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Tips, Tricks, and New Approaches for Vocab Instruction in Special Education settings

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Edwin Ellis and Theresa Farmer describe the situation eloquently in the introduction to their clarifying strategy to teach vocabulary. To quote:

When you think of vocabulary, there is a good chance that you think of long lists of words from social studies or science textbooks, spelling word lists, or even the humongous lists of terms to study for college entrance exams. Zillions of flash cards also may come to mind. No doubt you share the common childhood experience of having to "go look up the words in a dictionary, write the definition, and then write a sentence using the term" - but how much of that vocabulary do you remember now?

In other words, many of the traditional techniques teachers and students use to learn vocabulary does not work because most students, not just those with learning problems, rarely remember the meanings of new terms beyond the test. This raises a very disconcerting question: If students don't remember the definitions of new terms after the test, why bother requiring them to memorize those definitions in the first place since it seems to be a waste of time?

Given a list of words to learn, many students will complete the assignments given, but will not have the time to actually learn what the words mean. "Vocabulary enrichment" becomes yet another set of compartmentalized pieces of information that a student is "exposed to," tries to spit back on a test, and forgets.

Developing vocabulary as part of knowledge structure requires much more energy and focus than memorizing terms. Many students will have habits of passivity that will need to be broken. Others will be convinced that these aren't words people normally use, even if in fact they've heard them many times before - but didn't remember because there was no meaning attached to the word.

Keep in mind, also, that there is more to developing vocabulary and language comprehension than learning new words. Some other skills to consider at the single word and phrase level are:

figures of speech,

confusing words such as "indifferent,"

words with multiple meanings, and

"signal" words such as but, however, and while.

Guidelines

1. Have structure and organization behind the words you present
Rather than randomly selected words "at their grade level," present words in related groups. Examples: Present words about feelings, and make a poster with the students, with different words to describe being "afraid" or "happy." Students can discuss the degrees of emotion (is terrified more than nervous or anxious, ecstatic better than pleased), and the differences between the words (how is snicker different from guffaw, terrified different from horrified?). Another option is to study word parts: have the students learn that ject means throw, and then tackle projectile, reject, and trajectory.

An advantage to grouping words this way is that it lends itself to individualized instruction. Students can all be tackling words from the big ject list - but one student may be learning subjective and abject while another learns project and projectile. (As with any strategy that differentiates between students, you will need to deal with the "why is he doing something different" issues and determining how and how much to differentiate - but with these activities the differences between students are not as obvious.)

2. Incorporate multisensory learning from the beginning
Many students gain a lot if an illustration or demonstration is presented first. Later, when the word is used or its meaning discussed, they have an image to associate it with, and are more likely to learn from the discussion as well as from the visual presentations.

3. Model the activities first
Demonstrate these activities with vivid, familiar words first. Once you've modeled an activity with a word, do it with student input next, and finally, have the students do it on their own - perhaps in groups before working individually.

4. Most work with vocabulary should be done with the meanings available
If the activity involves expressing the ideas in a different form than the definition, then the student has to think about the meaning and interpret it. If the student doesn't use the right meaning, they're worse than wasting they're time; they're learning the wrong things. In addition, students may commit a simplified meaning to memory, but if they have a more developed definition they will be able to think about that and use it.

5. Keep an ongoing list prominently posted
If the words are visible and accessible to students, they are more likely to see them, think about them, and use them. It's up to you to remember to take the lists down when you give tests or quizzes, unless you are using word banks already. (Don't rely on a list on the board as a word bank, however; some students have significantly more trouble reading or writing from a distance than from the paper they are working on.) If you've got different students learning different words, put them all up there, but be sure each student knows which words s/he is responsible for knowing.

6. Go beyond the definitions of the words
Include the connotations of the words and the ways they are most likely to be used. Don't limit this exploration to the "discussion" of words. When students are drawing or acting out words, encourage them to incorporate the connotations or the more subtle aspects of the meanings of the words.

Activities

1. Illustrate the words
Show pictures or video clips that demonstrate the meaning of a word. Have students draw and label something illustrating the meaning of the word. This is not limited to concrete nouns - a grim expression, a contemplative person, or absurd conduct can also be drawn. The labels explain how the word and drawing fit. Drawing skills are not important; stick figures with accurate labels can succinctly express an idea as well as finely crafted caricatures. The infamous "flashcards" can be made more meaningful with illustrations, as well. Be sure, though, that the student doesn't replace an abstract idea with a concrete example of it. This can be done by showing different ways that the idea is expressed and having the students discover what makes them valid illustrations - for instance, could news be grim? How?

2. Play "Quick Draw"
This doesn't have to be competitive, but it can be. See how quickly students can convey the essence of a words meaning on the board - without words. This works especially well with words describing visual concepts, like many geography terms. Again, make sure students don't oversimplify things - if you play this game repeatedly, make sure the students are using different ways to draw the words.

3. Play "vocabulary charades"
Have students draw a word from a hat and act it out.

4. Give credit for finding the word used in the real world
Provide extra credit if a student hears or sees a vocabulary word anywhere outside of the vocabulary exercises. To get the points, the student has to write down the word, what it means, and where s/he heard it. Sometimes the students will purposely use the words so someone can say they heard it - which just means they are incorporating it into their oral vocabularies.

5. Use the words yourself
That prominently posted list can be your cue to slip words into other classwork or discussions. Students may not even need the incentive of extra credit to start listening for them.

6. Have students answer questions that use the words
For example: "What are three ways you could tell a person had just received grim news?" "What are three things an impertinent person might say?" "What are three things that would disconcert you?" Doing this while the student has the meaning available gives the opportunity to process the meaning instead of guessing at an answer.

7. Have students generate examples and non-examples for words
This can be done with visual or kinesthetic illustrations as well as verbal descriptions. Have students explain whether something is a good example of a word or not, and why they think so. For most groups, this activity should be practiced with familiar, concrete words first. It can be used to lay a solid foundation for "comparing and contrasting" and defending ideas in essays, especially if you encourage the students to use precise language and good sentences.

When you ask students to generate examples, if someone comes up with a "wrong" answer, it can be used as "a good non-example" to help clarify the meaning of a word. Remind students that learning is not about proving what you already know, but about asking questions to change what you don't know into what you do know.

8. Use "fill in the blank" exercises before you expect the students to use the words in sentences themselves
This is also a good way to test students, or to make the transition between working with the definitions available and recalling what the words mean on their own. Have a word bank with five vocabulary words and five sentences with blanks, and have the students decide which word goes in which blank. Your challenge will be constructing sentences which only match with one word, so small groups of words are better. These exercises are also opportunities for you to give a wider scope to a word, and discuss how that word fits into a sentence that the students might not have considered.

9. Compose with the words
Only after a student has heard and read a word used correctly many times should s/he be expected to compose something original with the word. This can be a fun class activity, though, once a sizable list has accumulated. Students can take turns picking words from the list to add a sentence to an ongoing story - students will get a chance to hear the words they weren't sure of used by other students, and the sentences can be revised if the words are not used correctly. Eventually, students may enjoy composing absurd tales using the words.

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Vocabulary is a weak area for many students, but much "vocabulary instruction" ends up being handwriting practice.

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Resource collection from Autism Speaks

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Looking for at-home ideas to keep busy? Browse activities by area of interest by clicking on a link below. While many of these resources offer courses for those with special needs, this is not a list of exclusively autism-friendly programming. Thanks to Autism Behavior Consultants and Los Angeles Unified School District, which together curated many of the activities listed. Thanks also to New England Center for Children, Gateway Learning Group, Helping Hands Family, Kadiant, Neurabilities and Early Autism Services for contributing resources.

Learning Activities:

123 Homeschooling - Homeschooling worksheets. Free.

ABCya! - provides free educational games organized by grade and subject area

All Kids Network! - Resources for children's crafts, worksheets, coloring pages, mazes, dot-to-dot, and more. Free.

Amazing Educational Resources - Resource guide of educational companies offering free subscriptions due to the school closures.

BrainPOP - Educational website with over 1,000 short animated movies for students in grades K-12, together with quizzes and related materials, covering the subjects of science, social studies, English, math, engineering and technology, health, and arts and music.

Boom Cards - premade or customizable flashcards for skill building/maintenance (utilizes discrete-trial training format)

Daily Science Project from Easton Children's Museum - easy-to-do-at-home science experiments

Crash Course - A YouTube channel offering engaging educational videos suitable for high school students. The channel features a wide range of subjects, from anatomy to world history.

Edgenuity - For students to access core curriculum. Each student has an individual code that will allow them to access lessons in English language arts and mathematics. Science and history/social science lessons are available for and high school students.

Highlights Kids - Online magazine with activities, games, recipes.

Kids Activities Blog - List of education companies offering free subscriptions due to school closing.

KidsKonnect - printable worksheets for teachers & homeschool parents

Math Play - provides online math games organized by grade level, content and game type

Math Worksheets 4 Kids - provides Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social studies printable materials

The Math Worksheet Site - provides Mathematics-related printable materials

Mystery Doug - posts a new video every week answering scientific questions

Mommy Poppins Poppins at Home - e-learning, crafts, activities and games for a range of ages. Topics include cooking, gardening, STEM, crafts, languages story time and more!

Nassau County Museum of Art - engaging kids on the autism spectrum

PBS SoCal, KCET, and PBS - Free, standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans for at-home learning. Available for students in through .

LA Parent Magazine - Activities and information on remote learning for children and families.

Originator - List of educational mobile and tablet applications for children and families. Fees apply.

Reading A-Z, RAZ kids and Vocabulary A-Z - provides leveled books, passages, comprehension printable materials, quizzes for interactive reading practice and vocabulary word lists/lessons with online practice. Subscription

Scholastic Learn at Home - Allows open access to daily learning journeys divided into four grade spans: , , , and , covering ELA, STEAM, science, social studies, and social-emotional learning. Free.

Starfall - provides Reading and Math games, movies, books and music

Universal Class - Classes to guide parents and teachers to build their own unit study courses for homeschool purposes. Free access with a Los Angeles Public Library card (which can now be obtained online).

Virtual School Activities - A collection of sites to live webcams, virtual tours/tips, and other miscellaneous fun educational sites for homeschooling.

www.EdHelper.com - provides Reading, Grammar, Math and Science printable materials. Subscription

www.Education.com - provides Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies printable materials as well as Reading and Math online games. Subscription

www.EnchantedLearning.com - provides Writing and Science printable materials. Subscription

www.mathworksheetsland.com - provides Mathematics-related printable materials. Subscription

Art and Crafting:

Games:

Movement and Mindfulness:

Music:

Amped Guitar + Gibson - 3 month free trial of Amped Guitar lessons through Gibson Gives.

Carnegie Hall - Resources and teaching videos for teachers and K-5 students.

Fender Play - 3 months of free online guitar, bass and ukulele lessons to the first 500,000 to sign up for Fender Play.

- The Inkshed team creates art, writing, music, and theater video lessons to share their love and passion for the arts.

Music and the Brain - Video tutorials and keyboard instruction for K-12 students.

New York Philharmonic- Watch the famous Young People's Concerts at home.

Prodigies - Video library of engaging musical activities and curriculum for kids ages 2-12.

Save the Music Foundation- A list of free and low-cost music instruction and performances.

Soundfly - Free video courses about producing, playing and writing music taught by industry professionals and educators.

Outdoors and Animals:

American Museum of Natural History - Their Ology science website provides games and activities for kids and covers a range of science topics, including archaeology, paleontology, astronomy, and marine biology.

Center for Discovery - Safe indoor and outdoor activities for families in the time of the coronavirus.

Explore Mars from NASA - Explore the real surface of Mars, recorded by Nasa's Curiosity rover.

Google Arts & Culture and National Parks - Google has teamed up with five national parks in the US so people can enjoy the beauty of the natural world virtually: Kenai Fjords National Park (Alaska), Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park (Hawaii), Carlsbad Caverns National Park (New Mexico), Bryce Canyon National Park (Utah), Dry Tortugas National Park (Florida).

Live Science - Breaks down stories behind the most interesting news and photos on the Internet, while also digging up fascinating discoveries that hit on a broad range of fields, from dinosaurs and archaeology to wacky physics and astronomy to health and human behavior.

Los Angeles Zoo - Videos of animals.

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute - Resources from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute introduce students to the impacts of climate change on marine habitats; explain the adaptations of animals that live in the deep sea; and present the challenges faced by ecosystems invaded by nonnative species, such as the so-called zombie shrimp.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - Tour marine sanctuaries and ocean habitats with a collection of virtual dives from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

San Diego Zoo - Videos, activities, and games from the San Diego Zoo.

Smithsonian's National Zoo - Animal webcams at the zoo.

The Nature Museum in Chicago - How do butterflies eat? What's the difference between frogs and toads? The Nature Museum in Chicago has videos and activities to acquaint kids with the natural world and to inspire their curiosity about the plants and animals in their own backyards.

Virtual Field Trips - Videos to explore the world, organized by curriculum, by grade, by location, for grades .

Yellowstone National Park - Virtual tours of some of Yellowstone National Park's main attractions around the park.

Reading:

Audible - Free audiobooks for kids and teens.

CommonLit - Free reading passages and literacy resources in all literary and nonfiction genres for .

LA County Library - Sign up for a Digital Library Card to get free access to all of the Library's digital offerings, including ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, movies, TV, homework help, online classes, and more.

PJ Library - sign up to receive free books and participate in virtual storytimes.

Storytime at Los Angeles Public Library - Recorded storytime with the Los Angeles Public Library staff. There are also guided storytimes so that families can create their own version at home.

Time for Kids - For elementary and middle school students, digital subscriptions are free for the duration of the school year. This is the first time that the magazine is fully accessible at home.

Tumblebook - An online collection of animated, talking picture books, which teach young children the joys of reading. Books available in seven different languages. Free trail available.

Sports:

Baseball - Baseball - A Film by Ken Burns.

Basketball - Free preview of NBA League Pass.

Football - Complementary access to Game Pass.

Hiking - A custom program designed by PopFit!

Hockey - 'Pause Binge' replays of archived games.

Swimming - A custom program designed by PopFit!

Technology:

Scratch (MIT Media Lab) - Learn to code for ages 8-16, but used by people of all ages. Program your own interactive stories, games, and animation and share with others in the online community. Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.

Theater:

The Met Opera Stream - Each day, a different encore presentation from the company's Live in HD series is being made available for free streaming.

Playbill - Guide of Broadway plays and musicals available to watch online.

Shakespeare's Globe Theater - Theater lovers can browse a range of classroom activities and plays by Shakespeare.

Virtual Field Trips:

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Looking for at-home ideas to keep busy? Browse activities by area of interest by clicking on a link below. While many of these resources offer courses for those with special needs, this is not a list of exclusively autism-friendly programming. Thanks to Autism Behavior Consultants and Los Angeles Unified School District, which together curated many of the activities listed.

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Activity Ideas in conjunction with pairing and manding goals

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Manding, Pairing and Fun activity ideas | aba-teaching-ideas

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It is usually hard for a team to rotate activities efficiently when there are different tutors working with a child. I'm referring to teaching functional play, playground games and board game rules and activities such as colouring and craft.

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FAQs about ABA being an evidence-based practice

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Is there scientific evidence that ABA works?
Haven't some reviews concluded that ABA doesn't work?
What factors are important to consider in evaluating complex ABA interventions?
Are there studies on PECS?
Do studies with single subject experimental designs "count" as evidence?

"There is little question now that early intensive behavioral intervention is highly effective for some children. However, gains are not universal, and some children make only modest progress while others show little or no change, sometimes after extremely lengthy periods in treatment." (page 36).

Howlin, P., Magiati, I., & Charman, T. (2009). Systematic review of early intensive behavioral interventions for children with autism. American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. 114. 23-41. (The authors are professors at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College (London, UK) and University College, London, Institute of Child Health).

"Evidence supports early intensive behavioral and developmental intervention, including the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)/Lovaas model and Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) for improving cognitive performance, language skills, and adaptive behavior in some groups of children." (page vi).

"Evidence suggests that interventions focusing on providing parent training and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for bolstering social skills and managing challenging behaviors may be useful for children with ASDs to improve social communication, language use, and potentially, symptom severity." (page vi).

"All of these studies need to be replicated, and specific focus is needed to characterize which children are most likely to benefit." (page vi).

"Information is lacking on modifiers of effectiveness, generalization of effects outside the treatment context, components of multicomponent therapies that drive effectiveness, and predictors of treatment success." (page vi).

"No current medical interventions demonstrate clear benefit for social or communication symptoms in ASDs." (page vi).

"Little evidence is available to assess other behavioral interventions, allied health therapies, or complementary and alternative medicine." (page vi).

Warren, Z., Veenstra-VanderWeele, J., Stone, W., Bruzek, J.L., Nahmias, A.S., Foss-Feig, J.H., Jerome, R.N., Krishnaswami, S., Sathe, N.A., Glasser, A.M., Surawicz, T., & McPheeters, M.L. (April, 2011). Therapies for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Comparative Effectiveness Review No. 26. (Prepared by the Vanderbilt Evidence-based Practice Center under Contract No.290-2007-10065-I.) AHRQ Publication No. 11-EHC029-EF. Rockville, MD:Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Available at: www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/reports/final.cfm.

Odom et al's evaluation of comprehensive treatment models offers readers a summary of a number of essential components of 30 documented comprehensive treatment models. A number of important factors were considered and rated. These factors included (1) operationalization of the model, (2) replication of the model, and (3) type of empirical evidence supporting the model.

Odom et al.'s (2010) review also illustrated some of the challenges in evaluating comprehensive models. While efforts were made to secure as much information as possible about each model, a good deal of information was obtained via a phone interview and by reviewing information requested of and supplied by the treatment model. As the authors note, it is possible information was not properly conveyed, and as a result some models may have been rated differently depending on the information that was provided to the interviewer. It is also important to note that on-site visits of the implementation of the models were not conducted by the authors. Thus the authors did not empirically evaluate actual implementation of the model.

Although not perfect, the review is a prompt to examine data and an attempt to organize current information. The call to develop measures that can document the appropriate implementation of CTM procedures and to research the efficacy of models is valuable.

The publications on PECS have an increasing international flavor as publications reflect the involvement of authors from 15 countries (see Sulzer-Azaroff, Hoffman, Horton, Bondy & Frost, 2009 for examples in a review of single-subject designed publications, Hart & Banda (2010) noted, "In summary, PECS may increase manding, social communicative behavior, and speech and decrease problem behaviors (p. 486)." Another review by Tien (2008) concluded, "Taken as a whole, therefore, results of the studies reviewed provide evidence for the effectiveness of PECS; specifically, PECS is effective in enhancing functional communication skills of individuals with ASD. Therefore, PECS is recommended as an evidence-based intervention for this purpose (p. 74)." Tincani & Devis (2011) wrote, "The findings of this meta-analysis support the PECS as an effective intervention to promote functional communication for individuals with ASD and other disabilities, (p. 9)." Other reviews have been more conservative in their overall assessment: "With one group design of strong quality and seven single subject experiments of at least adequate quality documenting gains in communication following PECS training, the body of evidence for the PECS approach demonstrates that PECS is a promising, although not yet established, evidence-based practice for promoting communication in children with autism (Flippin, Reszka, & Watson, 2010, p. 189)." Finally, Tincani & Devis (2011) also stressed the importance of research regarding the efficacy of the more advanced phases of the PECS protocol. [Recently, the National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders noted PECS as one of its 'evidence-based practices'; see http://autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu/content/briefs retrieved Feb. 2012.]

Although studies generally support the use of PECS, there are some major problems with interpreting the studies. ). Most of the current review papers call for more detailed research regarding how PECS relates to overall functional communication, speech development, behavior management and social skill modifications.

Some publications have claimed to represent PECS, but have either clearly not followed the protocol or provided no evidence that the protocol was followed in a consistent manner ¹. Also, some have only examined a portion of the protocol (see Sulzer-Azaroff, et al., 2009 for a complete review of this issue). For example, some studies have looked at effects only through discrimination (i.e., Phase III), not because there were documented problems in getting users to achieve Phase IV and beyond or because their use of the early Phases of PECS lead to the rapid acquisition of alternative forms of functional communication (including speech) but for other, non-specified reasons (including, perhaps, pressure to publish). These incomplete attempts to teach the full protocol when attempting to compare "PECS" to some other system or modality make the comparisons difficult to interpret (see Sulzer-Azaroff et al., 2009 for a full review of these and other quality-assurance issues). When only a portion of the PECS protocol is used, it is difficult to understand the full meaning of a questions comparing "PECS versus X" This issue is especially relevant when production of speech is of concern because several studies which suggest that changes during Phase IV and its associated delayed-prompt strategy for speech production are associated with a significant boost in vocalization across the PECS phases (see Tincani, Crozier & Alazetta, 2006; Ganz & Simpson, 2004). Of interest is some preliminary evidence offered at a recent ABAI paper presentation that suggested shifting the use of the delayed-prompt strategy from Phase IV to Phase II may result in a concomitant shift in increased vocalizations (Rapoza-Houle & Muehlberger, 2010). When attempting to compare two different 'systems' it may be impossible to separate issues uniquely associated with the modality from the teaching strategies associated with use of that modality. That is, a teaching protocol distinct from that noted within PECS could be developed to teach the use of pictures within a manding function that results in vastly different outcomes than when using the current PECS protocol. That is, poor teaching strategies could be associated with the failure of any modality. However, evidence indicates that, when implemented properly.

While seemingly simple, the question, "Does PECS work?" may involve many facets ². For example, this question may focus on the acquisition of the use of pictures within the protocol described. On the other hand, it could be interpreted as meaning, "Did the user acquire speech?" or "How did the use of PECS impact on a broad array of other behaviors, from social orientation to behavior management?" In terms of acquiring the use of pictures alone, Lancioni et al. (2007) noted only three 'failures' of the 173 reported PECS users. With regard to the impact upon speech, one factor may be developmentally sensitive, involving the range of ages during which PECS and speech production are assessed. For example, in a well controlled random group assignment study by Howlin, Gordon, Pasco, Wade and Charman (2007) the mean age of the target group was 6.8 years and two 'standardized assessments' were used to evaluate broad outcome changes. One limitation of this type of assessment relates to whether there are any interventions which have demonstrated substantial changes in speech for children of this age (especially for children who display no vocal production); therefore, the fact that six months of teacher training on how to implement PECS did not change such measures should not be surprising nor suggest significant limitations of this modality. Furthermore, of the two standardized tests, the one involving expressive communication targeted tacting (naming) a series of pictures while the other test involved having children respond to spoken words by pointing to various pictures. Those students who achieved completion of Phase VI could have produced a small tacting repertoire relating to the stimuli used but it would be remarkable for any intervention to result in substantial generalization to receptive skills within 6 months of introduction. Of direct concern is the assessment of skills that did change as a function of PECS training with this population over this period of time. Skills taught directly by the PECS protocol (i.e., initiation and use of pictures) did in fact improve (although the study did not measure the number of pictures used per student.

1. Professionals who are not trained in the scientific method as it applies to individuals are trained instead in studies that examine the effects of treatments on large groups of individuals, typically following the logic i shown in Figure 1. In this figure the goal is to make a decision about which of two drugs should be regarded as most effective. The drug is given to individuals in each group, the results averaged, and then the group average that shows the best improvement is the one that is regarded as the treatment of choice. To ensure that there is no bias in terms of the makeup of the groups, individual allocation to each group is randomized. Figure 1: Panel a - In an idealized group design, a treatment drug (Left-hand side) is given to a large number of participants in which variability between them is minimal. The control drug is given to a similar group of participants (Right-hand side). Panel b - Because an idealized group does not exist, participants for each group are randomly assigned to minimize the effects of extraneous variables that unexpectedly contribute to any differences between group results (Randomized Control Trial). Panel c - Variability in individual responses that arise because of the effects of the drug, and/or variability in individual histories are represented by the spectrum.

2. However, ABA emphasizes the careful study of each individual who receives intervention. Figure 3 (based on Reese, 1978) gives an overview of how the scientific method is used in the study of individuals. As you can see, the overall goal is to adapt known principles of behavior (laws of learning) to the needs of the individual and to continuously monitor changes in the behavior of the individual to maximize the benefit to that individual. This approach is fundamental to getting it right for the individual, whatever length of time it takes. And because adjustments are tailor-made for each individual, the opportunities for learning are maximized for each individual. How far each individual can progress depends on many factors, but focusing on the individual in such a fine-grained way, using known principles of behavior, is to be preferred to developing an intervention that is based on a group average and that is insensitive to the needs of the individual. Figure 2: The scientific method used in ABA provides a clear alternative to scientific method associated with RCTs when it comes to developing tailor-made procedures for producing and monitoring changes in an individual.

In conclusion, parents need to be aware of how conflict in scientific traditions affects policy decisions. When the evidence for using single-case designs is properly understood, a science that uses it can be seen to offer parents the best hope for their children (Green, 2008).

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Is there scientific evidence that ABA works? Haven't some reviews concluded that ABA doesn't work? What factors are important to consider in evaluating complex ABA interventions? Are there studies on PECS? Do studies with single subject experimental designs "count" as evidence? "There is little question now that early intensive behavioral intervention is highly effective for some children.

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Evidence-based practices frequently used in ABA and other therapy models

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What are "evidence-based practices"?

As you consider strategies and treatment methods, it is important to know which approaches have been shown to be effective. "Evidence-based practices" are interventions that researchers have shown to be safe and effective through scientific research. Efficacy, according to the National Professional Development Center on ASD, must be established through peer-reviewed research in scientific journals using accepted high standard methodologies.

Recent research by the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute in conjunction with the National Professional Development Center on ASD identified 27 evidence-based practices. As other promising and emerging practices continue to be evaluated in empirical studies, there is no doubt that some will be identified as evidence-based.

Research has demonstrated that individuals with ASD benefit from early intervention and appropriate interventions throughout their lifespans. Learning does not stop at age five. Individuals with autism benefit from treatments that integrate evidence-based approaches, such as behavior analytic techniques and visual supports, to target the skills that are most relevant to that person's life.

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Autism Treatment with Evidence-Based Practices | Autism Society of NC

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As you consider strategies and treatment methods, it is important to know which approaches have been shown to be effective. "Evidence-based practices" are interventions that researchers have shown to be safe and effective through scientific research. Efficacy, according to the National Professional Development Center on ASD, must be established through peer-reviewed research in scientific journals using accepted high standard methodologies.

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Evidence-based practice we use on a daily basis

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What Are Evidence Based Practices in ABA Therapy?

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In the age of the Internet, anything can be found with a quick Google search. While this can be highly convenient, we open ourselves up to finding resources that are not always credible.

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Compilation and evaluation of several evidence-based practices in educational settings

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What We Know Works: Evidence Based Practices to Support Special Education Students

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Combining evidence-based practices with high-leverage practices

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Find an Evidence-Based Practice for you

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IRIS | Evidence-Based Practices (Part 1): Identifying and Selecting a Practice or Program

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This module, the first in a series of three, discusses the importance of identifying and selecting evidence-based practices (est. completion time: 1.5 hours). When you have completed the module, be sure to visit parts two and three:

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Cultural Responsivenss Tools for Self-Assessment

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Cultural Responsiveness in ABA Therapy

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Members of Hopebridge DEI Council Discuss the Importance of Cultural Awareness in Behavior Analysis

Those of us in the autism world know inclusion means everything. From the language we use and the opportunities our kids have in school, to playdate invitations and equality in the workplace, our Hopebridge team members and families advocate for diversity and acceptance of all kinds for our children and other members of the autism community.

It's important to remember, however, that this inclusion needs to extend beyond neurodiversity. It is even more meaningful - and necessary, in many cases - to acknowledge diversity and practice cultural awareness at every level.

"Understanding culture is not just 'I'm from here, you're from there.' It's not only in the color of your skin, but who you are as an individual. It's socioeconomic status, it's the gender you identify with; there are so many different facets to culture," said Hopebridge Board Certified Behavior Analyst ( BCBA) Brianna Cain. "The variety of aspects of socially appropriate behaviors that make up who you are as a person are so broad, that of course you're going to be different than anyone else you interact with."

Being culturally conscious is something our Hopebridge Heroes strive for in our sessions and centers. At the same time, we know it's an ever-evolving process and there is always room to grow. To learn more about cultural diversity and acceptance in applied behavior analysis ( ABA therapy), we consulted with Brianna and Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) Fellow Ninna Maldonado.

The Significance of Recognizing Diversity at Hopebridge

"Overall, it's important that all of us understand that culture is more than race, ethnicity, the color of our skin, what holidays we celebrate or how we dress. It's part of us. It's intimate. It's part of our identity. It's how we carry ourselves and what we value in life," said Ninna.

Brianna and Ninna have both experienced the power of cultural recognition at Hopebridge as it relates to their kids, their coworkers and themselves.

Brianna serves on Hopebridge's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council and recently celebrated her fourth year with the company. She started with Hopebridge as an RBT Fellow and has since grown into a clinical leadership position, now overseeing in-home therapy in the Columbus area, which gives her additional perspective around the significance of culture as it relates to therapy.

Currently a student in school to become a BCBA, Ninna is passionate about helping families of the Latinx community integrate into Hopebridge's centers. Her primary language is Spanish and she has expertise in building rapport with the Hispanic and Latino community in Hopebridge's therapy center in Dublin, Ohio.

Multilingual therapy can help multilingual families.

Both clinicians urge their colleagues - and the general community - to go out of their way to learn about other cultures, including recognizing and accepting the differences in people, rather than acting as if those differences do not exist.

"Teaching your child to be colorblind may actually hinder them. Instead, acknowledge that people look different, have learned differently, and were raised differently," said Brianna. "Perspective is such a big part of being culturally aware. We can't automatically assume that because someone does something differently than we do, that it is the wrong way."

What sparked Brianna's deeper interest in cultural awareness was the connection she was able to create with families because of it. For instance, she has worked with a few children of Middle Eastern descent. For one of these families, Brianna notes that she needed to learn more about the dynamic of male dominance within their culture, as the father was not accustomed to a female - in this case, Brianna, as the behavior analyst - coaching him on what to do with his child.

"I originally took it personally and had to take a step back. I had to be more mindful of the culture and recognize that I might get pushback, so I needed to be very clear as to my intentions in order to work together for the good of their child. This experience not only helped me better support their family, but also helped me with my own understanding and acceptance of these differences between cultures," said Brianna.

During these efforts to learn more about others, it is natural for some people to be a little nervous or unsure as to how to go about it appropriately.

Take Cinco de Mayo, for instance, of which celebrations in the United States do not typically honor its roots in an appropriate manner. Maybe rather than partying on this day, Brianna encourages people to think about what they can do to spread awareness or celebrate Hispanic culture in a way that sheds a more positive light.

"Go to the source of the information and the people who grew up in those spaces. Having open dialogue with families and coworkers from these cultures can expand our education while also showing that we care," said Brianna. "To change the narrative, you have to learn a new story."

While it is good to practice cultural sensitivity, Ninna does not want the fear of offense or appropriation to hold people back from educating themselves or others.

"Talking about culture can often feel taboo. People sometimes worry about stepping on others' toes or spreading misinformation, but holding back can lead to a culture gap. Communication and transparency are the keys to tackling this. Pay attention to our differences and how they make each one of us unique. Go to the source to ask questions," said Ninna.

"I like to notice the diversity within our team. We may not speak the same or do things in the same manner, but that is what makes us stronger as a team."

Why is Cultural Responsiveness Necessary in ABA?

The practice of applied behavior analysis should always be culturally responsive. The Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts guides clinicians to uphold cultural responsiveness, diversity, nondiscrimination and awareness of personal biases, as well as to treat others with compassion, dignity and respect.

Brianna notes that our work stands on the seven dimensions of ABA, which includes making sure our practice is socially significant to the children and families we serve.

"Within ABA, it is easy to focus so much on the assessments and fundamental skills that are comfortable to us personally, that we lose sight of what is socially significant to the families," said Brianna. "When we're working on social behavior and adaptive living skills, there are things that I may think are socially appropriate, but the parents may not know how to tell me that they don't do those things in their home. Within this field, it's so important to put our own biases and perspectives aside."

Culture influences the goals and tools for autism therapy.

For example, Brianna worked with a child whose family was originally from a country in Africa where they were accustomed to eating with their hands and therefore did not use utensils in the home. She was not aware of this at first, so during her consultation, she noticed the mother trying to use a fork and could tell it was new to her.

In instances like these, behavior analysts should have an open conversation with the families to give them the opportunity to decide whether it is beneficial for the child to continue working on this specific skill for their future. (Spoiler alert: they did, and the mom had fun learning to twirl noodles on her fork for her child!)

This is partly why individualized plans of care, like those we create for our children at Hopebridge, are crucial. They give our clinicians the openness and flexibility to work with the families on the goals that are most important within their lives.

This type of personalization came into play while serving siblings whose family spoke Spanish in the home. When they first came to the center, Brianna remembers they cried often and were not able to follow directions, even after months in the center. To get to the root of their behaviors, she came across several articles that support teaching skills in the child's primary language, then generalizing it to the new language. She decided to give it a try.

Communication tools can help kiddos and therapists cross language barriers.

She collaborated with Ninna to implement bilingual therapy, starting with basic receptive directions in Spanish. The kids started to listen and understand! Now years later, the children are able to follow directions, use AAC devices and communicate their wants and needs effectively.

"It was amazing to watch their progress. We bridged those bumps in the road. These kids were represented and heard. It showed me how important it is to make accommodations for everyone, while also helping me learn and grow in the field," said Ninna.

Just that one change opened their world and helped them engage with others. Overcoming the language barrier also helped the team build trust with the family, which was then able to participate in parent training and generalize skills to the home. It was more fulfilling for everyone involved.

Brianna considers herself lucky to work with RBTs from different backgrounds, who have provided insight to support her in understanding and navigating the various cultures on her caseload.

For instance, an RBT of Indian descent assisted her as she started with the basics with some families. Some of the parents with similar backgrounds had difficulty accepting their child's autism diagnosis because they did not want the community to look down on them. Brianna worked on how to explain autism and break it down so they could see that the diagnosis is not the end, but rather the beginning for their child.

How to Practice Cultural Acceptance

The best way to create culturally aware children is to talk about different experiences and provide opportunities with different people.

"ABA is all about behaviors and patterns. Analyzing our workspace leads to cultural unity, which helps us grow together versus separately," said Ninna. "We should work to educate ourselves for kids of certain backgrounds, then come together to tackle the challenges as a team."

To deliver services that respect and honor diversity and culture, we must increase our cultural competence and responsiveness, both as clinicians and as an organization. We can do this by broadening our awareness, knowledge and skills in these areas. Here is what this looks like:

Awareness
Self-assessment into our own histories of reinforcement and the groups to which we belong, and reflection upon our own and others' cultural variables that impact behavior.

Knowledge
Learning not only about other individuals but from those individuals to avoid stereotypes and prejudice while maintaining cultural humility so we limit overgeneralizing experiences.

Skills
Self-monitor relationships with families and dispute biases, ask open-ended questions, actively listen to caregiver concerns, deliver culturally responsive interventions, and practice self-compassion when confronted with challenges around cultural differences.

"Culture is so easy to define on paper, but to make sure you're being mindful of every aspect of a person's culture takes more work," said Brianna.

It's understanding that in some cultures, individuals are not expected to make their bed, and in others, parents may choose to feed their children until they are into their adult years. It's making sure therapy teams are aware that certain times a year, if a child comes in hungry, it could be because they are fasting for religious purposes. It's highlighting holidays that may not be our own. It's understanding that even the "culture" between two centers may look different from each other!

Here are some additional ways the Hopebridge team makes efforts to be culturally responsive:

Diversifying our reach to include those of a minoritized group who we do not identify with as members,

Diversifying our practitioners,

Engaging in practices that foster cultural responsiveness,

Providing continuous ongoing training for professional development,

Being mindful of microaggressions

Brianna and Ninna note that it's also important to expose children to people who are different from them because we don't know what kind of life experiences will influence them in a positive way.

Exposure to multiple cultures in Hopebridge centers helps children understand their peers better.

"Kids interact with nonjudgmental mindsets. They enjoy a person's company; not because of the color of their skin or the things that they do, but just because they enjoy being around them," said Brianna. "It's really cool to not only teach these kids skills, but to expose them to a multitude of opportunities to learn from the personal experiences of their therapists."

One of Brianna's favorite stories is when a family told her how meaningful it was that the Dublin center was so diverse. Their child, who is biracial, had the opportunity to have a therapist who looks like her mom, another who looks like her dad, and Brianna as her BCBA, who the mom said looked like her daughter. They were happy to have males and females of different cultures to help shape who their child is as an individual.

Ninna has a similar story. Her first patient's family was from Albania. His grandmother would pick him up from the center.

"She had no idea what we were saying, but we used nonverbal behaviors to communicate about her grandson. We built a beautiful relationship and tried to help each other. It was real acceptance between us," said Ninna.

Celebrate Diversity and Inclusion at Hopebridge

"Right now, I'm the only Spanish-speaking therapist in my center and I've chosen to make it my duty to advocate for the Latinx community. In an ideal world, every clinic would have someone from each culture represented, but since that is not possible, we need people to advocate for each other's communities," said Ninna.

"That's one of the things I like about Hopebridge. We're trying to bridge those gaps by becoming culturally literate. We accommodate everyone and work to serve them in the best way possible, which means taking their backgrounds into consideration."

Whether you want to join our mission to give children with autism the best opportunities in life through a job at Hopebridge, or you're looking for your child to receive top-quality, personalized care, reach out to us. We keep culture in mind with all of our services, from autism testing to ABA to occupational therapy and more.

*Informed consent was obtained from the participants in this article. This information should not be captured and reused without express permission from Hopebridge, LLC.

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How to Be Culturally Conscious Within Autism Therapy | Hopebridge Autism Therapy Center

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Members of Hopebridge DEI Council Discuss the Importance of Cultural Awareness in Behavior Analysis Those of us in the autism world know inclusion means everything. From the language we use and the opportunities our kids have in school, to playdate invitations and equality in the workplace, our Hopebridge team members and families advocate for diversity [...]

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Features and Amenities:

Hester Park offers fishermen a 5.7-acre lake equipped with four fishing piers; one designed for physically challenged visitors

Hester park is the home to a 1.3-mile fitness and exercise trail equipped with 13 fitness stations designed to provide a challenging workout for all skill levels

Gaze bo (available for wedding rentals)

Two horseshoe pits are spread throughout the park available for public use

Seven picnic shelters

Drop-in picnic sites are located throughout the park offering grills and picnic tables to our guests on a first-come basis

Playgrounds

Hester Park houses three programmed athletic fields available for rental; please call 336-412-5799 for more information about field reservations

Sand volleyball court

Tennis courts (11 courts)

What's Happening at Oka T. Hester Park:

Tackle Loaner Program

Fishing clinics (call park office at 336-373-2937 for more information)

Hester Park is part of the NC Community Fishing Program. As a participant of this program, catchable-sized channel catfish are stocked in the ponds April through September. The Community Fishing Program allows for catching and keeping up to six catfish per day.

All anglers must follow NC rules and regulations for fishing, including possessing a valid fishing license. You can purchase a fishing license online at the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission website.

Please note: While visiting the park, we request that you do not feed the waterfowl.

Park Information

Oka T. Hester Park
3615 Deutzia St.
Greensboro, NC 27407

Park Office
336-373-2937

Shelter Reservations
336-373-5888

Athletic Fields
800 Aithlantus St. Greensboro, NC336-412-5799

Trotter Active Adult Center
3906 Betula St. Greensboro, NC
336-373-2927

January, February, November, December Hours of Operation Weather permitting
8 am-5 pm

March, April, September, October
8 am-7 pm

May, June, July, August
8 am-8 pm
Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day Archery Range Hours
Open during the summer. See archery page for full schedule. Reserve a lane online.
Park Office Hours
8-9:30 am and 1-4:30 pm

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Features and Amenities: Hester Park offers fishermen a 5.7-acre lake equipped with four fishing piers; one designed for physically challenged visitors Hester park is the home to a 1.3-mile fitness and exercise trail equipped with 13 fitness stations designed to provide a challenging workout for all skill levels Gazebo (available

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Overview

Shallow Ford Natural Area is a 190 acre natural area featuring approximately 5 miles of hiking trails, paddle access to the Haw River, a Wildflower Meadow and Observation Deck, picnic areas, and backcountry camping. It is part of the Haw River Trail/Mountains-to-Sea Trail (HRT/MST). The park was built near the historic river crossing known as Shallow Ford, which rose to prominence in the 18th and 19th centuries as the most popular ford in Northern Alamance County. The park is named in remembrance of the crossing and the travelers who used it. You can learn more about Shallow Ford Natural Area and the Haw River Trail on the HRT website (link will open a new window).

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Shallow Ford Natural Area is a 190 acre natural area featuring approximately 5 miles of hiking trails, paddle access to the Haw River, a Wildflower Meadow and Observation Deck, picnic areas, and backcountry camping. It is part of the Haw River Trail/Mountains-to-Sea Trail (HRT/MST).

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Overview

Cedarock Park is a 500-acre park in southern Alamance County that enjoys more than 180,000 visitors annually. This expansive nature park was established in 1975 on the historic farm of John and Polly Garrett, and continues to serve the citizens of Alamance County and visitors with a wide variety of outdoor facilities. The park offers four miles of hiking trails, six miles of equestrian trails, two disc golf courses with a total of 36 holes for play, a footgolf course, a historical farm restored to the late 1800s time period, a fishing pond, a picturesque waterfall over an old mill dam, picnic shelters and gazebos, a basketball court, a volleyball court, a playground, canoe, and kayak rentals, camping, and ample field space for open play.
Click Here to view a map of the park (Updated 10/28/22).
Facilities & Programs

Cedarock Park also offers a number of shelters and gazebos available for rental and holds a variety of programs and special events throughout the year. For more information about facility rentals and a schedule of events, please visit Reservations and Programs & Events. You can also stay tuned to our Facebook page for recent updates and photos at www.facebook.com/alamanceparks (link will open in a new window).

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Cedarock Park is a 500-acre park in southern Alamance County that enjoys more than 180,000 visitors annually. This expansive nature park was established in 1975 on the historic farm of John and Polly Garrett, and continues to serve the citizens of Alamance County and visitors with a wide variety of outdoor facilities.

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Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

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Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

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"I never saw such fighting since God made me. The Americans fought like demons." - Lt. General Charles, Earl Cornwallis
On March 15, 1781, six years into the American Revolution, General Greene and Lord Cornwallis' troops faced off at a small courthouse community. This 2.5 hour battle would change the course of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution. Read More

How will COVID-19 affect my visit?

Follow the park's Current Conditions page for the most up to date information regarding modifications in park operations due to COVID-19.

Last updated: October 27, 2020

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Guilford Courthouse National Military Park (U.S. National Park Service)

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"I never saw such fighting since God made me. The Americans fought like demons." - Lt. General Charles, Earl CornwallisOn March 15, 1781, six years into the American Revolution, General Greene and Lord Cornwallis' troops faced off at a small courthouse community. This 2.5 hour battle would change the course of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution.

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Hagan-Stone Park History

At a time when progress was symbolized by a bulldozer, Anne Hagan waged a relentless battle to save the trees and beauty spots in a garden club city. During this same time, Joseph Stone, a grand man of the outdoors, fought to conserve land. In 1964, when a regional park was established near Pleasant Garden, it was fitting that it be named Hagan-Stone Park, honoring Anne Hagan and Joseph Stone. Today Hagan-Stone Park is a scenic 409-acre wildlife refuge and recreational facility. Hagan-Stone offers recreational activities for all walks of life and diverse interests.

Hagan-Stone Park is a 409-acre park located in southeast Guilford County, North Carolina. Known for its cross country trails, the park hosts various high school and college meets in the fall of the year.

We are a pet friendly facility and ask pet owners to always keep their pets on a leash.

Park Hours

8 am - 8 pm: 8 am - 7 pm January - March 11: 8 am - 5:30 pm
March 12 - September:
October
November - December: 8 am - 5:30 pm

Aquatic Center Hours
Click here to visit our Aquatic Center page for details
CLOSED THANKSGIVING DAY, CHRISTMAS EVE, CHRISTMAS DAY & NEW YEARS DAY

Phone Numbers

General Info:
336-641-2090

Shelter Reservations:
336-641-2090

Family Aquatic Center:
336-674-2372
(Memorial Day through Labor Day)

Guilford County Parks Info:
336-641-PARK

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At a time when progress was symbolized by a bulldozer, Anne Hagan waged a relentless battle to save the trees and beauty spots in a garden club city. During this same time, Joseph Stone, a grand man of the outdoors, fought to conserve land.

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Greensboro Arboretum - Greensboro Beautiful

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401 Ashland Drive Map and Directions Garden Hours January – February8am – 5pm March – April8am – 7pm May – August8am – 8pm September – October8am – 7pm November – … Greensboro Arboretum Read More »

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Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse

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Creative Resources - Pittsburgh Center For Creative Reuse | Sustainable Arts & Crafts Supplies

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Feelin' crafty? Need some inspiration? Lucky for you, we've put together a variety of nifty video tutorials, crafty how-to instructions, and a gallery of projects for your enjoyment! DIY Earrings Step up your quarantine looks with some handmade earrings! All you need are some stickers, scissors, and a little inspiration from your recycling bin.

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Finding Materials for Sustainable Crafts

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Crafts with Recycled/Upcycled Activities

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Earth Day is fast approaching (April 22), though there really is never a bad time to celebrate Mother Earth. It's important to teach students the environmental benefits of recycling, like conserving energy and natural resources and reducing air and water pollution, all year long. While recycling breaks down old items in order to create something new, upcyling makes something new from an existing object in its current state. Challenge your students to create something unique and wonderful from preexisting items like magazines, plastic water bottles, tin cans, egg cartons, and more. Check out our list of the best upcycled crafts for Earth Day or any day, and give some of them a try!

1. Make wildflower seed bombs.

Give back to Mother Earth with these easy-to-make seed bombs. Blend together used scraps of construction paper, water, and wildflower seeds in a food processor, then form them into tiny muffins. Let them dry, then toss them in the ground. As the seed bombs receive sun and rain, the paper will eventually compost and the seeds will germinate.

2. Create nature wreaths.

Take your kids on a nature walk to gather interesting leaves, flowers, berries, etc. To make the wreath forms, braid together strips of old T-shirts and form them into a circle. Then attach natural items into the crevices and secure with clear fishing line or hot glue. Attach a ribbon at the top to hang your wreath.

3. Construct a bug hotel.

Create a cozy place for all the creepy-crawlies to hang out. Cut a two-liter plastic bottle into two cylinders, then stuff it with sticks, pine cones, bark, or any other natural material. Make sure to pack the organic material tightly. Then loop a piece of twine or yarn around the two cylinders and hang your bug hotel from a tree branch or fence.

Learn more: Red Ted Art

4. Make a quilt.

Textiles make up a huge portion of municipal solid waste- over 16 million tons per year. Teach your kids to repurpose old material that would otherwise end up in the landfill by putting together a cozy quilt.

Learn more: Teach Student Savvy

5. Use magazines to create a bowl.

We love Earth Day crafts that result in a practical object you can use around the house. This project is best for older students who have the patience and dexterity necessary to carefully roll their magazine strips and glue them together.

Learn more: DIY Joy

6. Create Earth moss balls.

Pay tribute to our lovely planet on Earth Day with these fuzzy moss balls. Kids who love getting their hands dirty will particularly love this craft. All you do is squish pre-soaked sphagnum moss into a tight ball, wrap it tightly with blue yarn or strips of discarded T-shirts, layer more moss and more yarn, etc., until you've created an Earth-shaped orb. Finish with a loop of yarn and hang it in a sunny window. To keep your moss ball healthy, simply spray it with water every couple of days.

Learn more: Mother Natured

7. Create a hanging garden.

Large plastic bottles become beautiful hanging planters in this green-living and green-thumb project. A great way to make a gorgeous hanging garden.

8. Upcycle trash into flower art.

Scraps of paper are the only supplies you need for this recycled-flower-garden activity and lesson. The measurement and math element is an added bonus.

9. "Grow" an egg carton tree.

Save those egg cartons! This simple project only requires a few supplies to make a recycled egg carton tree.

Learn more: Glued to My Crafts

10. Create binoculars using paper towel rolls.

Save those paper rolls so your class can customize their own binoculars! Have a variety of paints, stickers, etc., on hand so your students can really personalize their bird watchers!

Learn more: Today's Parent

11. Create your own flexible seating.

One of our favorite Earth Day crafts has to be upcycling tires into comfy seating for our reading nook.

Learn more: Hanging With Mrs. Hulsey

12. Fashion a pop-top bracelet.

Aluminum beverage pop tops become wearable jewelry thanks to some ribbon ninja work. Put this video onto your interactive whiteboard to give your students the full 411, and then get crafting!

13. Chime the wind.

Go outside for a nature walk and gather sticks, weeds, and pickable blooms, then bring the treasures inside to be showcased in recycled jar lids. With some wax paper and string, your students can craft this surprisingly beautiful recycled wind chime.

Learn more: Hands On as We Grow

14. Paint paper bags.

Brown paper bags become eco-canvases for artwork and a perfect way to adorn fridges for Earth Day. Bonus points if you can source handled bags, because the handles serve as built-in artwork hangers.

Learn more: Small for Big

15. Make a recycled city.

Create an adorable village using little more than paper rolls, paper, scissors, paint, glue or tape, and your imagination!

Learn more: Today's Parent

16. Create pebble art.

Take students outside to collect small rocks and pebbles. Have them arrange the rocks into a creative pattern of their choice. Get creative, and try for as many different designs as you can! Once you're finished, simply leave the rocks where you found them.

17. Use old crayons to make new ones.

This isn't just any recycled crayon. It's a gorgeous Earth crayon! You can make these with your kids using a muffin tin. You just need to sort out the right colors.

Learn more: The Gunny Sack

18. Use upcycled objects to make mazes.

STEM and recycling go together wonderfully! This idea is a great way to challenge kids to make mazes or something else entirely.

Learn more: Hello, Wonderful

19. Make a rope snake.

Recycling projects that use objects you may have laying around your garage or shed are some of our favorites! Grab that old rope you've been saving and create these adorable rope worms/snakes with your students.

Learn more: Make Film Play

20. Feed the birds.

Herald spring with this easy crowd-pleaser: the large plastic bottle bird feeder. This short video will teach kids how to get started constructing their feeders.

21. Get organized with old cans.

Tin cans are easy to get your hands on, and they can go a long way in organizing supplies. Get your kids involved by having them help decorate the cans. They'll really take ownership of this, which will hopefully help them want to keep supplies more organized.

Learn more: Sandy Toes and Popsicles

22. Make papier-mâché pots.

Cut off the bottoms of beverage bottles or reuse food containers and jazz them up with bright-colored paper scraps. Except for the glue, these papier-mâché planters are composed solely of recycled materials.

Learn more: Childhood 101

23. Make a necklace out of junk.

Earth Day art that is wearable is a bonus! Use found objects or some string to create these unique necklaces.

Learn more: The Awesome Childhood Project

24. Make chair fidgets out of old tees.

Give old T-shirts new life with this craft by making chair fidgets. This uses a simple braiding technique, and your kids will love helping out.

25. Collaborate on an aluminum can recycling bin.

Kids can work together to create an aluminum-can recycling center. Watch the video above to get the simple instructions and learn how your school can make recycling fun and rewarding.

26. Create tin can robots.

Recycling projects like these are the best since kids love robots. Be sure to have an extra pair of adult hands around to help with the hot glue.

Learn more: Creative Jewish Mom

27. Fashion fairy houses.

Are these the sweetest Earth Day crafts ever? Plastic bottles from home become homes for fairies, thanks to paint, scissors, glue, and real or faux greenery.

Learn more: Crafts by Amanda

28. Create a giant upcycled art wall.

This is an amazing recycled wall masterpiece. You could set it up on a cardboard backing and then let students add to it, paint it, and create with it whenever they have free time throughout the day.

Learn more: Art Bar Blog

29. Make your own games.

Use bottle caps in a game of tic-tac-toe. They can also be turned into checkers. This would be a great makerspace activity. Give your kids several upcycled items and challenge them to create games!

Source: Reuse Grow Enjoy

30. Make a treasure magnet.

These treasure magnets are just so beautiful! Recycle a bottle cap and glue a variety of gemstones and beads inside. Finally, add a magnet to the back.

Learn more: Hattifant

31. Turn old magazines into art.

We love how this upcycled magazine cut-paper art project can be modified for primary students or used to inspire sophisticated art by high school students.

Learn more: Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom

32. Build beautiful terrariums.

A bottle gets a second life as a museum-worthy terrarium as well as a home for an environmental science project. Be sure to add the activated charcoal and moss for plastic bottle terrariums that flourish.

Learn more: Adirondack Girl at Heart

33. Paint with corks.

This is the perfect kind of Earth Day art since you use recycled material (corks) to paint your favorite scene from nature.

Learn more: 30 Seconds

34. Set up a self-watering planter.

Your classroom studies of plant life, photosynthesis, and water conservation will get a boost with this hands-on crafting of a self-watering planter. The base? A good ol' large plastic bottle.

Learn more: ehow

35. Form flowers from water bottles.

Upcycled water bottle flowers are an easy craft that can be sourced directly from your recycling bin, with the help of some paint.

36. Build cardboard castles.

Gather all your recyclables and put those tiny engineers to work. You'll be amazed by what they create!

Learn more: Fun-a-Day

37. Make these newspaper owls.

Old newspapers find their spirit animal when they become recycled newspaper owls. All you need are markers, watercolors, and paper scraps to make them come alive.

Learn more: I Heart Crafty Things

38. Construct a plastic bottle recycling bin.

Water bottles come together, as do your kids, to make this water bottle recycling center. This project combines teamwork with respect for our environment, a double win.

39. Create genius ideas out of cardboard.

Cardboard is one of the easiest, least expensive materials you can get your hands on. Grab a ton of it and challenge your kids to make awesome creations. You never know what they might come up with.

40. Make an instrument.

There are no limits to the recycling projects you can create using paper rolls. We especially love that this DIY instrument will teach kids about vibrations and sound.

Learn more: No Time for Flash Cards

41. Create a spinning top.

Do you have a bunch of CDs lying around that never get played anymore? How about a box or drawer of markers that barely write? If you answered yes to these questions, then this is the perfect project for you.

Learn more: Artsy Momma

42. Fashion lady bugs from bottle caps.

These little ladybugs are so cute and yet so, so simple. Grab some bottle caps, paint, googly eyes, and glue and get ready to make some adorable friends!

Learn more: Love and Lollipops

What are your favorite Earth Day crafts? Share in the comments below!

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42 Earth Day Crafts and Classroom Activities That Use Recycled Materials

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Raid your recycling bins for supplies and then try one of these eco-savvy Earth Day crafts that is sure to be a hit with students.

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Eggshell Mosaics: Unique Arts & Crafts Project with Tactile Stimulation

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Eggshell Mosaics

Age: Preschool through elementary
T ime: 30 minutes or more
Type of activity: Arts and Crafts

Using eggshells and her imagination, your child can create unique mosaic-like designs.

What to do:

Step One: Your child can choose the food coloring or paints she wants to use in her picture and decide what she is going to draw.

Step Two: Remove the egg from the shell by poking a hole at the top and bottom of the eggshell with a safety pin and blowing the egg out from the bottom end.

Step Three: Dye the eggshells different colors using food coloring or tempera paints. Let the shells dry on paper towels.

Step Four: Crush the eggshells with a rolling pin. Make them small enough that they will lie flat, but not so small that they are too difficult to handle. You may want to separate the eggshells by color on separate paper towels.

Step Five: Ask your child to draw a picture in pencil on the paper.

Step Six: Glue the various colors of eggshells to the paper to color in your child's picture. Help her fill in blanks with little pieces. (Eggshells can be slippery.)

Step Seven: Spray the picture with hairspray to create a shiny gloss.

Hang your child's picture where everyone will be able to see it. Be sure to add her name at the bottom so everyone can compliment the artist!

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Age: Preschool through elementary T ime: 30 minutes or more Type of activity: Arts and Crafts Using eggshells and her imagination, your child can create unique mosaic-like designs. What to do: Step One: Your child can choose the food coloring or paints she wants to use in her picture and decide what she is going to draw.

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Eco-Friendly Session Activities

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Art activities are a great way to keep the children busy on busy weekdays or rainy weekends, but they don't need to create waste in the process. Here are some art activities that won't cost the earth!
Paint nature pictures... with nature!
You'll need a selection of leaves, twigs and sticks to make these nature pictures. Find out more here.
Make a rag rug
If you are one to hold onto scrap fabric, this is a great way to turn it into something useful! Find out how here.
Make a 'big box' town
What to do with that enormous cardboard box sitting in your garage? Make a town! This blog posts tells you how.
Make cardboard insects
On the other hand, if you have a smaller cardboard box - or spare sheets of cardboard - these insects are the perfect solution.
Make stamps out of old corks
Don't toss out the cork next time you open a bottle of wine - turn it into a stamp instead! This video shows you how.
Make a twig mobile
If you've got a selection of small sticks and some yarn, you can easily do this craft! Click here for the full instructions.
Turn soft drink tabs into ladybugs
Before you toss that soft drink can out, save the tabs - they can become the cutest ladybug wings if you follow these instructions!
Make alphabet rocks
The tools for teaching your children letters might already be waiting in your backyard! This guide for making alphabet rocks is creative and educational.
Turn your milk bottle into a fairy house
The life of your milk bottle can continue long after you've finished the last drop with this idea for turning it into a fairy house!
Make egg carton animals
With a bit of paint, glue and, of course, an egg carton, you can make a whole zoo! Here's how.
Find out about our approach to sustainability here!

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Sustainable eco-friendly art activities to try with the children

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Art activities are a great way to keep the children busy on busy weekdays or rainy weekends, but they don't need to create waste in the process. Here are some art activities that won't cost the earth! Paint nature pictures... with nature! You'll need a selection of leaves, twigs and sticks to make these nature pictures.

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Visual Stimulation Printable Cards

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Visual Stim Cards for Mindfulness, Relaxation, Stimming, and Self-Regulation

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Visual Stim Cards for Mindfulness, Relaxation, Stimming, and Self-Regulation These visual stim cards can be printed, laminated, and put on a book ring for learners to look at. Some students with autism or related diagnoses may find visual stimulation calming or relaxing. These cards can be used for a variety of individuals and for a variety of purposes!

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ABA Career and College Program Advice and Recommendations

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Start Here. Grow Farther.

Our mission at Verbal Beginnings is focused on changing lives... and not just the lives of our kiddos and parents but our staff, partners, and professional network as well! We created this resource hub with that in mind. Below you can find tons of great content to help you do your best work and make a bigger impact in whatever role you find yourself. We want to help you learn, apply, and grow in your own career so let us know how to help! Get started below with some of our most popular blogs, CEU's resources, and links.

Career Growth

Guidance, advice, and professional development on some really important topics

Behavior Analysis: An Overview

A brief overview of the behavior analysis discipline, which includes the underlying philosophy of behaviorism, the experimental analysis of behavior, and applied behavior analysis (credit: BACB)

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Our mission at Verbal Beginnings is focused on changing lives... and not just the lives of our kiddos and parents but our staff, partners, and professional network as well! We created this resource hub with that in mind.

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BACB Organization Podcast

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The Inside the BACB podcast is offered subject to the BACB's website Terms of Use and is intended for general information only. All opinions expressed are those of the speakers. If you would like or need access to transcribed versions of the podcast, please visit our Podcast Episode Videos playlist on our BACB Videos page and use the "closed caption" option on the episode of your choice.

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Structured Personal Journal for Caregivers and Therapists

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Autism Awareness Self-Care Journal For Caregivers: Mental, Physical and Emotional Health Planner, Tracker Notebook Record Book: Beautiful Notebook Journal – Autism Awareness

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Autism Awareness Self-Care Journal For Caregivers: Mental, Physical and Emotional Health Planner, Tracker Notebook Record Book: Beautiful Notebook Journal – Autism Awareness [Journals, CT] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Autism Awareness Self-Care Journal For Caregivers: Mental,…

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ABA Therapy Career Tips, Tricks, and Advice

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Guidelines, Recommendations, and Suggestions for Teaching Vocabulary

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Did you know that typically, only 5% to 10% of instructional time is devoted to vocabulary instruction, yet students, especially struggling students and English learners (ELs), need between 12 and 14 exposures to words and their meanings to fully learn them (Durkin, 1978/79; Roser & Juel, 1982; Scott, Jamieson, Noel, & Asslin, 2003)? Teaching the meanings of important words before learning new content activates students' background knowledge and prepares them for learning and comprehending. In other words, teaching vocabulary provides the "Velcro" for new information to "stick to."

What Research Says About Effective Vocabulary Instruction

Vocabulary instruction must be explicit. Explicit vocabulary instruction includes an easy-to-understand definition presented directly to students along with multiple examples and nonexamples of the target word, brief discussion opportunities, and checks for understanding.

Vocabulary instruction must include multiple practice opportunities for using words within and across subjects. That is, instruction must be extended over time with opportunities for students to hear, speak, read, and write words in various contexts. This builds students' breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge.

Vocabulary should be taught schoolwide and across all subject areas. Each subject has a unique set of vocabulary terms, and students need to know their meanings and how to use them in various contexts.

Word Selection

Instructional time is precious, and teachers are not able to address every unknown word students might encounter, so careful word selection is key. When deciding which words to target for explicit instruction, consider words that are

essential to understanding the main idea of the text or unit,

used repeatedly or frequently encountered across domains, and

not part of students' prior knowledge.

ELs may require even more careful word selection and extensive vocabulary instruction because they may be learning conversational language and academic language at the same time. Colorín Colorado provides additional information about selecting vocabulary words to teach ELs.

Some of Our Favorite Vocabulary Instructional Activities for ALL Content Areas

The five activities described below are effective ways to teach vocabulary for all students, but especially for struggling students, students with learning disabilities, and ELs.

1. Essential Words Routine

Teachers use a simple graphic organizer to preteach the meanings of important words in about 5 minutes per word. During this routine, teachers introduce target words with definitions, visual cues, and examples. Students engage in immediate practice using the words through collaborative student turn-and-talk activities.

Resources

2. Frayer Model

One way to have students extend their knowledge of important words is through a Frayer model. This graphic organizer builds vocabulary and conceptual knowledge across content areas. The strategy requires students (not the teacher) to define a vocabulary word and then list its characteristics, examples, and nonexamples. Frayer models can be completed in collaborative groups using textbooks and other subject-matter materials while the teacher circulates around the classroom and assists students.

Resource

Online module, examples, and templates from the IRIS Center

3. Semantic Mapping

Semantic maps visually display and connect a word or phrase and a set of related words or concepts. Implementing semantic map activities in your classroom will help students, especially struggling students and students with learning disabilities, recall the meanings of words and understand how multiple words or concepts "fit together." Teachers will find that using a semantic map, combined with explicit instruction and practice opportunities, is an effective way of expanding students' vocabulary and supporting their content knowledge.

Resources

4. Vocabulary Review Activities

Multiple opportunities to practice using new words is an important part of vocabulary instruction. In previous TCLD research studies, brief review activities were built into novel unit lesson plans to help students practice (and remember) the meanings of important words. Each of these activities takes 5 to 10 minutes and is easy to prepare.

Partner Review Routine: Partners work together to quickly review words learned the previous day.

Sentence Review Routine: Partners create sentences using words assigned by the teacher.

Examples and Nonexamples: The teacher tells students scenarios or shows pictures and students respond chorally to each scenario, indicating whether it is an example or nonexample.

What Word Fits? The teacher asks a question and student partners hold up an index card with the word that fits or answers the question.

Resource

Each activity is described in more detail beginning on page 33 of the TCLD booklet Reading Instruction for Middle School Students: Developing Lessons for Improving Comprehension

5. Morphemic Analysis Routine

Explicit instruction of words is important, but it is impossible to teach all the unfamiliar words students will encounter. One way to help students develop strategies for approaching unfamiliar vocabulary is to teach morphemes (prefixes, roots, and suffixes). Students can be taught the following morphemic analysis routine to help them engage in independent word study.

Resource

Learn more about the morphemic analysis routine by reviewing this online learning module from the Texas Adolescent Literacy Academies.
Have questions? Feel free to drop us a line!

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Texas Center for Learning Disabilities: Five Research-Based Ways to Teach Vocabulary

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The Texas Center for Learning Disabilities (TCLD) website disseminates resources on learning disabilities to parents, teachers, and researchers.

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Commonly Misinterpreted Phrases and How to Interpret Slang and Expressions

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Be confident in how you express yourself with our comprehensive guide to correct usage of English phrases and expressions.

When you see and hear the similarities between the correct and incorrect versions of these expressions, it's easy to understand why mistakes are so common. This guide provides clear explanations to help you learn the right way to use these colorful expressions.

Commonly Confused Phrases and Expressions:

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Be confident in how you express yourself with our comprehensive guide to correct usage of English phrases and expressions. When you see and hear the similarities between the correct and incorrect versions of these expressions, it's easy to understand why mistakes are so common.

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Learning 50 common everyday words

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Free Resource: 50 First Words Tracker - ThinkPsych

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It's important to have good resources for facilitating effective ABA instruction. This week, we have a free language tracker resource. This document includes 50 first nouns that can be used with early learners with Autism. We include columns for receptive ID, expressive ID, and feature/function/class instruction.

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Noun Flashcards

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Noun flashcards for all ages. These cards can be used alone or as a companion to the Action Builder Cards. The Action Builder cards allow professionals to teach language using a systematic sequence. Teaching students to identify a variety of examples of common actions, allows us to plan for the generalization of language skills. See the video below.

Rosemarie Griffin, MA, CCC/SLP BCBA, is an ASHA certified Speech-Language Pathologist and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Her company, ABA SPEECH, is an ASHA approved CE provider. She divides her time between a public school and a private school for students with autism in Ohio. She's presented at the national, state and local level about systematic and collaborative language instruction for students with autism. Mrs. Griffin is also an adjunct professor here in Ohio, teaching a graduate level course about behavior analysis and ethics. In addition to these interests, she is the creator of the action builder cards and double up. These nationally distributed therapy products provide professionals with a means of delivering evidenced based language therapy.

Learn more about the action builder cards here: ACTION BUILDER CARDS
Learn more about the social skills game double up here: DOUBLE UP

SYSTEMATIC LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION FOR ALL

Let's stay in touch: ABA SPEECH
ABA SPEECH ON FACEBOOK
ABA SPEECH ON INSTAGRAM

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Noun Flashcards- Action Builder Companion

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Noun flashcards for all ages. These cards can be used alone or as a companion to the Action Builder Cards. The Action Builder cards allow professionals to teach language using a systematic sequence. Teaching students to identify a variety of examples of common actions, allows us to plan for the gene...

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UDL Educational Models Compared to ABA Practices

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UDL and Academic Readiness with ARIS

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How Universal Design for Learning Powers the ARIS Autism Curriculum

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A Research White Paper on how the ARIS Autism curriculum uses UDL principles

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UDL Education Experts Discuss ASD and Education

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Universal Design for Learning for Autistic and Neurodivergent Children: A Conversation with Emily Rubin and Dr. Lindee Morgan - Uniquely Human: The Podcast

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Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an invaluable framework that has great relevance in addressing the varied needs of autistic and neurodivergent learners, and supporting active engagement in learning environments.

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ASD-Specific classroom-based education models

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Where UDL and ABA Intersect

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Universal design for learning is rooted in cognitive theory, but behavioral science has generated similar suggestions about how to best design environments to maximize student learning. This resource briefly overviews the theoretical differences and highlights some ways behavioral science has converged on similar practical strategies for teachers. One goal is to enhance teacher ability to design learning environments to meet diverse student needs.

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Where UDL and Applied Behavior Analysis Intersect

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Universal design for learning is rooted in cognitive theory, but behavioral science has generated similar suggestions about how to best design environments to maximize student learning. This resource briefly overviews the theoretical differences and highlights some ways behavioral science has converged on similar practical strategies for teachers.

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ABA Ethics Hotline to Report/Ask Questions Regarding Ethical Concerns

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ABA Certifications & Licensure Information

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RBT Code of Ethics

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Code-Enforcement Procedures

In keeping with its mission to provide consumer protection, the BACB works to promote and maintain standards of professional conduct in the practice of behavior analysis. The BACB Ethics Department implements Code-enforcement procedures to address alleged violations of any ethics requirements. The term "ethics requirements" is used to encompass all the elements in the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts and the RBT Ethics Code (2.0).

Failure to Respond to a Notice or Required Action

Failure to respond to the BACB by the deadline provided will result in automatic suspension of certification, application eligibility, or other status with the BACB, all of which is published on the BACB website with the individual's name. For more information on the consequences of failing to respond to the BACB, as well as steps an individual can take, see the Code-Enforcement Procedures document.

Documentation Release

Upon formal request by a governmental agency or court of law, or at the discretion of its CEO, the BACB may release all documentation (i.e., Notice of Alleged Violation, documents relevant to violation, subject's response and related documents, relevant correspondence) to the requesting party. Note: This timeline and certain steps do not apply to publicly-documented alleged violations.

How Information About Published Disciplinary Sanctions May Be Used

The BACB's online registries include a "Date Accessed" statement below the search results to verify the information is current.

Potential employers can check BACB certificant registries to determine whether an individual applying for a position with their company has a current disciplinary sanction. Sanctions might impact an individual's ability to perform some required duties, including providing and billing for services.

Individuals with revocations and suspensions are strictly prohibited from representing themselves as BACB-certified during the period of revocation or suspension.

Individuals with restrictions may be prohibited from performing certain job tasks or working with certain populations, or they may require additional resources (e.g., supervision).

Trainees may wish to ensure that their supervisors do not have restrictions that could impact their ability to provide the full range of supervised clinical experiences.

Third-party payors, state licensure boards, or other governmental or regulatory agencies may wish to verify an individual's standing with the BACB and determine if they have disciplinary sanctions that could prohibit activities (e.g., authorizing contracts for billing, granting licensure), or that might assist in investigating a complaint or determining a disciplinary action.

Note: Individuals seeking information about disciplinary actions in the U.S. may also wish to check relevant state licensing boards for published disciplinary actions.
The BACB cannot provide legal or ethics advice under any circumstances. There are a number of resources available for anyone seeking guidance related to ethics in the Ethics Resources section. U.S. residents of states that regulate the practice of behavior analysis may contact their state disciplinary boards. For more information about regulation in the U.S., the Association of Professional Behavior Analysts has a resource page on licensure and regulation. Whenever possible, we encourage, but do not require you to consult with a behavior analyst who specializes in the matter before filing a Notice of Alleged Violation. For legal advice, please consult with a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction. For additional guidance on ethics-related matters, please see the Ethics Codes section.

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ETHICS CODES - Behavior Analyst Certification Board

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The BACB cannot provide legal or ethics advice under any circumstances. There are a number of resources available for anyone seeking guidance related to ethics in the Ethics Resources section. U.S. residents of states that regulate the practice of behavior analysis may contact their state disciplinary boards.

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Matching/Item Identification Cards

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Task Cards for WH Questions and ABA Therapy Activities - Discrete Trial Training: A great set of task cards that can be used for teaching "WH questions", features, functions, and more. Parents, teachers, and kids will love using these in kindergarten, speech therapy, and more! Learning is fun with AllDayABA.

Digital download includes:

- 1 printable PDF

- 30 total unique task cards

Small version of the task cards (4" x 4", pages 3-12)

Large version of the task cards (7.2" x 7.2", pages 14-43)

- 10 categories of questions (which one, who, what, when, where, etc.)

- 3 cards in each question type

Print, laminate, cut, and use over and over again! Take a look at the full preview to see EXACTLY what you'll get before you buy.

Get yours today and thanks for supporting AllDayABA!
***Click here to follow AllDayABA for updates on new resources.***
Check out MORE from the store:

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Task Cards for WH Questions and ABA Therapy Activities - Discrete Trial Training

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Task Cards for WH Questions and ABA Therapy Activities - Discrete Trial Training: A great set of task cards that can be used for teaching "WH questions", features, functions, and more. Parents, teachers, and kids will love using these in kindergarten, speech therapy, and more! Learning is fun with ...

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Emotional Processing & Management Tools

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Social Skills Activities for Children with Autism

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Daily Routine/Potty Training Printable Resources

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Enjoy our collection of free printable visuals and resources to help get you started

Strategies by Function Printable:
Your go-to guide for creating behavior plans!

Use this visual to help you choose behavioral strategies that aim to prevent, manage, and reduce a challenging behavior. Use with our step-by-step visual strategies in our ABA Visualized Guidebook for an easy way to teach your new BIP! Now available also in Spanish!
Download Now

Visual Schedule Printable:
Our Visual Schedule tool, for home or the classroom!

Use this visual to create structure and predictability, both which aim to decrease anxiety and challenging behaviors. Have your learner help you fill in the schedule and refer back to it during those tricky transitions!
Download Now

A Visual Guide to Handwashing:
Help keep your family, classroom, and community healthy!

Print this free handwashing visual and hang it near your sink to assist your learner(s) in following each of the steps as they wash their hands independently.
Download Now

Teaching Through Play:
Presentation Slides

This presentation covers tips for building skills across the ages, from encouraging communication to improving flexibility. Presentation was created by Rebecca Dumas as part of our monthly free workshop series.
Download slides now

Potty Training:
Presentation Slides

This presentation covers how to know if your child is ready to transition to the toilet, how to troubleshoot common barriers, and four specific strategies that you can try now! Presentation was created by Lacey Smithers as part of our monthly free workshop series.
Download slides now

Potty Training In Arabic!
Presentation Slides

Rouba Samoul (BCaBA) has kindly translated the above Potty Training Presentation into Arabic!

Menstrual Health Management Handout

People need support, period! The average age of having a first period is 12.5 years old (in the US). As ABA providers, we should be providing support relating to menstrual health to our clients & their families to help them be prepared for this milestone! This handout was made in alignment with a presentation created by Kellie Silvester as part of our monthly free workshop series.

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ABA Visualized would like to support parents, teachers, and BCBAs during this time of Coronavirus. We therefore are offering a selection of free printable visual resources. Tips for Reinforcement Free Printable Visual! Free Visual Schedule Printable! Hand Washing Printable Visual!

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Arts & Crafts Activities

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Welcome to the crafty resource library. Here you can find your desired template and print it out and get to crafting.

Pretty Paper Quill Flowers in a Watering Can:

This flower watering can craft features quilled flowers.

Grab the template for the flowers and can here.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Unicorn Craft Pinboard:

This adorable little unicorn is holding a foam pin board.

Perfect for pinning up little notes in a desk area. Grab the template here.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template #1 Download Printable Template #2
Download Printable Template #3
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Bald Eagle Felt Craft:

This adorable bald eagle is made from sewing a few small pieces of felt together.

We provide the template for all the pieces you'll need for this craft.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
"Nuts About You" Free Gift Printable:

This adorable printable makes it easy to gift dad an inexpensive homemade jar of nuts.

A wonderful fathers day gift he'll love.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
DIY Father's Day Shirt Card:

This cute paper shirts with ties make excellent fathers day cards. Grab the printable template.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Pom Pom Caterpillar Craft:

This adorable caterpillar craft features a pom pom caterpillar sitting on a green leaf. A super easy craft kids will love.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Bumble Bee Bookmark Template:

These little bumble bee bookmarks are so cute, easy to make and feature a fun corner bookmark template.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Adorable Dog Puppet Craft

This adorable little dog puppet craft is easy to make using our printable dog template.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Felt Bumble Bee Craft with Free Pattern:

This little felt bumble bee is a popular craft on our site.

Grab the full template to sew your own little bee out of felt.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Quilled Seahorse Craft:

These little seahorses are made from a basic seahorse template, and then made adorable with added quilling details.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
4th July Windsock Craft Stars:

This patriotic wind sock is made using supplies you probably already have around the house.

Grab the template to paint the stars easily on the edges of the can.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Christmas Stovetop Potpourri Gift Tag:

We have a homemade potpourri that smells just like Christmas.

Get the recipe and then print out our cute little gift tag to make easy, homemade gifts this holiday season.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Friendship Soup Gift Tag

This homemade soup recipe makes an excellent holiday gift.

Print out the gift tags and create the soup for a hearty, caring gift to give.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Halloween Word Search

These Halloween word searches are perfect for all age groups.

Grab the free printables here.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Halloween Puppet Craft

These super cute Halloween paper puppets are so much fun to make and play with!

Print out the entire template below.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Turkey Popsicle Stick Puppet Craft

These adorable turkey's are perfect for making during fall season.

Grab the template and a few feathers to create your own little turkey puppets.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Turkey Paper Bag Craft

This adorable turkey craft opens up to create a little paper bag perfect for tucking in a sweet note or treat.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Toilet Paper Roll Turkey Craft

This little turkey is made from using our template with an empty toilet paper roll. A fun craft kids love.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Ladybug Bookmark Craft

These lady bug bookmarks are a great way to encourage more reading!

We provide the entire template for this craft here.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Easy Paper Butterfly Craft

This super simple butterfly craft is a fun way for kids to cut out shapes and make their very own cute little butterflies.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Feathered Headband Craft

This feathered headband is fun to make, and even more fun to wear!
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Witches Potion Activity

This witch's potion activity is a favorite on our site and with good reason.

It's a fun way to get kids using their noggin while crafting up their very own "potion."
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Snowman Spinner Craft

Make a fun snowman spinner that doubles as a Christmas wish list.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Mary and Baby Jesus Ornament

One of our more popular crafts, this adorable mary and baby jesus ornament is a perfect kids craft this holiday season.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Paper Poinsettia Wreath

Pretty paper flower wreath perfect for the holiday season.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Felt Gnome Doll Craft

One of our most popular crafts, create adorable gnome dolls using felt.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Nativity Scene Wreath

A cute nativity scene wreath to make your own paper nativity scene.
Read the Tutorial Download the Printable
Peppermint Sugar Scrub Label

Give an easy to make sugar scrub as a gift, download the labels to make them pretty.

Easy and fun!
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Labels
Felt Gnome Plushie Craft

Sew your own little gnome plushie using our printable pattern.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
Christmas Playdough Mat

A fun Christmas printable for kids. Functions as a playdough mat and fun board game to build your own Christmas tree!
Read the Tutorial Download Printable
Rudolph Toilet Paper Roll Craft

Turn an ordinary toilet paper roll into a cute little reindeer craft.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable
Felt Christmas Tree Ornament

Make these adorable miniature Christmas trees using our free printable template.
Read the Tutorial
Download Printable Template

Easy Heart Nativity Craft for Kids

This nativity scene craft is perfect for younger kids learning about the meaning of Christmas.
Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template
M&M Cookies in a Mason Jar Tag

Grab the tags to create your own pretty M&M cookie mix gift!
Read the Recipe Download Printable Tags
Printable "I love you Because"

These adorable "I love you because" printables are perfect to help kids think about what matters most to them and why.
Read the Post Download Printable Tags
Cupcake Liner Manger Craft

Another adorable kids craft for the holidays.
Read the Post Download the Printable
Paper Crab Craft for Kids

When the weather gets warm, why not craft up some of these adorable paper crabs?

They stand by themselves and look great!
Read the Post Download the printable
Frida Kahlo Craft
Read the post Download the printable
Butterfly Lifecycle Printable
Read the post Download the printable
Halloween Worksheets for Kids

A fun way to learn about letters during Halloween!
Read the post Download the printable
Make your Own Monster Printable Game for Kids
Read the post Download the printable
Candy Jar Teachers Gift Printable

Make an easy gift to give to teachers at the beginning or end of the school year with this printable and their favorite candy!
Read the post Download the printable
Halloween Printable Coloring Masks

These printable Halloween masks are tons of fun for kids to print, color, and wear during the spooky holiday.
Read the post Download the printable
Thankful Turkey Printable

A cute printable for bother older and younger kids to get them thinking about what they're thankful for during the Thanksgiving holiday.
Read the post Download the printable
Printable Christmas Ornaments

These printable Christmas ornaments are pretty and make a super easy and inexpensive way to decorate for the holiday!
Read the post Download the printable
Felt Fox Ornament

This felt fox ornament is perfect for creating a cute little plush that makes an adorable Christmas ornament.
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Printable Christmas Memory Game

Want a fun and easy game to keep the kids entertained this Holiday season. This memory game is both fun and stimulating for their brain!
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Easter Bunny Card Printable

This printable Easter card is a fun coloring activity for kids during Easter time.
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Toilet Paper Roll Bunny Template

These adorable little bunnies are made from toilet paper rolls! Grab the template to whip up some of your own.
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Jellyfish Craft Template

These fun little jellyfish can be made using different materials like craft paper, felt and string!
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Paper Plate Sun

This paper plate sun craft makes a cute little sky scene where the sun comes out from behind the clouds.
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Paper Lion Craft

Want to make the cutest paper lion? Use our template to make a lion that stands up all on his own!
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Paper Caterpillar Craft

Make fun paper caterpillars using our printable template
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Handprints Butterfly Craft Template

This cute craft turns you and your child hand prints into sweet butterfly!
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Toilet Paper Roll Fox Craft

Turn a toilet paper roll into an adorable little fox using our printable template
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Feed the Shark Game Printable:

This fun little shark game is so easy to make and will keep toddlers and preschoolers entertained for hours.
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Toilet Paper Roll Moose Craft

Looking for another fun toilet paper roll craft. Turn one into this adorable little moose.
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Toilet Paper Roll Witch

Perfect for Halloween, turn a toilet paper roll into a cute little witch.
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Toilet Paper Roll Vampire

Turn an ordinary toilet paper roll into a Vampire using our template!
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Snowman Bookmark Craft

These fun snowman bookmarks are perfect to make and give as a gift this holiday season.
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Felt Koala Template

This adorable felt koala makes for a cute key chain or Christmas ornament.
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Halloween Scavenger Hunt

A fun way to find Halloween items on a family scavenger hunt or walk
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Printable Blank Coupon Templates

Blank coupon templates perfect for creating customized gifts for family and friends.
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Dinosaur Bookmark Template

Create some adorable dinosaur themed bookmarks using our free dino template!
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Welcome to the crafty resource library. Here you can find your desired template and print it out and get to crafting. This flower watering can craft features quilled flowers. Grab the template for the flowers and can here. Read the Tutorial Download Printable Template This adorable little unicorn is holding a foam pin board.

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Good or Bad Choice Situation Cards

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If you download this freebie, please leave feedback, even if it's just two words. Thank you. I would really appreciate that. Thanks!
Thank you for downloading our free material. I hope you enjoy it.
If you want to keep up to date with my sales, new resources, freebies and so much more click the green ★ next to my store name!
To buy the whole set of this wonderful material, please click here:

After you have opened the link, please scroll the page down. You will see different choices to choose from. You can buy just a part or you can buy the whole set which helps you to save a lot of money. You save between 50% - 70% when you buy the bundle/ super bundle or mega bundle. BUNDLE: GOOD OR BAD CHOICE, right or wrong, social skills, ADHD, autism, ABA (teacherspayteachers.com)

Encourage thinking and fine motor skills.

Build stamina and focus needed

Show parents what we're learning about.

Easily assess students' abilities.

Behavior Management and Self Regulation
This resource has been teacher-tested and approved, works great for large or small groups, at learning centers, as a content assessment tool. This is also excellent for kids with autism, ADHD or other special needs.

Once you have purchased this resource don't forget to come back and leave feedback to help you gain some TpT credits! The credits build up and then you can use them off future purchases - from any seller on TpT!

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© 2021 KIDS' VISUAL LEARNING, QUYNH CHOLEVA - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Any unauthorized copying, alteration, distribution, transmission, performance,
display or other use of this material is prohibited.

Benefits of Using Worksheets

Worksheets offer a unique learning avenue to kids. They are not only fun to do but even facilitate ease of learning and knowledge retention in the young minds. Educators have been using worksheets for developing lingual, logical, problem-solving and analytical skills.

As compared to heavy textbook theories, worksheets are easier to understand even for the parents. This makes it easier for parents to spend time with their kids and make them revise or explain the worksheets to them. Certainly, the ease of teaching and learning!

Our worksheets are designed considering various important factors. The most important aspect considered is the learning ability and approach. Kids love to have fun even when learning.

Keeping this fact in mind, these worksheets are designed in the most simple way and are filled with many pictorial exercises which kids would certainly enjoy doing.
Worksheets can help your child learn better and faster. It's a proven and effective teaching methodology worldwide.

This resource has been teacher-tested and approved, works great for large or small groups, at learning centers, as a content assessment tool. This is also excellent for kids with autism, ADHD or other special needs.

Once you have purchased this resource don't forget to come back and leave feedback to help you gain some TpT credits! The credits build up and then you can use them off future purchases - from any seller on TpT!

If you want to keep up to date with my sales, new resources, freebies and so much more click the green ★ next to my store name!

© 2020 KIDS' VISUAL LEARNING, QUYNH CHOLEVA - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Any unauthorized copying, alteration, distribution, transmission, performance,

display or other use of this material is prohibited.

Boost engagement with this fun, interactive resource about types of making good and bad choices.

This is a great way to introduce behavior choices, both in the classroom and outside in all daily situations. Use this visual to teach your kids the difference between good choices and bad choices they can make. A really good and fun way to teach kids about kindness, behavior, danger, safety and so much more in a fun, engaging way!

Behavior management activities

Let's start with the bad news: Teachers can't actually control their students' behavior. That's because the only behavior a person can control is his or her own. And when teachers try to directly restrict what students say or do, they're usually left feeling frustrated and helpless.

The good news? Teachers can apply some evidence-based strategies to help students take charge of their own behavior and learn how to interact with their environment in a positive way.

In dealing with young children, you will inevitably have situations where you will need to provide some discipline for a misstep in behaviour.

We all want our kids to be respected and well-liked by others. A perfectly mannered child (or adult for that matter) is probably a mythical creature. It's human to make mistakes while interacting with others, and it's important to use those times as teachable moments for children.
Benefits of Using Worksheets
It helps to always keep in mind that children are learners. They are learning how to control their emotions, act in different situations, and manage their behaviour. If you can think of each situation as a learning opportunity, you may find success.

Behavior is a form of communication. For kids with ADHD, poor behavior usually blossoms from a skill deficit. A child who's unable to express his frustration verbally may instead throw his pencil across the room; a child who feels socially ostracized may respond by pushing a classmate on the playground. The only way to prevent these undesirable outcomes is for teachers to identify the root causes of bad behavior - and set up systems that promote greater self-awareness and self-control.

Encourage thinking and fine motor skills.

Build stamina and focus needed

Show parents what we're learning about.

Easily assess students' abilities.

Worksheets offer a unique learning avenue to kids. They are not only fun to do but even facilitate ease of learning and knowledge retention in the young minds. Educators have been using worksheets for developing lingual, logical, problem-solving and analytical skills.

As compared to heavy textbook theories, worksheets are easier to understand even for the parents. This makes it easier for parents to spend time with their kids and make them revise or explain the worksheets to them. Certainly, the ease of teaching and learning!

Our worksheets are designed considering various important factors. The most important aspect considered is the learning ability and approach. Kids love to have fun even when learning.
This resource has been teacher-tested and approved, works great for large or small groups, at learning centers, as a content assessment tool. This is also excellent for kids with autism, ADHD or other special needs. Once you have purchased this resource don't forget to come back and leave feedback to help you gain some TpT credits! The credits build up and then you can use them off future purchases - from any seller on TpT! If you want to keep up to date with my sales, new resources, freebies and so much more click the green ★ next to my store name! ******* How To Follow My Store ******* Click the green star beside my name at the top of this page OR at the top of my store page. Following me notifies you when I post a new item and you will receive customized email updates about my store. © 2020 KIDS' VISUAL LEARNING, QUYNH CHOLEVA - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Any unauthorized copying, alteration, distribution, transmission, performance, display or other use of this material is prohibited. Behavior Management, Green and Red Choices Preschool, right or wrong, Pre-K, Kindergarten Behavior, good choices, bad choices, Green choice, Red Choice, ABA, ADHD, autism Behavior management, good choices, bad choices, colouring pages Behavior, right, wrong, good choices, bad choices, ABA, ADHD, autism, social skills
Keeping this fact in mind, these worksheets are designed in the most simple way and are filled with many pictorial exercises which kids would certainly enjoy doing.

Worksheets can help your child learn better and faster. It's a proven and effective teaching methodology worldwide.

Behavior, right, wrong, good, bad choices, social, ABA, ADHD, autism

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GOOD OR BAD CHOICE, right or wrong, social skills, ADHD, autism, ABA, FREEBIE

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If you download this freebie, please leave feedback, even if it's just two words. Thank you. I would really appreciate that. Thanks! Thank you for downloading our free material. I hope you enjoy it. If you want to keep up to date with my sales, new resources, freebies and so much more click the g...

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Matching, Problem Solving, and Language Exercises

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ABA Task Card Bundle Sampler Set

36 Task Cards (Real Picture)

Problem Solving, Which go Together, What Rhymes, Receptive by Function, Receptive by Identification, Receptive by Feature, and Receptive by Class.

See individual listings for more information and pictures.

Individual ABA Task Card Sets:

Problem Solving Task Cards

Problem Solving 2 Task Cards

Which Go Together Task Cards

What Rhymes Task Cards

Receptive By Function Task Cards

Receptive Identification Task Cards

Receptive by Feature Task Cards

Receptive By Class Task Cards

Receptive By Class 2 Task Cards

This product uses real photos that are realistic to everyday life. Some kids relate better to real pictures instead of drawn pictures.

This item would be great for any child especially those with Autism, Asperger's, PDD-POS, Speech Delay, etc...

The purchaser is granted permission to download and print this item for non-commercial individual or single classroom use only. This file and finished product is copyright protected and is not to be shared or resold.

Email me with any questions: CustomerService@CreativeLearning4Kidz.com

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ABA Task Card Bundle Sampler Set 36 Task Cards (Real Picture) Problem Solving, Which go Together, What Rhymes, Receptive by Function, Receptive by Identification, Receptive by Feature, and Receptive by Class. See individual listings for more information and pictures. Individual ABA Task Card Set...

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UMass UDL Description

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When people think of a teacher at work, they envision someone speaking in front of a room full of students. What they don't see are the hundreds of hours of lesson planning that happened before the first day of school.

Crafting a year-long curriculum that adheres to testing standards while also being relevant, age-appropriate and engaging for every learner can feel overwhelming. Incorporating universal design for learning (UDL) into the classroom has a lot of benefits for teachers and students alike.

But what is universal design for learning, and how can teachers apply UDL principles in their classrooms? We're covering the basics of UDL principles, the science behind them and examples of how UDL differs from traditional lesson planning.

What is universal design for learning?

UDL is a framework designed specifically for educators. It is based on the principles of universal design (UD) that are used in architecture, space planning and product development. Students in every classroom face a variety of barriers that they must overcome to fully engage in a lesson. UD and UDL address factors such as physical, emotional, behavioral, neurological and cultural issues that impact education by promoting equity and inclusion.

In an education setting, UDL requires teachers to optimize their lessons for a variety of learning styles or "modalities" based on scientific brain research about how students learn. The goal is to create an inclusive, flexible lesson from the start, thus proactively eliminating issues.

In a traditional classroom - what most American adults will recognize from childhood - teachers make all the decisions. Any accommodations or changes to the lesson plan are made ad hoc and added in at the end. In UDL, the accommodations are organic and built in from the beginning.

Universal design for learning is unique because it requires teachers to think about the brain in a new way. A UDL-based curriculum would include lessons designed for all eight intelligences, based on Howard Gardner's research on multiple intelligences:

Dr. Paulette Koss, adjunct instructor for University of Massachusetts Global's School of Education, calls UDL "a revolutionary way of lesson planning." She believes UDL is more effective and equitable because the needs of all students are accounted for in the planning stage - not tacked onto an existing lesson.

"In the past, traditional lessons were predominantly favoring the linguistic and the logical-mathematical areas of the brain," Dr. Koss explains. "This only represents two sections of the brain. The other six modalities are traditionally not addressed in lessons."

This is where UDL methods come into play, incorporating all intelligences instead of just a few.

How universal design for learning hacks the brain

The UDL principles are powerful tools for educators looking to create equitable, meaningful and challenging learning environments. The framework is based on scientific insights from a variety of fields, including neuroscience, learning sciences and cognitive psychology.

UDL's core principle are based on the most widely replicated finding in educational : that students are highly variable in their response to instruction. Or in plain speak, everybody learns differently.

To address this, UDL guidelines recommend that educators intentionally build out multiple options for students in each of the following brain networks:

Affective networks : This is the "WHY" of learning. Scholars differ in the ways in which they are engaged or motivated to learn. Providing multiple options for engagement can help stimulate interest and motivation for learning.

Recognition networks : This is the "WHAT" of learning. Students differ in the ways that they perceive and comprehend information that is presented to them. Presenting information and content in different formats can help students make connections within and between concepts.

Strategic networks : This is the "HOW" of learning. Learners differ in the ways they can navigate their learning environments and express what they know. Providing multiple means of action and expression enables all learners to demonstrate their understanding in the most optimal way for them.

Benefits of using universal design for learning in your classroom

UDL principles lead to growth and new skills for teachers and students alike. Teachers are human, which means they tend to instruct using the methods that come most naturally to them. Likewise, students learn best in the styles they are most comfortable with. UDL lesson plans encourage growth and development through new ways of teaching and learning.

Additionally, UDL benefits the classroom by:

Allowing students to use their strengths while also working on deficiencies

Helping teachers recognize the variability and diversity of individual brains

Emphasizing the need to proactively plan for a variety of learning styles, thus reducing barriers to education

Fixing the curriculum and not the student

Treating each learner as uniquely capable

Shaping young students into Expert Learners

Including accommodations for students with disabilities and second language to help them fully access the curriculum

"When we talk about Expert Learners, the ultimate goal of UDL is to have students utilizing all aspects of their neural pathways, being engaged on all neural levels and being in charge and empowered for their own learning," explains Dr. Koss.

Traditional lesson planning vs. universal design for learning

UDL is the inverse of the traditional lesson plan. It might take longer to plan UDL courses, but it is a proactive investment in your classroom. Building inclusivity and flexibility into your curriculum gives you more time to focus on engaging with students instead of removing barriers you hadn't considered.

If you've never created a UDL lesson plan, it can be difficult to imagine what it looks like. To help illustrate how this compares to traditional lesson planning, consider the following UDL examples:

Students are assigned to write a report on a given topic.

Students are assigned to choose from one of several formats on a given topic (i.e., report, video, slideshow, poster, song, etc.).

Teacher designs the lesson for an "average" student and focuses on what subject is taught.

Teacher designs the lesson for multiple types of learners and focuses on what subject is taught while allowing student input on how it is taught.

The classroom has desks lined up facing the front, and everyone is taught at once.

The classroom setup is flexible, allowing the teacher to move among multiple spaces dedicated to individual, small or large group work.

Students receive scores and feedback on tests, quizzes and assignments, checking grades or discussing goals periodically.

Students collaborate with the teacher to identify what their learning goals are and are encouraged to reflect on what they're learning. Grades are only one part of the conversation, and feedback is ongoing.

It is important to note that you don't need to do everything perfectly on every lesson to incorporate UDL into your classroom. Shifting your mindset is an ongoing endeavor that will happen over time.

Encourage growth among all learners

As a teacher, you work hard to create an inclusive learning environment where all students can come as they are and thrive. Being open to fresh ideas and willing to learn new skills is essential to being an effective educator.

Universal design for learning is an effective way to improve equity and access for all students. Learn more about how you can further increase your influence within your classroom and beyond in our article, " Teacher leadership: Ways to make an impact in education ."

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teachers guide to universal design for learning

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universal design for learning lesson plans

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What Is Universal Design for Learning? A Guide for Teachers - UMass Global

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A teacher's guide to universal design for learning. Learn how to enhance your lesson plans using UDL principles.

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TEAL Center UDL Description

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Cornell University UDL Description

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Universal Design for Learning | Center for Teaching Innovation

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Universal design for learning (UDL) is a teaching approach that works to accommodate the needs and abilities of all learners and eliminates unnecessary hurdles in the learning process. This means developing a flexible learning environment in which information is presented in multiple ways, students engage in learning in a variety of ways, and students are provided options when demonstrating their learning.

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Culturally Responsive Teaching Competencies and Targets

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An analysis of teaching standards in all 50 states to better understand whether states incorporate culturally responsive teaching.

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Making an Accessible Learning Space Podcast

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The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast, Episode 56 transcript

Jennifer Gonzalez, Host

Listen:

[powerpress]

I can remember the first time I taught students with special needs. It was sixth grade, and twelve students with IEPs had been placed in a single class period with me. Despite the fact that I'd had a whole 3-credit college course devoted entirely to special education, I was absolutely clueless. I mean, I had seen their IEPs, but I didn't really know how to interpret them. I was introduced to Kathy, the resource teacher who would accompany these students to class every day, but I wasn't sure what her role was or what shape our relationship was supposed to take.

And needless to say, that year with that class period was an absolute train wreck. This is already a long episode so I'm not going to go into detail here, but let's just say it was really, really hard. I know I didn't serve those 12 kids well, and the remaining students also suffered, because I knew nothing about how to manage a class with such a wide range of abilities and needs.

I can only imagine how different that year could have been if I had known someone like Jam Gamble. I just discovered Jam-short for Jahmeelah-on Periscope a few weeks ago. She was talking about how she dealt with a student's misbehavior one particular day, and just listening to the love in her voice and the careful way she handled this student's feelings, not to mention the breakthrough she experienced with him, I knew right away she was the kind of teacher I absolutely loved. Once I realized her work focused primarily on special ed, an area I haven't given nearly enough attention to on Cult of Pedagogy, I knew I had to have her on the podcast.

Ms. Jam is a developmental services worker in Toronto, Ontario. She supports students with disabilities, holds workshops, consults, and hosts her own TV show called A Voice for All, which focuses entirely on promoting disability awareness within the greater Toronto community. When discussing possible topics for our interview, Jam and I talked about how so many regular ed teachers feel inadequately prepared to serve the needs of students with special needs. But every year, more and more teachers are likely to have these students in their classrooms. Because Jam spends every day doing this kind of work, we decided to have her share some ways regular ed teachers could make their classrooms more welcoming for special ed students. Honestly, it was hard to squeeze all of it into one hour, and this interview certainly doesn't cover ALL of the things teachers can do, but it offers some really smart, thoughtful advice teachers can start applying in their own classrooms right away.

Before I play the interview, I'd like to thank the sponsor of this episode, mysimpleshow. Mysimpleshow is this really cool online tool that allows you to create your own animated videos for free. It's so easy, and so fast: You can either upload your own PowerPoint and let the tool extract the most relevant information to form your script, or you can write your script from scratch using their templates. Whichever option you choose, mysimpleshow then finds images to match your text, which you can fine-tune until you're content with the video. It would be perfect for flipping your classroom or having students create their own videos. To learn more and try your first video, visit videomaker.simpleshow.com.

I also want to thank everyone who has left a review for this podcast on iTunes. Every time someone contributes a rating and a review, it brings more listeners to the show, so I really appreciate it. If haven't left a review yet, I'd love it if you could find time today to leave one.

Now let's start talking about how you can make your classroom more welcoming for Special Ed students.

GONZALEZ: I would like to welcome Jahmeelah Gamble to the podcast. Hello!

GAMBLE: Hi.

GONZALEZ: Hi. And people know you, and we've talked about this already, people know you online as Jam Gamble.

GAMBLE: Yes they do. I think everyone knows me as Jam. When they hear "Jahmeelah" they're like, "I'm sorry, who's that?"

GONZALEZ: Right. So I sort of discovered you just a couple of weeks ago, actually. Somebody else that I'm following on Twitter put a Periscope up that was a live Periscope of you talking about sort of a problem that you had had with a student and how you worked through it, and I was just totally captivated, and I was like, "We need to get this woman on the podcast." I just loved your whole spirit, I loved your whole message. And so Jam is a ... why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself. Tell us who you are, what your background is.

GAMBLE: So, I'm Jam. I'm from Toronto. My background is a DSW, and that stands for developmental services worker. I'm not sure if you guys have that title in the states, but basically I'm a person who is qualified to work with people with all types of disabilities. I've been in the field for 17 years, but I've been teaching for five years. I kind of feel like I've been teaching all these years, but professionally, with the board, it's been for five years. I'm also a TV host and producer for a show called "A Voice for All" on Rogers TV. It's the only show that solely promotes disability awareness and education within our community. And like I said, I teach during the day, but I also do workshops and consulting with families. So 95 percent of my work revolves around disability education and awareness.

GONZALEZ: Got it. And the show is called "A Voice for All," and we're going to ...

GAMBLE: "A Voice for All," yeah.

GONZALEZ: Yes. And we're going to make sure we link to that in my show notes so that people can find that.

GAMBLE: Awesome.

GONZALEZ: So I just want to let everybody who's listening know that this going to be kind of a bilingual show, because we're going to be using Canadian and U.S. terminology for things, which is pretty cool, I think, because I've not known what the Canadian words were. This is actually something that I love about Twitter is all of a sudden now I'm talking to people in Canada all the time, whereas before, never. So our whole goal today is that we're going to be talking about creating a welcoming classroom for special ed students. And the term that you guys use the most is "spec ed," you say "spec ed" a lot.

GAMBLE: I feel like it's like a slang word.

GONZALEZ: OK.

GAMBLE: It's just "special education," like you only hear that from people who are outside the field. But if you're in it, you know, it's just the slang of, yeah, "spec ed."

GONZALEZ: OK. And so we talked about a lot of different possibilities, and we kind of landed on this that teachers who work in a regular mainstream classroom who do not have any training with special ed students, when, and this will always be the case for just about any mainstream teacher, when they have special ed students in their classrooms, there is a sense of, "I don't know exactly what I'm doing here." So we're going to give these teachers some suggestions for how to make their classroom more welcoming for these students.

GAMBLE: I'm really excited to be a part of that.

GONZALEZ: I'm excited to hear what you have to say about this. So what we decided to do, is we came up with five suggestions, but we also agreed ...

GAMBLE: Which was so hard.

GONZALEZ: We may go off and add more, but we figured we've got plenty to say about just these five. OK, so go ahead and give us the first thing that teachers can do to create this welcoming classroom.

GAMBLE: The first thing you have to do, and I've said this so many times, but you could have the most accessible classroom in terms of space and layout and, you know, lighting and all those types of things, but if you don't have an accessible attitude, your classroom's not accessible. And I've seen teachers who've done all the, you know, the framework of, "OK, we have someone coming in. I have all the certain objects that might fall on them. Or if they have epilepsy, we have the lighting dimmed." But then your attitude is so wrong that it just makes your whole room not as pleasant as you want it to be. And I've seen some teachers have unfortunately they've not admitted those fears. I've been in the field for 17 years, and I admit when I'm uncomfortable. I have no issue with doing that. I can't expect that every student or every client I have I'm going to be instantly comfortable with them, because they're a person first and foremost. We have to get to know each other. So I'm always going to be on guard, but I admit that. I go, "OK. I have a new child coming in. Hoo, let me get these jitters out. Let me find out what I need to know," and then we hit the ground running. And you can't be so bubbly at first, but you have to admit if you're nervous. You have to admit if you have little worries. [UNCLEAR AUDIO] how you say it, and then you can find the right people who could help you get over those fears.

GONZALEZ: OK. So talking about fears or discomforts that you have.

GAMBLE: Talking about it does ... yeah. You know what? And I think it all comes down to people thinking that they're going to be judged, and that people are going to say, "You're an educator. You shouldn't be saying that." It's how you say it. It's one thing if you said, "Oh my gosh. I can't have this kid in my class," versus "I have this child with autism coming in. I've never had a child with autism. Where do I begin?" Do you see the difference?

GONZALEZ: Yes, completely, yeah. The second person is somebody who is asking for help and wants to do better.

GAMBLE: Exactly.

GONZALEZ: So who would they go to with these?

GAMBLE: One, I always say the parents. I think we don't make parents realize how big of the experts they are. A lot of parents coming into the school system, especially with a child who just got a diagnosis, they're coming to us like, "You are the person who knows everything." And I want those parents, especially because parent empowerment is such an important piece, I go, "No, no, no. You know your child. Teach me. Teach me who your child is, and I'll bring my skills to the table, and together we're going to help your child have a fantastic school year." So first and foremost, talk to the parents. You know, ask them about their child. How was their summer? Even human questions like, "How was their summer? How was school last year? What were goals that you wanted to see manifest last year but didn't manifest that we could focus on this year? What are things they're doing outside the school that we could incorporate into their lessons?" Questions like that gives you so much information that you can take and run with. And then, in Canada, there's terms that we use called teaching assistant, educational assistant, education resource facilitator, all of these fancy titles. At the end of the day, it's the person who's assigned to work with this child. Talk to that person. I don't understand why there's teachers who don't. I don't get it. But this is someone who is there for the sole purpose of that student, and they understand a lot about inclusion and integration and program planning for this child. Why wouldn't you talk to that person to get that juicy information that you need?

GONZALEZ: In the states we call them resource teachers, usually.

GAMBLE: I love resource teachers. I'm going to start, like, pushing for that in Canada.

GONZALEZ: So in addition to talking to the parents, you want to talk to their resource teacher or their educational assistant. And when we talked about this before, you were saying that these teachers have so much expertise that the regular classroom teachers rarely ever even take advantage of.

GAMBLE: Yeah.

GONZALEZ: So tell me a little bit about what kinds of things would they be able to help a classroom teacher with, if the teacher would only ask for them?

GAMBLE: Right. OK. For my personal experience, I think there's a misconception about a teaching assistant. And quite frankly, I hate the term. I'm not "assisting" you. I'm actually teaching as well, you know? So I already have issues with that name. But with the years that I've been in the field, unless you ask me, you wouldn't know that I have supported people with disabilities from birth to seniors. So I have a wide range of experience in terms of who I've supported, whether they're lower functioning or higher functioning, someone who's dependent or independent. I have a wide range of experience when it comes to seizures. I've worked with a lot of children who are nonverbal. I've worked with children who are verbal. I've worked with people who have echolalia. I've worked with children who have fears and phobias. I've worked with all these different people that I've taken all my personal experiences from them, and I've put it into this one big recipe book that a child could come in, and I could go, boom. I know exactly what to do. And I've actually had some teachers who I've come in, and I'm like, "You know what? These are my capabilities," and I just let it all out. And unfortunately, they're very threatened by that. And I don't know if it's just because they think that they have more schooling than me, and maybe they're like, "OK, I have my master's," or "I have ... " whatever it is. But I know my stuff, you know? And I think there comes a clash, a kind of a personality clash or a job description clash that gets in the way of the student's success, because egos are now getting in the mix.

GONZALEZ: Yeah. Egos are so bad for education.

GAMBLE: Oh, terrible.

GONZALEZ: I'm thinking about my own experiences with resource teachers. The first time I had a resource teacher in my room, I had maybe 12, and at this time, this was in Maryland, they called them Level 4s, which meant that they were fairly significant in their need for assistance.

GAMBLE: Yes. We have that too.

GONZALEZ: So, and they said to me, I was a second-year teacher, they said, "You think you can handle 12 Level 4s next year?" I didn't know what that meant, so I said, "OK, yeah I guess so."

GAMBLE: Whoa.

GONZALEZ: That was the level of education I had. And then when the resource teacher came in with them, she never said anything like that to me. I didn't know what I was supposed to get from her. And I felt threatened by her in the way that I knew I was probably doing things wrong, and that she was sitting back there judging me, but we never ...

GAMBLE: And, you know, she probably was, unfortunately.

GONZALEZ: Yeah. And we had never sat down and actually gotten to know each other, and so I never felt like I had that relationship with her that I could say, "Can you give me some suggestions? Can you tell me what ... ?" I just was kind of thrown into the situation. I'm guessing, if that was my experience, that's probably similar to a lot of other teachers too that they don't even think to say, "Hey, maybe I should sit down with this person before the semester starts and get to know each other."

GAMBLE: Talk.

GONZALEZ: Yeah.

GAMBLE: "What's your skill set?" I absolutely love some of the past teachers I've worked with who they've come to me to like, "I'll be honest with you. I don't know where to begin."

GONZALEZ: Yeah.

GAMBLE: "Can we talk? Tell me what your skills are." And I'm like, "Yes. Oh my goodness, yes." Because I'm not here for myself. I'm really here for my students. So please, utilize me, and let's have that relationship that I can help benefit the student. I've had teachers create IEPs without talking to me. Now IEPs in Toronto, in Canada ...

GONZALEZ: No, we have those too. We have 'em too.

GAMBLE: OK, good. I've had teachers and the people who are supposed to be responsible for creating the IEPs, go and create the IEP without talking to me. I'm like, "Wait a second. You want me to implement the programming, collect the data, but you don't want my feedback for the IEP? How does that make any sense?"

GONZALEZ: Do you not have IEP meetings where you're supposed to sit down and ... I'm just thinking as the regular classroom teacher ...

GAMBLE: I wish your listeners could see how I just fell off my chair.

GONZALEZ: Well, yeah.

GAMBLE: In a perfect world, we are supposed to go to those meetings. But for some reason, there's some schools that let the TAs come and some schools who don't want our input whatsoever. So I've become a very pushy person, and I'm certain I've been blacklisted many a time, because I make it very clear to you, you are not creating that IEP without it going through me.

GONZALEZ: Yeah.

GAMBLE: And again, there's people within my union who are too scared to speak up like that. We are actually supposed to be a part of the process, but there's this whole mix of like, "Should TAs be a part? Should they do this? Should they say that?" And so a lot of TAs just say, "Hey, you know what? Let me stand back." I don't operate that way.

GONZALEZ: Wait, are you saying the regular classroom teachers in Canada are the ones who write the IEPs?

GAMBLE: Alongside with another person who's, like, on the IEP team.

GONZALEZ: That's so strange, because in all of the schools I've been in, it's been the special ed teacher who is in charge of that IEP, and the regular classroom teachers are invited to come, but really it's more like, you need to show up for this.

GAMBLE: But you still need to talk. You still need to talk to the resource teacher and say, "Hey. What are you noticing?" One time I had a student who I started working with and on her IEP they said, "In order for her to improve her writing skills, she could look at her peers' work to have a frame of reference on how they piece together their thoughts." And I was like, "Oh yeah, that sounds great. But if you had spoken to me, you would know that when she gets frustrated with her work, she actually will go across the room and snatch somebody's work and copy it. So maybe that shouldn't be a resource for her. If you had spoken to me, you would have known that." So then the IEP teacher actually called me like 9:30 one night and said, "I'm going to leave you a copy. Please tell me what you want on it."

GONZALEZ: Wow, that's frustrating.

GAMBLE: Well, yeah.

GONZALEZ: The whole point is to have a lot of people, like, give their input. OK. So let's move on to the next one. So really the first chunk of this has to do with talking ...

GAMBLE: Communication.

GONZALEZ: ... talking to your resource person and really being open about what you need and what you don't know. I think it's interesting too that you talked about this teacher who said that they didn't even know where to start, because we don't even necessarily know what we don't know.

GAMBLE: Yeah.

GONZALEZ: And so there may be several conversations that are really required, you know, while you're working through the year, basically. OK. So what's next?

GAMBLE: You know what? Honestly, I feel like we could talk for seven hours. I want to go back to attitudes and fears though.

GONZALEZ: OK.

GAMBLE: And when we first met, I told you that I have stories for days, and somedays I think I should write a book, just to channel my thoughts.

GONZALEZ: Yeah.

GAMBLE: But I think ... one of the things I've come across too many times, unfortunately, is that educators, you know, teachers, your job is to teach. That's it. It doesn't matter what a child presents as. Your job is to teach. But unfortunately, I've come across people who look at students with disabilities, and they assume that they're unteachable. So I had a student once who has a very rare syndrome called arthrogryposis.

GONZALEZ: OK.

GAMBLE: And it's more physical than developmental. So when I got him, he was about 3.5, had no speech, it was almost like having a baby. But when I looked up his diagnosis, it said that developmentally he should be fine. So I treated him as such. I spoke to him like a 4-year-old. I corrected him like a 4-year-old. I kept going on, just like I would treat any one of my other students. So he was making massive progress. It was actually so beautiful to see, because background story: I worked with his mom when she was pregnant with him, and she didn't know he had a disability. And then when he was born five years later, I'm teaching him. So it was just really crazy how it all came to be.

GONZALEZ: Yeah.

GAMBLE: So one day I was taking him to the staff room so we could eat ice cream, which was educational, by the way. It was an educational experiment, we were trying to eat ice cream. And I came across this one teacher, and she looked at him, and she shook her head and she goes, "Poor thing." I go, "I'm sorry, who are you talking to you?" She goes, "Him. What's he going to do in 10 years?" I go, "What are you going to do in 10 years?" You know? She goes, "Well, you know ... how are you going to help him? What's he going to be able to contribute?" "I'm sorry. I didn't know my teaching contract was to be with him for 10 years. I'm pretty sure I'm only supposed to be with him until June. Where are you going with this?" "How is he going to be able to contribute to society?" These are all the questions she's asking right in front of this child. She doesn't recognize that there's a person in front of her who has a heart, who has a brain, who has ears, who has feelings.

GONZALEZ: Right.

GAMBLE: She thought she was looking at a vegetable who could not understand anything. So I then turned his wheelchair around, because he did not have to be a part of this conversation, and she just had all these awful things to say, you know? "How do you know he knows anything?" "I do assessments." What else? I was dumbfounded that I was actually having this conversation with a teacher, not somebody on the street, not some ignorant ... a teacher was asking me how do I know a child knows anything? I was shocked. So I really want ... when I work with teachers, I'm trying to teach them from the get-go, do not underestimate this child. Just because they're nonverbal does not mean that there are not thoughts and feelings that are going on. This is a person. This is a human being, and we have to treat them as such. You're supposed to see the person first, and the disability or the label or the diagnosis afterwards. Person first, and I'm not seeing enough of that, unfortunately.

GONZALEZ: Yeah, yeah.

GAMBLE: That's my rant.

GONZALEZ: That's a good rant. That's a really good rant. I think that's something that people do with their discomfort. The lack of exposure and the lack of experience. I think when you're a special ed teacher you are around kids with disabilities a lot, so you can get past the disability to where you can see all of the rest of the child.

GAMBLE: Right.

GONZALEZ: The teacher who has had limited exposure, they're still kind of like, "Ah, I don't know what I'm dealing with right now."
GAMBLE: Exactly.

GONZALEZ: And so just experience and exposure. And, you know, we're getting more and more mainstreaming, and more and more inclusion, and so there's just going to be more of that.

GAMBLE: But you know, the first thing is, just see them as a person. Something so simple is not being done enough, you know? Don't approach with caution, just approach.

GONZALEZ: Right. Just approach.

GAMBLE: Just approach. That's it.

GONZALEZ: So one of the things that you had mentioned, and this kind of segues right into this. You had said if you have a student with a physical disability, although this probably applies too to the learning disability, create activities that suit that student's abilities, but can still be challenging to the rest of the class.

GAMBLE: Yeah.

GONZALEZ: So give me some examples of how a teacher does this.

GAMBLE: So I've done this before. Once I had a student with a visual impairment, and we created a sensory challenge where everyone had to be blindfolded, and you had to touch different objects and try to guess what they were. Or we did like a scavenger hunt around a classroom. "Four steps to the left. Three to the right. Stop. Put your arm in front of you." So that they could experience what it was like to move around the world around you with a visual impairment. I've tried it before, and I had a terrible headache, I had a terrible headache. But it really made me see, ironically enough ...

GONZALEZ: Right.

GAMBLE: ... how the world is viewed by other people. And with another client, I actually had, in a different setting, in an outside school setting, my co-worker was putting on a movie, and she asked him if he wanted to watch a movie, and he goes, "I don't want to watch a movie," she goes, "Well that's a bad attitude." He goes, "Well, I don't have a bad attitude. I'm blind. I don't want to watch your movie." And I was like, "Wow." So from that moment on, any person I worked with who even had a slight visual impairment ... One time I actually put on an audiobook, so we all had to listen, we were all on level playing field here of listening to an audio of a movie or a story versus having to watch it.

GONZALEZ: Right. Right, right.

GAMBLE: We don't ... it's easy to actually find different ways to flip something and not make it seem like we're only doing this so that Garrett here can do it, but this is something we could all do as a class. I've had students with physical disabilities that we've had them actually lie on the carpet, because they are immobile, so we've had them lie on the carpet, and all the students lie on the carpet, and we all just talk about our feelings, and we've asked the child questions. Like I had one child last year who had hypotonia, and I asked all the children to tell me what they saw when they saw him. They're like, "Well, I see someone who has two arms." I go, "Who else has two arms?" So we did a body check. Who has two arms? Who has two legs? Who has two eyes? So that they could see that he was equal to them. Yes there was some limitations, but that's not our focus right now. Our focus is including everybody in our class and making sure that everybody has a place.

GONZALEZ: Right. And so as often as possible ...

GAMBLE: As often as possible.

GONZALEZ: Yes. Teachers should try to design these kinds of activities that really are inclusive and not, you had mentioned this just a second ago about not announcing it like, "Well we have to do it this way, because we have this student."

GAMBLE: Yeah.

GONZALEZ: Yeah. Make it much more of, like, an adventure.

GAMBLE: Because they will pick up on that on their own. A lot of the children I've supported who have very severe disabilities have been in kindergarten. And I don't know if you've worked in kindergarten, but those children are blunt. They say it as it is. They hold nothing back. "Why are his toes like that? Why is he shaking? Why can't he talk?" Just blunt, you know?

GONZALEZ: Right.

GAMBLE: So I find ways for them to be my mini assistants, you know? I have them maybe push the student around the room, or I have them do a Play-Doh activity, and I stand back, and I let the learning happen between the two of them.

GONZALEZ: Yeah. When it's kids that young, I think the teachers are used to answering all different kinds of questions, but should a teacher be encouraging those kinds of questions, should they answer them in front of the student, or should they do this in private?

GAMBLE: So I've a bit of a devil's advocate. It depends on the class. So there's been classes I've worked with where, it sounds bad, but I've had really immature kindergartens, and I can't have that conversation with them, so I kind of wait maybe a couple weeks before I do. But I've had some classes where I've just, "You know what? Let's just be straight up about this." I actually, one year, on the second day, because we do a staggered entry, where when it's a new [J case?] coming in, they don't come in on the first day of school, they come in on the second day. So half of them come on the second day, and the other half come on the third day, and then by Friday, everybody's in together kind of thing. So when everybody was in, I had teachers bring the parents in the room, and we had a class discussion, because this was the first time the school had a student like this, who was in a wheelchair, who had physical needs, who was nonverbal, they've never had anybody like that. And we just had a ... and with his parents' blessings, essentially, we had a group discussion about it, about his body, about his speech, about ... and you know, and I asked the children, "What do you see? Do you have any questions? Please ask the questions." And I told Dallas, "Dallas, you might hear some things, and it might make you a little bit upset, you know? But know that I'm here to defend you." How much of that's going in his head? I'm not sure, but I'm letting him know.

GONZALEZ: Right.

GAMBLE: That I'm here to defend you. And one child asked, "Why is his body so small compared to mine?" I go, "You know, some people's bodies grow differently. Like, look as Ms. Jam's body. I'm a giant. I grew way faster than some of my friends." And they're like, "Oh, that makes sense." So a lot of the things that they directed to him I deflected on me. So I said, you know, "When I was growing up, this is what my growth was like. This is how my speech was like. This is how it was for me when I was doing this. So they could see that, "Oh, so people's bodies do change." I go, "When you were born, was your body born just like this? Did you come out of your mommies like a big 5-year-old?" And they're like, "Ew, no!" And obviously the moms were like, "Good God. No they did not." And I go, "Exactly. Everybody grows differently. There's not a race. Everybody's body grows differently. And that's it. It takes its own time, because at the end of the day, it's going to be a beautiful package. It just takes its own time."

GONZALEZ: Right.

GAMBLE: And so when we had that initial conversation, those kids were probably the most beautiful children I have ever seen with a child like that. It was just so magical to see how the class changed with them.

GONZALEZ: Now you said, though, that whether or not you would have that kind of a conversation really depends on the personality of the class.

GAMBLE: It depends, yeah.

GONZALEZ: I would guess also, and the parents too.

GAMBLE: And the parents too. So I always ask the parents how they feel about it. And most of the parents, for some reason, they trust me on it. So they're like, "If you think it's a good idea." And the first thing I always keep in mind is to preserve the child's dignity. This is not a bashing fest, like, "Oh, ew, what's wrong with him?" I always have house rules. We're going to be respectful. We're going to be courteous. But if you have certain questions, you can come and ask me. And in some of the kids have just been ... they've seen something, and I could see their body language that something is making them feel very uncomfortable, so I've pulled them aside, and I've had little one-on-one conversations with them. And then I've also included little activities where they can kind of get to know each other a little bit better and get over that fear and see that this is another child in their class that they can play with.

GONZALEZ: What about when something's really obvious, like a physical disability, those questions are going to come up more readily, but I'm thinking if we shift to sort of, like, let's say an eighth-grade classroom where you have a student who gets a scribe for tests or something like that. And then all of a sudden one day somebody shows up and starts writing for him. I can see your average 13-year-old being like ...

GAMBLE: Yeah, "Lucky you."

GONZALEZ: Right. And so how do you advise teachers handle that?

GAMBLE: So in that situation, I've had that before. It was very awkward for me, just because I'm used to little people who don't have much to say, you know?

GONZALEZ: Yeah.

GAMBLE: They just see me as another source of help for them. So the way I've done it was that in this particular child I was working with, I was like, "Man, honestly, when I was growing up," again, bringing it back to me, I go, "I remember I was doing a test and all my ideas were up here, but my hands just couldn't get it out quick enough, OK? So I'm helping Johnny over here get these ideas out, but you know what? If you ever need help with something, just let me know, and I'll help you out too." So I kind of spread myself out.

GONZALEZ: Right.

GAMBLE: I don't make myself seem like this exclusive, VIP scriber over here. I mix and mingle, so that the students know that I'm also here for them too. I'm not just here for the child who has issues, as they may think. I really go around and spread that attention and spread that support. And at the end of the day, they start to realize, "Yeah, this person needs some extra support, but I know if I need help with something, this person could come and look out for me too."

GONZALEZ: Yeah. Did anybody ever take you up on it? Ask you to start scribing for them?

GAMBLE: Yeah, one child did, and I go, "If you could text, you could scribe, so sit down." Like, he had his phone out, and he's like on his BlackBerry, and I was like, "Umm, you're good. You don't need me. Nice try though."

GONZALEZ: Would it be appropriate to say that this student here ... is it appropriate to explain to kids that there's such a thing as an IEP, and we're legally supposed to do this, or is that just too much?

GAMBLE: Here's the thing. It's becoming so common in classrooms now, it's no longer taboo. Let's just be straight up about that. Back in the day, I'm not, you know, in my 40s or anything like that, but I don't remember anybody in my class having a TA or that person who "stood out," but now teaching, my gosh. I was in a grade five class two years ago, my teaching partner had 21 IEPs, 21.

GONZALEZ: Wow.

GAMBLE: It's not uncommon now. It's so common to know that there's someone sitting next to you who's struggling.

GONZALEZ: Right.

GAMBLE: It's so ... "Oh, OK. You're not good at math? Oh, you can't spell that well? Oh, you need to go into the resource room to do your quiz?" It's no longer like a walking on eggshells like, "Oh my goodness, someone's going to think I'm weird." It's a very common practice, and it's not only being done for students who have a learning disability or a physical disability or a developmental, it's also being done with students who have emotional issues, who need to be outside of the classroom, because they're feeling anxious being in a large space with many people. They can't focus, because there's too many people who are talking, so they need to be pulled out. Everybody's doing it now. So you almost don't even have to have that conversation, you know what I mean?

GONZALEZ: Right.

GAMBLE: In this generation in particular, they're seeing it so much, they're like, "Oh, just another teacher in the room." And that comes back down to September when the teacher is doing introductions. "My name is Mrs. Smith, and this is Ms. Jam."

GONZALEZ: Yeah.

GAMBLE: Don't say, "This is Ms. Jam who's here for the child with the disability." "This is Ms. Jam." That's where it starts off in how you introduce this other body in the room, and every class I've been in, my teaching partner's always said, "This is Ms. Jam. You'll see her a lot with Dallas or with Kayden, but if you ever need some help ... and Ms. Jam will never say, 'No.'" I'm like, "Oh no, guys, Ms. Jam is here to give you guys lots of love." We've started it from the get-go.

GONZALEZ: Right.

GAMBLE: So that's where it starts, because if you're just the person who just keeps coming in and no one knows who you are or what your purpose is.

GONZALEZ: Yep.

GAMBLE: You know? But I've worked with students who have a learning disability, and again my teaching partner's gone, "I'm Mrs. Smith. This is Ms. Jam. She is one of our new fantastic people to this school, and she's going to be coming in this classroom, and she's going to show us so many cool things on how we can learn." Nobody knows.

GONZALEZ: Yeah, right.

GAMBLE: They'll pick up over time that I'm spending a lot of time with that person, but nobody is going to say anything, because I'm just such a regular person in the classroom that again, I talk to them, I engage them, and they know I'm there to help them as well.

GONZALEZ: And there are a lot of kids probably in every classroom who don't have an official diagnosis, but who could probably use a little tip here and there, a little strategy.

GAMBLE: Those are my favorite. The ones where you know something's going on, and you're just waiting for that meeting where we can get a diagnosis. And oftentimes the principals actually when they're doing the classroom list, the child who's identified, they will put them in the class with the other two, who we know something's up, but they can't get EA or TA support.

GONZALEZ: Right.

GAMBLE: So I'm in there just to spread the wealth.

GONZALEZ: Yep. That's actually a great idea. I can remember having students who I really thought needed that extra help. And it's funny, because I would be told that their IQ was too low to get a diagnosis.

GAMBLE: What?

GONZALEZ: That there was a ratio, basically, this is what I was told a couple of times.

GAMBLE: Too low or too high?

GONZALEZ: Too low.

GAMBLE: Whoa.

GONZALEZ: Yeah.

GAMBLE: If it's too high, they're not getting any support from us.

GONZALEZ: This is what it was. The problem they said was they said, "This child's performance is commensurate with their IQ." Like, they're basically saying that they're doing the best they can. And I remember thinking, "I feel like some special ed support would make that different though." Do you know?

GAMBLE: Yeah. But I have a pet peeve with that. Because I've worked with students who I'm supposed to be assigned to this child, and like going back to your levels, this is a Level Four child, OK?

GONZALEZ: Right.

GAMBLE: This is a Level Four child, and then they've put in additional students in the class, usually behavioral students, and then that child is taking all my time and attention away from my Level Four child, because my Level Four child is compliant, they're not aggressive. And so I have issues with that. I don't mind helping people, but put people in the room that I can manage everybody and not too much attention's going to the other person. I'm seeing too much of that, and unfortunately what that's resulting in, which is a whole other podcast, is burnout.

GONZALEZ: Burnout in the special ed teachers, yeah.

GAMBLE: Oh my Lord. When people ask me, "Oh my God, are you married?" I go, "Yeah." They're like, "How many kids do you have?" I'm like, "Seven. Oh wait, no. those are my daytime kids." Because I have seven kids during the day. I'm a single mom to seven kids.

GONZALEZ: Yeah.

GAMBLE: I don't have any spousal support, you know?

GONZALEZ: Right.

GAMBLE: It's tiring. It's a toss-up. Like, I have kids in my class who ... Today I went to my principal, and I was like, "You sent the psychologist in this week?" She's goes, "Yeah." I'm like, "I'm just going to conveniently walk down the hall with this child who there is something going on here."

GONZALEZ: Yeah.

GAMBLE: I will help that child, but I can't ...

GONZALEZ: That's not who you're assigned to, right.

GAMBLE: That's our issue here.

GONZALEZ: So the part about you helping the other students in a room has more to do with just creating that welcoming environment for the special ed student. It's not meant to have you literally be using your own resources on all of the other kids all the time.

GAMBLE: Unfortunately that's what happens.

GONZALEZ: Yeah.

GAMBLE: But I find a way to kind of make everything work, so students I had last year, I had a student with a severe chromosomal deletion and hypotonia, and then I had two students who had autism. Those two became my mini TAs. So they were getting his backpack, they would push him down the hall. They would read books to him in the library. So I was able to work with all three. I found a system that worked. But unfortunately in some classrooms, it's not always possible. Like, I've had students who are highly aggressive. I'm out in the hallway dealing with that child.

GONZALEZ: Right.

GAMBLE: And then my other one's in the room. So it's all about balance and how you set up the classroom for success.

GONZALEZ: Let's go back to parents. We've got two more things on this list. One of the things that you had talked about was, because we talked earlier about consulting with parents to learn about the child, but now let's flip it. You talked about really recognizing that when the parents are coming into this relationship, they also have fear and confusion and some defensiveness. So talk a little bit about that.

GAMBLE: Yeah. I love parents. I really, really, really love my parents, and this is my first year not meeting my students' parents, and it's almost November, and I'm kind of getting a little irritated by that. The parents that I've worked with, again, some of these parents just received a diagnosis, OK? So they're going through their own guilt and denial and embarrassment and shame, and all those types of emotions that you have to look at the background story before you judge these parents. And unfortunately, I'm seeing too much judging happening. We're looking at their external behavior, and we're not looking at why their behavior may be happening. And sometimes when we look at our students, what's the number 1 tip? Behavior is communication. Why don't we see that with parents, you know? That sometimes they're acting a certain way, and it's because ... there's a reason why they're acting a certain way.

GONZALEZ: What kind of behaviors do you see, that teachers are misinterpreting?

GAMBLE: So I've had parents who are very silent. They don't want to come to the meetings. When you do get them in for a meeting, they don't have much to say, there's parents who have, like, a wall, there's a wall that's up. They don't seem like they want to engage. They're missing out on certain activities, where it might involve them coming in and mixing and mingling with other parents. I have a quote that I say when I create an IEP for my students, I create an IEP for my parents as well on how we are to communicate with them, on what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are, because I see all those things in September. And another thing that's a key piece is cultural attitudes towards disabilities. Here in Canada, in my area, for example, it's a very multi-cultural community, OK? I had one school where it was 80 percent predominantly Muslim families. If you know anything about the Muslim culture, some parents, some families have very different thoughts towards disabilities, what caused that disability, what their child is going to be capable, all of these thoughts come into place, right? So if you take note of those types of attitudes, I'm not saying that everybody has that attitude, but if you are aware of that, then you know how to approach this family. So I had two parents last year. My student's mom was Filipino, and the dad was Eastern European. Two different cultures, two different attitudes and thoughts towards disabilities. Mom was very, "OK. What should I do?" Dad every meeting had his arms crossed, and everything he said was, "Yeah, but." And my goal was to work on Dad. OK, I'll work with your daughter, but my eyes were narrowed in on Dad onto fix his attitude. I go, "When your wife was pregnant, did she give birth to a 5-year-old? No, she didn't. You gave birth to an infant who grew. Your daughter is still growing. The success or the limitations you're seeing right now may not be what she's like when she's 10 or 15 or 25. She's still growing. You need to see that." So when I would talk to him about her success, he'd go, "Yeah, but," and I'd go, "Yeah, but what?" I actually had to get a little bit hard on him.

GONZALEZ: Yeah.

GAMBLE: He needed that.

GONZALEZ: Right.

GAMBLE: He needed that tough love, that by the end of the year, he came in in tears, we went over her report card, he was in tears. And we're saying what she had done that was so well, and he hugged her, and he goes, "I love you, bubby. I'm so proud of you." I cried, because I worked for months to get that dad on board. And every other teacher who knew those parents said, "OK. Dad is in denial." Dad's not in denial. He's scared. And I have to recognize that. I have to recognize he's scared and not judge him but help him. So I'm helping three people here. I'm helping the child, and I'm helping those parents, because I don't want to be the only one celebrating our student's success. I want those parents to stand proud with me too, when they're seeing their child.

GONZALEZ: Yeah.

GAMBLE: That's my goal. So I used to be that ignorant person when I saw parents coming in go, "Oh, you're that parent."

GONZALEZ: Right.

GAMBLE: And don't get me wrong. That parent exists, you know? But there's also a lot of parents who are honestly scared. They don't know what's going to happen from here. And instead of be optimistic, their initial attitude is one of fear, and that's what they're operating on right now.

GONZALEZ: So you're approach with that father was to be a little bit tough on him. Would you say that in general ... I'm guessing just based on knowing you for this short time, I'm guessing that a lot of times your approach is just hardcore optimism and being super positive, and that that eventually rubs off on the family, so if they see that confidence from you ...

GAMBLE: Yeah. When I meet parents, I don't call them "mister" and "misses." I actually go, "Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad!" you know? I'm very bubbly from the get-go, and I lay down my vision. I go, "My vision is for your child to have the best school year they can have. I don't know what those goals may be, but that's my vision, OK? Maybe the only goal we get through this year is that they sit on the carpet. By God, they sat on the carpet, you know?" But I want them to have the best school year, and the student I had last year, two of the students I had last year, the year before, one of them had never been left alone with anybody, so I was the first person, so I had a mom who was very, like, you know? She would wait outside in a parking lot, you know?

GONZALEZ: I bet.

GAMBLE: And then the second child was nonverbal, having accidents, running outside the classroom, to last year speaking at the school assembly, performing in plays and using Snapchat, OK?

GONZALEZ: Oh my gosh.

GAMBLE: This was the magic that we made. And so when I encounter parents, I go, "I need you. I need you to meet me halfway. I want you to be invested in this, because I'm invested in your child. If you're not invested, you'll get 20 percent of my profit, and that's about it. But if you really want me to do the magic I'm capable of doing, I need you in on this with me, and if there's things that you're scared about, if there's things you're unsure about, let's get through this together. I completely understand it, but I'm that person who overwhelms you with talking." But ultimately I have parents at the end of the year who go to my principals and request for me to be with their child next year, so I know I'm doing something right.

GONZALEZ: You know, I'm thinking, just listening to how you talk to them, especially at this first meeting, that you've got parents who up until that meeting have been feeling this weight and this doom and gloom and this interpretation of this diagnosis as a kind of a death sentence of what they thought their life was going to be. And that first sit down when you come in talking about your vision for them and you sound excited. You sound like you're planning a vacation with them.

GAMBLE: It is.

GONZALEZ: You know? And that's got to be such a huge shift in mindset for them and such a weight and such a moment of happiness for them.

GAMBLE: I jump in. The boy who had hypotonia, the one whose mom's never given him to anybody, as soon as he came to the door, I'm not even lying, I swear on my budgies and my birds' beautiful lives, as soon as he came to the door, I was like, "Oh!" I had like this big happy clap. I go, "Can I hold him? Can I hold him? Can I hold him?" She was like, "Yeah, yeah, you can hold him." Because she wasn't expecting that I was going to be ...

GONZALEZ: Sure, she's probably used to people kind of recoiling and acting all awkward.

GAMBLE: Yeah. And I hugged him, and I gave him a nickname. I deemed him my squishy, and that was it. And from that moment on, every week Grandma was bringing me lunch, she was bringing me knit goods. We became family, you know? And that's what the mom told me. She goes, "You're not my son's teaching assistant. You're family." You know? And I would hope that teachers and educational assistants let these parents, the same love we give to these students, some of these parents need that love as well. They come from families who do not accept their child, and when they come to school, they're looking to us as that source of comfort. They just don't know how to initiate. It's like going on a blind date. You don't know how to approach the person. We have to be patient with these parents.

GONZALEZ: Oh, my heart is all full right now listening to you talk about this. I just ... I'm just excited about this.

GONZALEZ: OK. Last one, because we've limited ourselves to an hour, and we're probably going to set ourselves up again another time, because we've got plenty of other things. But the last thing that you suggested was about books, including certain books with your students in your classroom library and what you teach your students. And you wanted these to be books that show differences and promote inclusion, and what we decided was that you were going to recommend a few of them, and then we're going to recommend a whole bunch more on the website.

GAMBLE: I'll give two. So one of them is "My Brother Charlie," and that's from Holly Robinson Peete who has a son with autism, and it's a book written on her daughter's point of view about her brother who has autism. "And this is my brother Charlie, and this is what's so awesome and sweet about him." And then another book that I read to my students three weeks ago was called "Some Monsters Are Different" by David Milgrim. This book was pure magic. I found it by coincidence in Indigo, it was $5. I'm a bargain shopper, so I was like, "Yay, $5 book, yes," you know? And the cover was really, really cute, so I was drawn to it. But each page had maybe one to four words. And what I love about those books is that it's one-liners, and it gives you enough time to start a conversation with your students. So one of the books said, "Some monsters are quiet." From there you could go, "Who's a monster in this class that's quiet?" And so some of my students were like, "I'm a quiet monster," and then the other kids were like, "I'm a loud monster." "Some monsters are picky eaters." So it doesn't specifically talk about a specific disability, like autism or Down syndrome. It just talks about some people are different, and that's totally OK. So the most beautiful happened was at the end of the book, when you open the back cover, it's all these blue characters, but there's four characters who have very unique outfits and styles and they stand out. So I opened the book and I showed it to my class. I go, "What do you see about this page?" All of them said, "Oh. There's blue monsters." "Yeah, OK. Give me more here." "OK. Some of the monsters are looking left." "OK, give me more here." One child puts up her hand, she goes, "All the monsters are blue, but then there's those four who stand out, because they're unique, and being unique is beautiful. Like imagine if you had a garden. Your garden wouldn't be that beautiful if you only had one flower in it. But if you had different flowers in it, you'd have a really beautiful garden, and we're kind of like those flowers. We're just beautiful and unique." And I'm sitting there going, "You're 6. How are you seeing this?" But she said it. "We are all beautiful. We're all unique, and our class would be boring if we were all the same." And I was like, "Everybody," so I did a Periscope on that. Everybody needs to read a book like that, because there are children who are in themselves and they're afraid to come out out of fear what other people are going to think about them, and when we read books like that, we don't have to wait until Autism Awareness Month or Down Syndrome Awareness Month. This needs to be a weekly thing that we talk about being different and promoting differences and celebrating it as a uniqueness and not something that we have to be cautious about.

GONZALEZ: Yeah, yeah. It's funny that while you're talking about these books, I'm thinking about how helpful they would be for transgender children in the classroom too.

GAMBLE: Oh, heavens yes.

GONZALEZ: You know. There's so many other different varieties that you get of kids who want to conform and yet that's not who they are. And so something like that ...

GAMBLE: Have you heard of "Pete the Cat"?

GONZALEZ: Yes, we have this.

GAMBLE: OK. "Pete the Cat" is the coolest cat. I use that book actually for myself, and I tell a lot of my colleagues that all these books that we read to our students, we should actually be reading to ourselves, because we buy these expensive self-help books, and a lot of these children's books have such a deep message in it.

GONZALEZ: Yeah.

GAMBLE: And so in the "Pete the Cat," walking in his cool school shoes, Pete gets into all these different messes. Does Pete cry? Goodness no. Pete keeps singing his song and moving along. And that's a line I use not only for myself and my colleagues but for my students when they find themselves in difficult moments of frustration. I go, "Did Pete cry? Goodness no. He kept singing his song and ... " they're like, " ... moving along." You know? But giving them that encouragement, so I really stress, for any teacher listening to this, to read beautiful books like that on a regular basis so these ideas can marinate in their head. And when they're in moments of difficulty, those books will come to the forefront, and they can use that as inspiration.

GONZALEZ: Well.

GAMBLE: Are we done?

GONZALEZ: We're done with the list that we made.

GAMBLE: OK, good.

GONZALEZ: So it's probably a good stopping point, but I would definitely love to have you back on again, because you were talking about burnout in the special ed teaching population. And boy, I mean ...

GAMBLE: Burnout and compassion fatigue.

GONZALEZ: Yeah, OK. Well let's definitely plan to ...

GAMBLE: When you just don't care anymore.

GONZALEZ: Yeah. Oh gosh. And I think you would be a perfect person to talk about that with, because you don't seem to have gotten there yet.

GAMBLE: Oh, I have.

GONZALEZ: You have? And you've gotten past it?

GAMBLE: You know what? I actually do workshops on compassion fatigue and burnout, and I say at least once a month I go through some form of burnout and compassion fatigue, and I actually do respite on the weekends. So on top of everything I do, I do respite, and the reason why I do respite is not for money, but because it's in my terms, I remember why I got into this field, and why I love what I do. So when I take my kids on the weekend, and we go get our nails done or we do some baking, and there's no learning involved, it's just bonding. I really get a reminder as to why I'm in this field, and I need that. Like I was watching a show last night, and it was a boy with autism who doesn't do public speaking, and he did a speech, and I'm sitting there bawling my eyes out, and my husband's like, "There, there. You do this on a daily basis." And I go, "I just need to be reminded." So yes, I go through it. And I'm human enough to admit it that I go through many little [vacations?] of burnout.

GONZALEZ: Right, right.

GAMBLE: I'm human.

GONZALEZ: Tell my listeners where they can find you online.

GAMBLE: So you can find me on Twitter at @MsJamPccs. You can find me on my website, msjam.ca, and you can follow me on Facebook, at facebook.com/msjamgamble. "Jam" is in everything, because I'm just that sweet. That's my tagline. So you'll see me there. You'll see my show. And then random videos that I do as well, because when I Periscope, I get to kind of be unrestricted and just speak my mind.

GONZALEZ: Yes. I'm going to make sure I link to your Periscope account too, because you are a great, great person to follow on there too.

GAMBLE: Thank you. I'm so excited I got to do this.

GONZALEZ: Me too. Thank you so much, Jam.

GAMBLE: Thank you, thank you. And thank you to the listeners. I hope you guys got some takeaways from there, and if you are someone who's in the field, and you are getting a student who happens to have a diagnosis, please believe me when I say there is so much to learn from those students. I credit all my work and all my success to what my students have taught me and not what I learned from an institution. So take your kids as a source of knowledge and enjoy the year you're going to have with them.

For links to all the resources mentioned in this episode, go to cultofpedagogy.com/pod and click on Episode 56. To get weekly updates on all my newest blog posts, podcast episodes, and products, sign up for my mailing list at cultofpedagogy.com/subscribe. Thanks for listening, and have a great day.

This podcast is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network, podcasts for educators, podcasts by educators. To learn more, visit edupodcastnetwork.com.

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Episode 56: Creating a Welcoming Classroom for Special Ed Students

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The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast, Episode 56 transcript Jennifer Gonzalez, Host Listen: [powerpress] I can remember the first time I taught students with special needs. It was sixth grade, and twelve students with IEPs had been placed in a single class period with me. Despite the fact that I'd had a whole 3-credit college course ...

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Adapting to Cultural Strengths and Weaknesses in the Classroom

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Managing Diverse Classrooms: How to Build on Students' Cultural Strengths

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Managing Diverse Classrooms: How to Build on Students' Cultural Strengths [Rothstein-Fisch, Carrie, Trumbull, Elise] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Managing Diverse Classrooms: How to Build on Students' Cultural Strengths

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Various Cultural Perceptions of ASD & Mental Disorders

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Culturally Responsive Educational Strategies and Approaches

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Collection of Journalistic Research on Cultural Responsiveness in Education

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This collection holds materials from the Education Alliance at Brown University. The Education Alliance was a reform support organization committed to advancing equitable educational opportunities that prepare all student populations to succeed in the 21st century. From 1975-2021, the Alliance partnered with schools, districts and state departments of education to apply research findings in developing solutions to educational challenges. Its mission was to enhance learning for culturally and linguistically diverse students and focused on district and school improvement with special attention to underperformance and issues of equity and diversity. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26300/7eez-dz04

The Education Alliance archived website can be found here

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Brown Digital Repository | Collection | The Education ...

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This collection holds materials from the Education Alliance at Brown University. The Education Alliance was a reform support organization committed to advancing equitable educational opportunities that prepare all student populations to succeed in the 21st century. From 1975-2021, the Alliance partnered with schools, districts and state departments of education to apply research findings in developing solutions to educational challenges.

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Free Alternative Communication App for nonverbal clients

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A free AAC talker app supports communication in all areas of life and therefore providing a voice to everyone. LetMeTalk is donation financed.

LetMeTalk enables you to line up images in a meaningful way to read this row of images as a sentence. To line up images is known as AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication).

The image database of LetMeTalk contains more than 9,000 easy to understand images from ARASAAC (http://arasaac.org). Additionally, you can add existing images from the device or take new photos with the build in camera.

For LetMeTalk no internet connection or mobile contract is necessary, so you can use LetMeTalk in almost any situation, like hospitals, nursing home or schools.

You can find LetMeTalk tutorials at http://letmetalk.info/support

Suitable for:
* autism symptoms and Asperger syndrome, autistic spectrum disorder (ASD)
* aphasia
* speech apraxia
* articulation/phonological disorder
* Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
* Motor Neuron Disease (MND)
* cerebral palsy
* down syndrome

Features:
* more than 9,000 images from ARASAAC included
* voice support for images and sentences
* unlimited and flexible creation of new categories and adding new images
* pre configured for kids with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
* load / save your current profile (vocabulary)
* keep several profiles on your devices and switch fast between them
* share your profile easily with other devices
* switch fast between 2 languages and use LetMeTalk as translator

* supported languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian and German, Chinese, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Arabic, Russian, Polish, Bulgarian, Romanian, Galician, Catalan, Basque
* voice support for most languages

Version 1.4.32

This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.

- bugfix: it is now possible again to add images from the gallery

Would like the sound to work

I can't get the sound to work. This app is what my son uses the most can someone help me get it to work. Volume is up on the table to.

The best

After using this for a year I can confidently say This is the best free aac app i have tried the speech is understandable lots of words great categorizing ability easy to use and doesn't need wifi to work. I'm autistic and when upset, tired or in pain lose my verbal skills. Communication with this app is fluid easy and effective. Tips: some words are named a bit funny so you might have to search for a few moments try U.K. And American English words to refer to something first then try synonyms. Some words may need to be spelled phonetically

Sound

I'm having dale issue Can someone help I k ow the app works my son use it at school so please how can I get volume to work ? Thanks

The developer, AppNotize UG (haftungsbeschraenkt), has not provided details about its privacy practices and handling of data to Apple. For more information, see the developer's privacy policy.

No Details Provided

The developer will be required to provide privacy details when they submit their next app update.

Information

Seller

AppNotize UG (haftungsbeschraenkt)

Compatibility

iPhone

Requires iOS 8.0 or later.

iPad

Requires iPadOS 8.0 or later.

iPod touch

Requires iOS 8.0 or later.

Age Rating

12+ Infrequent/Mild Medical/Treatment Information

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‎A free AAC talker app supports communication in all areas of life and therefore providing a voice to everyone. LetMeTalk is donation financed. LetMeTalk enables you to line up images in a meaningful way to read this row of images as a sentence. To line up images is known as AAC (Augmentative and Al...

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Elementary Social Skills Practice (Sharing, Taking Turns)

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‎Turn Taker - Social Story & Sharing Tool

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‎Turn Taker uses visual and audio cues to facilitate turn taking and sharing for any child. The app also includes an illustrated social story about game play and sharing. This app has been used successfully with a variety of young children who find it difficult to share. AutismEpicenter.com writes…

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Non-Apple substitute for Garage Band

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Make Music with Clients

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‎GarageBand turns your iPad, and iPhone into a collection of Touch Instruments and a full-featured recording studio - so you can make music anywhere you go. And with Live Loops, it makes it easy for anyone to have fun creating music like a DJ. Use Multi-Touch gestures to play keyboards, guitars, and...

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Educational Games & Puzzles

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* THE FIRST AND ONLY LANGUAGE THERAPY APPLICATION SUPPORTED BY CLINICAL DATA:
In a 3-year clinical trial of 6,454 children with autism, language score in children who engaged with MITA has increased to levels, which were 120% higher than in children with similar initial evaluations. This difference was statistically significant (p=0.0001). See results at ClinicalTrials.gov/ct2/show/results/NCT04108290.

* Includes unlimited language and cognitive exercises designed to last for 10 years

* Used by over 1 million children with language delay

* Best Autism App on Healthline list

* Available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, German, French, Italian, Arabic, Farsi, Korean, Chinese.

Mental Imagery Therapy for Autism (MITA) is a unique, early-intervention application for children with language delay and autism. MITA trains mental integration and language, starting with simple vocabulary, and progressing towards higher forms of language, such as adjectives, verbs, pronouns, and syntax.

MITA EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

* Based on ABA techniques of visual-visual and auditory-visual conditional discrimination.
* Based on language therapy technique of following directions with increasing complexity.
* Based on Pivotal Response Treatment that targets development of response to multiple cues.
* Each activity is adaptive and delivers exercises that are at the exact level of difficulty appropriate for your child at any given point in time
* Identify colors, patterns and sizes
* Integrate objects into a unified picture
* Spatial Prepositions: on/under/behind/in front
* Time prepositions: Before/After
* Passive verb tense
* Subject / Object
* Reading and Writing
* Numbers and counting
* Arithmetic: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division
* Logic and reasoning
* Mental perspective taking
* Mental mathematics
* Critical thinking
* Self-control
* Attention
* Working Memory
* Creativity
* Playtime rewards will keep your child engaged while learning and having fun
* No Wi-Fi necessary

MITA develops your child's imagination and language functions. The visual exercises follow a systematic approach for developing your child's ability to notice multiple features of an object. MITA starts with simple exercises that teach your child to attend to only one feature, such as size or color. Over time, the exercises get more difficult and require your child to attend to two features simultaneously, such as both color and size. MITA then moves on to puzzles that require attending to three features, such as color, size and shape, and then eventually to puzzles that involve attending to an ever-increasing number of characteristics.
The verbal exercises use higher forms of language, such as adjectives, prepositions, and syntax.

MITA is developed by Dr. A. Vyshedskiy, a neuroscientist from Boston University; R. Dunn, a Harvard-educated early-child-development specialist; MIT-educated, J. Elgart and a group of award-winning artists and developers working alongside experienced therapists.

Most MITA features are completely free and the free MITA version provides access to years of language therapy. Some additional features are available as a MITA Premium subscription for $59.99/year. Your subscription pays for the development of new language exercises that are added each month.

* Tuition will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase.
* Tuition automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period.
* You can turn off auto-renewal by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase.
* Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that plan.

Terms of use: http://imagiration.com/terms-of-service/
Privacy Policy: http://imagiration.com/privacy-policy/
MITA in the news: https://youtu.be/giZymh3rMHc
MITA research articles: http://imagiration.com/research/

* THE FIRST AND ONLY LANGUAGE THERAPY APPLICATION SUPPORTED BY CLINICAL DATA:
In a 3-year clinical trial of 6,454 children with autism, language score in children who engaged with MITA has increased to levels, which were 120% higher than in children with similar initial evaluations. This difference was statistically significant (p=0.0001). The manuscript describing the study has been published in the journal Healthcare: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/8/4/566

* Adds 15 New Games.

* The combined MITA exercises are now designed to last for 10 years!

* MITA Language and Cognitive Therapy includes thousands of learning activities organized into 50+ games.

* Track your child's progress on tables and graphs.

* Your progress data and settings are saved in the cloud.

* Multi-Student accounts

* MITA has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Canadian French, Italian, Russian, German, Arabic, Farsi, Korean, and Chinese.

Awesome but needs an update for sure

This app has helped me significantly as a PCA to my nephew. He has definitely adapted well to this and I can see progress in his attention to detail. HOWEVER, without fail. This app crashes every time I use it. Multiple times!!! It's very frustrating because I have to stay nearby to reboot it when it freezes or else my nephew gets so upset! This happens especially when he has play time and colors. This is very frustrating because that's his favorite part yet it ALWAYS freezes on him. The content is great but the crashing is too much. I'm waiting for an update on this because I do really enjoy it.

Please upgrade to 3.4
The new version solves the problem in coloring PlayTime.

wonderful!

My son loves this app, and so do I! We work together on lessons daily, and in a pinch if I need him distracted and quiet for a few minutes he's thrilled to work independently for a while. He loves it so much he'd play all day if I let him! I've seen him make large gains in multiple skills since we started. He thrives with the positive, encouraging feedback, I enjoy the adorable drawings. Highly, highly recommended!

Please fix the coloring pages

My son loves this app but when he finishes a level and gets to play a "game," he enjoys coloring. The coloring pages are not user friendly for small children. Also no matter what there are always spots that he cannot color. I have tried to help him and I cannot get those spots colored either. To an autistic child this is more than frustrating. It upsets him so much that unfortunately I need to delete this app. I hope with future updates I will be able to re-download after this bug is fixed with the coloring pages. Thank you for your consideration.

Please upgrade to 3.4
We have increased drawing size and made it easier to color.
If your son has problems with any particular drawing, please let us know via email (imagiration@gmail.com) and we will try to change it. Thank you!

Information

Compatibility

Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Copyright

© 2020 ImagiRation LLC

Family Sharing

With Family Sharing set up, up to six family members can use this app.

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‎* THE FIRST AND ONLY LANGUAGE THERAPY APPLICATION SUPPORTED BY CLINICAL DATA: In a 3-year clinical trial of 6,454 children with autism, language score in children who engaged with MITA has increased to levels, which were 120% higher than in children with similar initial evaluations. This difference...

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Open-ended question answering practice

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In my middle school classroom, the students enjoy using iPads for educational programs, earning as a reinforcer, and as a form of communication. One app in particular is fun, educational, and engaging for my students. The app is called Question It. The app is used to teach students to answer various "wh" questions with the aid of visual supports. The app has various levels of sorting that the student or teacher can choose from, ranging from one word to paragraphs. With the help of color cues that fade out as the student progresses through the app, this enables the student to learn by errorless teaching. The student has fireworks displays as reinforcement sporadically throughout the app when answering correctly. There is even a portion of the app that keeps data on the student's progress on the number correct out of the total number of questions per activity level. This data can then be sent via email to the teacher.

This month, the app was put on my students' ipads and they all enjoyed engaging in the educational app! My students struggle with differentiating between the various "wh" questions, but with this app the students are eager to work on this difficult skill for them while learning in a fun and errorless manner. I hope to see in the future the skill of answering comprehension questions generalized to use outside of this app and I would highly recommend this app to other teachers and parents.

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‎QuestionIt is an educational app for children with autism or other significant language disorders that provides systematic instruction over multiple opportunities to teach children what kind of word answers which type of Wh question. Activities include sorting words by type of question they answer,...

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Visual Stimulation

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‎Magic Fluids Lite is a relaxing, colorful fluid simulation app that will help you calm down and relieve stress, or be creative and make aesthetic digital art. It is based on algorithms of fluid flow simulation and features fluid (pun intented!), beautiful graphics. It is the best time waster! TOUC…

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Expansive Background/White Noise Selections

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→ "Best app for sleep" - Reviewed.com
→ Named Apple's "App of the Day" over 65 times
→ "The most positively reviewed app in the history of the Apple Store" - Business Insider

Relax Melodies is now BetterSleep. It's the same great app with all the sounds and content you know and love but with a new sleep tracker, sleep recorder and a beautiful new layout.
Sleep better. Feel better.

BetterSleep helps you understand and improve your sleep with its easy-to-use sleep tracker, sleep recorder, premium sleep sounds, amazing stories and soothing guided meditations. Doesn't that sound dreamy?
Leading doctors, neuropsychologists, and sleep experts recommend BetterSleep . . . and 91% of our listeners say they slept better after using the app for just one week.

Premium Audio Content
Fall asleep easily, sleep soundly, and develop lasting sleep habits, with dreamy soundscapes, narrated sleep stories, hypnosis and meditations that really work, all perfectly tuned to your needs.

Sleep Tracker
Track your sleep, understand how it works and let us propose actionable ways to improve it.

Sleep Recorder
Record the sounds you make while you sleep and listen to them when you wake up. BetterSleep identifies when you snore, move around, sleep talk and make other common sounds at night.

Sleep Science
Learn about the science behind your unique sleep needs and discover your personal chronotype.

More than 300 sleep sounds & music tracks:
Nature sounds
ASMR sounds
White noise
Water sounds
Meditation music
Isochronic brainwaves
Solfeggio frequencies
Binaural beats
Healing music
3D sounds

More than 250 meditations & hypnosis:
Restful sleep
Military method
Stress and anxiety relief
Tinnitus relief
Yoga Nidra
Gratitude
Better sleep
Deep sleep
Napping
Dreams
Kids
Heart coherence
Couples exercises
Travel
Cooldown
Morning

More than 100 SleepTales & stories:
Fairy Tales
Mystery
Sci-fi
Fantasy
History
Kids
Journey
Myths and legends
Non-fiction

Also featuring:

Bedtime reminders: Set one every night for more restful sleep
Timers: Stop the app after a set amount of time
Favorites: A section to add your favorite mixes
Playlist: Select your favorite content and create your sleep-inducing playlist
Smart Mix: Make distracting audio loops disappear and enjoy seamless sound mixes

...and lots more!

BetterSleep optionally integrates with the HealthKit to track your sleep

Brought to you by Ipnos,
Need help with the app? Try our live chat support:
https://support.ipnos.com
Read more about our terms and conditions here :
Privacy policy: https://www.ipnos.com/privacy-policy/
Terms of service: https://www.ipnos.com/end-user-license-agreement/

Version 23.6

At BetterSleep, we understand that your sleep needs are as unique as you. We help create a personalized sleep experience for more restful nights and wakeful days. Stress less and sleep better with our sleep tracker, night time recorder, soothing sounds, music, and guided content.
Discover hypnosis, calming soundscapes, science-backed relaxation techniques, and bedtime stories that gently guide you toward your dreams.
300+ sounds and music, 110+ sleep stories, 200+ meditations and hypnosis, and new content released every other week.
Guided content available in English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
With 55 million downloads and 91% sleep improvement rates, we're looking forward to helping you, too.

Love At First Site

This app caused me wonderful yet strange dreams. I've never, ever had them until my brain got creative and took me to journies never seen before! I've been having these dreams since when I downloaded this app! It's so peaceful & helps me sleep better. 2013, so it's 2020, 7+ years of AWESOME! I love Sweet Hour Prayer, Cat Purring, Music Box, and much more! They are so calming and pleasing to hear. You might like other ones, and that's cool, too! HIGHLY recommend this beauty sleeper. I sleep better and have been doing so for 7+ years after downloading. I deactivated my old account & deleted the app because I wanted to live without it since I slept better, but times I needed the app again. I redownloaded as a result & suddenly I have the free sounds. I saw the sweet hour prayer locked and felt bad even the other ones I've had immense dreams with. After hearing the ones I heard now (because I heard them too), it took me back to the dreams I had when I fell asleep with the sounds. I know, sounds weird, but I have memories even with sound and then I remember the DREAMS I had so good. I remember from the middle (a little of the beginning) and mostly the ending of my dreams, so I can picture them thanks to the sounds. TLDR; Some dreams were a little eerie or perhaps crazy, but that are dreams. And I love sleeping so thank you very very much! I enjoy this app! 5 STARS ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ P.S. I'm sorry for making a very long explaination.

Hands down best sleep/soundscape app

I've tried a lot of things for sleep sounds. But, year after year after year (how long have I been using this? A decade at least!), I consistently use this app. It's always improving, even though I've never personally found it lacking. It's amazing to have so much ability to customise mixes. I like layering multiple water sounds, brown noise, and a little quiet thunder. It's created an almost Pavlovian response; I start playing my mix, and next thing I know, I'm asleep.

I've struggled with sleep my entire life, partially due to just luck with biology, and also severe PTSD. I used to wake dozens of times in a night. Every small sound or shift in the room or house, and I'd be awake, full of anxiety. And certain sounds/frequencies bother me and/or trigger migraines, and that made it hard to play sounds that would both sufficiently drown out the tiny noises and also not leave me in pain. I'm a difficult customer. 🤷‍♀️

But this app is, and I cannot emphasise it enough, the absolute crown champ in its genre. Now in fairness, I've done a lot of work to reduce my sleep issues and PTSD symptoms, but it's really nice to have an app that I can make work for me, for any kind of day, regardless of symptoms. It's not a cure, obviously, but it never pretends to be. It's just a sleep sound app that goes all in on what it aims to do... and it succeeds.

Happy and Peaceful Escapes to Beautiful Worlds

This app has been the greatest gift to help me SLEEP! I can create happy sounds of the nighttime environment experienced when I was a child, taking me far away from the pressures and responsibilities of the days responsibilities to joyful happiness and peace. My breathing slows down, my body succumbs to a relaxed state and often a slight restful happy smile comes to my lips as my mind travels through space and time, enjoying imaginations created by gentle sounds, time and space. 3 years ago someone ran a red light and changed my physical world forever. I will never know the absence of sound or still quiet again because of the constant buzzing sound of tinnitus created in my head by the crash impact to my head. My form of tinnitus is the ability to hear the normal sounds of the brain functioning, which normally we can't hear. Relaxed Melodies has given so much to strengthen my life, rest better and feel positive. My brain may never experience quiet again, but the creators of Relaxed Melodies has given me something far better and more valuable to my life than experiencing 'quiet'. They've given me the ability to experience beautiful dreams and imaginations in waking and sleep states of mind. I will be forever grateful to their work and share it with as many people as possible.

The developer, Ipnos Software Inc., indicated that the app's privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer's privacy policy.

Data Used to Track You

The following data may be used to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies:

Data Linked to You

The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:

Data Not Linked to You

The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Information

Seller

Ipnos Software Inc.

Compatibility

iPhone

Requires iOS 14.0 or later.

iPad

Requires iPadOS 14.0 or later.

iPod touch

Requires iOS 14.0 or later.

Mac

Requires macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.

Apple TV

Requires tvOS 9.0 or later.

Languages

English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish

Family Sharing

Some in‑app purchases, including subscriptions, may be shareable with your family group when Family Sharing is enabled.

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‎→ "Best app for sleep" - Reviewed.com → Named Apple's "App of the Day" over 65 times → "The most positively reviewed app in the history of the Apple Store" - Business Insider Relax Melodies is now BetterSleep. It's the same great app with all the sounds and content you know and love but with a new...

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Customizable Soundboard (communication tool for nonverbal clients)

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A simple app to help you create the soundboard you always wanted

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Speech to Text Dictation