Following Directions mid-tantrum

One of my students became very upset today because the headphones on the computer weren't working properly (the volume had been turned down).  He only just decided yesterday that they were OK to use.  When I tried to fix them (by wearing them and then adjusting the volume) he started crying and hitting his head.  Despite all of the noise and apparent upset, he was still able to follow verbal directions.  I was able to get him to follow me to a quiet space, take a tissue, put the tissue in the garbage can and then return to the classroom (though it didn't all happen that fast).  It wasn't that long ago that this same student wouldn't even follow these simple directions when he was calm - now he can follow them when he is mad!

Field Trip to the Zoo

We went to the Zoo today.  It was great to see how well so many of them transferred hard earned life skills, play skills and listening skills into a new environment.  After lunch, they all helped to clean up and one went to look for the trash can with no prompting.  In the afternoon, they had a great time playing on the complex play structure at the Zoo.  They had to negotiate the physical intricacies of the structure as well as having to move about with lots of other kids.

Writing and the non-verbal child

One of my students has started to use writing as a primary means of communication.  He is also working on using his voice, but his use of writing is developing much faster.  We first noticed the potential of his  literacy skills a few months ago watching him use the computer.  He was copying words from favorite games from memory.  We now have small whiteboards all around our school spaces so that he can make requests.  Today he started to show his understanding in other ways by drawing pictures of animals and then labelling them.  Until today he had shown us no particular understanding or interest in animals.

Paragraphs

One student started writing paragraphs this past month.  We had been working with pencil and paper and it was so hard for him because his fine motor skills aren't so strong.  He would barely get a single sentence written and it was barely legible.  Once we started having him type them on his iPad, he started to really take off.  He still tries to drop off the structural words when he types (even though he verbalizes them), but with support he types full sentences - three at a time that connect based on picture cards.  I then type out some extra sentences for him on the same theme to help him expand his writing beyond description.  It's been fun watching this new communication skill.