Wednesday, March 28

Something To Be Proud Of!

As you remember from David’s last IEP meeting, the school IEP team discussed possible solutions for David’s habit of continuously tapping his pen and hitting his leg during lessons. It was decided that David would be allowed to hold silly putty in his hand under his desk during lessons. I am very pleased to share with you that David is doing extremely well with this method! The silly putty in his hand is not distracting to him or to other students, but having something to hold and manipulate with his hand has replaced the distracting tapping and hitting.

Silly putty is not the only tool that has been proven successful in helping children like David in the classroom. Click on the link below if you’d like to learn about dozens of other excellent and inexpensive tools that decrease behaviors like tapping and hitting. These types of tools have been proven to calm and refocus the attention of children with certain types of disabilities. Let me know if you see a tool that you think would be more appealing to David than the silly putty, maybe we could give it a try!

http://www.nationalautismresources.com/susi.html

Something To Work On!

Yesterday, I assigned David spelling homework (write three sentences using the Unit 11 spelling words), math homework (three multiplication problems from the textbook), and grammar homework (a brief worksheet). He brought only his grammar homework to class, and was missing his spelling and math homework. He explained to me that he completed all of the assignments last night, but could not find the spelling and math homework today when he got to school.               

 At the end of the school day, David and I had a discussion about trying to take responsibility. We collectively decided that he might have an easier time keeping track of his completed homework if he is better organized. I gave David different colored folders for each subject and helped him label each one. Previously, David would shove all of his sheets of paper into a single, over-stuffed folder.  If you are interested, follow the link below to read more information about helping children develop organization skills.

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/feature-articles/2008/september/Keeping-Kids-Organized-for-School.html