Best of 2016
Happy New Year! To make this year your best year yet, remember all you’ve learned here at NoodleNook over the past year with these Best… Read More »Best of 2016
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Happy Holidays from NoodleNook
Happy Holidays from NoodleNook!
Roller Coaster
Whenever we come back from Thanksgiving it feels like a frantic roller coaster to the Holiday Break. There is just so much to do- and little has to do with instruction! There is paperwork to finish, activities for the holidays, and then campus things like exams and report cards… And you know what happens (not to you because you’re a rockstar)? Sometimes teachers just stop teaching.
I know, I know… what?!?
So how do you manage the Roller Coaster and have a bit of a break before your break.
How To Write a BIP
How to Write a BIP
Teacher: It is terrible… Bobby is running out of class all the time!
Me: Okay, let me see the BIP.
Teacher: Oh, it’s totally not working. (Hands me the BIP.)
Me: This BIP is for verbal outbursts.
Teacher: Oh… is that why it’s not working?
Me: *sigh*
Replacement Behavior for Hitting
Replacement Behavior for Hitting
I’m getting the crap beat out of me. Help!
So, unfortunately, this is an actual conversation that I’ve had recently. It’s hard to get up every morning and go to work when you know you are going to get hurt.
So what should you do?
Where do you even start?
4 Steps to Replace Hitting Behavior
The good news is you can change Behavior. The bad news is it’s going to take a little while. So, first things first, here are the four steps to changing Behavior.
- Defining the Behavior
- Collecting Data
- Determining the Function
- Designing the Behavior Plan
It seems like such a no brainer, but when you are sitting in a classroom getting the snot smacked out of you all day long it gets hard to think things through logically. The only thing running through your head is how to make it all stop.
So let’s break down these four steps a little more.
Freebie Friday from NoodleNook
Freebie Friday! Free activities for Autism Units, LIFE Skills, Self Contained and Early Elementary I LOVE getting time off for the Holidays… and really taking… Read More »Freebie Friday from NoodleNook
Vocational Targets for Students with Autism
Vocational Targets for Students with Autism
Every year when I sat down with one of my favorite students to get ready for her IEP meeting, we had nearly the same conversation…
Me: So Katie, what do you want to do when you graduate.
Katie: I want to deliver babies.
Me: That means being a doctor. You would have to go to college for a long time to do that.
Katie: That’s okay. I like school.
Me. Katie, you can’t read and don’t like to write. It may be hard to get into medical school and graduate.
Katie: I guess so.
Me: Is there another job might like?
Katie: Yes! I want to deliver babies!
Me: *Sigh*
Social Skills for Students with Autism
Social Skills for Students with Autism
Me: Hi Bobby!
Bobby: Hi Mrs. Noodle.
Me: How are you today?
Bobby: I’m not touching my balls!
Me: Um? Good Job!?!
So, needless to say, this really happened.
Functional Versus Academic Skills
We work hard with our students on academics and learning… and we also work with them on building functional and vocational skills in hopes they will be able to get and keep a job someday.
Here is the truth of the matter.
Even if they are part of the less than 10% of students with low incidence disabilities that are gainfully employed, many of them will struggle to keep a job. And the two main reasons low-incidence disability students (like Autism) cannot keep a job is because they have poor hygiene or they have poor social skills.
Autistic Student Licks Everything
Student with Autism Licks Everything
“My autistic student has licking habits.
She licks everything.
Everything means books, paper, plastic, the ground… all.
How should I teach her?”
-M. Basel
It can be a real challenge when students present behaviors that are extreme or that really cross the divide of what is socially acceptable.
Licking everything is one of those…
And having a student who licks everything is actually just a version of stimming behavior that’s so typical in students with autism. There’s no way for you to just expect a student with this type of behavior to suddenly stop.
Instead what you will have to do is redirect the behavior into something more acceptable and also more hygienic.
Modifying Activities for Active Learning
Teaching Active Learning is a tough job… and knowing what exactly to do with a class full of Active Learners is even tougher. So what… Read More »Modifying Activities for Active Learning
Using Assistive Technology in the Classroom
In the darkest corners of your closet, they are hidden. They’re rarely ever charged, scarcely used, and completely unhelpful. What are they? Your student’s AT.… Read More »Using Assistive Technology in the Classroom
