Monthly Instructional Guide

1 Monthly Instructional Guide September Checklist

By now you should be familiar with your students’ IEPs and the essence statements that will be assessed (http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/special-ed/staaralt/essence/). You have established schedules for staff and students (see August Checklist and Guide) and you are developing lessons to target skills. For additional ideas on creating standard based lessons, please review the curriculum that was developed by NEISD by clicking on the link on the Region 3 Statewide Leadership webpage (http://www.esc3.net/Page/507). You may want to download lesson plans that are applicable for your students from this site. You can also find a new tool for targeting instruction

For this month

 Develop relationships. In Applied Behavior Analysis terms, this is known as positive pairing. Make yourself a valuable resource for your students, so that when you are around they feel safe and supported and know that reinforcement is coming. You want to be the “giver” and not the “taker.” In other words, you are supplying an abundance of positive attention and tangibles and you are not just associated with high demands and difficult transitions. You want to create a situation where your students enjoy you and are motivated to work for you!

Learn to involve your student and partner with them in the learning. Take the time to explain tasks to students – “we are working on identifying coins so that you can use the school vending machines.” Many times teachers just expect students to comply with mundane tasks without explaining why the task is important. Research has shown that students with significant cognitive delays understand much more than they can express, so err on the side of competence when trying to evaluate their understanding.

And by all means, make learning fun!

 Teach the Schedule and Classroom Rules. You have probably already begun this work. It is critical to remember that building a schedule is only part of the job. You have to teach the student how to follow their schedule and work towards independence. You will also need to schedule time with classroom staff (maybe just five minutes at the end of the day) to review and see how the schedule and student is doing. You may have to tweak the schedule and routine. 2  Establish a communication method with parents and decide on a frequency. A team approach is the best approach! Often a communication folder that goes back and forth from school to home is helpful. Encourage open lines of communication. If parents know what is happening at school, they can extend upon it at home. If you know what is happening at home, (for example, the student didn’t sleep, is constipated, etc.) you can better anticipate how to plan your day. Remember, when you are communicating with parents – keep it positive. This is a tool to share success and build relationship. If you have something of concern to report, end with a positive statement. Also, remember to just state facts and leave judgment or feeling words like out of it. You wouldn’t say “Bert was being stubborn and would not get off the computer when it was time. I asked him repeatedly and then he threw a fit.” You might instead say, “Bert had difficulty transitioning from the computer today, but he was able to turn it around in 5 minutes. This is an improvement of 10 minutes from yesterday.” (See data bullet below).

If you would like more ideas for how to begin this practice, look here:

 The Home to School Notebook, by Tracey E. Hall, Pamela S. Wolfe and Amanda A Bollig: http://www.havasu.k12.az.us/public_forms/parent_information_network/relationship_building /RB08%20The%20Home%20to%20School%20Notebook.pdf

 Communication Between Home and School, by Myrna Medina and Jackie Kenley: http://www.tsbvi.edu/tx-sensabilities/2674-communication-between-family-and-school- creating-a-communication-notebook-that-works

If you would like more samples of home – school communication forms, look here:

 http://www.scribd.com/doc/62019112/Special-Education-School-Home-Daily-Communication- Log-Example-4

 http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/styles/iidc/defiles/IRCA/Handouts6-2009.pdf

 http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/styles/iidc/defiles/IRCA/Handouts2_6-2009.pdf

If you are assigning homework or looking for other ways to generalize skills learned in the classroom, see the Homework Checklist in the September Resources file. It is a great way to team with parents.

 Provide student support. If you welcomed new students this year, you’re probably beginning to get to know their personality and needs this month. One of the most important parts of adapting instruction in a special needs classroom is learning how to scaffold your level of support. Take some time to review cueing and prompting.

 “Prompts and Prompt Fading Strategies” by Gregory S. MacDuff, Patricia J. Krantz, and Lynn E. McClannahan: http://dddc.rutgers.edu/pdf/prompting.pdf 3  “Cueing…a proactive intervention for the classroom” by the Institute on Community Integration, College of Education, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis: http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ceed/publications/tipsheets/preschoolbehavior/cuing.pdf

 TEA offers a Hierarchy of Cueing and Prompting, as well as a Clarification of Cueing and Prompting Terms. See links at http://tea.texas.gov/Student_Testing_and_Accountability/Testing/STAAR_Alternate/STAAR_Alt ernate_Archive/

 Establish a method for taking data. You will need to begin to take data. Develop a way to take data on both IEP goals and other activities that may not be written in the IEP but which are a part of instruction in your classroom. These other grades will be based on the big ideas from grade level instruction that typical age peers are receiving (again see the NEISD curriculum example). Whenever possible, you will incorporate IEP goals in the lessons. To summarize, best practice dictates that you issue IEP progress reports and report card grades for classroom work on a regular basis. See additional grading and progress monitoring guidance at http://programs.esc20.net/default.aspx?name=pgc.grading

 Establish a schedule and a method for taking data and train your paraprofessionals on how to take data.

 As various situations arise, you might also need to take data on behavior. This data helps determine what interventions you might choose and how successful those interventions are at changing the behavior. If strategies are ineffective, you may have to make adjustments or change interventions.

 There are many ways to assign grades for classroom work. Remember that the purpose of grades is to demonstrate progress, so make grades meaningful and objective. You may create a rubric and assign point for the number of steps and the level of prompting.

For example, the student below is working on the functional skill of hand washing. The task has been task analyzed and a data sheet has been developed. (Please note that task analysis can be performed on functional, as well as academic skills.) 4

Using a Rubric:

Another way to grade a task analyzed skill with 10 steps: 5

Completed Form:

You may be grading a skill based on the level of prompting or some other set scale. See the IEP Progress Using the 7 Scale form: (see September Resources file): 6

Example of completed form:

Example of possible legends for 7 Scale:

For more ideas on taking data, see resources at www.autismcircuit.net/tools 7

In addition, a sample grading rubric can be found in the September Resource file. You can use this form when you need to assign a grade to an activity.

 Student Portfolio – Now is the time to create a student portfolio to begin filing away work samples. You will thank yourself at the end of the year if you kept samples from the beginning of the year and you can see clear evidence of progress.

 Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP) – When you inevitably go to an Admission, Review and Dismissal (ARD or IEP) meeting, you will be much more prepared if you’ve been thinking about a student’s PLAFFP the entire year. So now’s the time to begin. Use the template for writing PLAAFPs in the September Resources file. If you need more guidance in writing the PLAAFP, take the free online training at Region 13, “Aligning the Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment for Students with Significant Delays.” Information for accessing this training can be found in your September Resources file. This is also a good time to review guidance from the Statewide Progress in the General Curriculum Network on creating Standard-Based IEPs. See their resources here: o http://programs.esc20.net/default.aspx?name=pgc.IEPs

 STAAR ALT 2 – Even though it seems like a long time before the assessment is due, do not procrastinate. Seek training or answers to any questions that you may have. You may ask your mentor, district testing coordinator or regional Education Service Center Low Incidence specialist.

Complete the STAAR ALT 2 Instructional Decision Making Guide for each your students. Review and download at http://www.esc4.net/specialeducation/low-incidence-disabilities/staar-alternate-guides . The guides were developed to cluster prerequisite skills (within an essence statement) and combine several aspects of the State’s Vertical Alignment and Curriculum Framework documents for greater ease in selecting instructional targets. A separate guide was created for each essence statement (even those not assessed in a given year) in math, reading, writing, science, and social studies. Educators will want to examine the current year’s essence statements to be sure they are instructing in all of the essence statements to be assessed within a particular school year.

Review the STAAR Alternate documents and resources available on the STAAR Alternate Resource page at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/special-ed/staaralt/. Be on the lookout for updates, as well. 8 It is also a good idea to review the essence statements that will be assessed next year at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/special-ed/staaralt/essence/.

 Check your regional ESC for upcoming professional development opportunities.

Well, that about does it for this month. Keep up the good work and let your regional specialist know if you have any questions.

 Final thought – It’s only September, and you may be feeling like it is a lot, but if you don’t get ahead of yourself and remember to prioritize tasks each month, the year will begin to find its rhythm. September has been about teaching expectations, procedures and schedules. You’re creating activities and collecting data, and you are gathering information for upcoming ARD meetings. Remember to take time to build relationships with your students.

In an article by Evantheia Archibsted titled, “How to Develop Positive Classroom Management,” (May 13, 2009), the author discusses the importance of “positive approaches that emphasize social and emotional learning over punitive discipline.” The article lists several strategies you can use to support a peaceful classroom. Although the strategies may need to be accommodated for special needs students, the need for a peaceful learning environment is universal, and you may find the strategies listed to create this environment helpful. Visit this link to read the full article: http://www.edutopia.org/classroom-management-relationships-strategies-tips.

Keep up the good work and let your regional ESC specialist know if you have any questions.