This year we have six paraprofessionals that we truly could not live without! This summer my teaching team and I worked hard to come up with a paraprofessional handbook to streamline our classroom procedures and communicate our expectations to our paras (old and new!).  To go with our handbooks, I made these Paraprofessional Survival Kits . They include lots of the essential items (mostly office supplies) that our paras will need this year. It was a great, practical back to school gift and it also aligned with our handbook. For instance, one thing we want paras to do this year is share their thoughts or concerns on a Concern Clipboard in a central team communication area in the classroom so we included post-it notes in the bag. Also, we have paras leading groups so we want them to record student progress and take notes to let us know how things are going. Therefore, we provided each para with a notebook.  What else did we include? Click on the links below for Am......

Download my FREE Being a Good Friend Social Story and Choices Sorting Mat! I look forward to connecting with you and sharing SpEd Spot tips and FREEBIES! Download the Social Story Built with ConvertKit In the special education classroom, student behaviors often stem from a deficit in social skills. If we only reactively address the behavior, then it will be hard to see lasting improvement. However, proactively addressing behavior concerns with social skills direct instruction can make a huge difference! Problem Scenario Do you have students who struggle with expected behaviors when interacting with peers and maintaining friendships? This year, I have some girls in particular that are quite catty which has led to a lot of unexpected drama! I also had some boys who were a bit “mindblind” and only thought of themselves when it came to winning, being first in line, or playing with certain toys. Being a Good Friend Social Skills Direct Instruction When teaching social skills (or ......

Download my FREE Calming and Alerting Sensory Cheatsheet! I look forward to connecting with you and sharing SpEd Spot tips and FREEBIES! Download the Sensory Cheatsheet Built with ConvertKit Now that school is out I have been focusing my efforts on organizing my thumb drive. This is a HUGE task since my thumb drive holds pretty much every lesson, handout, and worksheet I have made over the past year. It is so important to me that I keep it attached to my school badge (this is mostly because I kept leaving it in my computer at home and my boyfriend was tired of dropping it off at school!). While organizing this summer,  I plan to cute-ify a bunch of handouts and share them here.  The first handout is Calming & Alerting Supports for the Classroom Cheatsheet.  This year I became super interested in understanding the sensory system. Initially, I was looking to better meet the needs of my students with autism. But, the more I learned the more I realized I coul......