain that my students make and every milestone that they cross. After 15 years of teaching this role has had some of the greatest rewards!!
  5. The families- The families that I serve are nothing short of awesome!! Due to the fact that my class is smaller and my students have a hard time communicating, I speak to my families multiple times in a week. I care about them deeply and it is the closest I have ever been with my student’s families before.
  6. Community- Since my class spends 3 years together, there is a really closeness that develops. We are like a family. They are a bonded little group and really enjoy the company of each other.
  7. Connections with my students are really meaningful- There is a very special relationship that develops when you don’t use words to communicate. You are really tuned in to how they are feeling and you can respond so much more emotionally when there are no words. It is a very deep connection.
  8. WOW moments!!!!!! When a student speaks to someone in the school for the first time or feels confident to walk around the school after a year of trying, it is the best feeling in the world!!
  9. Every day is different. For those of you like me that need constant change,  this is the job for you. Every day is completely different than the day before.
  10. Finally, just like I said at the beginning, the laughter never stops!

 

Comments for Alternative IEPs

As we begin the final reporting process of the year, I thought it might be useful to share some of my comments that were written on my alternative IEPs at the end of term one. I borrowed a few of my colleagues reports in the fall to get me started and I used their model to help design clear language that addressed my students’ goals on their IEPs.

That is what we often need, isn’t it? Just an example to get us started. However, for many of us who have been given roles that are unique within our school context, it can be difficult to get examples from amazingly talented individuals with lots of experience.

I am not that amazingly talented person with lots of experience. Not yet anyway. But the comments below might just give you an idea for the perfect way to describe your students in your classroom.

Communication Comments:

_______ is adjusting well to his new classroom at __________. Throughout the day, __ initiates interaction with both staff and students by moving closer to them and making sounds with his voice.  _______ is indicating his needs by motioning his hand in the direction of an object he wants. _____ does that frequently at snack time by motioning to his water bottle or during tech time when ___ would like to watch an iPad. _______will also communicate his frustration and dislike of an activity by crying or hitting others. _______  sometimes responds to his own name by making eye-contact especially when you are talking to him in a small group setting or singing him some of his favourite songs. _______________ will follow one step directions such as sit down, stand up and go to locker.

_______ communicates her needs and wants throughout the day at school to her teachers. _______ has good clarity when speaking and has made progress on her ability to speak slowly so that others can understand what she is trying to say. ________ often uses partial sentences and words to communicate with others and she will be encouraged in term two to add more detail to her sentences when speaking with others.

Life Skills Comments:

________ continues to require assistance to perform self care. He allows staff to brush his teeth and wash his face after lunch. ________ joins the class when we are pouring and stirring our ingredients in our cooking program.

______ continues to brush her teeth every day after lunch. She is really enjoying our cooking program and has helped prepare soup, sandwiches, stir ingredients and cutting vegetables. Now that her menstrual cycle has begun within the last few weeks, a focus will be placed in term two on helping _______ develop a routine where she can independently manage this new part of her life.

_____ actively participates in our cooking program in class. He loves making sandwiches, tacos, pouring ingredients and helping to stir ingredients. In January, he tried the food that we prepared for the first time. _______ continues to brush his teeth and wash his face after lunch with minimal prompting.

Functional Mathematics Comments:

______ is able to sort loonies, toonies and quarters with 100% accuracy but is unable to identify all the coins consistently. ______ can do single digit addition and subtraction using manipulatives  and is able to tell time to the half hour. _______ can recognize numbers and use them in real life contexts within the classroom such as finding the date for a classmates birthday.

Personal and Social Development Comments:

______ has made gains in his positive interaction with his classmates this term. He enjoys eating his snack with his tablemates and will ask them for assistance if he needs help. He also enjoys telling his classmates when they are being kind to him and each other throughout the day. _______ happily enjoys the class and enjoys being part of our whole class activities. The dance routines he can do with four of his classmates are amazing! ________ needs encouragement to choose a friend to do a pair activity and he will continue to be supported with that skill in term two.

_______ is engaging with his peers and staff regularly throughout the day by moving closer to them and making sounds. He smiles when he sees familiar friends and staff. His frequency of hitting others has become much less since the beginning of the year and he seems generally more content with his classmates and new school. ______ will hit others if he is irritated or trying to get there attention since he is unable to speak with his classmates. He can locate the area of his locker in the morning, at snack time and at lunch time.

Fine Motor Comments:

______ continues to enjoy fine motor activities in the class. He enjoys completing puzzles, playing with lego and using Theraputty. He independently zips up his jacket and puts on his snowpants, hats and gloves. ______ has become more comfortable with writing tasks this term and enjoyed writing some of the cards for our Christmas gifts. He has made progress on his ability to open his food wrappers at snack time. Now that ______ has started wearing jeans to school, he will be working on using his fine motor skills to unfasten and fasten his top button in term two.

______ continues to carry his communication bag and lunch bag into the classroom throughout the day. ________ prefers gross motor activities over fine motor activites and will often show his displeasure to doing his fine motor work by sticking his finger in his nose. We have been providing ________ with motivators and rewards such as his favourite shows Toopy and Binoo and positive praise which sometimes motivates him to do his fine motor work.

A blackboard with the schedule taped on it.

A Typical Day in a Class of Students with Developmental Disabilities

When I started my new role of supporting students with Developmental Disabilities this year, my biggest question really was about the structure of the day. Since it was my first time doing this role, I asked many other teachers who have been doing this role for a long time for advice. They shared with me how their day was structured and ideas for potential programming. I took many of their suggestions and paired them with ideas that met the needs of my students. Without the kindness of so many of my Peel colleagues, I would have been LOST! For those of you out there that will be taking on this new challenge in September, below is a typical day in our classroom to hopefully give you some ideas to get you started.

It is important to note that my schedule has changed at least 30 times since September as we worked towards the perfect fit for our students. All of our students and staff were new to our class this year and there were many things that impacted our schedule that I didn’t anticipate such as medical needs, busing schedules, integration opportunities, behavioural needs and student goals. The schedule is something that I am constantly reflecting on and am constantly tweaking as I observe my students and team in action.

A typical day in my class:

 

We enter the building and put our stuff in our lockers.

locker

We have our morning meeting.

Morning meeting

We do our morning work.

Morning Work

Snack time

snack

Gym or art

gym

 

Lunch/Life skills (Today was public transit training and eating in a restaurant)


McDonalds

Hygiene Routine (brushing teeth, brushing hair, washing face and putting on deodorant)

Toothpasteonbrush

Afternoon work time/social skills


Games and work

Pack up and get ready to go home

Attending ISRC (In-School Review Committee)

Most of us will attend an ISRC (In-School Review Committee) at some point during our career. Usually, it is for students that we have concerns about in a variety of areas including behaviour, academic success, emotional well being etc… In my experience, the ISRC will include an administrator, a Special Education teacher and a variety of other professionals from outside your school. The goal of the ISRC is to review and monitor students’ needs.

Like many other things in teaching, no one really sits you down and explains how to get the best out of your trip to the ISRC. I wish someone had told me how to prepare and what to ask for so that my students could get the best services possible.  After one year in a special education role, I have learned many things that I didn’t know before and I can share with you how I now prepare for an ISRC.

Before I go, I answer the following questions:

What is the problem? Is the student struggling academically, is attendance an issue, have they gone through some kind of trauma, is there severe behaviour, are they going through difficult financial times etc. Before you go before the panel have the issue that you are trying to address very clear in your mind. Basically, what is in the way of this student being an academically successful contributing member of the classroom? If it is multiple things, pick one to start.

Have I done my homework? Get out the OSR for this student to see if this student has ever had any kind of supports before. Referrals, signed consent forms and reports of service should all be in the OSR for you to review. A good team at the ISRC table will ask about previous supports for the student.

Do I have evidence to support my student’s need? Evidence will help you answer any questions that the panel may have for you. Evidence may include attendance records, assignments, report cards or behaviour tracking sheets. Basically, anything to demonstrate your student’s need.

Have I called the parents to communicate my concerns? Before you step foot in ISRC you should communicate your concerns with parents and explain that you will be going to discuss their child at an In School meeting.

What services does the student need? Before I started my current job, I literally had no idea what supports were even available to ask for. This is the mistake that I made many times early in my career. I went to ISRC not to ask for services but to highlight a student I was worried about. No one told me that going to talk about a student I was worried about was sometimes not a useful exercise.  I wish I could go back in time and request social work for my student who was always absent and Speech for my student who was struggling with his articulation.

Nobody told me that you could ask for:

  1. Speech and Language Therapy. Can address concerns about articulation, assistive technology, programming and communication needs.
  2. Occupational Therapy. Can address concerns about fine motor, gross motor, sensory needs and daily life tasks such as toileting, putting on clothing, holding a pencil and tying shoes.
  3. Physical Therapy. Can address concerns about physical mobility and safety around the school and in the classroom.
  4. Social Work. Can address concerns about family trauma, attendance and mental health. They can also provide support in making connections with community support.
  5. Phycologist. Can perform Physcoeducational assessments and support on the writing of a safety plan
  6. Behaviour Team. Can observe, plan and consult on behaviour at school and at home and help with behaviour that is interfering with academic success.

Obviously, there is usually a long, long wait list for many of the services and the services are often given to students that are most in need first. However, if you never ask, the student will never receive the help you are looking for.

One final thought

If the student is struggling academically, you can go to ISRC to get input on teaching strategies from the panel. However, please keep in mind that out of all of the people in the room you are the only one that has taught the student. It can be very frustrating listening to a group of people suggest strategies that you know will not work because of your experience with the student. It makes more sense to invite a colleague or a teacher in the school with special education experience to come in to your class and to co-teach a lesson and discuss strategies. After you have tried a few strategies and have some data to demonstrate the effectiveness of those strategies a trip to ISRC could be the next step and the experts in the room will be able to provide more effective feedback.

 

Thanks for all that you do every day to support your amazing students at your school!

 

 

A poster for "Rock Your Socks" World Down Syndrome Day.

World Down Syndrome Day

On March 21st, our class celebrated World Down Syndrome Day.  World Down Syndrome Day is designed to recognize and celebrate the contributions of people with Down Syndrome. It is also a day to highlight the rights, inclusion and well being of those with Down Syndrome.

It is common for many schools and places around the world to demonstrate their acknowledgement of the day by wearing unusual or mismatched socks. This simple act encourages all of us to celebrate uniqueness and diversity.

For us, preparing to wear our special socks was a great way to start the conversation about this fantastic day.We sang the song “Lots of Socks” every morning throughout the month of March and spoke daily about Down Syndrome.

On the 21st of March, we had a celebration in the morning where we all shared what was special about each of us. We spoke about Down Syndrome and all the amazing people in the world with Down Syndrome. And of course, we showed off our socks!

socks2

In addition to our class celebration, I thought I would share some of the things that I have learned this year.

I am very fortunate that I teach 5 students with Down Syndrome. It has been my first-time teaching students with Down Syndrome so I had a lot of misconceptions going into the role and I have learned a lot!

The first thing I learned fairly early in the year was the correct way to speak about someone with Down Syndrome.  In the past, I had the misconception that a person with Down Syndrome may be referred to as someone with Down’s. That plural form is incorrect. John Langdon Down was the person who classified the Syndrome but he did not have it and therefore, it is not possessive. The only proper way to speak about someone is to put the person first (as you would with any exceptionality) and follow it with either Down Syndrome or D.S.

Eg. Student with Down Syndrome or Student with D.S.

I also had the misconception that people with Down Syndrome are always happy. I can confirm for all of you with out a doubt that my students demonstrate a variety of emotions regularly. My 3 students who have just hit puberty, go through about 25 emotions an hour as many of you have experienced with your students who are adolescences. Whew!

However, my students do smile a lot and that sometimes prompts many of the adults at my school to speak about how “sweet” or “cute” my students are. Sometimes I have to gently remind the staff that my students are not young children and that they need to be spoken about the same way you would speak about other 11 and 12-year-old students. They need high expectations for behaviour and communication.

Finally, as I started reading articles about people in the Down Syndrome Community, I was surprised how many times they were referred to as being afflicted with Down Syndrome. Just this week I read an article that spoke about people being victims of Down Syndrome. I assure you that my students are not victims. They are some of the coolest, most interesting, charismatic, smart, caring students I have ever taught.

Happy World Down Syndrome Day!!

 

Setting up a Positive Relationship with Teaching Assistants

I have had the great pleasure of working with a variety of staff over the past decade as a teacher. TAs, or as they are called in my board Educational Resource Facilitators, play an incredibly important role in the success of my students every day. This year has been my first year that I have worked with 3 TAs all day and I have tried to make that relationship a positive one. I have made a ton of mistakes throughout the year but thankfully I have had the most patient and gracious team that has supported me as I learn my new role. I sat down with a few of them to ask what teachers could do to make the relationship between teachers and TAs work well. This is what they had to say:

  • Everyone in the room has a need for information and everyone can do their job more effectively when they have all the information pertaining to students and the running of the classroom. It is important that teachers prioritize communication because much of the information will be given only to the teacher. Information from Speech and Language Reports, Parent phone calls, ISRC meetings and so on will only be shared with the team if the teacher has an effective style of communication. (I admit that I stumble with this sometimes. I feel like there is never enough time in the day to communicate everything I need to share. I am working at it and continue to make this a priority for my professional growth) My team and I realized that we needed a way to share information this year. We designated a place on the blackboard for all of us to place updates and reminders. It has been great way for everyone to stay up to date on things like pizza orders or letters that need to go home.
  • Teacher is not the boss. I have heard TAs over the year talk about the few teachers that they have worked with who have come in and very clearly outlined that they are the boss and that everyone else works for them. It is important to remember that everyone has valuable professional knowledge that they bring to the classroom and when everyone is using their knowledge its benefits students. Teachers and TAs have different training and different roles to play in the classroom. As the teacher, make it clear that you value the skill set of the TAs placed with you.  If everyone is doing their role and using their training the classroom has a greater chance of success.
  • Don’t let things fester. There are a million things that can be irritating when you are in a room with people all day. It is best to deal with things that impact the ability to provide a good environment for students. As the teacher in the room, deal with things that come up and don’t let them go on for weeks and weeks or months and months.
  • Getting to know the people in the room and using their strengths. Plan with everyone’s skill set,experience and knowledge in mind. Observe your team with the intention of analyzing the strengths in everyone. If you focus on what everyone brings to the classroom and highlight it regularly, it will make your class a happy place to be. If you focus consistently on the negative, the classroom will be a negative place. Within my team there is a fantastic artist, an unbelievable organizer and an eternal optimist. A teacher should really value the skills that everyone brings and utilize and highlight the amazing skills often.
  • Different opinions. You will have different opinions. You have to remember that your training is different and you are often seeing things from a different perspective. It is important that you pick your battles and sometime just let things go.
  • Let’s try and see. (This has been something that I have really learned this year). As a teacher, you should encourage everyone to give input into challenging situations with students. The team will work better when you try out a variety of suggestions.  Even if the suggestion sounds really out there, what is the harm in trying something new? If it doesn’t work, go back to what you were doing before. However, you might just be pleasantly surprised!
  • Having Fun! Lighten up. The most important thing to success. As a teacher, you often set the tone. If you are not setting the tone of positivity with all of your students and members of the team in the room, the room will often be a negative place to be.
  • Isolated bubble. Being in a contained class can be very isolating. The only people who understand what is going on is you and your team. Model the expectation that you have each other’s back and that you will support each other through the tough times.
  • Equity. Trying to make everything fair will be really important. Therefore, rotate which staff comes on field trips, to the park or does special events. Make a schedule and post it in the room.

Why are your eyebrows grumpy?

One of my students asked me the funniest question during our morning meeting this week.  She stopped, looked at me and asked, “Why are your eyebrows grumpy?” It struck me as really funny and I burst out laughing and she did as well. I went home that evening and began to think more about her question. At the time that she asked me the question, I was talking about an exciting trip that was coming up for our class. My voice was animated and I thought I was conveying my excitement through the words that I was choosing but upon deeper reflection I am not sure my facial expression was matching my words.

One of the real gifts that my students bring to the school and the class is their ability to read emotion. Many of the students are very sensitive to the expression on my face, in my voice and in my body. They laugh with me often and can easily tell when I am upset with them by a simple look or a body position. The great thing about this is that I rarely have to use my voice to intervene on unwanted behaviour and I can show someone what a great job they are doing by a simple look. The tricky part of this is that my facial expressions are being analyzed all day long. As a person doing this job for the first time, I am often perplexed or thinking about next steps. When I was talking about the upcoming trip with the class, I was also thinking about all the logistics of how to make this trip successful. I am sure that is why my student thought my eyebrows were grumpy.

Working with this group of students has been a fantastic reminder to slow down, stay in the moment and enjoy the experience. Things will get done. I will make mistakes and learn from them. I will get better at this job every day.

My talented students will forever teach me the skill that the author Toni Morrison spoke about. Toni Morrison explained that children don’t care about weather you help them zip up their jacket or have everything prepared. They care about one thing ….“Does your face light up when a child enters the room?” She also encouraged all of us to “let your face speak what is in your heart.” My students are reminding me of Ms. Morrison’s important lessons everyday. Slow down. Stay present in the moment. Let them see everyday how much you care for them.

Examples of Alternative IEP Goals

Writing goals on an alternative IEP can be a daunting task for a teacher who has never done it before. That has been my experience this year as it is my first year teaching an amazing group of students with Developmental Disabilities.

I have written many modified IEPs over the course of my career. I am very comfortable increasing or decreasing the complexity and/or number of the Ontario Curriculum expectations. I know who to consult and what information I need to gather to make an informed decision about these types of goals for my students. However, writing Alternative Goals required a whole new set of skills this year.

Since Alternative expectations represent skills that are not represented in the Ontario curriculum it is sometimes difficult to know where to begin. For many students in Ontario, they will have Alternative expectations in addition to their modified expectations such as speech remediation or social skills. However, for some students their entire IEP will be Alternative.

So where do you begin?

If your students have been in school for a few years, the face place to find information is the OSR. In the Ontario Student Record, you can see what kind of services and goals have been recommended in the previous school years. You can also refer to previous IEPs to help get your started. If your OSRs arrived a messy blob of papers, take the time now to organize them. A friend of mine sat with me in September to walk me through organizing the hundreds of papers and it has saved my life. I am either filing or referring to an item in my OSRs at least once a week this year so they have to be organized.

The next place to turn is people. Consult with the families and Special Education colleagues. Families play an important role in helping set goals and can give you great ideas about IEP goals. For example, in December one of my parents contacted me and asked if we could work on fastening buttons during our fine motor skill development time as her son was starting to wear jeans to school and needed to learn the skill.

Finally, data collection will play an ongoing role in the creation and updating of goals throughout the year. I do assessments on my students consistently throughout the year. If you want some ideas about what to assess and how to assess things that are not curriculum based, I recommend using one of the two following resources.

The FISH (Functional Independence Skills Handbook)

fish_l

 

The Carolina Curriculum (both the infant/toddler and preschooler resource)

Carolina Curriculum

 

They will help you gather the information you need.  Both are incredibly expensive to buy, so borrow them from your resource department or special education team.

Here are some examples of what your goals could look like. I am not an expert by any means but if you are like me, sometimes examples can be a really helpful place to get started.

Attention/Focus

_______ will attend to a self-selected activity without being distracted or losing interest for 10 minutes.

_______  will work on completing teacher directed tasks for 25 minutes.

Mathematics

_______ will count to 100 with 75% accuracy.

_______ will demonstrate one-to-one correspondence up to 10 between numbers and objects with 75% accuracy.

_______  will identify time that is personally relevant to her and use it to independently begin tasks.

Life Skills

_______ will wash her face and put the facecloth in the laundry bin daily after lunch.

_______ will use a visual guide to assist her with the steps necessary to establish routines regarding menstrual activities (e.g., bringing necessary items to school, changing pads, disposing of pads, washing hands)

_______ will brush her teeth and put on deodorant daily after lunch.

Personal and Social Development

______  will successfully participate in a turn taking game with a peer, 3 out of 5 opportunities

______  will orally express when someone is in her personal space.

______  will work on sharing the classroom materials with other students.

Communication

_______ will demonstrate a choice between two types of food for snack time by pointing to the item.

_______ will point to a picture when he wants to request a walk.

Shopping List For a New Class Designed for Students with Developmental Disabilities

Shopping, shopping, shopping! This week has been all about shopping. I was given the large task of ordering all the furniture/items for my brand-new classroom that will be providing a program for 10 amazing kids with developmental disabilities. As this was my first time setting up this kind of program, I visited multiple classrooms and reached out to many people for advice and suggestions. I also used my new students’ IEPs and transition meetings to guide my purchases, which is a mandatory part of the process. For those of you out there trying to make decisions without my amazing network of colleagues to rely on, below is the list of items that I purchased this week for the upcoming school year:

List of things to buy for new DD class

  1. Printer with colour ink
  2. Laminator
  3. Velcro
  4. Microwave
  5. Fridge
  6. Plates
  7. Cups
  8. Cutlery
  9. 3-seater couch
  10. Bean bag chairs
  11. Glider rocking chair
  12. Carpet
  13. Independent work stations
  14. Shelf for books
  15. Trampoline/active movement in the school?
  16. Bikes
  17. Washer/dryer
  18. Tables
  19. Independent work station desk
  20. Sensory bins
  21. Peg board
  22. Chewlery
  23. Cause and effect toys
  24. Slant board
  25. Writing tool grips
  26. Triangular tools
  27. Multi-sensory materials
  28. Math manipulatives
  29. Calendar
  30. Bob books/Pattern books
  31. Reading A to Z
  32. Site word activities
  33. Number games
  34. Timers
  35. Alphabet books
  36. Playdough
  37. Picture books
  38. Matching activities
  39. Thera-putty
  40. Paint/art materials

This is by no means exhaustive and was designed to meet the needs of my particular students. Also, some of the items will come through referrals by Occupational Therapists and Speech and Language Therapists.  But if you were like me last week and had no idea where to start, hopefully, this will give you a staring point! Happy shopping.