Using TEACCH in a Functional Classroom - Part 2: Schedules Galore

Schedule, structure, and routine is found at the foundation of any successful special education classroom.  I firmly believe nothing would get accomplished without those three.  But step outside of the special education classroom, and do those three carry as much weight or importance?  Look inside a general education classroom, still important?  What about outside the educational world?  In a retail store, a factory floor, an office building, or even your own home?  Do you find schedule, structure, and routine in all of those environments?  Absolutely!  We all thrive in environments where there is a solid foundation of schedule, structure, and routine.  The difference between those mentioned environments and a special education classroom is that in the special education those schedules, structures, and routines need to be explicitly taught and tailored to the needs of each individual student in the classroom, and in the other environments, most people fall into those schedules, structures, and routines without even realizing it.  Now, what happens when you take a student who needs that explicit instruction and you move them outside the classroom, into the adult world?  Well, if done right, the schedules, structures and routines go right along with them.

The pictures shown are examples of the schedules used by several of my students.  These schedules, in my mind are the ticket to independence and freedom.  There may be a bit of upfront work in preparing and individualizing schedules for your students, and in training them to access the schedule, but the upfront work pays off big in the end.  As you can see, I have tailored my schedules to meet the needs of each individual student.  The beginning of the school year, we play around with approaches to our schedules, trying to determine the best fit for each student.  One of these students is a non-reader, and does best when pictures are provided.  The other student is a reader.  Visual systems is not the only differentiation.  Some students require a schedule that allows them to manipulate and remove the task as it is completed, others cross tasks off lists, others just need the schedule there as a guide, or a means to ease anxieties.  As I write this, the school year is wrapping up, and my students have been using their schedules all school year.  They move through their day seamlessly and often times do not refer or manipulate their schedules as they go throughout their day.  One might think it would be necessary to fade the schedule.  However, before you do that, imagine how you would feel if you lost your calendar, or you phone that held all your appointments and contacts for the next 6 months.  THAT is how your student would feel if their schedule was taken away.  It is not necessary to fade the schedule.  Use it as a tool.  Then, when something occurs and the schedule needs to be changed, the student can see and expect that change.

Always be sure to make the schedules mobile.  Put them in a notebook, attach them to a clipboard, or even better, put them in an iPod or iPad.  Wherever the student goes, the schedule goes, adjusted in each environment and used as a tool for independence and allowing them to be independent.

Do you have schedule systems that you have found to work in your classroom?  Please share!!

Come to the edge...
Mackenzie