Administrators have to oversee a lot of stuff. So, when some kid is wrecking havoc on the school, things tend to get pretty bad before anyone moves forward with getting the kid evaluated, mostly because the process is confusing and there’s nobody who really knows that to do in most buildings. I was writing a […]
Author Archives: sara
Why is it an insult to call Barron Trump “autistic”?
So…Rosie O’Donnell made a comment about Barron Trump possibly being autistic. We’ve all heard about it. And if you haven’t (if you’ve just crawled out from beneath a rock somewhere), you can just google “Rosie O’Donnell Barron Trump comment” and you’ll be up to speed in about 10 seconds. It happened back in November, so […]
May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor!
My school starts final exams tomorrow, and the natives have been suitably restless as a combination of pre-Winter Break angst/excitement, disrupted classroom routines, and exam nerves have percolated into a vicious stew of new and interesting behaviors. Gag reel highlights include: A 20-minute-long walk at 7:40am with a student who couldn’t stay awake in class […]
New Social Skills Course Ideas and Career Exploration Resources!
Jenny and I have been reimagining our Social Skills class for next semester. After talking to students about what they’d like to learn, an overwhelmingly-mentioned topic was career exploration. We’ll continue to follow the basic structure outlined on the website and in the E2E book, but plan to set aside time each block day (when […]
Behavior Interventions: Breaking it Down
As the new program has grown and changed this semester, I’ve found myself with little time for blogging and writing lessons. The day-to-day demands are substantial, and my fatigue (and burnout) have been the worst they’ve been since I was a first-year teacher. A major challenge Jenny and I have faced is follow-through in our […]
Little Boxes
If you watched the Showtime series, Weeds, you’re familiar with Malvina Reynolds’s song, Little Boxes. Data collection sheets, like the suburbs, are full of little boxes. However, unlike in the suburbs, it’s not acceptable for the little boxes to be all the same. Data collection is a highly personal–I daresay intimate–process. Everybody’s looking for a shortcut for amazing […]
Crying Into My Wine
Friday was supposed to be an amazing day. A day to kick back, catch up, and breathe a little. Murphy’s Law of Quiet Days told me not to get too comfortable, but I didn’t listen. It was the last day of parent/teacher conferences, and we were in the home stretch. We’d met with families, and the […]
A Glorious Day of Unicorns and Rainbows
First off, AMAZING NEWS! We got a third teacher added to the program. The secondary SPED coordinator for the district showed up last Wednesday, told us the news, and Kim showed up the next morning. Kim is a former probation officer, so I’m pretty sure she won’t run off like her hair is on fire. […]
Making Friends at School Costs $0.20
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you know I’m all about offering colleagues some nice tangible reinforcers to grease the wheels. Incidentally, some people at the new program hate my guts anyway…but they still liked getting Krispy Kreme a few weeks ago (watch Groupon–they run a “$20 worth of donuts for $10” […]
Wake Up, Roosters! It’s Morning!
I write this as I sit outside the locked school at 6:02am. I can’t believe I’m here before the cross country coach. I’ve got at 6:30am parent meeting to discuss a student’s pending reevaluation. This kid has been having a rough time, even by my behavior classroom’s standards. I know that the kid’s mom doesn’t […]
