In the midst of the start-of-the-year chaos and crushing fatigue, I somehow managed to write a new social skills game, School Skills Building Bricks. We played it today in class, and the fellas (I have a class of all guys with ASD) gave it great reviews. We played for a bit over 70 minutes and […]
Author Archives: sara
Stop the Ride…I Wanna Get Off!
We survived the first week of the new program. I’m not gonna lie. It wasn’t pretty. It’s Saturday night, and I’m still trying to recover. You know it was a tough one when scrubbing the ring out of your kids’ toilet at home looks like a smashing-good time. So many things haven’t quite turned out […]
Back to School Front-loading for Teens
I’ve read a couple of good articles with ideas to prepare younger kids with EBD and/or ASD to come back to school. This article focuses on social stories, which are great for elementary kids and lower-functioning secondary kids: https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/pages/How-to-get-your-child-with-asd-ready-for-a-new-school-year. But what about those higher-functioning teens? My students would poop their pants laughing if I tried to give […]
Chasing the Elusive Data-Corn
Jenny and I are continuing to get all set up for the new year and the new program. Part of me wants to shut down because I feel so overwhelmed with the enormity of small, time-consuming tasks we still need to accomplish in the last 10 days before the kids come, but now that we’re […]
NEW, Free Lesson Plan Posted!
I’m getting back into the swing of things and gearing up for the start of the new school year in August. I’ve written a new lesson that teaches kids/teens how to stay on topic in conversations, and it’s posted on enraged2engaged.com on the resources page (“Roundtable Repartee”). Please sign up to get e-mail notifications about […]
“And, Now, for ‘Plan B’!”
I am, by nature, a “planner.” I thoroughly enjoy mapping out calendars, making to-do lists, and generally knowing what’s going to happen roughly a year in advance. I love Google Calendar, Google Keep, and the Note application on my iPad. I plan out Girl Scout meetings for my daughter’s troop 14 months in advance; I […]
#5: Greasing the Wheels (Sucking Up to Your Colleagues)
***This is the fifth blog post in a continuing series detailing the launch of a new district EBD center housed inside a traditional high school. I know you may find this difficult to believe, but my colleagues are feeling some trepidation about the 17 children with severe behavior problems coming to their school in August. I know. […]
#4 The (Supervision) Matrix “There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. “
***This is the fourth blog post in a continuing series detailing the launch of a new district EBD center housed inside a traditional high school. Yep. I just quoted The Matrix. Because–Lord knows–engaging in this line of work will, most surely, open your eyes to all sorts of alternate realities. We may be at school, but it’s a […]
#3: God Is In the Details (i.e. “The Chickens Continue Pecking”)
***This is the third blog post in a continuing series detailing the launch of a new district EBD center housed inside a traditional high school. Now that the “regular” school year is over, Jenny and I are in the thick of getting things handled for the new program. I thought I’d feel pulled in fewer directions. […]
“Who Gives a Final in Social Skills?!?”
Pfft. That one’s easy to answer: every single teacher who works in a school that requires all credit courses to culminate in a final exam. That’s who. School districts aren’t too keen on ideas like “the real benchmark of a student’s success will come not in the classroom, but in the corridors outside of it.” […]
