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Parents and Special Education Services: A Series

As a teacher, I became very familiar with the educator side of Special Education. I knew how to read an IEP, how to accommodate the various needs of the students in my classes who had an IEP, and what to watch for to determine if any particular student presented themselves with a need for additional testing and help. I felt pretty confident in my knowledge of the Special Education terms, processes, and procedures. 

It wasn’t until I became a parent of a child who needed Special Education services that I began to see the SPED world in a whole new light. Suddenly, the testing process, IEP meetings, IEP teams, and services became very personal. I was anxious about what this would all mean for my son. 

Almost four years ago, my then two year old was not hitting his speech milestones as expected. We started him with our county’s early intervention program and saw great progress. When he aged out of their program, they set us up with the school district, and let them take over services. He has been on an IEP ever since then, and has made remarkable progress. 

Fast forward a few years, and our youngest three children are all on an IEP and are receiving SPED services for speech. My previous anxieties about having children who qualify for and receive Special Education services have since gone away. I have come to see, now more than ever, that Special Education is an amazing resource, and that I have an incredible role as a parent to advocate for my children and to develop good relationships with their IEP team. 

I know I am not the only parent who has gone through these thoughts and emotions surrounding having a child placed in any kind of SPED services. I interviewed a few parents who have at a child who is currently receiving or have previously received Special Education services for any kind or severity of disability. Join me as I share a series of these interviews over the next couple of weeks! 

My first interview was with Brandy, whose son received speech therapy services for part of his elementary school years.

Please tell me a little about your child who is receiving Special Education services. (Age, grade, etc.)

* L. is 12 and going into 7th grade. He was in speech from 3rd to 6th.

What kind of services does your child receive? (general education with pull out services for speech/math/reading, etc., behavior unit, mild-moderate life skills class, etc.)

* He was in general education with pull out for speech.

What has been the most difficult thing about navigating the SPED world in schools?

* When we first started I knew almost nothing about SPED lingo or the different tools and tests used. Going in for IEPs was difficult when I didn’t feel like I understood what was happening and therefore didn’t know how to be a good advocate for my child.

As a parent, what has been the most rewarding or positive thing about working with SPED services in schools?

* Having a team of people who care about my child and are working to help him grow has been awesome.

How do you feel other students and teachers respond to and interact with your child? Do you feel like there is a good amount of inclusiveness at your child’s school?

* Inclusivity is huge at my kids’ school. L’s teachers have been super helpful with input during IEP meetings and with helping me know how to best advocate for additional help and testing where needed.

As a parent, what are some ways you advocate for your child to make sure they are in the least restrictive environment and receiving the services they need and deserve?

* Being in speech, my child was already in a minimally restrictive environment. He was only pulled, at most, 10 minutes, twice a week. I feel like my kids’ school does a great job of getting students their service time, while making sure they aren’t missing areas of necessary general education.

If you could tell one (or two or more) thing(s) to people who don’t have much experience with working with children with disabilities of any kind and severity, what would you tell them?

  • Love and caring always comes first. Children can’t effectively learn and grow without it. Once they start picking up on the skills they’ve been working towards, it’s so rewarding to see the pride they take in themselves.

I really enjoyed hearing from Brandy about her experience with the Special Education department in her son’s school. It’s always so great to hear about teachers and support staff who are genuinely concerned with the progress of their students! 

Thank you, Brandy, for sharing your experience!

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Educational Road Trip Activities

We decided to surprise our kids with a trip to San Diego last week. We’ve been planning the trip for six months, and had the hardest time keeping it a surprise! We decided to drive rather than fly because we are a family of seven— five kids (four still in a car seat or booster), and two adults. Plane tickets for seven, plus a rental car large enough to fit all of us would have blown our entire trip budget in one fell swoop. The drive, however, was twelve hours one way— and that’s without bathroom breaks or lunch stops. Ugh. 

In an effort to keep us all sane during our drive, and to try reduce the amount of screen time, I spent the months and weeks leading up to our trip planning, designing, and putting together activities for my kids to do in the car.

I needed the activities to meet a few criteria: they needed to be adaptable and entertaining for ages 4-9, able to be done without my help, not messy, and somewhat educational. I didn’t want slime in my car. Play-doh wasn’t an option, either, and neither were puzzles. I knew they wouldn’t want to color for the entire drive. I started with Pinterest as a spring board, and went from there. I found a few ideas there, and changed them to fit my needs and budget. I spent some time using Canva to design the games and activities, and purchased a couple off of Etsy. I sent them to my favorite print shop to be printed, then spent some time cutting, laminating, and assembling the activity bags (I used mesh zipper pouches I found on Amazon). Most of the supplies came from Amazon or the dollar store, making the activities very affordable. Since I know we aren’t the only family road tripping this summer, I thought I’d share my ideas! 

  • I downloaded and printed some free coloring pages from various websites. I also printed off my summer I-Spy pages— you can find those here.
  • I made sure each of my kids had their own set of Crayon Twistable colored pencils. I chose these for a couple of reasons: they don’t need a pencil sharpener, they color well, and they don’t melt or break easily like crayons do.

Now, for the activities that took a little more prep work and time:

  • Link Pattern Task Cards– Each kid was given their own set of task cards and plastic links. The goal was to use their links to copy the patterns on the cards. They also had a lot of fun making their own patterns, necklaces, bracelets, and chains. 
  • Block Pattern Task Cards– I created a set of 20 task cards. I bought some plain 1” wooden tiles and some 1” square stickers on Amazon. I put a sticker on one side of each tile and a small magnet on the back until I had enough squares for each of my kids to have six of each color. I put a 4×6” adhesive magnet on the inside of the lid of a pencil box. The objective was to use the wooden tiles to recreate the patterns and designs on the task cards. Again, they had fun following the pre-made patterns as well as creating their own.
  • Popsicle Stick Hair Tie Matching– Using large popsicle/craft sticks, I colored random stripes of colors on each stick. My kids then took small hair ties and put them on the corresponding color on the stick. It was a simple activity that took very little prep.
  • Lacing Cards– I chose several images I knew my children would like, sized them to be around 4-5”, and punched holes around the image. Using a shoelace (or any kind of string would work), they laced the string through the holes. This is an excellent fine motor skill!

My kids enjoyed the activities, and their attention was held for good amounts of time. As a bonus, they also did some of the activities at our rental condo when we had down time. The activities will also be added to our quiet bag rotation, so I know they will be used frequently. Any of these activities would also be an excellent addition to any classroom for quiet time activities and/or enrichment time.

So, yes, they were a lot of work, but it was a labor of love, and our sanity was (mostly) saved! 

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Humor in the Classroom

Teachers wear a lot of hats in the short amount of time they are with their students each day. At any given moment, they might be a teacher, a nurse, a disciplinarian, a peace maker, a counselor, or even a comedian or entertainer. This is only one of the ways that teachers are amazing. Elementary teachers especially find themselves switching hats frequently during the day. It’s quite the skill, and is very impressive. 

So often in a classroom, the need for humor or silliness arises. Obviously, teaching isn’t meant to be a comedy act every day, but when used at the right time, comedy can be a great tool. Think of the last time you laughed and how you felt afterwards. I’d bet that most people would say that they felt happier and less tense or stressed after laughing. 

Using humor in the classroom can do a lot for the overall feeling in the room, and can help put people at ease. Humor can be used in many ways and in many situations, such as using it to diffuse a tense situation, make a point, bond with students, or help students remember something you’re teaching. 

Saying or doing something funny can help students feel more at ease. I remember several times using humor to try help lighten the mood in the room right before I handed out tests. While I wanted my students to focus on the test and do their best, I also wanted them to know that the test wasn’t the most important thing in their lives. I also recall times where I was feeling grumpy, tired, or otherwise just not in the mood to be in the classroom. Those times were usually when a student would execute a perfectly timed joke or funny comment, and the result was almost always a happier mood in the room.

Using humor or silliness to illustrate a point or concept can be very effective. When there is an emotion tied to something, there is a greater likelihood that the brain will remember it. When my seventh graders were learning when and where to use each kind of punctuation mark, we watched a short video of Victor Borge, who had created a sound for each punctuation mark. Every time he got to a comma, he would make a specific sound, and would make a different sound every time he got to a period, and so on. (If you want to watch it, click here.) After watching the video, I had students create their own “punctuation sounds” for a reading passage and perform them for the class. The amount of laughter was great that day, and the students talked about it all year long. 

It can feel a bit vulnerable for some people to stand in front of a room and act silly or try to use humor. But, if students see you laughing and making the best of a situation, they are more likely to respond with the same vibe. So many students gather information on the mood in the room, and respond accordingly. 

While humor can be a very effective teaching tool, it’s important to keep in mind that it ought not be used to make light of a very serious situation or to ridicule or speak poorly of any group or individual. There is never a place for jokes, comments, or humor that targets a specific group or person, especially in a negative manner.

Silliness and humor don’t have to be used in every setting or situation, but when the time and place are appropriate, it can make a big difference for all involved. After all, laughter is the best medicine!

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Summer How-To List

Summer time tends to provide kids with ample amounts of free time, which can be a blessing and a curse. Some kids do really well with extra time, and are very creative in how they fill their extra hours. Others, however, struggle with imagining up ways to spend their days, which often leads to lots of, “Mom! I’m bored!” 

Many families create a summer bucket list in hopes of finding ways to reduce boredom over the summer months. It’s a great idea, and provides an easy answer to, “What should we do today?” I’m a big proponent of having the kids help create the list. Obviously, adults should over see the list making to ensure that the desired activities are within the financial, time, and logistical limits the family has. 

In addition to a summer bucket list, I’ve also heard of many families instituting a summer “how-to” list. Each family member comes up with a list of a few things they want to learn how to do over the summer break. Lists could include important life skills such as how to do laundry, cook a meal, tie shoes, mow the lawn, place and pick up a food order, and so on. Other skills might include new hobbies, such as learning to sew a pillow, draw, crochet, or code. Again, adults should guide list making to help kids set realistic goals and to ensure that goals are feasible. 

The idea of a “how-to” list is appealing to many, since it provides kids with something to do, but also gives them an opportunity to learn something and keep their minds active. It’s a win-win! 

To help you get started on your own summer “how-to” list, I’ve created a free download you can print off and use with your kids. Even if you don’t have kids, you can use this for yourself– there isn’t an age limit for learning new things!

** As always, this download is free, and should only be used for individual and classroom use. Please do not resell or claim as your own. **

My Summer How-To ListDownload
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Avoiding the Summer Slide

Just looking at the name, the term “summer slide” seems like it might be a fun thing! Summer? Slide? Wahoo! In reality, though, a summer slide in the context of education isn’t as fun as it might seem. When we talk about a summer slide, we are referring to what happens when students get an extended break from learning. Sometimes it is also referred to as the summer slump. Without constant practice, many students tend to regress and forget some of what they have learned during the school year. 

Keeping information fresh in their minds will help kids to more easily jump back into learning in the fall when school starts back up again. In addition to an easier transition back into school, summer learning practice helps kids’ minds stay active and growing. This can be done through various methods. Below, you will find a few ideas to help your kids stay on track during summer break and avoid the summer slide.

For mid-upper grades:

  • Encourage daily reading. Most public libraries have a free summer reading program, offering prizes and other incentives as kids read books. You can also download my free summer reading tracker here.
  • Find and print some pre-made worksheets. The inter webs are teeming with options, many of which are free! You can easily find a plethora of downloadable worksheets for any grade or any subject. Some good websites to try include Pinterest, Teachers Pay Teachers, or Super Teacher Worksheets.
  • If you’d rather have a book of worksheets for your kids to work through, rather than printing off a bunch, there are many options for practice workbooks that can be ordered through Amazon or other retailers.
  • Print off or create some building block challenge cards and have your kids use their imaginations to create whatever the card suggests. Some ideas might be to use blocks to build a house, car, flower, animal, and so on.

For preschool-lower grades:

  • Incorporating learning into their play time is a great way to get them engaged and excited about learning practice. 
  • Puzzles are a fantastic way to keep young (and more mature!) minds active and engaged.
  • Cut out several paper shapes of varying sizes and colors. Have your kids sort them by shape, color, or size. You can even have them order the shapes from largest to smallest or smallest to largest. 
  • Practice letter and number writing using different mediums such as play-doh, pipe cleaners, string, etc. 
  • Do an alphabet search and match activity by writing all 26 letters (lower case) of the alphabet on a large piece of paper. Use 26 sticky note sheets and write all 26 letters in upper case. Hide the papers around the house and have your kids find them then match the upper case letter to it’s correct lower case partner. 
  • Using the same idea as the alphabet search and match, do a number search and match, where you have kids match the numeral form to the word form of a number (ex: 1 and one). You can also write numerals on a large piece of paper. On sticky notes, draw dots or shapes to match the numerals you have on the larger paper (ex: 5 on the large paper and five dots on a smaller paper).
  • Incorporate math into snack time by having your kids count out how many crackers, marshmallows, apple slices, etc. they have on their plates. 

The options are endless, and they don’t have to be expensive or fancy. Sometimes the best activities are the simplest. The goal is to provide kids with opportunities to keep their minds active and engaged during the summer months, with the hope that come fall, their minds will be able to more easily transition to learning mode.

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The Great Debate: Is End of Year Testing Worth It?

End of year testing. State testing. End of level assessments. Whatever you call them, students dread them, and most teachers do too. Across the nation, most schools administer some kind of end of year assessment to measure progress in core subjects, usually English/Language Arts, Math, and Science. 

There’s always been debate surrounding these kinds of assessments. Many believe they do not offer a truly accurate picture of progress and growth, while others see them as an effective tool for measuring progress. If you’ve been a teacher in any of the core subjects and have had to administer end of year tests, you can probably see evidence for both sides of the argument. For some students, the tests really do show the progress that has been made and do offer a pretty good picture of the knowledge that has been learned. For other students, test results are not an accurate picture of what has been learned— many students deal with test anxiety, simply don’t care and therefore give little effort into the test (were you one of the students who would use your Scantron sheet to make a picture rather than trying to find the right answers?), or perhaps are just having an “off” day for whatever reason. 

From a teacher’s perspective, I had a love/hate relationship with test days. By the end of the year, I was always physically and mentally exhausted, and test days provided me with a few very low-key days where I didn’t have to plan any structured lessons. I was able to catch up on grading, plan out the rest of the year, and take a minute to breathe. On the other hand, test days often proved to be a struggle, as many students would finish their test the first day of testing, then would proceed to cause problems or distractions for the students who had not yet finished. It became a game of “how do I keep these kids entertained” while also keeping the test-takers focused. 

And while I am all for seeing the improvement and growth that my students made over the course of the year, state tests didn’t provide an full picture of that growth. As their teacher, I was able to see their progress from month to month, and could truly see how far they had come. Since I was not the one who wrote the test, nor did I know what questions they would encounter on the test, I could only do so much to prepare them for the test. I would obviously teach the core standards that I was expected to teach, but as far as how the test was worded or the kinds of questions that were asked, that was out of my control. 

In order to decrease test anxiety as much as I could, I would always do my best to review core concepts in the weeks leading up to the test. I would assure students that their test score had absolutely no impact on their grade for my class. As long as they tried and put in effort (and didn’t bother other students during testing), they would get a participation grade. I would remind them that this was a test that they were required to take, and that they should do their best, but that their results didn’t indicate their worth. I would also usually offer some kind of “reward” day after testing to give them a chance to unwind. 

Though I’m not currently teaching, I am now seeing testing from a parent’s view. I’m always sure to let my kids know that they are smart and capable, and that as long as they do their best, that’s what matters most. My husband and I do our part to get them to bed at a good time so they are well rested, and make sure to feed them a good breakfast before they go to school. We don’t make a big deal out of it because we don’t want them to feel any extra pressure or stress about taking the tests. 

I don’t know that there are any easy answers to the testing debate. Will there ever be a day when state tests are not given? Maybe. There will always be need to measure progress, but what that looks like and how it is measured may change. Until then, we will continue to do our best and encourage our students and kids the best we can!

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Summer I-Spy Printable

Summer is in full swing over here! We’ve survived one full week of summer break, and I’ve heard, “I’m bored!” more times than I can count. While I’m not a cruise director and don’t have to provide my kids with activities 24/7, it is nice to have something on hand to pull out for the times when you just need a minute of quiet.

I created a fun free summer themed I-spy page that you can print out and have your kids or students do. I’ve included both color and black and white versions for your convenience. You can print and laminate so they can do them over and over again, or print them and have them do the page as is.

*Please enjoy the summer I-spy pages, but please do not resell them, repost them, or claim them as your own.*

Summer I-SpyDownload