Where to next?

Where to next???

Term 4 is a short and very busy term. I will have a new student starting school and my class will have grown to 9 students which is the most i have had in a special education setting.
I will need to work on my classroom management to ensure that i am able to manage the amount of students in the class. I have decided to split my class into two groups during work time to see if i can spend more 1:1 time to work on individual literacy goals.
I also have 4 new students in the class, some have started taking reading packs home and the others will start this term.

Oliver: implement behavior programme outlined by the student who was working with Oliver last term. I also want to see how many letters of the alphabet he can recognise as I have tried testing multiple times but all my testing has come up with different results.

Benjamin: work on reading aloud, learning high frequency words and comprehension.

Interest Based Learning

Interest Based Learning is a strategy that Special Education Teachers naturally become quite skilled at. When so many students are difficult to engage then you will use whatever you can to spark their interest.
I had a student last year that enjoyed writing about lawnmowers. On challenging days where i wasn't able to get him to do any writing, we would research his favourite lawnmower and write a story about it.
When i get a new student in my classroom, the first thing i do is send home a questionnaire asking about their special interests, hobbies, important people in their lives and places they like to go. I then use this information to create activities and resources to use to teach them new skills.
One of my students enjoys watching things fall. This can often be a barrier to his learning as he will continuously drop materials instead of using them in a activity (eg puzzle pieces).
As part of my inquiry i am using a Interest Based Learning approach to engage and motive my learners. In this video you will see a alphabet activity i made based on my students interest of things falling. I gave him a choice of 2 letters and when he chose the correct one he could put the letter down the tube which then splashed into water. This activity was a highly motivating activity for this student who was so keen to choose the correct letter that he was able to focus and engage for the whole session.

Testing Success!

This term i have focused hugely on assessment. I now have a good relationship with my students and a good grasp of their current skills.
I have a few students who i find challenging to assess. I have tried many different assessment techniques and the data remains inconclusive.

Getting accurate testing information from students who are unable to verbalize the answer is complex. After attempting alphabet testing with one particular student multiple times with no success I was unsure about what to do next. Some times he was able to show me that he knew some letters and other times I thought he was just guessing. Over the weekend i decided to download some new iPad apps which were motivating and easy to use.
Not only did he get almost all of them correct but I had finally found a testing method for a student who was difficult to test. Now i can use the same method to test letter sounds and high frequency words. Finding alternative testing techniques has been the biggest breakthrough in my inquiry this term.
This year has definitely taught me to try and if something fails....try again!

Testing non-verbal students

I have a range of students in my class and my biggest struggle is finding an appropriate and reliable method to test their skills. I have had an influx of new students in my class this term and whenever I get a new student my first question is, "how do I test what they already know?"

In the past I have success with one of my students using an alphabet programme I made on my smart board. However when i tried this method for my three new students I found it was not suitable. They starting popping all of the balloons not just the letter i was calling out. 

This week i have spent some time teaching my new students to "point to" or "give me" a flashcard. This isn't the most reliable method because when they make a choice out of 3 they may accidentally pick the correct card. With this method i will usually retest them multiple times to make sure my data is correct. However testing alphabet and sound knowledge can take a very long time. Most of my students are still learning to attend and sit for extended periods of time which means testing is done in short mini-sessions. 

When researching other appropriate methods i came across a blog that shared the exact sturggles that I have been having with my students. In this blog there were some excellent suggestions for testing phonological awareness. I have a number of students who can identify both upper case, lower case letters and letter sounds but i am unsure if they are able to link this sound awareness to a word.

With the remainder of the term i am going to try assessing their phonological awareness using the testing strategies outlined in the blog (linked above). I am hoping this will give me more insight into their reading skills. 

Colourful Somantics

I posted last year on my blog about colourful semantics and how well it can work for students with communication needs.

You can see the previous post by clicking here.

I have started to use the same resources i used last year however i have simplified the activities by focusing on ONE key area. I am going to include colourful semantics activities in my writing rotation.
My students are working on answering questions about the story, for students who do not yet have the language or are non-verbal then using visuals allows them the chance to be able to communicate their answer.
In this activity, the student is working on answering "who" using pictures from the story. Using the colourful semantics system, "who" is coloured orange. He has to look at the picture and choose the correct visual to identify characters from the story.
I will use this programme in my writing rotation as well.

There is plenty of resources avalibale online. you can find more information by clicking here. 

Implementing a sensory curriculum

As my students are new to school and routines, I am working on extending the time they will engage in seated activities. As part of my writing, handwriting and math's programme i implement sensory based learning activities as well as seated work tasks so that students who are unable to focus for long periods of time get a "sensory break".
There are heaps of ideas on Pinterest for "sensory tubs". This week i put the "letter of the week" in a tub with jelly balls (can be found at most $2 shops), and words we are learning from our word wall in shredded paper (purchased from looksharp). Other sensory tubs i have used in the past are:
-shaving foam
-flour
-colored rice
-sand
-sago
-kinetic sand

 

Addressing sensory needs

My students need regular sensory input throughout the day in order to focus for extended periods of time. For some students this means implementing a "sensory diet".

"A sensory diet is a carefully designed, personalized activity plan that provides the sensory input a person needs to stay focused  and organised throughout the day." (Patricia Wilbager, OT)

When i look across my group of students i can recognize that most of my class are sensory seeking;  weather it is rocking on their chairs, walking around the room before sitting down, jumping off the chairs, or seeking tactile stimulation. I have worked with students in the past who were tactile defensive (refusal to explore tactile surroundings) and the class OT (occupational therapist) implemented a Wilbarger brush programme as part of a sensory diet. I was amazed at the success of using a brush to stimulate the skin in order to increase active exploration.

My class programme caters to the sensory needs in my classroom with regular sensory breaks offered to my students in order to increase their focus during work tasks. I timetable a movement break every 30 minutes. The breaks vary from jumping on the trampoline, going for a run, sensory play, swing and a exercise circuit. Some of my students such as Benjamin need more breaks in order to remain on task in the classroom. I make sure he goes on the swing for 2 minutes before he is expected to sit.

I am currently trialing a few alternative seating alongside the OT that works in my classroom. If you have a student who struggles to focus you could try using a swiss ball to sit on, inflatable cushion, fake grass under their feet, weighted blankets for pressure or a fiddle toy to maintain focus.

Implementing AAC

In my clasroom I am fortunate to have a diverse range of students with a range of communication tools. This term many of my students are trialing different communication systems to find the best system which allows those students who are non-verbal to communicate. 

My current challenge is implementing all of the different devices into my class programme to ensure they are getting ample opportunities to communicate. A trial is usually a maximum of a few weeks if they are trialing a device that is in high demand. 

In my class i currently have:

- 2 verbal students, one with wide range of vocabulary and another who uses key words to communicate

- 1 nonverbal student has trialed a ipad mini with touch chat installed (the student presses the symbol / button which reads out the words). We are awaiting his device to be funded and in the meantime we are using a paper version of the ipad. 

- 1 nonverbal student is trialing a Go Talk 9 which is a system which you have to pre record language you want to use. 

- 1 nonverbal student is trialing a core board where he is learning to point to the symbols.

- 2 nonverbal students are awaiting a communication system  but are currently learning to use visuals in the classroom before moving to a complete system.

        

Over the next few weeks my aim is to integrate these systems into my reading programme to show how multiple systems can be used in one classroom to model language and encourage my students to use their AAC systems to communicate. I am looking forward to seeing what my students have to say with the chance to now be able to do so.

Lastly i wanted to share a powerful blog i came across. It really encouraged me to think of my learners and how they must feel with limited means of communicating. In the chaos of a special needs classroom with so much going on it can be difficult to walk across the room to get their device when it took so long to finally get settled in the activity. However after reading this blog it has driven me to do what i can to give my students a voice.  

Blog link here

Practice makes Perfect!

Each afternoon I do individual reading with each of my students. Some students are able to sit and attend to a story and others are not yet ready to read. 

I have a student called Benjmain who has recently been able to show me many of the skills he has. After 9 weeks at school he is now able to sit at his seat for the majority of circle time, attend to a shared reading book and complete a work task. I knew that if i persevered with trying to get him to participate in reading he would become familiar with what is expected. 

After 2 weeks of bringing him to the table and getting him to point to the words and turn the page, he started to stay in his seat for longer and longer. At first he would turn one page and walk off; over time he increased the sitting time and participated more and more. 

Benjamin will now sit and participate in individual reading for the duration of a story. 

I am also able to send his reading book home so that he can read at home. His family commented that they were surprised he was able to sit for the length of time as he had never shown much interest in books. For the family, this was a huge milestone and one they were able to see him achieve at both home and school. 

Alternative testing techniques

In special education we learn to get creative with how we deliver our teaching and test our students. I have a group of students in my class who i have struggled to formally test. I have used many different techniques to find out if they know their alphabet. For a teacher who has a student who is non-verbal it can be challenging to find out what they know.
Usually i would get them to choose out of 3 cards "show me ___" however what if they cannot yet make choices or don't understand the task? What if they cannot respond to simple instructions like "point to", "show me" or "give me"?
I have a student who i have attempted to test 8 times, ive tried everything from building alphabet towers and getting them to find the correct alphabet block to using  letter stencils to make letters in play dough.
Benjamin (part of my focus group) works well with technology however i couldn't find an app or game that was suitable. I have access to a smart board in my classroom so i made a game where Banjamin had to pop the balloons with the letters on them.
I used peer modelling initially to teach him the task. I used a student who had good alphabet knowledge and as i read out the letter, he would pop the balloon. When it was his turn he completed the task correctly, i was astounded that he knew all his lower case alphabet. I tested him twice to ensure that my data was correct and managed to capture some evidence on video to show his family.
Now that i have found a method to test him, i look forward to finding out what else he knows.

Colourful Semantics

I use Colourful semantics in my classroom to help develop students early foundation literacy skills. It is a good programme for developing sentence structure. At Sommerville many of the teachers use colourful semantics as a system to support students with their reading and writing using the colour coding as a prompt. A colleague of mine, Lidia, has always used this programme as part of her reading programme and when i started at Sommerville i adopted a similar approach.

Colourful semantics is an approach created by Alison Bryan. It is aimed at helping to develop their grammer but is rooted in the meaning of words. It works by students reassembling sentenctes by putting them in order by their colour coded stages. There are different levels within the programme.
           - WHO : Orange
           - WHAT DOING : Yellow
           - WHAT : Green
           - WHERE : Blue
Below is a website with more information:
http://integratedtreatmentservices.co.uk/our-approaches/speech-therapy-approaches/colourful-semantics-2/ 

A huge thank you to Lidia who has inspired me to structure my reading activities using colourful semantics. Here are some examples of how i use colourful semantics in my classroom.

Working with Words

Evan is a very competent reader but has limited understanding about grammar. I am working on "filling in the gaps" in his understanding he can  however  get anxious when learning anything new if he doesn't immediately know the answer.

I found a resource in our library with printable games to teach different skills which fits in with his literacy goals this term. They are games that are motivating and engaging, Evan was unaware that he was learning a new skill. Towards the end of the lesson he was able to circle the adjective in each sentence after playing the game. 

Below is a video of how Evan used the adjective cards to make an appropriate sentence with the winter picture scene. 

Developing Social Skills

I am fortunate enough to have a ABA (applied behavior analysis) intern in my classroom this year.  
She is fantastic with the students and implements programmes to help shape behavior or teach new skills.

Behavior analysis focuses on the principles that explain how learning takes place. Positive reinforcement is one such principle. When a behavior is followed by some sort of reward, the behavior is more likely to be repeated. Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is the use of these techniques and principles to bring about meaningful and positive change in behavior.

https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/treatment/applied-behavior-analysis-aba 

 
Stacey (ABA intern) set up a video modelling programme to show James how to interact appropriately in the playground. He watches this as often as possible, usually before playtime. 

As i also wanted to focus on social skills this term as part of my inquiry i made some resources to work alongside Staceys programme. There are some fantastic resources on the website "http://www.twinkl.co.uk/" which is where i got these from. First he reads a social story on how to be a good friend and then has to sort the scenarios into piles of "good friend" and "bad friend".
James completes these activities as part of his morning work box each day. James can sometimes become obsessed with negative behavior however he appears to be responding well to both the video and the resources. Check out the video of him below...

Making Words - Mini Lessons

I have a student in my class (Evan) who is a very confident reader but when it comes to writing tasks or attempting to spell words he shuts down and refuses to complete his work.
This term i have been reading a book called "Making Words" which entails a very specific phonemic awareness and spelling programme.
This week i am going to implement a mini-lesson after each guided reading session for Evan to practice making words. The book breaks down each step with small tasks which doesn't require Evan to write but uses his letter-sound awareness to make words.
The book has set lessons however i am going to split one lesson across the week so that Evan has time to process what he has done and doesn't get overwhelmed with the workload.

Ending Sounds

Many of the students in my classroom have communication or speech difficulties. This makes reading and writing difficult for them as they are unable to pronounce or hear all of the sounds in the word. It takes a lot longer for my students to learn their initial word sounds as they are unable to verbalise many sounds. It is important to take this into consideration when teaching students who have speech difficulties.
Two of my students can now identify the initial sound at the start of an unfamiliar word. This is evident in their reading and writing as they will use beginning sound cues to guess what the word might be or write the first letter down when writing a story. These two students are now working on identifying the middle and ending sounds and they are also learning to make CVC words. While the student in this video isn't one of my target students, i have been using similar activities with James. Both students have speech difficulties.
 In this video this student has to identify if he can hear the "n" sound at the beginning or the end of the word. I decided to use these activities to introduce him to sounds at the end of the word. I felt that teaching them the sound at the end would be the best next step rather than middle sounds. Medial sounds are often vowels which my students struggle to identify as they sound similar. 

High Frequency Words - Results

I have always had a word wall in my classroom however last year i felt that my students never used it or even recognized the words on the wall. This year I have worked on using the word wall effectively in order to recognise their high frequency words. At Sommerville we have our own list of high frequency words that we use to test the students on their word recognition.
As part of my inquiry i set out to implement different games that we played every day that would include all of the students with their different skills. Some students work on recalling the word and putting it under the correct letter and other students are using their chosen word in a sentence, finding words that rhyme or finding out how many syllables in the word. This way i can include all of my students in the same game.
Here are the results of using the word wall daily for two of my students who I have selected as part of my inquiry.
* Please note that Evan's results are not shown as he can already recall all words in word list 1-4.

Positivity Breeds Positivity...

This week i went out to see a colleague of mine Susan, who teaches in one of our Junior Satellite classes. I was amazed at how well her students responded to her teaching team as well as how nicely they interacted with each other. Her classroom oozed positivity and she celebrated every success no matter how small the achievement was. Her students were glowing with praise they received and the classroom environment was set up well for her students. I have taken many of her strategies on board which i will implement this term.

My students are very social where they enjoy interacting with each other however it doesn't always end well. I find myself having to intervene before the behavior escalates. After visiting Susan i have decided to implement a reward system that she uses which gives more frequent praise throughout the day. Each student will have to earn stickers on their chart, when they have filled the 5 boxes they can put a tick on their strip. Once they have all 5 ticks they can choose a prize from our prize box. This system worked well in Susan's class and i know my students will also respond well.
This week i will have a meeting with my teacher aides to get them on board with the overall aim of increasing our positive behavior strategies in the classroom.

Positive Behaviour Strategies

At Sommerville we use a positive behavior approach to manage challenging behavior in the classroom.
Sometimes the function of the behavior is unclear and we need to collect observational data to find out what is causing the behavior. I have been using the same system for over a year and i have found it very useful for students with challenging behavior because it is student driven and allows them the opportunity to think about their own behavior to earn rewards.
Each of my students focuses on a specific and individualized learning goal to manage their own  behavior in the classroom such as..
- using a quiet voice in the classroom
- using "gentle hands"
- being kind to my friends
The students earn stars on their charts to earn free play at the end of the day. They need 4/5 or a full 5 stars to earn free play. Most of the students manage their own charts by themselves, however if they do not earn a star we do not focus on the negative behavior, instead we focus on how many more they need to earn free play.
There are some excellent resources available on the TKI website.
http://pb4l.tki.org.nz/Encourage-Positive-Behaviours/Support-material

Decoding Skills

James is currently reading at Red 3. For the last year James has been working on his initial sound knowledge to work out words he doesn't know. Now that he has got this skill i need to move him onto making words as well as identifying middle and ending sounds.
I started him on this activity which he was able to do with support. He was able to find the beginning letter independently and i helped him to sound out the end sound by slowing the word down as i repeated it back however he needed much more support for the vowel sounds. James struggles to hear the difference between similar sounds like "i" , "a" and "e" due to his speech impediment. For his reading this term i will focus more on vowels to bridge this gap in his reading and writing.

Teaching Comprehension

Teaching comprehension is a challenging task, especially if the student has special needs or communication difficulties. Comprehension is one of the main reasons why my students are unable to move up to higher reading levels. As the books get harder, they find it more challenging to recall information or follow the main story line. Sometimes my students do not have the vocabulary to be able to answer questions about the book however it doesn't mean that they don't understand the text they have read. 

I have started using multi choice question activities and true/false activities when working with James who has recently moved from Magenta to Red books which have much more content. 

Below are some examples of activities i have made to go with each reader to increase his comprehension skills.