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Books for Siblings with Special Needs

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Books for siblings with special needs are invaluable. As a Special Education Teacher, I love to have tools at my disposal to pass along to my student’s families. A universal trait of Teachers is that we tend to care about the families we work with well beyond the time they are in our classrooms. So, I try to keep tools and strategies at my finger tips. Books have been my long standing favorite way to do this!

Books require no prep and just a tiny time commitment. They go such a long way to teach acceptance, empathy, and understanding in the classroom and they can do the same at home. I have been known to have a picture book for every occasion (you can see my favorite books about anger or my favorites about special needs) and even make them into full lessons. Today, I am excited to share my top three books for siblings with special needs!

A Book for Students Experiencing Loss

“The Invisible String” written by Patrice Karst

One of my absolute favorites! I have read this one over the years to my social skills groups. This book is particularly helpful for students who are dealing with loss. Students who have siblings with special needs that may not live in the home will benefit from reading this book.

What I like about it: The illustrations provide a tangible interpretation of the connection between family members. It simplifies a very complex topic and has a message of hope.

A Book for Students with Similarly Aged Siblings with Disabilities

“Super Socks” written by Connie Bowman

I have to admit, I am a little bias here. When Connie heard that I was a special education teacher she generously donated two of her books to my library. She is as amazing as her books!

What I like about it: The story is about adventure and the relationship between siblings who are having fun. One of the siblings in this story has down syndrome and the other is typical. This story has a message of inclusion and celebrating individuality which is… everything!

A Book for Teens or Young Adults who will take Responsibility for a Sibling

“The Sibling Survival Guide” written by Emily Holl

I have gifted this book to more than one family in the last few years. This book tackles some challenging topics! It is written for older students (or even adults) who are helping think about long term support for a sibling with a disability.

What I like about it: This book gives siblings a blueprint for conversations they need to have surrounding guardianship, medical care, legal issues and so much more. The information is delivered in an empowering and clear way!

If you are looking for a way to increase understanding and foster a more peaceful relationship for siblings with special needs, get a book! Which books do you reccommend to support the families in your classroom? I would love for you to share them with me!

Three Books for Siblings with Special Needs

by admin

3 Ways to take Data on Social Skills IEP Goals

Social skills iep goals require taking regular data. Thank goodness! Yes, you read that correctly! This is the one area that I truly appreciate the bi-weekly reminder to document my student’s growth. In fact, taking data in the area of social skills is important (and often overlooked) when it comes to every single student in your classroom, social skills iep goals or not.

Collect data on existing social skills iep goals or use goals from a social skills iep goals bank. You can even work with students to create SMART goals. Allowing your students to be a part of the process will lead to a classroom of learners who understand their own behaviors. Students who understand where they have the most challenges can become a part of the resolution. Students advocating for their own needs, suggesting accommodations, and taking ownership of their learning are some of the results I have had in my classroom after incorporating social skills for kids and taking data on their progress.

strategies for taking data on social skills goals for iep

When you are planning activities for social skills groups be sure to include a strategy for taking data. There are so many ways to take data on social skills iep goals. Here are my top three:

1. Formally observe your Students:

Note the environment, time of day, people present and activity. I have found that it helps to have a form that you can use across settings for consistency.
Observe for no more than ten minutes with the lens of only one social goal at a time.
Depending on the skill you are observing it maybe appropriate to choose a control student. This is another student in the same setting whose behaviors you will also note. This way when you are looking at the student’s data overtime you will have an option to compare your student to themselves as well as with a peer.
Rely on the team! I send para-educators in with observation forms as well as general education teachers, specialists or administrators. I want as much data as I can have on my students and each team member will offer a slightly different perspective.
Be sure to complete the observations across settings, including those where your student is successful. These can be powerful tools in learning what your student needs to perform at their highest capability.

2. Behavior Reflection:

Following an incident of unexpected behavior you need social skills data collection forms. Students can draw, talk, or use a think sheet to have your student explain what happened. (Read more details about how to use a Behavior Reflection Sheet here.) Documenting an incident immediately after will provide you and the student with the most insight. Don’t miss this opportunity.
Keep the data forms! You will notice patterns that precede certain behaviors and can put interventions in place.
As a bonus, the student’s own account of the incident will highlight gaps in their understanding. You can use this information to create your activities for social skills groups that address the very specific skills needed by each of your students.

3. Student Conference:

Have your student complete a self reflection assessment or create a SMART goal in the area of behavior.
Ask the student to suggest accommodations or modifications that they feel will make them more successful. Have them choose from a list if needed.
Create a way for the student to track their own progress. This could be a simple graph or a goal setting journal they return to time and again.
Set up a follow up meeting time to check in on growth and make adjustments. Knowing this meeting is already scheduled will help students become more accountable to their goals.

How this looks in my classroom

I use the first ten minutes of my day as a time to check in and reflect with students on social skills iep goals. We plan activities for social skills groups that lend themselves to data collection. Then, the last ten minutes of the day is dedicated to the student completing a self reflection form and rating their own progress. Knowing that developing social skills for kids will impact your student’s lives beyond the walls of your classroom makes it worth fitting it in.

track iep goals for social skills iep data

progress monitoring for social skills iep goals

Don’t overlook data in the area of social skills and behavior. It can have the biggest impact on student learning!

by admin

Do you know how to take Data on Community Based Instruction?

Collect data on your classroom community based instruction activities using an outing specific community based instruction rubric. When you know your students, you know whether or not they are progressing. You watch, listen, and just have an overall sense of where they are at with their goals. But, giving your “general feeling” about how they are doing simply (and unfortunately) does not cut it at IEP meetings.

Capturing a general feeling or an “overall disposition when in the community” and making it measurable is difficult. You need a rubric. Yes, I said the dreaded word. I know, it is tedious, but it is necessary and once you make yours, you can reuse it time and again.

A Community Based Instruction Rubric will:

Make your observations measurable
Highlight success and areas of opportunity
Allow you to pre-teach expectations
Involve students in their own learning.

Before our Community Outing:

I created community based instruction curriculum for the places we visit most often on our community outings. Each item aims to teach five skills necessary to be successful in a specific outing location. For my group this includes: restaurants, libraries, public transportation, stores, workplaces, and community centers. I try to pre-teach as many community based instruction ideas as possible before we ever leave the school with community based instruction curriculum. I use YouTube videos, workbooks and writing journals that help students understand what community based instruction is and how they can be successful during trips! (You can read more about how I use workbooks to teach life skills here!)

I like to show my students the rubric ahead of time so that they think about their goals and ask questions about my expectations. Also, I give students a brainstorming form that helps them create a personal and specific goal around the outing.

My students share their goals during our social group. This allows students to hold each other accountable during the outing. In general, it keeps us more on track as a group. The students take our outings more seriously when we take the time to set our intentions.

Rubrics for Data Collection

During the outing, I bring a clip board with a community based instruction rubric for each student. I float between students and watch them intently in each category listed. I assign a preliminary score and complete one rubric for each student.

Then, immediately following our outing, I pass out the student self reflection rubrics. Each student completes the rubric assigning a score to their own behavior on the outing. Meanwhile, I complete my teacher assessment rubric. I fill in details and make any adjustments or notes required.

How I use Data from my CBI Rubrics

I keep my teacher assessment rubric and the student self reflection rubric in my student’s data files. Students track their growth from month to month and participate in goal setting conversations. I use the data to progress monitor community based IEP goals, independent living goals and life skills goals. Also, I compare the student’s rubric to my own. This allows me to see areas of misunderstanding and address them in upcoming social lessons or community based instruction curriculum.

what is community based instruction rubric

free-community-based-instruction-lesson-plans

Community Based Instruction Data Collection Rubrics

FREE Community Based Instruction Rubrics

FREE community based instruction lesson plans: Restaurant Outings, Vocational Problem Solving, Recreation and Leisure, Job Interactive Notebook

Where does your class go on your community outings? How do you collect data for CBI? Share your community based instruction trip ideas with me on instagram @checkinwithmrs_g

by admin

The Emergency Sub Plans Every Elementary Teacher Needs

Emergency sub plans are a nice insurance policy for every teacher and every sub. Walking unexpectedly into a classroom with no sub plan is, let’s face it… terrifying. Still, I would argue that even more terrifying is getting sick and then considering how to write sub plans from bed.

Teaching in a special education resource classroom complicates this process a bit. Having students come through in groups every half hour with different needs and different IEP goals can be daunting. That is why I use picture books for read aloud in my emergency sub plans. It works with students of all ages. They are an equalizer; engaging, valuable, and simple.

Now, as much as I would love to rely on stories that are read aloud alone, I know that when it comes to emergency sub plans, worksheets are still king. Yes, I said that ugly word “worksheets”. In a perfect world every sub would walk into a room and nothing would change. They would teach the curriculum as the classroom teacher does and the day would move forward… Yep… Totally… So, anyone here ever actually worked as a substitute? I have! I can tell you, that while I am a good teacher, and while I was a good sub and this has never ever happened. You need the worksheets in the sub plans. And this is where my read aloud companion was born.

Picture Books: An Emergency Sub Plan

Books break down social skills for kids (which I always, always try to sneak in) and are high interest. Even with older students, they work! If you haven’t done a picture book read aloud with a fifth grader yet, try it… magic! That means, like every other teacher I know, I have about a 100 books for read aloud. My stories are on hand at all times lest we find ourselves with 4 minutes before the bell rings and I can sneak one in. Making those books into a complete lesson without any prep has been absolute gold in my classroom.

Make It a Lesson

This read aloud companion turns any picture book into a lesson. I print a journal for each student at the beginning of the year and bam, done. Each page of the workbook gives an extension lesson that will work with any story. Some of the pages are more creative, asking students to design a social media page for the book, others ask more basic comprehension and retell questions. This way my students are practicing standards aligned comprehension and writing strategies.

An Emergency Book for Every Subject

With the journal in place, you can switch out the picture book to meet the needs of the students in front of you.

Here are some examples of books you can use as emergency sub plans in various topics.

Sub plans for art: Uncle Andy’s : A fabulous visit with Andy Warhol
Kindergarten sub plans: Rainbow Fish
Sub plans for PE: Casey at the Bat
Health sub plans: You are Healthy
Sub plans for Music: This Jazz Man

Students enjoy the read aloud and are engaged in the workbook. Having an emergency sub plan that works with truly no prep, is seasonal and flexible with no prep beyond the initial printing of the journal is a good idea no matter what you teach. You can make your own or check out mine here. What are your go to emergency sub plans?

by admin

Books for Read Aloud in the Elementary Classroom

I love a good picture book. Books for read aloud are my absolute favorite ways to teach social skills for kids, spend 10 minutes before the bell, or celebrate a holiday with my class. I use them with every special education group, in my sub plans, and with my general education classes. No matter the student’s age, if you do it right, stories that are read aloud can be pure classroom magic.

I hate to be so “elementary teacher basic” but picture books are up there with beautiful post its, colorful flair pens and fancy planners… right? So, if you are just starting out. I wanted to offer you a short list of my favorite books to read aloud to my littles and a tiny bit about how I use them.

I choose stories for read aloud that are high interest and beautifully illustrated. They teach quick but valuable lessons and you can build them into other skills you are already teaching.

They are linked below but Pro Tip: I have found that in a pinch you can search “read aloud books Youtube” to find almost all of them being read aloud for you. For free. Sometimes having someone else read them on screen is a nice change of pace for restless students. Also, this probably goes without saying but… watch them first, all the way through, just in case. Ok? Great!

Here are my Top 10 Books for Read Aloud

No David read aloud: Use to start conversations about expected classroom behavior or about what it feels like when you make the wrong choice.
Enemy pie read aloud: I use this book at times of conflict among my students. It has a great lesson about friendship.
Green Eggs and Ham read aloud: I love to use this classic read aloud during lessons on CVC and rhyming words.
The Day the Crayons Quit: I LOVE this book. Use it to teach social norms and perspective. Warning, you may lose some students when the peach crayon is out of his wrapper and is “naked.” I once lost an entire group of middle school boys to laughter during this scene! But, it is completely worth it. The follow up, “The Day the Crayons came home” is also amazing. I could teach on each of these for a month.
Pete the cat read aloud: Any, and I mean any Pete the Cat books will do for teaching a positive mind set and appropriate reactions. But, Pete the Cat I Love my White Shoes is a class favorite every time.
Three little pigs read aloud: Compare and contrast the original Three Little Pigs read aloud with The True Story of the Three Little Pigs read aloud which is told from the wolfs point of view. I use this to teach perspective.
The Rainbow Fish read aloud: Use with lessons on making friends.
The Lorax read aloud: I teach with this book on Earth Day. It is also helpful that many of my students have seen the movie and have some background knowledge going into the conversation.
Very hungry Caterpillar read aloud: Another classic read aloud, I use this book when talking about healthy eating. There are SO many extension activities already in existence so it is nice that you can build on its big ideas with little prep.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom read aloud: Basic letter recognition and introduction to rhyming words.

Organize & Store your Books by Skill

I like to store my books by the skill that they teach (in bright containers like these). This way I can access them as they relate to my curriculum. For example, I co-teach some general education classes and love to read aloud books on special needs in order to support inclusion and foster understanding. For my social skills group I have a collection that focuses on anger. I encourage you to build your read aloud collection slowly and always have a wish list of read aloud books handy!

Read Aloud Resource

I created a read aloud companion. I print it in the beginning of the school year and use it off and on throughout the year. This is a journal that provides engaging extension activities that will work with any picture book with no prep. You can learn more about it here! It helps me turn my books into half hour lessons.