Getting on the Same Page with Your Classroom Team

Sometimes it is easier to set up your classroom and instruction for the kids then it is to collaborate with all of the adult members of the classroom team. Teachers and paraeductors all have to go through a phase of getting to know one another and getting to know each other’s style. Building relationships takes time. There are many ways that you can foster positive collaboration and clarity in your classroom with the adults.

The first way is to set up a responsibility chart. On this chart you would indicate what the role is of each member of the classroom team during the instructional parts of the day, during the planning parts of the day and in relation to gathering materials for lessons. For example, who will make the Boardmaker ™symbols, who will gather the lunches, who will check the back packs each morning, etc,  Other classrooms may want to decide who is going to actually run the art activity or who is going to pick up the students from the bus. There are a number of things that happen in the course of a day where it is a good idea to have one or two people clearly designated to take care of those areas. It's also great to have this written down because if it is not written down sometimes we might forget. 

Roles and Responsibility Chart #1

Roles andResponsibility Chart #2

A second way to help foster this collaborative communication would be with something called a zone schedule. In this schedule you would highlight the activities for the day first, and then highlight what each person will be doing in that activity. These are very specific to the activity and don’t tend to include the planning piece or the gathering of materials piece.

Another way to help everyone staying the same page would be to create a lunch time schedule and a break time schedule for each adult in the classroom. This way you are really clear that breaks did not occur during your key instructional times. And you're also clear when each person is going out and coming back. If it's written down and

posted in the classroom there's no room for misinterpretation.  

Organization Sheets for Self-Contained & Autism Classrooms (Bubble Design)

Organization Sheets for Self-Contained Special Education & Autism Classrooms

If you've been teaching for a while a lot of this might come easy to you.  However, if you are new to teaching or new to an autism classroom where the behavioral demands of the classroom are greater, it will be important to get these elements in place and underway so that your instruction can be as smooth as possible. What you don't want is to have to discuss these elements of who's doing what, what time are you going, what time are you coming back, when the students are there. We know, sometimes it only takes 30 seconds of your distraction for the students to be distracted and get off task. 

Talk with the team an tackle these components ahead of time.

            1. Start with a template.

            2. Talk to your team and ask about their instructional strengths and hobbies.

            3. Formulate a plan based on the best interest of your students.

Work Tasks for Students with Special Needs

Hands-on work tasks are a necessary and practical item in a special education classroom. Many lessons and skills can be taught using something other than paper and pencil. I think one of my favorite teaching tasks is to find a bunch of supplies and turn them into a task. So I wanted to bring a few of those ideas to you with the hope that they may inspire some tasks that can work well for your students.  

Sorting by color.

Matching like pictures.

 Match purple and green items. 

Match colors. 

Match letters of a name.

Place red pipe cleaners in the red container.  Place blue in the blue container. 

Setting Up the Autism Classroom: Scheduling Your School Day

Setting up the classroom can be monumental and at the same time so exciting.  It is fun to start a fresh new school year.  However, if you are new to teaching or just new to teaching students with autism, it can be kind of a daunting task to organize and set up a classroom. That’s where Autism Classroom comes in. Detailed, step-by-step information about setting up your special education classroom is in the book How to Set Up a Classroom for Students with Autism (Second Edition). The book highlights effective strategies teachers can use to create an effective classroom.  One of the top strategies which offers the most payoff is the use of schedules. 

Paperback

Ebook (Instant Download)

To promote efficiency in the class, a classroom schedule should reflect most of the following: independent work time, 1:1 (or 2:1) work time, small group instruction, social skills instruction, sensory play, structured play/structured recreation-leisure opportunities, fine motor work opportunities, personal management opportunities, limited large group activities.  These are not set in stone, as each school and principal will have their own guidelines for classrooms within their school.

The first schedule I would recommend putting in place is a tentative weekly schedule.  Don’t be stubborn, write it in pencil. Chances are you will need to erase it several times before it is final.  When creating it, think of what activities you want to occur throughout the school day, which activities have to occur and when are the pre-scheduled activities such as lunch and specials. Try your best to get a good block of uninterrupted time in the morning so that you can create consistency in the student’s morning routine.  For more tips on creating a weekly schedule, see my webpage on the topic by clicking on the picture below.  

Here are a few schedule templates you could use to get you started thinking about what you want to accomplish during the school day. 

Once you know what activities will occur, you can make student schedules. Schedules can come in many forms. The most useful for students with autism are those schedules that are visual. This could mean written, pictures, photos or actual object representations. This schedule provides the student with picture icons they can use to see what will occur throughout the day.  It can be mounted to folder or a piece of cards stock to make it sturdy.

This product Color Coded Personal Schedules, available at the Autism Classroom TpT Store, is an individual schedule that you can add your own picture icons or objects to. There are 9 colors. You can choose the colors you like or you can use the blank one and mount it on colored file folders. 36 Picture icons are included! These schedules can be used in the home, school and community. 

We know that organizing the day is an effective strategy for working with children with autism and related special needs. Especially for those who may have intensive needs. Additionally, making the schedule individualized to fit the student’s needs (ex. specific sensory breaks) and his/her schedule (ex. specific speech therapy or reinforcement breaks) can help with behaviors. Schedules can increase on-task behavior by giving the adult a visual tool to direct (point) the child back to. Using schedules for students with special needs offers them a way to navigate transitions a little easier by knowing what to expect next.

Setting Up an Autism Classroom On a Budget Series (Part 5 of 5)

Play time, sensory time and computer time.

Play time and leisure time products can be costly, but here are some tips for easing the burden on the wallet. Classroom teams can shop yard sales for “fidget” toys and age appropriate toys. A favorite yard sale find are the small wind-up toys usually found in kids meals at various fast food restaurants. They make great reinforcers and motivators for children (be sure to monitor their use closely if any students are prone to place things in their mouth.) At yard sales, sometimes someone may be willing to let go of a huge bag of these items for as little as $5.00. Swapping toys on a rotating basis with another classroom teacher in the building can help save some money as well. Additionally, games such as a matching game can be made pretty inexpensively using two identical decks of cards from the dollar store (shapes cards, letter cards, number cards, etc.) This theory works the same for paint “chips” from the hardware store or identical photographs, both of which can make simple matching games. File folder games are easy to store and easy to create. Simply take one set of matching game cards, glue it to a file folder, laminate and you have a sturdy teaching material. See this cute example of my Dalmation File Folder Game. Or for the teens and young adults, see this Teen Real Sports File Folder Game 

To assist with purchasing items for a sensory area in the classroom, teachers can ask parents or community supporters to send in items for a sensory area (ex. lotion, shaving cream, finger paint, weighted blankets.) If that is not possible, making sensory items may be the best solution. For example, a “weighted sock” can be created using tube socks and dry rice. Also, a teacher can try using three or four pillows inside of a sewn sheet as a sensory body pillow. If tactile sensory items are needed, creating a “squishy” toy using finger paint inside of a zippered baggie may just work. Just be sure to secure it with several baggies, duct tape and adult supervision!

Computers can offer value too. Teachers needing to create an autism classroom on a budget should take advantage of many of the free and low cost materials offered via the internet. For students, ZAC Browser (Zone for Autistic Children) is an internet browser that offers safe connections to websites for children with autism. Starfall.com is website for young children working on alphabet and reading skills. These are only two sites out of many that teachers can utilize for free. 

For the adults on the classroom team, the internet offers a variety of free trainings related to autism. For example, AutismSpot.com, AutismClassroom.com, PostivelyAutism.com and all offer training and or videos with great information for educators and parents too. A fairly new site, AutismInternetModules.org, offers a full array of over 45 in-depth self-paced training modules that educators can take over the web. Lastly, low-cost books such as How to Set Up a Classroom for Students with Autism: 2^ndEdition and How Do I Teach This Kid provide invaluable tips for little cost. These tips will hopefully help add substance to the classroom while keeping the money in the pocket!

Setting Up an Autism Classroom On a Budget Series (Part 4 of 5)

Communication.

Communication is a huge deal in a classroom for students with autism. The goal is always to increase the student's ability to express and receive a message. There are some ways to do this without spending a lot of money. To start with, a person can print picture icons in black and white, instead of color, to save on ink. Next, they can try using an internet search to find images for communication tools. They just need to be sure that it is a clear picture of just the item and it does not have anything in the background. Another option is to take your own photo of the item in question.  Additionally, teachers can save loads of money by using the real object as a communication tool or by using a cut out of the actual package of the product. The cut out can be laminated or placed in a zippered baggie and exchanged back and forth for students who may be non-verbal or who may use limited speech.

To increase communication in students with limited speech, teachers can use pocket photo albums as communication books. They are found at most dollar stores, they are lightweight, and they can have picture cards inserted and removed easily. Schedules, which are needed in many autism classrooms, can be made using card stock paper or file folders. Finally, communication costs can be lowered by the teacher bringing in real items from home when teaching concepts in a specific lesson. This has an added benefit of providing a hands-on experience for the students. I have a few communication building products in my TpT Store.  

The first is a set of communication supports for opening circle time.  They will help to build language and also help some students to understand by seeing the pictures. 

The second set is meant to help students self-advocate by making choices. The Choice board can be found here. 

Setting Up an Autism Classroom On a Budget Series (Part 3 of 5)

Supplies.

Supplies for the classroom cost teachers so much money. For classroom set up, teachers should make use of the numerous websites that provide free materials. Download free materials, schedules, data sheets and visual supports on sites like I have here are AutismClassroom.com:

Classroom organization can present some ways to save as well. First and foremost, a teacher can use dollar store tubs as storage bins for storing student work, lessons plan materials and more. Zipper baggies of various sizes come in handy for just about every aspect of the classroom environment. The smaller baggies make great storage for flash cards, and the jumbo bags can be used as a reward/reinforcer bag to store large toys or to store extra clothing or student’s personal belongings. Similarly, reusable food storage containers of all sizes, double as toy storage containers, art supplies containers, reward containers and work bin containers. If bigger containers are needed, check for back to school sales on Rubbermaid-type 20 gallon containers, which can be as low as $4.00 each.

Buying pocket folders when on sale (at back to school time) is another way to save. Many times you can get folders for 5 cents or 10 cents in early August at office supply stores. In addition, we know that data binders are an important tool in organizing the student's progress on their personal goals. Educators can make dividers for the student’s binders by using colored construction paper or card stock paper instead of buying pre-made tab dividers. If a teacher is savvy with the computer, he or she can create their own free data sheets using the “Create Table’ section of a word processing program or do an internet search for “data sheets” to find some freebies that fit the needs of your students. There are a few data collection sheets here. 

Recycling old binders to use for the students data binders or asking the principal or other teachers if they have any unused binders can also save loads of cash. 

If a classroom has no shelf space, recycle old sturdy bookshelves to use as shelving if needed. Classroom organization can also be helped a bit by asking parents to send in old, cleaned containers such as margarine, butter, or oatmeal containers. These items can be used to store toys or to store puzzle pieces or small pieces for work tasks. 

Setting Up an Autism Classroom On a Budget Series (Part 2 of 5)

Furniture.

It is kind of hard to set up a room without furniture if your classroom does not have much, but there are a few tricks that can be used to save. Furniture, of course can be costly, however, recycling can be called to play by using old sturdy bookshelves as a storage place for a materials for a work station and centers. Teacher's desks should never be the focal point of a classroom, especially in a classroom teaching students with autism. However, if a desk must remain in the room, a teacher can set up the teacher's desk in such a way that it doubles as a divider. For example, the desk can help to create a division in the room which allows for various areas like an independent work area or a play area. 

When creating a division in the room, it is usually common that one would use heavy partitions or study carrels which can cost hundreds of dollars. To save some cash, use cardboard or corrugated dividers instead of expensive partitions. Dividers like these can be found at Calloway House Inc., a website that sells classroom products. 

These dividers are light-weight and can be removed and stored away easily or can be secured by placing something such as a desk or table on both sides of them to help them stay up. You always have to be careful to have items that do not tip over easy, especially if you have a student that may like to throw or push things. 

Custodians can be very helpful in setting up the classroom. Asking the custodian in the school if they know of any "hidden' desks, chairs, tables or partitions works for me. They are the go-to people with the knowledge of what is going on furniture-wise for that building. File cabinets are also items that may already be in the school and may be able to help create the areas of the classroom you want to create. Just ask if there are any file cabinets that you can use to create centers for your classroom.  Asking the custodians is a sure way to save some money and time.  You might be surprised what they come up with!

Setting Up an Autism Classroom On a Budget Series (Part 1 of 5)

I have written about this topic before, but I didn’t have a “proper” blog, as they say. Also, this topic is timeless since every year a classroom has to be set up and every year, saving money in the process is favorable. So here is goes again.  We do know that if you let it, setting up a classroom for students with autism can be time consuming and expensive. In today’s economy, with budget cuts and school districts cutting back on expenses, that challenge is intensified. From communication tools to printables and apps, the price list seems endless. However, there are many ways that a person can create a useful and effective autism classroom on a budget. Designing the classroom is an important element in creating the type of room that fosters successful students. Here are some creative ways to save dollars on the materials and items used to design the classroom.

When designing a room, a teacher can use dollar store templates for creating name cards instead of buying expensive name cards. Or, just print out your own using a really cool font. Clear packing tape can be used to “laminate” items by sticking the tape to both sides of the item. Teachers who currently teach in a school that they will be returning to the next year can ask the administrators if they can check the school art closet at the end of the school year to prepare for next year. There are usually a bunch of items in the art closet that are just sitting there waiting to be used to create useful materials. For example, construction paper, 3-hole punch devices, glitter, finger paint, scissors, clip boards, permanent markers, note pads, folders, tape, poster board, staplers and other good finds are just waiting. Just ask the principal or secretary if it is alright to take a look in preparation for the school year.

Index cards are another item that are inexpensive, but can reap large benefits. Index cards can be used to make a number of teacher-made items such as matching games, alphabet flash cards, number cards, picture identification cards, labels for bins and more. Simply use a permanent marker and good handwriting (or if handwriting is a problem, print out what you want on the computer and glue it to the index card) and you have teaching materials that are also easily replaceable.

Decorating can be cheap too. Teachers can start by making their own bulletin board boarders by using construction paper strips and gluing on small designs created by the students. (This can be done as an art lesson with the students.) Bulletin board paper can be used in other ways too. If needed, a teacher can use bulletin board paper to cover distracting items or shelves that appear cluttered. If a teacher's school will not order one of those expensive carpets from a catalog or an online store, he or she can try putting together two or three “furry blankets” from a discount store like Marshall's, TJ Maxx or Ross.