Using nonverbal signals — also called silent signals — is an effective way to foster communication while limiting interruptions during instruction. Learn how to use this strategy and why it works, and see it in action.
Many pressures pull schools away from a coherent set of organizational practices that enable high achievement. The most significant one is the traditional way schools have been organized around isolated, individual, and autonomous practice. To organize schools around learning requires a deep belief that all students are capable of achievement and that it is the responsibility of the school to ensure that they do.
An organized classroom with defined areas and spaces can help students with autism in anticipating what is expected and to predict what will be happening during the instructional day. Get tips on how to create defined learning spaces and reduce distractions in your classroom.
Positive behavior strategies (PBS) are research-based approaches to changing challenging student behavior. In this overview, you’ll find out what PBS looks like in the classroom and how to put it into practice. You’ll also learn how families can support PBS at home.
Pre-correcting and prompting remind students of behavior expectations before potential behavior problems occur. Learn how to use this behavior strategy in your classroom, using gestures, visual or verbal cues and supports, or modeling.
It’s called lots of different things: Drop Everything and Read (DEAR), Sustained Silent Reading (SSR), and Million Minutes to name a few. Regardless of the different names, the intent is the same — to develop fluent readers by providing time during the school day for students to select a book and read quietly. Nearly every classroom provides some time during the instructional day for this independent silent reading. Despite its widespread use in classrooms, silent reading hasn’t enjoyed much support in the research literature.
Respectful redirection is a quick, in-the-moment classroom strategy to give corrective, clear feedback to students in a neutral way. Learn how to use this strategy, why it works, and see it in action.
Learn about factors related to school culture, teaching climate, and school-wide discipline practices that can aid or hinder a student with ASD’s educational progress.
Effective school reading programs in schools share certain characteristics, from sound methods and materials to quality professional development and administrative practices. Learn about eight features of research-based school reading programs.
Share these six social-emotional learning activities with your students’ families. Activities include a growth mindset action plan, a strengths chain, and an accomplishment box. Downloadables are available in English and Spanish.
As we head towards September and a new school year, here’s advice from special education expert Rick Lavoie that may be helpful as you attempt to make special needs kids in your class feel warm, welcome, and wanted. Using the word SEPTEMBER, he shares nine concepts that can help you in this effort.
Learn about four strategies for structured teaching to support students with ASD: (1) physical structure, (2) visual schedules, (3) work systems, and (4) visual structure.
Inclusion is a belief that ALL students, regardless of labels, should be members of the general education community. The philosophy of inclusion encourages the elimination of the dual special and general education systems, and the creation of a merged system that is responsive to the needs of all students.
Peer tutoring links high achieving students with lower achieving students or those with comparable achievement for structured learning. It promotes academic gains as well as social enhancement. This brief discusses three research-supported peer tutoring strategies: Cross-Age Tutoring; Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS); and Reciprocal Peer Tutoring (RPT).
A visual schedule communicates the sequence of upcoming activities or events through the use of objects, photographs, icons, or words. Find out how to set up visual schedules in your classroom to support your students with ASD.
Visual structure adds a physical or visual component to tasks to help students with ASD to understand how an activity should be completed. Get ideas on how to implement visual structure in your classroom and support your students’ independence.
Browse this collection of visual supports and other resources to help your students with ASD be successful socially and academically in school. You’ll find templates for social rules, classroom rules, emotional support, schedules, and more.
Classrooms can be perilous in a number of ways for students with learning disabilities. Here are some tips to remember when working with students with LD.
The when-then strategy helps nudge students toward appropriate behaviors. You explain clearly what you expect — and the positive outcome that will result. Learn how to use when-then sentences (a printable template is provided).
A work system is an organizational system that gives students with ASD information about what is expected when they come to the classroom. Find out how to implement a work system in your classroom.
