Monday, December 19, 2016

A-LIST Spotlight--Jamie Zimmer, Kettering Middle School

We are excited to feature A-LIST member Jamie Zimmer from Kettering Middle School on today's A-LIST Spotlight!


Upon entering Jamie's middle school classroom, it is evident that she has a knack for organization and is able to provide structure in a stylish way which we know is important for middle school!

Jamie uses the evidence-based practice of Visual Supports when organizing and structuring her space. 

She has a homebase area clearly defined by a calming sheer blue curtain. 


She uses visual picture icons for her adorable job board. 

And has these great framed mini-schedules for each period of the school day so students know what will be accomplished during each time of day. She even uses dry erase markers to cartoon visual reminders as well.

Jamie also uses Ellison cut outs to label and organize her structured work systems to make it easier for students to locate their needed work.


We also love how Jamie uses visual supports for organizing material prep for her staff.

A BIG thank you to Jamie for welcoming us into her classroom so we could share all of these wonderful supports! Thank you for being a valued member of our A-LIST!

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Around Town Roundup--Reducing Visual Clutter

Many individuals with autism have difficulty processing environmental stimuli and are easily distracted. Research has shown that an instructional environment with few visual and auditory distractions is preferable. This helps the student to focus on the concepts being taught while reducing competing distractions. Often when students with autism are presented with too much visual or auditory input, processing may slow down, or if overloaded, processing may stop completely. During this Around Town Roundup we want to highlight three key ways to reduce visual clutter in the classroom.



1. Use physical boundaries to divide classroom space.
Brian Frimel, Bradford Elementary, Bradford Exempted Village Schools

Athenia Eversole, Versailles Elementary, Versailles Exempted Village Schools

Amy Beanblossom, Arcanum Elementary, Arcanum-Butler Schools

Brittany Bush, Spinning Hills MS, Mad River Local Schools

Jamie Zimmer, Kettering MS, Kettering City Schools

Laura Brown, Perrin Woods Elementary, Springfield City Schools

Kenzie Bruggeman, Versailles Elementary, Versailles Exempted Village Schools


2. Cover open shelves with a solid fabric.
Laura Brown, Perrin Woods Elementary, Springfield City Schools

Taylor Ruef, Stevenson Elementary, Mad River Local Schools


Mrs. P's Specialties!

3. Put extraneous materials and supplies in cabinets, boxes, drawers, or folders.
Carrie Prickett, Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg City Schools

Taylor Ruef, Stevenson Elementary, Mad River Local Schools

Kendall Koehler, Normandy Elementary, Centerville City Schools
Taylor Ruef, Stevenson Elementary, Mad River Local Schools

Kenzie Bruggeman, Versailles Elementary, Versailles Exempted Village Schools

Friday, December 2, 2016

A-LIST Spotlight--Rebecca Lemons, Miamisburg Middle School

The Autism Coaching Team recently had the opportunity to visit our A-LIST member, Rebecca Lemons in her classroom at Miamisburg Middle School. As always we were impressed with her organization and supports in place and would like to share all of the great ideas in this A-LIST Spotlight!


When we were in Rebecca's classroom we were able to see many of the functional skills she was working on including sorting the football team uniforms by size, stocking toothbrushes, and working on independent tasks using a structured work approach. 




Rebecca also has great use of visual supports including a visual schedules adapted to student needs, 





Visual break choices


And visual classroom expectations and reminders.


We love how Rebecca incorporated a student's special interest in Spongebob to make his token board for earning time on the iPad.

Rebecca's classroom has fantastic visual and physical boundaries to separate designated areas for breaks/leisure, independent work, and group activities at the table. We really loved how she arranged her teacher time location with very little distractions and materials needed for progress monitoring and instruction close by!

Thanks again Rebecca for sharing your room with us and for being a great member of the A-LIST!

Monday, November 28, 2016

Around Town Roundup--Supporting Content Instruction

During our visits to various classrooms we get the chance to see many creative ways teachers are supporting content instruction in multi-sensory ways. Sometimes this is through visually presenting learning targets and I Can statements, through embedding higher-level concepts into daily routines, or developing engaging lessons for students. During our latest Around Town Roundup we want to highlight some of the innovative ways we have seen content covered throughout the Miami Valley.

Sometimes content standards and learning targets can be tricky for students to understand so we love to see different ways teachers are presenting them in the classroom. 

We love this pocket chart with all of the I Can Statements for a unit on Earth. 
Brittany Bush, Spinning Hills, Mad River Local Schools


Using Boardmaker icons to illustrate the I Can Statements is another great way to present them in a way students can better understand.
Emily Ottmar, Stevenson Elementary, Mad River Local Schools


We love mini-schedules to help students understand the expectation. This handy poster has space to include the subject, activities, and I Can statement. And we would love to share this resource which can be found by clicking HERE or by clicking on the picture.


We also love this Focus Wall which introduces the core vocabulary for the unit of study. 
Laura Brown, Perrin Woods Elementary, Springfield City Schools


Or this variation where students can match the words to the pictures which are used to illustrate various vocabulary terms.
Taylor Ruef, Stevenson Elementary, Mad River Local Schools


We love how this classroom made a bulletin board to highlight their classroom's Bill of Rights and used terms that could be easily understood by students.  
Brian Frimel, Bradford Elementary, Bradford Exempted Village Schools


And this bulletin board illustrates the Scientific Method:
Laura Brown, Perrin Woods Elementary, Springfield City Schools

In this classroom, the teacher uses higher level community helper positions to label the classroom jobs such as "reporter", "electrician", and "veterinarian" so that these vocabulary terms are embedded into students' every day lives and so they start to learn what they mean in a functional way.
Anne Rosenbaum, Orchard Park Elementary, Kettering City Schools


Other ways we have seen higher level concepts embedded into classrooms include labeling horizontal and vertical lines in the door way,
Brian Frimel, Bradford Elementary, Bradford Exempted Village Schools


including environmental print in a dramatic play center,
Jessica Burns, Demmit Elementary, Vandalia-Butler City Schools

a bulletin board pinpointing addresses for the students in the class, 
Anne Rosenbaum, Orchard Park Elementary, Kettering City Schools



or a phonics bulletin board which groups hunks and chunks (Phonics Dance) and peanut butter and jelly/layered cake sounds (Stevenson Reading program) by sound.
Athenia Eversole, Versailles Elementary, Versailles Exempted Village Schools


Sometimes teachers incorporate multi-sensory techniques into activities and learning centers. Like this illustrated thematic word wall in the writing center.
Jessica Burns, Demmit Elementary, Vandalia-Butler City Schools

Or this Read It-Build It-Write It mat for spelling
Amy Stammen, Versailles Elementary, Versailles Exempted Village Schools


Or these great sequencing tubs for Brown Bear, Brown Bear.



Or using art projects to allow students to explore their senses like these tactile crayon rubbings pumpkins
McKinley Elementary, Xenia Community Schools

For more ideas on incorporating multi-sensory techniques to support content instruction sign up for our FREE upcoming workshop: