Teaching Sass

Once a week, my students and I run a "Coffee Connection" micro-business to fuel the caffeine habit of my fellow teachers.  I love this time because there are SO many skills worked on! From functional

A really valuable activity we did in my class during our hygiene series was about what we can do to stay healthy. Some of it is dependent upon our diet, exercise, sleep. And some of it depends upon how well we keep our hands clean.  The #1 way to avoid sickness is regular hand washing and we used Glogerm and a black light to help us see the common places that get missed (even if we use a lot of soap and water)! It was a great lesson and it was fun, engaging, and VISUAL way to teach about how important it is to wash our hands thoroughly. However, I must add a DISCLAIMER.

In my class this year I have been getting this question a lot, “What do you think their ability level is?” It is an impossible question, but I believe I have come up with a reliable answer. Especially when I have students on my caseload with multiple disabilities, that are non-verbal, that have extreme behavior exacerbations, or a combination of all of the above, it can be difficult to know a student's

WELCOME TO HOLLAND by Emily Perl Kingsley All rights reserved ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...... When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to ...