Behavior Problems you can Fix

Tips for SPED Teachers

Number 1

Tantrums, anger and aggression can be triggered for a number of reasons, usually sensory stimulus, demands for items or food, are often communicated in these negative ways. Teaching more appropriate ways to recognise and communicate these feelings is one way to start fixing such behaviors.

Number 2

To prevent problems and support appropriate behavior there are general principles to keep in mind. Use structure, take control and set boundaries.

Number 3

Once anger, fear or panic is displayed I redirect my student to a quiet area and give him opportunities to use these visuals to identify and understand how he is feeling and what he needs to help him feel better.

Number 4

Reassuring students and offering opportunities to teach calming strategies should be taken often, even before situations arise.

Number 5

Learning these new skills using a visual support system will help your students to see what is expected and accept what’s needed to develop important functionable social skills and independence.

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Improve the most Challenging Behavior

Being proactive is the key to avoiding a meltdown in your classroom, but you’ll need to know your students motivators, behaviors and triggers first!

Improving the most challenging behavior can be a challenge on its own ! Finding a strategy that suits individual needs can have you pulling your hair out.

Before I begin to implement any strategy I give each student a motivator assessment, keeping a note of the highest reinforcers to help them replace particular behaviors for positive ones.

When a behavior does arise, I remind the student of what went wrong with visuals which allows them a choice of what would have been a better approach in that situation. Using a “How did you feel? What did you do? What should you do next time? strategy, students are able to point and reflect what should have happened.

Once established, Positive Behavior must be managed with a consistent approach to maintain these new learnt skills.

A Simple token board in my opinion is the life saver in my classroom. I always accompany this strategy with a reward choice board, where I give my student a choice from his rewards….. (the ones he’d chosen in the motivator assessment) at the beginning of an activity. The number of tokens I use with these boards are 3, 5, 10, to use with different abilities and are given during tasks, then exchanged for the motivator.

I use Token System during all teaching and learning throughout the day!

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Easter Hunt, Math Ideas for busy Classrooms

I’m always looking for ways to keep my Math lessons exciting and interesting, so when holiday events come around I don’t miss the opportunity to get creative! Easter hunts are always motivating! so this activity was an easy way to introduce basic math skills such as counting to tell the number of objects and recording the amounts.

I started with Easter craft materials that I’d bought from the cheap store and made activity mats to correspond with the items. A magnify glass was a handy tool that helped them hunt through the basket, find the items on the list and matching them to the picture!

I encouraged my students to count the objects they found and say the number in order for them to understand the relationship between numbers and quantities. They were able to count and record the amounts by using the plastic number to correspond.

This activity gave my young learners a lot of fun and the chance to explore, Count and record the number of Easter items. I loved the way it kept them motivated enough to practice these skills without realising!

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Spring Math Ideas for Pre-K

Spring Math ideas for my Pre-K Classroom

I’m bring Bugs to my independent Math centre! I’ve added creepy crawlers to an interactive selection of pages that cover some basic math skills that my young learners can practice and enjoy!

I’ve laminated these boards and popped them in a binder for my Kido’s to practice over and over again. For other students I print them out so they can use them as a cut and paste activities while my high level can write the answers using dry wipe markers.

These games are quick and easy to make up, simply laminate and Velcro and pop in a binder or printout for worksheets.

Matching numbers to 5 with the ladybugs

Match numbers to 5 with the caterpillar

Count and Match numbers to 5 with the bees

Ordering numbers to 5

Order numbers to 5

Find the missing number to 5

Counting to 5

Sequencing bugs

plus more games and matching pieces

How to Use Social Narratives for Behavior Management

Social narratives are always available in my calm down area! I keep them on the book shelf ready to remind my young learners how to respond in difficult social situations. This type of visual guide describes social interactions helps with understanding social skills and cues that they might of missed. 

Social supports help my young learners understand how to behave or respond in particular situations by using visuals to describe various social interactions, situations, behaviours, and skills.

The main goal of a Social narrative is to share social information that describes how to behave in them instances.

Reading these stories, one to one and as a whole class lesson has enabled me to reinforce these important social skills. I’ve displayed a poster on classroom rules as a quick reminder and added supporting activities to generalise learning.

“Class Rules and “Inside voice,” are the ones I often read within a class lesson, usually when a reminder is needed on how behavior affects the class and disrupts others.

I use a quick reminder booklet to reinforce outside, inside and class voices!

“Be Kind” or “Listen to your Teacher” Might be needed for individuals or to target a more tricky behavior that is reoccurring.

I use Social Strips to support the skills outlined in the stories