One final push...

The end of another school year is approaching (in 7 days - but who is counting).  When you work to provide students with transitional supports, this is crunch time.  This is a time of countless meetings, adjusted schedules, trainings, and trial runs all with one thing in mind...a smooth transition.  Whether it be a transition from school to work, school bus to city bus, mom and dad's home to MY home...this is the time where we learn if what we have been working so hard towards is going to pay off. For so many of our students and families, this transition is the biggest one of their lives.  It is the first time in 13+ years that the supports and structures that the school system provides are no longer in place.  Now, if we have done our job well, no one will even notice that shift.  There will be no lapse in services, a new set of supports will take its place, but it is all very scary, nonetheless.  Much like an athelete preparing for a big game, a tv anchor as the news kicks off, a vocalist belting that first note, THIS is when my adrenaline starts rushing.  I have spent the school year, for some of them even more, coaxing them to the edge.  Now is the time to give one last push and watch them fly away!

This year, I will take a leap right along with my students.  I will be leaving what I know, love, and find so comfortable, to try something new.  Throughout the past few months I have been taking the steps and preparing for this transition, but as I step close to the edge, ready to take the leap myself, I now see and feel why it is so hard and so scary.

After 6 years in this job I will be moving and taking on a new role next fall.  My new role will look very much the same.  I will still be focused on providing supports and services for students as they grow older and prepare to leave school and venture into the adult world.  I will still be providing instruction in the community...just this time in a new community.  One that is closer to my family and friends that I grew up with.  In my time in my current position I have gained so much and established a strong foundation of my educational beliefs and my approach to teaching.  I have had opportunities and experiences that most would not encounter in a life time of teaching and working.  And because of that, I want to take a moment to say thank you.  Thank you to those who made those opportunities and experiences possible, to those who worked along side me, helping to build and grow hard working young adults AND a transition program that I think is quite fantastic (but I am quite biased).  Thank you to my students, past and present.  Each and every one of you has changed me as both a teacher and a person.  I am so glad I was able to be a part of your journey!  To the families, thank you for your honesty, vulnerability, and willingness to take risks and allow your child to take risks too!

Now...inching closer to the edge with each passing school day, I carry the knowledge and strength I have gained from my time at the PrairieWood Transition Center and
I am ready to leap into the unknown, right along with my students, and start the next adventure of life.

Enjoy your summer!  Tune in next fall as I embark on a new community and prepare more young people to come to the edge!

Mackenzie

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

Using TEACCH in a Functional Classroom: Part 1 - Independent Work Tasks

I have a confession to make.  I am obsessed with TEACCH (or Structured Teaching).  You might be thinking, "my goodness, what is this woman NOT obsessed with?!?"  Well...when I find something that works; that allows my students to experience success, and lets be honest, that makes my job just a little easier...I become obsessed!  AND I want to share my stories with the world, because if it works, more people need to know about it.  So, in an effort to share my TEACCH story with the world, I will be doing several blog posts about what TEACCH looks like in my Functional Classroom.

If you're reading this post, I am guessing you have some idea of what TEACCH is, but if not I will give a brief synopsis of the program...
By definition, Structured Teaching (or TEACCH) "is an instructional strategy that emphasizes visual supports. Its aims are to increase and maximize independent functioning and reduce the frequent need for teacher correction and reprimand (Schopler, Mesibov, & Hearsey, 1995)."
Fits right into what you are trying to do in your functional classroom right?!?  I like this particular definition better than others I have seen out there, because it doesn't specify a WHO.  The program was designed for individuals on the Autism spectrum, but ALL learners can benefit from it, those without disabilities

When I attended training in the program several years ago, I left feeling slightly overwhelmed and not quite sure how this program would look in MY classroom, teaching only functional skills, with learning happening in the community more than the classroom.  So, I started small.  I followed the program.  I shifted and adjusted the physical organization of my classroom.  I created specific work environments and tried to embed them into what would be a natural environment in the adult world.  From there I began creating schedules...lots and lots of schedules.  There were student specific schedules and there were schedules within tasks.  As I saw successes, I began to feel more comfortable and continued adding more and more TEACCH elements to my classroom, quickly realizing that TEACCH wasn't a program that one followed so much as it was a way of thinking, or an approach to instruction.  TEACCH is the modifications and supports we provide across all settings for our students.  My worries about how TEACCH would work in my classroom melted away and I began to wonder how my classroom ever ran smoothly without TEACCH!

One of the parts I have really enjoyed in incorporating these methods and approaches into my classroom, has been the introduction of what we call "Independent Work Tasks."  These are tasks that train an individual to start, follow through, complete, and move on from a task independently.  Throw "TEACCH tasks" into the search bar of Pinterest and you will find a SLEW of ideas.  Or you can check out my board: TEACCH Work Tasks and Ideas, to see what I have found out there.  When I am working on creating new tasks, I try to think about the areas that my students may have deficets, and create a task around those particular skills.  These tasks provide great opportunities to work on fine motor, organization, and following multi-step directions.  In my functional classroom, we have 20 bins and counting.  I have created all that the space on my shelf will allow, and would like to now start creating additional tasks that can be rotated in and out.  Below I show and describe some of my favorite tasks.

 This is our coupon cutting task.  I have a stash of the coupon flyers from the Sunday paper, that I collect, and have colleagues collect for me.  Students cut the coupon and place in the labeled bins.

 Using the coupons we acquire from the cutting task mentioned above, we have a task that asks students to sort the coupons into identified areas of the grocery store.

 For several years we had some young men come through our program that enjoyed partaking in "handy" activities around the center.  Their interest fueled this work task.  Students match colors to place the different screws in the right hole and then use the appropriate screw driver to screw them into place, or remove them.

 This task requires alphabetizing basic dolch words.  I would like to create a new stack of cards that include survival words as well.

 Our "Office Supply Sort" requires placement of office supplies into a bag.  Right now the task requires just one of each item.  We are working on creating cards that make specific requests for each bag to add another level of difficulty to the task.

 This hardward sort was also inspired my my handy young men a few years ago.

 Silverware sorting.

 This is one I found on Pinterest.  The shirts have polka dots and the individual has to match the number of polka dots on the shirt to the written number on a pair of pants and clothes pin them together.

 This task was inspired by a need.  Upon returning from the grocery store each week, our students are required to empty their bags and put away their groceries.  Many times, after they had left the kitchen, we would find items in the most bizarre locations.  One day, when attempting to make pigs in a blanket for lunch, we discovered our crescent rolls in the cabinet!  So our pigs were left without blankets, and this teacher decided some direct instruction on WHERE food items are stored was necessary!

 This task was also inspired while preparing lunch.  If found that when given the task of "picking out a vegetable" or "picking out a fruit" to prepare for lunch, many of our students did not know the difference.  We also made sure when creating this task, to not just include FRESH fruit and vegetable items, but canned and frozen items as well, as that is where a lot of the confusion was occurring!

 I saved my very favorite for the very end.  This one too, came out of student need.  Very early on in the school year we discovered that a young lady had a VERY difficult time plugging in a vacuum during chores.  Chatting during planning time with my paras one morning, and processing aloud my attempts to solve this problem, I mentioned how awesome it would be to take extension cords and a powerstrip and some how put together a work task for this young lady.  The next evening, I received a phone call from one of my paras who asked if I was home, she had something she HAD to show me.  A short time later, I opened my front door to her, holding this amazing creation.  She had chatted with her husband, and he had whipped this together.  Amazing!  Just about a week after introducing this task to that fine young lady, she was plugging in the vacuum with ease!

Through structures and routines, students in our program know that if they have a little extra time, after completing a work sheet, before heading out on the bus, or in between lunch and work experience, they are to select and complete an independent work task.  And, as the year goes on, I know I have to come up with more and more tasks to keep them busy, engaged, and challenged!

Do you have any awesome work tasks that you use in your classroom?

Come to the edge with me...
Mackenzie

Zones Of Regulation - Continuation

The beginnings of a personalized Zones "Tool Box"

Several months ago I posted about a wonderful Social Skills curriculum that I had the opportunity to learn about through professional development, the Zones of Regulation by Leah M. Kuypers.  When I originally posted, I was just diving into the program with my students and was so excited about the language, ideas, and opportunities it provided to empower young people to self-regulate.  Time and a brutal winter has passed, and we have been trying to move our way through the curriculum.  It has been a slow process, with very inconsistent schedules and many opportunities for learning taken away due to weather cancellations.  I was starting to wonder if we needed to back up and spend more time working within identifying the zones when we had a wonderful breakthrough and I saw it click for my students, my staff, and even myself. 

Moving through the worksheets and the curriculum, we spent the suggested time and completed the suggested activities as we went along, but I wasn't seeing my students really make the connections.  I wondered, will it make sense to them, once we get into learning about the tools?  So we forged ahead and spent time learning about and practicing the tools, finding moments in our day where tools would be helpful and as staff, co-regulating and suggesting the use of one tool or another...STILL no connection.  This is when I began to wonder if I should back up.  Had all the inconsistencies of 2 hour delays and no school days throughout the winter hindered the impact this program could have?  Should I start over?  I decided to give it one more go on the tools, finding that the next activity was "Tools for Each of My Zones," which provides visual cues for the tools and asks the individual to place a tool in each of the Zones (Blue, Green, Yellow, and Red).  I figured, if my students REALLY hadn't made the connections, it would be very evident in completing this activity.  Well, something became very clear, and it was a very powerful experience.  It certainly had stuck and I saw them thoughtfully selecting the right tool for them for each of the Zones.  For many of them, especially my students on the autism spectrum, I have learned through my time working with them what they need for regulation and have tried to guide many of their sensory experiences toward that, so it was SO moving to see them identifying tools that fit within their sensory needs ALL ON THEIR OWN!  The time myself and my staff had spent modeling, stepping each of them through, and acting as co-regulators had an impact, and they were beginning to make those identifications themselves.  It was a very exciting day. 

So what is next?  I feel like we are just starting beginning on the long journey of self-regulation, and I am afraid to slow down, for fear that we may lose our momentum.  I have taken what each student has identified as their tools and put together the beginnings of what will be a visual tool box that each of them will assemble.  Strips of Red/Yellow/Blue/Green will be glued onto a black sheet of paper, and on each strip they will be able to glue the picture of their personally identified tools for each of the coordinating Zones.  These "tool boxes" will be laminated and will sit on their desk, attach to their schedule, and accompany them to work and other community environments.  As staff, I see us continuing to co-regulate, cuing them into the tool box before tasks, or as we see them move from one Zone to another.  In time, that support will fade...that is the goal!

I continue to have nothing but good things to say about this program.  In the midst of following the curriculum, I have also found opportunities to create expansion activities that deepen the understanding of my particular group of students and their needs.  It is the foundation of our social skills and regulation, but provides so many possibilities for branching off, and connecting with other social skill programs and needs.

Has anyone else seen these powerful results through the Zones of Regulation program?

Come to the edge with me...
Mackenzie Keimig

I teach teachers.

My years in this position has provided me with countless blessings, and at the top of that list, I would put the people that it has allowed me to meet, work with, and learn from.  Several years ago, in search of a new work site for several of my students, I approached a newly opened hotel that was affiliated with the community college that houses our Transition Program.  This hotel was built as a living, breathing, real life classroom for students pursuing careers in the world of hospitality careers...learning by doing, it was right up our alley.  I was put in contact with the gentleman who was in charge of housekeeping, and immediately we connected and began planning opportunities for both my students and his students, each of us so excited about the possibilities.  In the midst of our planning, he made a comment that changed me as a transition teacher, and as a person.  He told me that everyone was learning and growing from my students working in this hotel.  Not only were my students learning important work and social skills in a community environment, but his students, and members of the community were learning from my students as well.  They were learning understanding, tolerence, and acceptance.

I have taken that with me and applied it every day as I venture out into the community with my students.  As I sense someones frustration behind me in the grocery line, as my student struggles to count their money and make their purchase, I remind myself that I am teaching teachers.  As we board the bus and one of my students sits in the front seat bouncing and stemming throughout the ride, I remind myself that I am teaching teachers.  As I work through a melt down with an individual who is insisting on breaking because it is 2:45 on a clock that has not been changed for daylight saving time, I remind myself that I am teaching teachers.

My students, with all their quirks, routines, and struggles are better teachers than I could ever be to the world around them.  Just by being themselves and moving through their daily lives they teach each person they come in contact with acceptance.  That is pretty powerful stuff!  In those difficult moments, I must remind myself to resist the urge to step in and count the money for them, stop the stemming, and eliminate the melt down.  If I step in, no one learns.  My students do not learn to work through their struggles, and cannot be themselves in a community that is just as much theirs as it is yours and mine.  And those frustrated folks in the community do not learn either.  They do not learn to accept differences and be understanding.

I teach teachers; unique, determined, unaltered and kind-hearted teachers...and by teaching them, they teach you and me every day.

Come to the edge with me...

Sensory Integration: In the Community

This is a new venture for myself and my staff.  What do you do when the sheer vastness of environments in the adult community cause sensory issues?  How do you help your students self regulate when the tools that are typically used are left in the sensory room or classroom?  I don't really know the answer is...but I certainly know what it is NOT.  Do not, in any way, see this as an issue that should prevent the student from going out in the community.  What is the ultimate goal that we are all working towards?  It may be easier to see in a transition based classroom, where you deal with it every day...but we are all working toward independence, comfort and success in the adult community.  I can tell you, it will be very hard to get there, if the student never spends any time in the community!

This is an issue that we have faced more this year, in my classroom, than we have any other year.  Our number of students needing sensory integration has increased over the years, and so we are being forced to face these new challenges.  As I mentioned before, I do not have an answer, but we certainly have found things that work.  Our first priority is always for our students to be safe, but we also want them to fit and blend into whatever adult environment we are exploring without bringing too much attention to ourselves.  Considering this, are their natural sensory supports in this adult environment, that a student could access?  One thing we have found working very well is to have a student who consistently needs grounding and proprioceptive input to carry the milk or laundry detergent while we are at the grocery store.  This same student often travels in the community with a back pack, loaded down with "necessary" things (they are most necessary to keep this student regulated, and not necessary for much else).  Another suggestion for the grocery store is to have the student with sensory needs push the cart.  These are all very natural ways to meet student needs without drawing attention while out in the community.

Sometimes, however, a student has needs that cannot be met with a tweak here, or through things naturally found in the community, and sometimes the best solution isn't so subtle either.  My priority remains the students safety, and sometimes it is necessary to take steps that don't blend in.  It is in this case that I always ask myself, "what attracts more attention, a student having a meltdown because their unregulated, or a student who has their sensory needs met in a more obvious way?"  Some things that come to mind are headphones for noise, glasses for light, weighted vests, fidgets and other sensory "toys."  If it does the job, and there is nothing natural in the environment, it is what needs to be done.

The biggest thing I can recommend is don't be afraid to get out in the community and try things out.  The student will never be able to adjust and begin to self regulate in the community, if they aren't given the chance.  Head out with a couple tools and strategies, and if none of them work, its okay to turn around and head right back to that classroom...you are one step deeper into the community than you were before, and it WILL get easier!

Do you have any sensory tools that you have found work well out in the community?

Come to the edge with me...
Mackenzie

Sensory Integration: Part 1 - A Sensory Room

A glimpse into our Sensory Room.

Hello!  First off, I want to apologize for my long absence!  Immediately following our 2 week winter break, we had two additional days with no school due to extremely cold weather.  This made what is typically a very difficult return, even more difficult.  Since then, we have had several days with no school for professional development, and two late start days.  Add in IEP meetings, and a new semester and I have had a very difficult time getting through the days, getting everything done, and getting caught up!  But...things have finally slowed down, and I wanted to take some time do blog about something that I feel many Special Educators are learning more and more about with each year.  That is sensory integration.  I am a "young" educator, having only been teaching for going on 7 years.  In that short time frame, the amount of students I serve who have been identified on the Autism Spectrum, has more than doubled.  In the last few years, needing to find ways to provide supports and services for these young adults, I have thrown myself into the exploration of Sensory Integration.  I have gone to many professionals in my field, our Autism consultant, our OTA, and SLP.  I have "googled," "Pinterested," and thrown myself into literature about Autism and sensory integration...all in search of tools and solutions for these young adults who have this need.  So...I'm an expert now, right?!?  Not even close.  But, that is what is so great about creating a community of sharing in the world of Special Education services!  I have some ideas that might work for you, come on over...

When you work to prepare students for the transition to the adult world, you work within many environments: the classroom, the grocery store, the work site...AND what works for sensory integration in one place may not work in another...one enviroment may cause a student to require MORE sensory integration than another.  So, in the past year, I have learned to keep an open mind, and always be prepared with an escape plan! ;-)  In any case, I have come to find that there are some tools that are great for specific enviroments and the most logical place to start is in the classroom, and in our classroom, I will start by introducing you to our sensory room.

Our classroom is very special in that it was recently re-modeled and tailor-made for us!  When I say tailor-made, I mean that I, as the teacher, was given the opportunity to meet with the architects and essentially had the freedom to design my classroom.  I shot for the moon, and I just about got it, and now have the most beautiful and special classroom to meet the diverse needs of my students.  One of the things I made sure to advocate for in this space was a "Sensory Room."  These are growing in popularity across schools, providing a space for students to go during their day and meet their sensory needs.  So, upon the completion of the room, I had this beautiful room, a grant for sensory needs...and now the daunting task to fill it.  I dove into research.  I wanted a space that met the needs of every student in my classroom that might need sensory integration during the day, but didn't want to have to start over each year with a new batch of student.  What are the must haves?  What should I avoid?  What I learned first, was to take a deep breath and just chill (maybe I was the one who most needed time in this sensory room?!?), because as long as I followed several basic parameters, the possibilities were endless.

What is the purpose of a sensory room?  How does a student benefit from sensory integration?  We have our senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, balance (vestibular), and body awareness (proprioception).  For many of us, our bodies work through and process the many sensory encounters it has without conscious thought or effort and we go through our day feeling feeling fine.  Some individuals become sensitive to certain sensory encounters, and need to find a balance if they are exposed to too much.  Still others are "under" sensitive, and may require additional sensory encounters than what they are exposed to in a typical day.  So the purpose of a sensory room is to provide a variety of opportunities for engagement of all seven senses.  You want things in there that will "amp" up the students who may need that, and things that will "calm" others.  And because everyone's needs are different, each person should have an individualized sensory experience.  Whew!  Piece of cake, right?

The tactile board, made by my very talented and handy paraprofessional!

So to start, I listed the senses on a sheet of paper and began brainstorming engagement activities that could be paired with that particular sense.  For sight I included, a bubble tube, blinking lights, glittery objects, to name a few.  For sound I included personalized music players with cds with both upbeat and soothing music.  For touch I included a tactile board, rice searches, silly putty.  For taste I included gum, or suck on candies, for smell I included a "plug-in" air freshner, an activity with coffee beans, scented crayons/markers, for vestibulary we included a trampoline and for propriocetion we included a basketball hoop and paddle boards.  The brainstorming continued until we had a massive list of possibilities.  Then came the time for shopping...

"Fidget Toss" - one of the many sensory activities.

From there we created individualized bins with each sensory experience.  Each has a picture label to identify the bin and they line two bookshelves in our perfectly cozy room.  To individualize the sensory experience for each student, once all the sensory bins were completed, I brought each student into the room one on one.  I encouraged them to try every bin and I watched and took notes as they pulled out each box.  I noted what they selected first, their engagement, did the put it down and move on right away or did the engage for a while...how long?  Were some activities that they avoided altogether?  Did they try something and become agitated?  From all this data, I created slips for each students individualized sensory experiences.  When it is their time for sensory time (this is always thoughtfully scheduled into their day, if it is something they need) they go to the bag and find their card, and complete those activities.  Many students, who have been participating in Sensory time since the beginning of the school year, no longer require their lists, but go in and complete the activities, unprompted at their scheduled time.

Sensory Card

Sensory Bins.

The impact has been great! In thoughtfully planning out and scheduling their sensory time, many of our students have the opportunity to use their sensory time to help regulate their bodies and their needs before going out into the community, or after a long period of work.  This practice has drastically decreased the amount of behaviors and outbursts that they had prior to spending time in the sensory room.

But...what happens when a student has a sensory need and you are out in the community, with no access to a sensory room?  Be on the look out for my next post: Sensory Integration: Part 2 - Out in the Community!

Until then...are you looking for sensory tools or experiences for your students??

Come to the edge with me...
Mackenzie

A labor of love!  Putting together the sensory room.