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.

Teaching visuals for communication

One of my lovely colleagues has been making activity specific core language boards for reading for many years. When I first moved to Sommerville I saw how they could be used to support reading comprehension and I continued to add them to my reading packs.
I have used them to teach visuals to my students who are non-verbal. Once i have taught them what the symbols mean, i then use the board so that the student can answer questions about the book. For students who are unable to verbalise the words in the book, the board can be used to complete assessments so that you can test their understanding.
In this video one of my students is pointing to the object he can see in the book when asked, "what can you see?"

Please note: sound has been removed to protect the child's identity

Literacy and Communication

This term i have two new students joining my class, both students are non-verbal and have no communication system currently set up. A huge focus in special education is communication and many classes at our school will have a variety of systems to support the student with communication.
Communication is at the core of all my lessons as it is woven throughout the class programme. Having acess to communication weather it is through a iPad or a core board is vital. I usually modell lamguage on a large core board for the whole class, the support sdtaff working in my classroom will also support individual students who have funded devices or are trailling devices so that the language that i am using is modelled on their individual devices. It is a time consuming and difficult process which makes it more difficult when you have different students using various devices however seeing the results long term is worth it!

In the holidays i watched a very inspiring Ed Talk video about literacy expert, Sally Clendon. At Sommerville we are fortunate enough to get professional development from Sally, i have implemented many of Sally's literacy recommendations and seen the students success as a result.
If you have students in your classroom who are non-verbal or using AAC (Augmentive and Alternative communication) i would highly recommend looking into Sally Clendon's work.
You can find her short Ed talk video by clicking here. 

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. 

Making reading accessible through AAC

As mentioned in previous posts, i now have 4 out of 7 students using AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication). I am working on implementing all devices into my class programme which is no easy feat considering one person needs to work individually with that child while using their device and i only have 3 staff members.

However creating opportunities for communication while it should come naturally i have found it is best to plan sessions where i will use each device. I am trying to get my students to carry their devices with them so that they can take ownership over their own communication as well.

Each week i make an activity specific language board to go with their communication device for a student to use while they are reading. This particular student was trialing a device that has sound output and recordable buttons. I used language from their weekly reader and recorded the symbols on the device. For the first time, this student was able to answer questions about the story, and  they were able to answer correctly! Because of the success we had during reading, this student is going to trial a similar device with more icons available. From 9 icons on a screen to 32!

Planning communication opportunities isn't always easy in the chaos of a busy classroom however making it part of your new "normal" makes it manageable; especially when you start to see success for that student.

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. 

Focus Group 2018

I currently have 8 students in my classroom, all with varied skills and strengths. When choosing the students in my focus group I wanted to choose students that were showing signs of being ready to read (can sit for a short period of time, attend for the length of a story) but needed strategies to be put in place to be able to progress further.

Here is a brief outline of the students i have chosen in my focus group. 

I am currently completing assessments to have baseline data, i am in the process of finding the most suitable assessments to suit my students needs as well as how to assess them (I often need to get creative to assess my students).

Oliver : Age 5 yr, 1 mth, speaks and understands both English and Chinese, speaks using 1-3 keywords, very social and interactive but reliant on adult support as he likes 1:1 attention, has difficulty with compliance with non-preferred activities, good receptive language skills and understanding, minimal alphabet recognition, weak fine motor skills due to low muscle tone

Conner : Age 5 yr, 4 mth, excellent communication skills both verbal and receptive, he is very social and can initiate a conversation with others, he has difficulty joining group activities however this is improving, he can struggle at times to attend to a task when he wants to do something else,  he can recognise all upper and lower case letters and most letter sounds and he has instant recognition of many high frequency words

Benjamin : Age 5 yr, 3 mth, has some words but not using them yet appropriately to request items or comment. He has difficulty following instructions, sitting for extended periods of time and completely non-preferred activities. I am still in the process of working out what letters he can recognise. He doesn't show an interest in books and is unable to sit for extended periods of time. 

I have already started implementing strategies for all the students in my class - mainly around independence and managing themselves day to day in the classroom (unpacking their bag, sitting for increasing periods of time, using the first - then visual sequence, following routines). I am looking forward to working on specific strategies for each student and their learning needs. 

Watch this space!

Elkonin Boxes

Two of my students currently struggle with decoding words during writing and sounding out words during reading. I saw Anita (http://sfsanitaunka.blogspot.co.nz/) use Elkonin boxes with a group of ESOL students in her classroom. I have yet to visit her in action but i couldn't wait to implement them as part of my reading programme.
After a bit of research online i found a strategy that i thought would be beneficial for James in particular as he has recently moved up to yellow. James is frequently appealing for help as he is overwhelmed with the amount of words in his current books (he was stuck on Magenta for many years).
If he is stuck on a word he uses a red dot to put in each Elkonin box as he sounds out the word slowly. Next he is given some cut up letters and has to put them in the boxes to spell the word out. Already i can see James gaining confidence in his reading again as he is reading with more flow.

Article i used as a guide : http://www.readingrockets.org/content/pdfs/Phonics-Sound-Elkonin-Boxes.pdf

Reading Success!

Reading has always been a huge challenge for James who remained on level 1/2 for 4 years.
 He struggled to retain sight words he learnt and also struggled with comprehension.
Through repetitive word wall activities, visual based reading activities and behavior strategies in place, James has moved up 3 reading levels which is such a huge achievement.
When my students achieve a milestone i send home a milestone card and I display my students success in the foyer in our classroom.

Reading Packs

Unlike mainstream classrooms where they read a different book every day, in my class they have 1x book for the week however they have a different focus each day that they read. They also take their reading books home as well as the activities. I make up a 'reading pack' with activities that vary depending on the book and level. Another teacher at my school, Lidia, structures her reading programme similarly so we swap our reading packs to share activities and ideas. It is a great way to share the work load and to get ideas. I love having another teacher to bounce ideas off.

Here are some examples of the activities i have made for a Magenta 1/2 book and a Red 3 book.

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.

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. 

 

Visuals and Assessment

One of my students is able to use key words to express himself and request items. He does not yet have the spoken language to be able to answer questions about the text during guided reading sessions.

To overcome this hurdle I am using a reading core board which is a board of core vocabulary from the text which they can use to answer questions. The visuals i have displayed on this board have both correct and incorrect answers. 

Usually my core-board's would contain colour coded prompts used in a programme called "Colourful Somantics" however i have taken them off this core-board for the function of a running record. 

Once the text has been read I will ask him questions about the story and he will point to the appropriate picture. I make sure that he has a core board for every guided reading book so that he is given the opportunity to answer questions about the story or comment on the book.