Social Skills and My Social Scouts

I am a little late in the game this year beginning my social skill groups, but I have made a lot of headway in other areas! Where my students once sat at a lunch table all by themselves, they are now eating lunch with age appropriate regular ed peers!!  My students used to have their own private recess, now my kiddos go to recess with the general pop!  LOL!  I have even had some kids from the 4^th grade classrooms come into my room twice a week to work with my students at their Independent Stations.  These are small steps, and I still have further to go.  However, I work at an amazing school, with super supportive staff and students, so they are always wiling to collaborate with me on including my students wherever possible.

Now for the challenge!  I really don’t want this to backfire on me and have the general ed kids stop wanting to hang out with my students because “Tommy” only talks about Thomas the Train (and he’s in the 4^th grade!).  Or “Kim” likes to reach over and take the food right off of their tray.  Hey, I wouldn’t want to sit next to that either! So I need to teach some appropriate social skill and conversation skills!
 This is something near and dear to my heart. My first experience with facilitating a social skill’s group was two years ago.  I teamed up with our school speech pathologist and we dubbed our crew the Social Scouts.  Our “scouts” consisted of six children with ASD.  Three of which were served in a functional self-contained setting, and the other three were pulled from the inclusive classrooms.  We had so much fun conducting these groups and our students enjoyed being part of a club (they even earned badges, just like scouts!)

So let’s explore social skill groups as another evidenced based practice for the autism classroom.  Prior to setting up the Social Skills Group, the practitioners will need to identify some possible candidates because most likely, by the time you are looking at developing a social skills group you already have target students in mind.  Keep in mind that research suggests these groups should consist of between 3 and 9 students (or 4 students per adult).  Now, I was tempted to include some typical aged peers as models,  but the NPDC claims that these groups should be limited to students with disabilities or ASD.  This makes sense to me now.  Besides, your ASD kids may not want their regular ed peers observing this kind of instruction. 

Now that you have your target group of students, you will need to refer to their IEP’s and identify relevant goals.  Discuss these goals with your team, and be sure to include the children’s parents.  Not only are your parents an invaluable resource, and should be treated as such, they should have the opportunity to share their hopes or expectations for their child participating in such a program.  As a team, identify the target behavior and state it in measurable and observable terms.  Once you have established the target behavior you can now collect some baseline data.  How many times does the student engage in the target behavior???

Now create your Social Skill Group format.  NPDC suggests beginning each session with an introduction.  I would have each of my students greet the person next to them, and then we would use one of my conversation starters (you can find them here). Next you would want to begin instruction on your topic.  If you do team up with another person/facilitator, I suggest working with the speech pathologist.  They are an amazing resource! If you are lucky enough to have help, break your students up in smaller groups.  So if you have 6 kids total, each of you works with a small group of 3. Then, allow the children to practice/model the skill and provide feedback and reinforcement. You will want to take data by observing the students in various settings to see if he/she is generalizing the skills being taught.  Us the data you collect to make decisions regarding instructional delivery. 

I LOVE listening to my kids having age appropriate conversations at lunch! I LOVE seeing my kids playing appropriately with their friends on the playground!  I LOVE seeing them accepted.  Providing instruction on appropriate social skills is key to their success in building positive relationships.

Here is a link to the NPDC's evidenced based practice resources on Social Skill Groups.

Visual Boundaries

Visual Boundaries provide support to our students in a variety of ways.  When you have established visual boundaries in your classroom, your students know things have a definite beginning and a definite end.  They know where they should be during a specific time of day and they know what tasks to do in each specific area.  All of this creates that consistent routine and structure that our children with Autism thrive on.

As a young naïve Autism teacher, my classroom looked just like every other 1^st or 2^nd grade class, with a desk for each student in the middle of the room, a guided reading table and a carpet for the children to sit quietly on during the morning meeting.  The classroom was basically wide open, with only a few defined spaces.  I probably don’t have to tell you, that my kiddos had a lot of problems sitting “criss cross applesauce” while on the carpet.  Having them sitting at their desks was even a bigger joke!!  My kids had no idea where to be, when to be there, or what to do once they were there!

With the help of an AMAZING team from my central office and support from the NPDC grant, we were able to create a functional classroom with clearly defined areas.

Step 1:  Define the need.  You can do this by simply observing what is going around in your classroom and deciding what kind of support is needed and where.  Do you have a student that has difficulty staying in an area?  Do they know what is expected when they get to the area?  Does the student avoid an area?  Answers to these questions will help guide the development of your boundaries and spaces.  In my classroom, I decided to use student work stations and learning centers.

Step 2:  Create your space!  If you have not figured it out yet, furniture is an Autism teacher’s best friend!  Having tables and bookshelves and cabinets can all be used to define those boundaries.  If you’re lucky you may be able to get your hands on some partitions!  If you can’t, I have seen some where teachers have created them using PVC pipe and fabric (if you’re the crafty type).  You can also use tape on the floor, a rug, or carpet remnants if you have to.  The important thing is to define those specific areas for your student!

Work Stations provide visual boundaries for children
with Autism.

Step 3:  Teach it!  Once you have created these great little spaces within your classroom, you will need to introduce your students to them.  You can model what to do at the writing center, or listening center.  Teach your child to stay in the designated area by using reinforcement when he/she stays within the boundary and use corrective feedback or redirection when the child does not.  The most important thing when teaching the boundary is to BE CONSISTENT!!!

Step 4:  Evaluate it!  Collect data on how independently the students are using the boundaries.  Collect data on the child’s target behaviors.  Use your results to evaluate the system.  Is it effective?  You will want to periodically evaluate your visual boundaries, just like you would anything else, to determine if it needs to be tweaked. 

Visual boundaries can be implemented by defining your classroom spaces using furniture, carpet or tape.  Remember, for each area, the student should know when to be there (using their visual schedule) they should know what task to complete, and where it begins and where to ends.   

Token Economy System and Reinforcement Menus:

As far as visual supports go, token boards and reinforcement menus are UBER important!  Once I began using the token economy system with my kiddos, I could have kicked myself for not starting it sooner.  Their negative behaviors decreased, my students’ ability for delayed gratification improved, and as a result my instructional time increased significantly.  YAY! 

Token Boards with Reinforcement Menus are fairly simple to create and implement, but in order to do so effectively you will need to start with some baseline data collection.  At the beginning of each school year, I send home a reinforcement inventory (like this one) for my parents to complete.  This has always been useful, but last year I learned to do a reinforcement assessment with my students (you can find one here and it includes directions).  This tool is perfect for your nonverbal and lower functioning kids!   It will give you precise insight into what item/activity your child will “move mountains” for.  Select the top 6 items/activities from the parent inventory and begin to offer them in pairs.  Take note of the one your student reaches for first. Once you have the data you can score the assessment.  The results tell me which items are THE most reinforcing for the student.  

This student is very patient and therefore has a
five cell token board.  His reinforcement menu
is on the back.

Once you have the results from the assessment it is time to make your token boards!  This site is perfect for downloading a variety of token boards.  Be careful in selecting the number of cells.  If you have a very impatient child, start with two cells and then increase as necessary.  Take pictures of the most reinforcing items from the assessment, laminate and attach to the back of the token board with some Velcro.  This is the student's menu.  Before an activity, the child will select the picture from the menu and place it on the front of the of their board, in the "I Am Working For" box.  As the child demonstrates the desired behavior, the teacher will hand them a token to be placed on the board.  And Voila!!  Decrease in negative behaviors and increase in teaching time!  

Remember!!  You may need to revisit the reinforcement inventory and assessment process periodically if you see a loss of interest in the menu choices offered.  

Visual Schedules

The most important evidenced based practice you can implement in your classroom is Visual Schedules.  When I first began teaching children with Autism, I did not know or understand the importance of Visual Schedules, and it showed!  My classroom was utter chaos and I was a nervous wreck!  Once I started using visual schedules, token boards, reinforcement menus and a visually structured work task system, my classroom and my sanity were saved.  Let’s take a look at implementing Visual Schedules in the classroom.

Typical PECS picture schedule presented horizontally
to prepare the student for reading.  If  your student
scans from top to bottom, then you would present the visual
schedule that way.

Step 1:  Assess where your students are.  Depending on the child’s level of functioning, you may need to use an object schedule, an actual photograph schedule, a picture schedule or a written schedule. In my class, I have one student who uses an object schedule.  I hand him a puzzle piece and he knows it’s time to work on a puzzles.  Most of my students are using a picture schedule with between 14 and 16 PECS pictures.  My kiddos LOVE their schedules.  Most of my students have an individual work- station, and their schedule is located on their bookcase.

 I have three students who are using a written schedule.  You can pair a written schedule with images and once the child is able to read the words in isolation, the picture prompt should be removed.  The goal is to have the student utilizing the supports effectively and appropriately with the least amount of support possible. 

Step 2:  Teach your students how to use their Visual Schedule by standing behind them and using least to most prompting. Once the student begins to catch on begin fading the prompts immediately.  Important Side Note:  Your students will become REALLY dependent on their schedules.  The plus side:  Your transition times will run much more smoothly, and you will see a decrease in negative behaviors.  BUT…. your student will NEED to be instructed on schedule changes, especially unexpected ones!  I can’t tell you how many times I have had a student’s whole day ruined because of a Fire Drill or cancelled resource class.

Step 3:  Take Data!  Data had been one of my self-proclaimed weaknesses.  Now, I’m a firm believer in data. Data should be collected to record how the students are using the schedules and at what level of independence.  When the student reaches independence, it is time to go back to step 1 and assess what level of visual support your student requires from his/her schedule.  

I hope this has been helpful.  

Humble Beginnings

I began teaching special education ten years ago.  My first class consisted of thirteen 4th and 5th graders with the disability category of ID (Intellectual Disability) in a self-contained academic setting.  I was right out of college and I hit the ground running!  I had high expectations of my students and even higher expectations of myself.  By my third year, I was asked to be the Instruction Leader for Special Education, worked as a Classroom Behavior Coach and New Teacher Mentor.  During my fourth year, a student with moderate Autism was placed in my room, and not having any experience with Autism, I was intrigued.  "James" was an easy going student with a peculiar way of speaking.  He did not seem interested in socializing with his peers and avoided eye contact like the plague.  On occasion, when he would become overstimulated he would flap his hands and vocalize.  With that being said, "James" was a bright student and true joy to have in class.  So when I was offered a job the following year teaching a self-contained Autism class, I jumped at the chance.   I was so excited!  I mean, I was going to have a classroom of students all of whom were going to be just like "James".  Please know that as I was writing this very sentence I was laughing just as hard as you are now, reading it!  Boy was I naive!!

My first year of teaching children with Autism, was by far THE most humbling experience I have ever had and expect to ever have for as long as I live.  Remember, I had no formal training with Autistic children.  I'll never forget the first day I met my students, I walked into the room  wearing a pair of nice slacks white blouse and a pair of brand new black pumps.  I attempted to gather the 13 little whirling tornadoes to the carpet for morning circle, only to realize one child was already 1/2 way out of the classroom window, while another was running back and forth slamming his body into the walls and still another had just pulled off his pants and underwear, prior to walking into the bathroom!  Needless to say, I never wore heels to work again, I pretty much gave up on wearing anything that cost more than $50, Pinot Noir and I became close acquaintances, and I cried.  A lot.

As the years passed, I was provided support from our central office but still no specific training and it showed.  That is until, three years ago.  Three years ago, our school division was awarded a grant that provided specific training and support to better develop educational programing for student with Autism.  The grant support was provided by NPDC and the ACE program.  The first stage of the grant was to develop a model site autism classroom that implemented evidenced based practices.  My classroom was selected as the model site. I'm sure it had everything to do with the craziness that was my classroom.  I was provided with training and support to develop a high quality program for children with Autism.   

The goal of this blog is to recall the steps and the progress my Autism program has made and hopefully help others along the way.    

Curriculum Anyone??

Today I had a sit down with one of my administrators during my "planning time" (LOL!).  She wanted to know what kind of curriculum the Low Incidence populations were using .  I don't know what was funnier, that some people think we have a planning period everyday, or that we have an established curriculum with textbooks, workbooks and standardized assessments!!

So the objective of today's rant:  Find out what curriculum other self-contained functional classrooms are using.  I am finding the items and materials that have been provided to me by my school division are not fully aligned with the Common Core Standards.  Therefore, in my free time (hahahah, I made another funny), I end up creating most of the items/materials I use in my classroom. 

The reading program my school division uses with their Low Incidence populations is called Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome.  This program is based on functional word vocabulary and instruction is based on matching picture to picture, word to word, picture to word and word to picture.  It is a good program for functional vocabulary.  It is broken down into units and for each unit I have created a predictable book with repetitive text, so my students could also learn sight words, sentence structure, tracking etc..  I would LOVE to know what you all are using in your own classrooms?  Does your school division provide you with curriculum materials or are you left to your own devices?

We also do a Community Based Instruction Program which is wonderful.  Our Special Education Central Office folks, created several activities that include Eye Spy games, BINGO, Coloring Books, and such for us to use during instruction.  The downfall is we only get 2 Community Based Field Trips a year.  I am considering incorporating a dramatic play area in my room, so we can create some of these experiences with my students.  However, as you know and I know, pretend play, imagination and creativity is not one of our population's strong suite.  Have any of you, added a dramatic play area to your classes and if so how is it going for you?

The Science curriculum materials that were purchased just a few years ago are basically obsolete now that the VAAP criteria has changed this year. So when it comes to Science, Math and Social Studies I am on my own.  Silver Lining Alert:  Our local T/TAC has recently published the new Curriculum Framework that is aligned with the ASOL's for my state of Virginia.  This has been a big help in guiding instruction, and I am excited about developing a curriculum for my kiddos based on this.  What programs and materials are working for you in your classrooms?