Living the Speducator Dream

Teaching Social Skills in a Small Group Setting Teaching the Social Skill Earlier in my career, I was guilty of Social IEP goal data collection being a "gotcha." There always seemed to be more minuses than plusses. I have realized over time that my mistake was not being intentional with the way the skills were TAUGHT. I don't know how I thought students would perform a skill that they weren't taught. Also, it always seemed I caught students NOT performing the skill, rather than noticing when they did not engage in the target behavior. Now, I try to be intentional about HOW to teach the skill and then collecting data following instruction. No more gotcha! Like with all IEP goals, how the skill is taught depends on the student. For example, in a self-contained classroom, I may give a scenario (hypothetical, or it may have really happened) and then show photos of possible solutions in a field of 2 or 3. The student would use the visual supports to select an appropriate ...

 Beginning of Year Elementary Special Education Case Manager Checklist While no case manager's beginning of the year is the same, there is a checklist I use for myself to make sure I'm doing everything I need to before we start small groups - and to make sure general education teachers feel supported when new students start in their classrooms. There are so many areas we have to prepare - and it's not just setting up our room or planning for small group instruction. We have to review student IEPs/BIPs and other case management related tasks; we have to prepare our paraeducator team; create a small group master schedule (that somehow aligns to the building master schedule! 😅); give general education teachers information, materials, visuals, IEPs and BIPs at a Glance, while reviewing important accommodations; and finally, we have to prepare for small group instruction across content areas, like reading, writing, math, social skills, behavior, and adaptive. Whew! It's alw...

 Why Prompt Hierarchy Is So Important Ultimately, our jobs are to promote independence. By providing too much support, we are not promoting independence - and worse, students may even become prompt-dependent. As a special education classroom teacher or case manager, it is our job to make sure all members of our team (e.g. paraeducators, support staff) are consistent in moving from least invasive prompting to most, with the ultimate goal of fading that support over time. Least Invasive to Most Invasive Verbal Gestural Model Partial Physical  Full Physical Another important point is that the prompt level should be included in student IEP data. I like to make an extra row or column where staff record the level of prompting. (Of course if there is ANY prompting - unless indicated in the goal criteria - this would be a negative or minus in student data, as the student is not performing the skill independently.) Below is a sample data sheet with prompt data included: I also make su...

Implementing Tier 2 Interventions As a special education teacher, I have a lot of opinions about Tier 2 interventions. BUT the biggest opinion is that we have to provide them - with fidelity !  One reason I feel so strongly is that I've had K-2 students referred for evaluation and they have qualified, but then at their next re-eval, they no longer qualify. Or, after a year or 2 after initial evaluation, a small group pull-out setting is no longer their least restrictive environment. Then, I become more of a consult case manager, checking in with their general education teacher, who is providing most of the intervention. In this case, I am so glad they got extra support (especially in the case of a student with Developmental Delay eligibility), but I wonder if Tier 2 interventions had been provided with fidelity and data had been tracked over time if the student would have qualified for special education services in the first place. *CAVEAT*: Of course, if a student has a suspected ...

 Writing K-5 Grade Level CCSS-Aligned IEP Goals (and identifying prerequisite/foundational skills if students aren't quiiiiiite able to access grade level standards) Everyone knows to write SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) IEP goals. We practice those in undergraduate or graduate programs.  BUT we don't learn how to write goals for specific skills or learn a progression of skills. For example, what are the foundational or prerequisite skills a student needs to be able to access this grade level standard? It is also worth considering whether an off-grade level standard-based goal is more appropriate for a student, if it builds to a grade level standard. For example, if I have a 5th grade student who is struggling to access the grade level Reading Literature standard of " Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, summarize the text (RL.5.2) ," I reference off-grade level standards that would be foundational...

 Novel studies are a fantastic tool for elementary students in a resource/small group setting.                                  For students who read below grade level, it may be the only time they have experienced reading and understanding a novel. Here are my tips for doing novel studies in small group: 1- My current district does trimesters for elementary, so I try to schedule one novel study per trimester for each grade level. Too much more than that and I feel it takes away from other skills we're working on, like fluency, reading curriculum, or IEP goal-specific skills. 2- I try to align grade level content or priority standards to the novel studies I select. We currently use CKLA (though only for another couple of years- and then I'll have to redo my small group pacing! 😭), so when 3rd grade is learning about the Vikings, we can do a novel study with Magic Tree House Viking ...

  Behavioral Incidents Happen! It doesn't matter if you have the best staff/team, FBA, BIP, updated reinforcement inventory, or relationship with a student - behavioral incidents happen! What's important is how you handle the incident and how you make changes following the incident. One of my favorite tools to use following a behavioral incident is the Staff Debrief Form. That way, there is documentation of the conversation, and also - if I have action steps following the chat, I can remember what I need to do! Of course, finding TIME to debrief is always the biggest issue, but IMO, the debrief is a step that cannot be skipped.  This is also a good time to plug A-B-C (Antecedent - Behavior - Consequence) data. If you aren't already collecting this data, now is a good time to start! Link to a sample/editable ABC data sheet on TPT here . This is the debrief form my team uses (linked below): ...and here's how we use it. Date, team members, date of incident, time of inciden...

  Writing Instruction Using a  Four Square Graphic Organizer My favorite graphic organizer to use when teaching my elementary students writing is the Four Square.  Here's why I like it: 1- It is ONE template they can use for narrative, informational/informative, and opinion writing. Their brains don't have to juggle "which template do I use for this style of writing?" For narrative, we write the exposition (character and setting) information in the middle box. Then for the "detail" and conclusion boxes, we write the progression of events, including rising action (detail 1), climax (detail 2), falling action (detail 3), and resolution (conclusion). For opinion, we write the opinion in the middle box, and then in the next 3 boxes, we write 3 reasons for our opinion, and then finally, the conclusion. For informational, we write our topic sentence in the middle, and then 3 supporting details, and then the conclusion. 2- It  can be used for words OR pictures! Thi...

 REINFORCEMENT VS. BREAKS - PART 2 REINFORCEMENT  In Part 1 , I explained my hot take that an effective special educator would never take away breaks from a student as a consequence. Students should never EARN breaks. Breaks are a regulation tool. Students MAY earn reinforcers.  Here is a general overview of how to structure reinforcement within a special education classroom. Student "rules" should be tied to IEP social or behavior goals If a student has a social or behavior goal for an identified area of growth, there is no reason to create a reinforcement system for a totally different skill.  Likewise, narrow the focus of behaviors you're trying to modify. (A student typically would never have 5 rules! I like to keep it to 2-3, but this is predetermined by how many IEP goals the student has.) Reinforcement tied to student rules Students may be aware of the social or behavior skills they're working on. Love that! Bonus points if they're self-monitoring their pro...

REINFORCEMENT VS. BREAKS - PART 1 BREAKS Over time, I've heard well-meaning special educators confuse reinforcement with scheduled breaks with leisure breaks with heavy work breaks, with language used interchangeably. In my opinion, they aren't the same.  Students don't EARN breaks.  An effective special educator wouldn't take a break away from a student as a consequence. My hope is to explain how they are different so that special educators can then communicate clear expectations to students. Behavior modification will not happen if students don't understand expectations. Worse yet, students often don't trust adults who are not consistent in enforcing expectations. A caveat here is that these strategies are most easily implemented in an elementary or middle/high self-contained setting. It is possible for them to happen in resource with older students, but requires more coordination with school staff. Another caveat is the adult support required - like we have e...

  How lucky are you, getting to work with paraeducators?! In the world of special education, we can't do it alone. If you're lucky, you have one or more paraeducators who support you in teaching students. This may look like behavioral support, leading small groups, data collection, or pushing in to general education classrooms. BUT that's not to say that sometimes working with other adults can't be challenging. I always said I've learned a lot of things in my formal education, but "they" never taught me how to tell people my age or older what to do! Also, having paraeducator support is often something only special education teachers have - because our jobs are so complex! - so this may be another professional expectation that your general education friends don't quite understand. (All of this to say: I know some districts still have paraeducator support in elementary schools, but my current district does not. If your gen ed teachers have para support, ...

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU GOT A JOB! We've all been there. So excited! But also: so nervous! When I first started teaching, I had a bachelor's degree in psychology - not education. I wanted to be a school psychologist (funny how these paths have crossed!), but that didn't come to fruition. My mom was a teacher, and it had never occurred to me that I might be a teacher one day too. 😅 But finding myself out of college without a job, and finding that a local high school needed a special education teacher... The stars aligned, and 19 years later, here I am! It's funny how these things happen. Now, 2 degrees and 2 endorsements later (M.Ed. in General Special Education, Ed.S. in Educational Leadership, and endorsements in English to Speakers of Other Languages and Administration and Supervision), I would never want to do anything other than Special/Exceptional Education. It's also not lost on me that many people go into Special Education wanting to make a difference and becau...