Behavior

  Behavior Incentives: Everyone has a different opinion on behavioral strategies. When I am working with a full class I use the Whole Brain Scorecard which has the happy face and the sad face on a T-Chart. It is described more fully here. hoard&Itemid=145 If…

I love my job!  Today I was working through the kindergarten speech and language screening and having such a fabulous time talking to these 5-year-olds. Part of the test is having the students repeat words after me.  I say “Bib”, the child says, “Bib”.  One…

Behaviors are a way that children communicate. Think about the newborn. The baby cries to get its needs met as the listener tries to determine the cause of distress. We need to be the same kind of detectives when we see the older child demonstrate…

I have always loved incorporating rhymes and music into my lessons.  Music assists in memory, developing language, and often a child’s first vocalization can come as they try to sing along. When we are working with children with minimal verbal language skills we need to…

Sometimes our therapy can seem like we are just ‘ playing’  with our students, however, the reality is that we are employing therapeutic skills that assist in the development of language skills. In play we: Balance turn taking:  Give the students some opportunity to be the…

Writing goals is always an art.  It is sometimes helpful to see some examples. This semester here are some great goals. The names have all been changed except for the clinician names are real. Articulation Goals: Kristen wrote these goals Baseline level of performance: At…

    How many of you plead for one more minute when the alarm clock goes off?  This is the feeling that students sometimes feel when their break is over. They want to extend it by a little bit. We need to teach students how…

    Writing goals can be a difficult task. Here are some more examples of good goals. In order to have a goal you need to have baseline information as well as an understanding of language development and the curriculum that is expected at the…

Visual supports can be invaluable tools in helping people with autism understand and interact with their environment. However, there is a need for standardized visuals that are used consistently to ensure optimal outcomes for those with autism. We will explore the importance of visual supports…

  Each year I establish the “rules” of my lesson using Whole Brain Teaching developed in 1999 in the small Southern California town of Yucaipa by  three instructors, Chris Biffle (college), Jay Vanderfin (kindergarten) and Chris Rekstad (4th grade). They spent a year designing a…