Pandemonium!

The School Literary Magazine is having a Cover Contest. I saw the poster in the hall and I decided I would have my kids enter the contest. The rules are that there can be no computer graphics, the cover must say PANDEMONIUM 2009-2010, and the drawing must be in black and white.

I handed out white paper with black markers, wrote PANDEMONIUM 2009-2010 on the board, and told them to draw whatever they wanted! They really had at it. They love drawing! Their drawings are awesome, if I don't say so myself.

As it turned out, there were "neat" little parts to each of the kids papers, but nothing was really appropriate to submit to the contest. After school today, I figured I could make a "collage" of their work and submit it as a joint effort. I cut out their little drawings and pasted them in a circle, took the best handwriting for the title words, and made a black and white copy of it.

This is Mrs. Smith's "class entry" to the cover contest. I think it turned out pretty nice.

We might not win the cover contest, but we had fun!

I want orange gummy bears, please.

I have made previous posts about my "most challenging student" who I have really come to love. I am so incredibly proud of the great strides she has made in the past few months. This is the student who moved here from Kenya and has never been in school before this past Summer. She is toilet trained now (Thank God) and better yet, she is "using her words." We have given her a tool to communicate and man, is this kid flying!

If you are not familiar with the Picture Exchange Communication System, you can read about it here. Basically, there is a systematic approach to introducing the non-verbal or limited-verbal child to pictures that they can use to communicate. They are expected to communicate using pictures, as any other child would be expected to communicate using their voice. The idea is that there is still an "exchange" of communication. The kids are expected to "tap" their communication partner's shoulder to get their attention, at which point the person will turn and say, "Yes, Johnny?" This allows the children to participate in almost everything, in the same way that their peers do! Some kids take YEARS to acquire the entire PECS sequence (There are six phases, with the final one ending on "spontaneous comments" such as, "I see a blue ball" instead of just requests).

My student has absolutely made tremendous progress in only five months. We are on Phase IV with her and continue to be amazed on a daily basis.

On Monday, we introduced Phase IV "with attributes" - meaning adjectives are now required. This is a tricky phase to teach, but there are always things you can look out for that can turn into teachable moments. The reason I knew she was ready for attributes was because I was noticing that every time she asks for Gummy Bears - if we give her a red one, she will push it away because she doesn't want red. She really loves the orange ones, but will eat any color except red. This phase starts out by having the child request something, "I want gummy bears." Then, you respond by saying, "Oh, you want gummy bears? Which one?" and the child will reach for a bear (usually they reach for one that you know they want - in our case, it was orange.) After they reach, you don't allow them to grab the gummy bear, but you show them to add the "orange" icon to their sentence strip, so that the strip now says, "I want ORANGE gummy bears." They "read" (tap) the icons to you - and you deliver the goods.

As soon as she figured out how to ask for Orange gummy bears, it was all downhill from there! The look in her eyes when she discovered she could specifically request the beloved ORANGE gummy bear.... it was priceless.

Today, she amazed us even further. It is imperative that "explicit" teaching happens for each of these phases of PECS - and it is imperative to work on generalizing the skills into other areas - by showing them they can use the colors to ask for other items, as well. Well, we had not even made it past the gummy bear lesson when we were sitting at the group table today. The kids were all drawing (this will be my next post). My student had a paper in front of her but no markers. She grabbed her PECS book and pulled off, "I want black" and then leaned over and grabbed the black marker. Incredible! We didn't have a marker PECS card, but we had the colors. We didn't teach her to ask for colored markers, but she did it! She generalized!

We can only hope that her vocabulary continues to explode each and every day.

It's awesome to know that when she wants an orange gummy bear, she can tell us.

Here is a video of her asking for orange gummy bears. I had to do just her hands for confidentiality reasons.

I like your long, black hair.

In "Social Skills Group" on Friday, the kids were working on giving compliments. We discussed picking things that you like about someone, and telling them! We practiced saying things like, "I love your shoes today!" and "Your hair looks great!" etc. One of the examples we used was, "I like your hair" and we told them that they could use adjectives, such as "I like your long, black hair" or "I like your curly hair." There is always an issue with "generalization" when you're working with kids with autism. They have a tough time actually coming up with these compliments on their own, and instead, they memorize. Either way, the "Compliment Game" was a big hit. Soon enough, we were complimenting everyone who came into the room!

At the end of the day, the kids were getting onto their buses and one of my little guys walked right on the bus and said, "I love your long, black hair!" to the bus driver.

The bus drivers hair is red.

Almost got it!

Good Effort

Yesterday we had a "Student of the Marking Period" assembly. All of the students in sixth grade are invited to this event. Each of the team teachers (Language Arts, Math, etc.) get together and nominate a "Student of the Marking Period" to receive each award. The awards were: "Most Improved," "Good Effort," "Good Citizenship," "Academic Honors" and "Overall Student of the Marking Period."

You bet I nominated my kids for the awards. They were at a little bit of an advantage over the 150 other 6th graders, because in my classroom there was one teacher making nominations for each of the five awards. I have five students. They really did deserve them, though! The other teachers were very nice and let me stand in front of the auditorium with them as they called off their short list of names. I even asked that they intersperse my kids within theirs, so we didn't stand out so much (i.e. The ASD teacher reading off each of the ASD kids in a row).

You'd have thought it was the Academy Awards or something. These little sixth graders were cheering and whistling as each of their friends got called. The principal would call the student's name, the crowd would roar, and the student would slowly make it to the stage to claim their certificate, bumper sticker, and two Rutgers basketball tickets. Then came my first student to be announced. The room was uncomfortably silent. I put my hands together and looked into the crowd, hoping they'd follow... we got some "mini claps" from the nice kids in the back. It didn't really matter to my kids though, they were just stoked to be in the front of a crowd getting an award! The next time a student was called, the crowd got a little louder. There were a few more claps with each name being called. Finally, my one and only non-verbal student was called. She has a 1:1 aide who walked with her to the front of the auditorium to get her award. She did a little donkey kick out of excitement. She looked into the audience (which sounds silly, but this is huge for her to notice that there are other people around her...) - got her award, smiled, and walked back to sit down. She was so very proud. She didn't know why people were clapping for her, but she knew it felt good.

I wrote in all of the kids Communication Notebooks that they had been nominated for "Student of the Marking Period" for various awards. I said that they were recognized in a ceremony in front of the entire sixth grade, they each won two Rutgers basketball tickets, as well as an "Honor Student" Bumper Sticker. They are technically on the Honor Roll because they only receive grades in PE and Art. Haha. But, that's OK!

All of the parents wrote back to me today. They said they were happy their children are doing so well, Thank you for working so hard with them, etc. There was one note that was extra special, however. It read:

"Hi Mrs. Smith,

We were so proud ___ has been named "Honor Student," I will proudly place the sticker on my car. ____ has never been honored before, and my family thanks you for making this possible.

Thank you,

Mrs. _____."

It just so happens that this is my student who came to me at eleven years of age, completely non-verbal, non-communicative, zero pre-academic skills, and in pull-ups. She so deserves this "Student of the Marking Period" award for Good Effort, because that's exactly what she's had. Good effort. It doesn't matter if you can talk, recognize your numbers, read, or even say hello to others by waving or smiling, you can still put in old fashioned good effort.

I am happy to report that with her effort, she truly deserves the title of "ASD Honor Student." She is now completely toilet trained and wears a "bathroom tag" (with a picture of a toilet velcroed to a badge tag). She hands the toilet picture to whoever she is with when she needs to go to the bathroom. She is also climbed the ladder to Phase IV of the Picture Exchange Communication System. She's able to discriminate pictures of various items to request them. She uses the pictures to communicate with us. We've got a long road ahead, but she's able to complete 4-6 piece puzzles, sequence the rings on a ring stacker, imitate actions with and without objects, and is learning more and more receptive instructions each day ("Throw this away," "Stand up," "Sit down," "Touch your mouth," etc.) She is acquiring new skills at an incredible rate. Sometimes, she will come tap our shoulders to get our attention, a skill that we explicitly taught over a period of two months. She even looks at us when we say "hi" to her. Now THAT is achieving success daily.

Bus Update

I've had a few inquiries as to how the regular ed bus is going for my little guy. Let's just say that he blew everyone away. I knew he could do it. This is why I worked hard to get him on the regular bus! The first few days, they sent someone to "shadow" him from the bus to the classroom. They informed me that, for safety reasons, they'd be doing this for at least a month. It only lasted a few days, because he navigated his way so independently. He no longer requires a "shadow" and is able to walk from the bus to the classroom each morning. Alright!

He is now riding the bus in the afternoon as well. He walks out with the group, the aides take the other kids to their special ed buses, and he will find his bus in the bus line. If you've been following this blog from day 1, you know about my color coding in the classroom. I put a yellow circle in the window of the bus and he's able to look down the line of buses and know exactly which one is his!

I couldn't be more proud. I've had several teachers comment, "He rides the regular bus?" and "Does he know where he's going?" Yes, he knows exactly where he's going. And he is so proud of that!

The ASD program is so new to this school. They have a "cookie cutter" thought of how things should look (i.e. ALL ASD KIDS ride the Special Ed bus). We're achieving success daily... by riding the big bus.

Suspended.

Gotcha! Not one of my kids. Another student. Read on to find out why.

An important day in history is happening on Monday. One of my students, yes - an "ASD student," is going to travel to school on..... a BIG BUS!

His parents pushed the school district for their son to be allowed to join his peers on the regular school bus. He lives less than 2 miles from the school, yet spends 30 minutes on a special ed bus every morning. His brother doesn't leave the house until 30 minutes after him!

So, after many conferences, notes, letters, confrontations, and requests, they are getting what they want. (I am so happy). The school district was not exactly supportive of this change. They continued to say, "Part of the ASD program includes ASD transportation on the special ed bus." They have a hard time thinking outside the box. Sometimes I think they might be ASD students themselves (ASD student = ASD bus = ASD program, NOTHING DIFFERENT). This is a kid who is probably my highest functioning and is very socially aware. He is capable of walking from the bus into my classroom each morning. His parents asked me in the parent conference if I thought he was capable. I said yes. Apparently, that got me into trouble, because they used that in their plea bargaining to get the regular transportation (i.e. "Mrs. Smith told us he was capable.") I got caught in the middle of it all, because I speak the truth and advocate for my kids. I brushed it off because I knew it was for a good cause. I continued to tell them that I would meet him at the regular bus in the beginning, that he could come to my classroom early (before the bell), etc. They just don't think he can do it.

They have this vision in their heads that he's going to get off the bus and not know where to go. They might be forgetting that this is a kid with autism who, more than most kids at the school, is very capable of following the same routine each day. I've told them he'll be fine. I've told them that even if he does wander in the wrong direction, he'd eventually find my room. This is life that we're living here. There won't always be a special ed bus. This is a total breakthrough for my program: to know that the kids are capable of riding on the regular ed bus. The sad thing is, it will only happen if the parents push for it.

Well, apparently one of the "typical" (what is typical anyway?) kids on the regular ed bus heard that my little boy was starting on Monday. He told my student's brother that he was, "Going to beat up his dorky brother on the bus on Monday." Brother promptly told the assistant principal and said student is suspended for three days for making threats and bullying. Booyah.

Here's to successful trips on the big bus. Not only do we achieve success daily in the classroom, but now we've moved out to the real world: the big bus. I'll keep you posted.

Random Acts of Kindness, Patience, and Understanding

10-30-09

To Whom it May Concern:

I wanted to express my gratitude for an act of kindness, patience, and understanding that was displayed by one of your employees on Friday, October 30, 2009 at Burger King in [Name of Town]. I teach students with disabilities at [Name of School] in [Name of Town]. We have a very important part of our curriculum in which we participate in “Community Based Instruction.” This instruction includes trips to surrounding community locations to practice functional skills. My students participate in these trips because it gives them an opportunity to practice communication skills, social skills, appropriate community behavior, making purchases, waiting for change, cleaning up their table, and other skills that will last a lifetime.

Due to our special circumstances, we often take “a little longer” than the average customer at Burger King. A [Name of Company] employee was standing behind us in line and watching us as we facilitated the educational experience for our students. When my colleague and I tried to pay for our meal, as we were gathering the kids to sit down, this gentleman offered to pay for our meals. We declined, but he insisted. He said that we were, “Doing a wonderful thing.” He covered our meals and smiled.

It is not often that our class experiences such acceptance and patience from a complete stranger. We were touched by this generous gesture and we felt the need to recognize this small, but meaningful act of kindness.

Respectfully Yours,

Sarah Smith

[Name of School] Autism Program