We are excited to add Amanda McCormick to our A-LIST! Amanda is an intervention specialist in a self-contained classroom at Driscoll Elementary in Centerville. In today's A-LIST Spotlight, we are highlighting some of the wonderful best practices Amanda uses in her classroom.
Amanda‘s use of classroom structure and center rotations allow her to engage students with diverse needs.
Students use visuals and visual schedules for almost
everything in and outside of the classroom. There is a visual schedule posted
for each student outlining their day. This is location-based so they take the
schedule piece to the appropriate area for the activity.
Each adult in the classroom has a set of commonly used visuals on a ring that they can carry at all times. Pairing a visual with verbal instruction has been key for communication and student understanding.
She also use a color coded schedule for centers. Students
carry these schedules to each center and place the corresponding color card
into the envelope of the center. Each center meets 1:1 or 1:2 with an adult for
academics, something independent (such as task boxes) or go on sensory breaks
as needed.
At the task box center,
students have visuals to match to their assigned tasks in which they complete
and place in a “finished” pile.
She uses a mailbox system in which students each have a drawer that is color-coded where they place their folders with their daily news (communication sheets) each morning. Any work that is to be turned in is placed in the teacher “mailbox” and anything that is being sent home is placed into their individual mailboxes. At the end of the day, students fill out their daily news and place all papers in their “mailbox” into their folders to go home.
For whole group instruction
Amanda uses a 1-2-3 system in which students choose a preferred reward and
instruction is separated into 3 parts. As each part is finished, the numbers go
away and each student receives their reward at the end of the lesson. This
system is also used when working 1:1 or in small groups with students. This
looks different for each student when working 1:1 - one student may only need
to complete 3 tasks and another student may need to complete 3 sets of tasks.
Amanda communicates well with her paraprofessional support team to ensure all students participate during small group and whole group instruction.
When addressing behavioral challenges, Amanda is a great
problem solver. She takes the time to collect and analyze data and looks at the
function of the behavior.
Transitions throughout the building can be tricky for some
students. Amanda created a character walk for one student who struggled with
transitions. This student has a folder of their favorite characters and
throughout the building there are pictures of the characters’ scenes. When
transitioning throughout the building, this student places the characters onto
the scene(s) along the route to the destination. When transitioning back to the
classroom, the student collects the characters. Since implementing this, Amanda
said this student no longer elopes/runs during transitions!
Amanda understands the importance of proactively scheduled
breaks to keep her students regulated. Each student has a schedule that is
specific to them and their needs.
She also meets student sensory needs by using dividers to reduce distractions and visual clutter.
The team works hard to model and facilitate functional
communication across the day. Amanda
helps her staff understand the specific communication needs/goals for each of
her students. With the help of the SLP, a variety of devices and AAC strategies
are implemented.
Amanda is implementing so many of the evidence-based practices we recommend. We think she will be a great role model to show these important strategies in action.
Thanks for being such a wonderful extension of our team, Amanda!
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