Providing accommodations in the community...

It is a balancing act, this transition teaching thing...  I always go back and forth between wanting to throw my students into the community without any supports, just like sending me a traveler to a foreign city with no map, and have them "look" just like everybody else, or to to provide the accommodations they need and have them learn valuable information from the experience.  I never want to draw additional attention to my students and I ultimately think them, struggling to find their way, may bring more attention than a simple cue card here, or a picture list there.

So...as we recently embarked out into the community, along came our accommodations!

Fridays are our days in the community.  They are our day to access every bit that the community has to offer, and to take our time doing it.  We have no time limitations on Fridays, they day is set aside completely for the community.  Our original plan this past Friday was to take our annual fall trip out to the Palisades Park in Mt. Vernon.  There, we have a cook out, go on a nature scavenger hunt, and ALWAYS hit up the mural-ed barn for some photos.  See below for a photo from last years trip. 

 

Well, in our Weather studies in the days leading up to Friday, we saw that the weather was not going to be ideal for a day out doors...in fact there were some chances for severe weather.  We quickly moved onto creating a "plan b."  What does one do on a rainy day?!?  It was a unanimous decision...one MUST go to the movies.  The plan was made, notes were sent home regarding the change, and I began to prepare my community accommodations.  My students would be making a purchase on their own for their snack.  They knew that if they had $5.00 to spend they would be able to purchase a beverage and candy or a beverage and popcorn.  So, I created a worksheet to assist them in putting together the information they would need to share with the person at the snack counter.  From that, they created a "script" for ordering their snack.  These scripts were then written onto small (and conspicuous, I might add) note cards, that each student carried with them and used to order their snacks at the movie.  See picture below for worksheet.

Creating this worksheet to help students put together their wants, then taking those to create a script and a small cue card was incredibly helpful once we were out in the community and had other customers around to distract, pressure, and even support our students.  Upon walking into that community, there are so many factors that we cannot control, I have found that it helps to provide some structures for our students in the things we know we can control.  This helps ease their anxieties and creates a more positive and powerful learning experience for not only the student, but those who work with our students in the community as well!

The only thing I would change, is taking pictures and/or video so I could share with you all what an awesome outing this was, thanks to the work both the staff and the students put in ahead of time!

If you would like a copy of this worksheet, or others that we use to provide accommodations in the community, please feel free to contact me! :)

Come to the edge with me...
Mackenzie