Around Town Round Up-- Forced Choice Method

The “Forced Choice” method of instruction is one whereby you provide two or more discrete choices about what to do, rather than offering open ended choices or an option for choosing nothing.  This is sometimes a helpful strategy to use when providing direction to a student who has oppositional, argumentative or avoidant behavior. A forced choice of two or more acceptable options allows the teacher to provide the student a sense of control while limiting the options to only those that are reasonable and acceptable in the situation.  Keep in mind that, for many students, making choices can be difficult or even overwhelming, so keeping the choice to just two is probably best for many students. Forced choices can be used in a variety of ways throughout the school day. In today's Around Town Round Up we have gathered up some great examples across activities.

Academics
In this example, students are given one assignment and then they have a choice for what they do after completing the assignment. 

Marie Reikowski
Demmitt Elementary, Vandalia

For a student who struggles with staying seated and participating during Calendar Time, the teacher provided the choice to be a helper and now he is a star student!

Jenna Fitch
Helke Elementary, Vandalia

When completing tasks, let students choose which task card they want to do next. This is a simple and effective way to share control during work times.

This teacher incorporates forced choices for what the student has to do during work times and what reward they get to earn.

Emily Ottmar
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Choice boards are also a good way to give students a way to communicate their desires during activities if they have limited verbal communication or initiation skills. This is also an example of a forced choice because the teacher limited the song choices to those listed. 

Jackie Vollmer
Driscoll Elementary, Centerville

Structured Work
When implementing a structured work station or taskboxes, the forced choice method can be used in a variety of ways. Students can choose the order in which they complete tasks or they can choose which tasks they want to put in their sequence. 

Lindsey Woods
Fairborn Primary, Fairborn

Jared Taylor
Simon Kenton Elementary, Springfield

Older students can be given choices of what work they want to complete in a binder pocket or folder system.

Jennifer Jette
Vandalia-Butler High School, Vandalia

Bobbi Jo Chapman
Snyder Park Elementary, Springfield

Sensory Time
The forced choice method is a great way to get student buy in so they are more willing to engage in sensory activities. With guidance from the student's OT, provide a menu of sensory options for the student to choose from during proactively schedules sensory breaks. These choices can be used in isolation or as part of a sequence of activities. 

Allysson Rudnicki
Tipp High School, Tipp City 

JFK Elementary, Kettering

Chris Barhorst
Wright Brothers Elementary, Huber Heights

Leslie Mann
Demmitt Elementary, Vandalia

Horace Mann Elementary
Springfield

Keelin DiMuccio
Fairbrook Elementary, Beavercreek

Robbie Whorton
Trotwood-Madison High School, Trotwood

Schedules
We have seen some incredible staff flexibility in allowing students forced choices when setting up daily schedules. In these examples, students complete a combination of teacher-directed and student chosen activities throughout the day to keep positive momentum and maintain shared control. 

Stephanie Foreman
South Vienna Elementary, Northeastern

Therese Garison
Helke Elementary, Vandalia

Free Time
Providing forced choices during free time or reward time limits students to activities that are acceptable and available at that time. This can be handy if you are limited on time or if you do not have access to a particular activity at that time. Visual choice boards or lists can help students know what they are allowed to choose from. 

Jackie Vollmer
Driscoll Elementary, Centerville

Leslie Mann
Demmitt Elementary, Vandalia

Taylor Ruef
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Transitions
When transitioning out of the classroom, let students choose where they want to stand in line by using visual cues. 

Jessica Burns
Demmitt Elementary Preschool, Vandalia

Amy Beanblossom
Arcanum-Butler Elementary, Arcanum

And when transitioning to a seated activity, give students seating options.

Kim Kohlrus
Beverly Gardens Elementary, Mad River

Lindy McDaniel
Considerate Classroom

Random
To add variety but still get buy-in from students, some teachers use a random draw system using spinners or dice. These are best used for students who are able to demonstrate some flexibility and do not need total control. 

Rylie Jarrett
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

The forced choice method should be proactively planned for so that students are given the choice at the start of an activity. Although this can also be an effective reactive strategy, for some students it may appear as though initial demands are always negotiable. Before presenting a demand to a student, think of ways you can set it up as a choice to avoid power struggles and set up shared control from the start. 

Around Town Round Up-- Anchor Activities

We have found that "down" time can be extremely challenging for our referral students. They often struggle with how to fill the time appropriately and too much unstructured time can sometimes lead to increased anxiety and/or behavior issues. 

In today's Around Town Round Up, we will provide some ideas for anchor activities (Tomlinson, 2001) that can be used throughout the day to provide additional structure during otherwise unstructured times. 

What are anchor activities?

Anchor activities are specified ongoing activities on which students work independently which may include ongoing assignments that students can work on throughout a unit or previously determined activities the student has mastered or enjoys doing. 

Why use anchor activities?

• provide a strategy for teachers to deal with “ragged time” when students complete work at different times
• they allow the teacher to work with individual students or groups
• provides ongoing activities that relate to the content of the unit or IEP goals
• allow the teacher to develop independent group work strategies

When can you use anchor activities?

• at the beginning of the day
• when other assigned work is completed
• at times when there is unanticipated “down” time
• at the end of the day before going home
• while waiting for assistance from the teacher

Examples:

Having individual student book bins provides students with books that they can read independently. 

Kim Hampton
Broadway Elementary, Tipp City 

This "Construction Zone" is an area of the classroom where students can place unfinished assignments to work on later.

Heather Balkcom
Springcreek Primary, Piqua

When waiting during transitions, students in Rachel Hatton's class wait in their individual chairs and can read books or play with fidgets provided under their waiting chair.

Rachel Hatton
Normandy Elementary, Centerville

These students have individual clipboards of unfinished work to complete as an anchor activity.

Alexa Willis
Snyder Park Elementary, Springfield

These fine motor bins are an fun activity for students to work on each morning. The assigned bin rotates regularly to keep kids engaged.

Kathy Timmerman
Fairbrook Elementary, Beavercreek

This "Finished Choice" bin has reinforcing activities for students to work on if they finish early. It is portable and provides quick clean-up for transitions.

Taylor Ruef
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Similar to the two examples above, these early finishers tasks provide a variety of fun activities for students. 

Chalk One Up For The Teacher

For more great ideas on anchor activities visit our Pinterest Board: Anchor Activities and Early Finisher Tasks

Around Town Round Up-- Speech Bubble/ Thought Bubble

Many students with autism and other social-communication deficits struggle with knowing when it is socially appropriate to say what they think and when it is better to only think those thoughts. For today's  Around Town Round Up our wonderful SLP, Carol Dittoe, will focus on strategies for teaching the skill of Speech Bubbles and Thought Bubbles.

We know the importance of presenting concepts and expectations to our students in a visual way.  Consider creating a speech bubble and a thought bubble that can be presented as a visual tool.  Laminate the tool and make it big enough to allow you or your students to write on it.

Speech bubble 

This image allows you to illustrate the importance of initiating important communication functions such as greeting, requesting, asking questions or giving feedback.  The speech bubble can remind students to “use words” to communicate rather than communicating with unexpected behaviors or expecting others to be mind readers.

Thought bubble 

The use of this visual is a great way to illustrate the concept of “thought”.  Some of our students may assume that every thought should be said out loud.  Teaching the concept of “keep it in your thought bubble” allows a student to have thoughts that they can keep to themselves or save for later when talking is expected. Teaching “keep it in your thought bubble” is a positive way to cue a student to “stop talking”.  If you have a student who often interrupts during instruction, you can prompt them to write it in a thought bubble and assure them that they can share this thought later.

Here is an activity to try:

• Laminate a stack of index cards with speech bubbles and thought bubbles. 
• Write words (draw simple pictures for non-readers) in the bubbles. 
• Quickly present the cards to the students and ask them to say all the words in the speech bubbles out loud, but keep the words in the thought bubbles in their mind.  This is a fun way to practice switching between speaking thoughts and keeping thoughts “in the bubble”. 
• Students can practice this activity on their own by working in pairs.

Other Activity ideas:

We have seen some other great examples of ways to practice this skill including the use of Speech Bubble/Thought Bubble dry erase boards, post-it notes, and even headbands for role playing!

Athenia Eversole
Versailles Elementary, Versailles

Cartooning:

Speech bubbles and thought bubbles can be used together in a cartoon format to illustrate social situations and show the perspective of others. For example, a student who does not see the perspective of another person may say comments that are true, but not realize they are being hurtful.  A cartoon with speech bubbles and thought bubbles allows you to illustrate what others may think and feel in response to unexpected words or behaviors.  Sometimes our students become upset when they misunderstand the intentions of others in a social situation. Showing the thoughts of others may help a student better understand the intentions of others.  While all of these thoughts and intentions can be explained verbally, we know that visual information is processed much more effectively than auditory information. When processing social situations, verbal dialogue alone can often overwhelm your student.  Visual strategies, such as cartooning can help illustrate difficult to grasp concepts about the social situation in a more effective and less stressful manner.

Learn More

If you are interested in learning more about these strategies there are some wonderful resources out there for you. 

Click the speech and thought bubbles below to be taken to the SocialThinking website for an article by Michelle Garcia Winner. 

Or to learn more about Cartooning click the book below to see where to purchase Comic Strip Conversations by Carol Gray.

Organization Station-- Centers

Many of the teams we coach have time dedicated to their day to small group and 1:1 rotations frequently called "Centers". Today's Organization Station will share some of the great ideas we have seen in the region for organizing staff and students during these centers rotations.

When organizing the classroom layout for centers, some teachers have a designated location for each center.

Rachel Hatton
Normandy Elementary, Centerville

Jessica Ward
Rolling Hills Elementary, Northeastern

Brittany Sword
Valley Elementary, Beavercreek

Jody Chick
Yellow Springs High School, Yellow Springs

Other teachers use the same areas for multiple centers and will use visuals to indicate all of the different uses.

Jennifer McGowan
Smith Middle School, Vandalia-Butler

Kate Tipple
Helke Elementary, Vandalia-Butler

There are also teachers who use generic visuals to mark one location so that it can be used for a variety of centers.

Jessica Ward
Rolling Hills Elementary, Northeastern

To help students transition during centers times, many teachers use location-based schedules.

This team combines structured work with their student schedules and designates the tasks to be completed using numbers next to each scheduled subjects.

Carrie Prickett
Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg

Toni Mallott
Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg

We love this use of schedule cross-bars for the centers times.

Emily Ottmar
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River Local Schools

For students who are readers, a written checklist is a great tool for organizing centers time. In this resource room, students rotate to different centers daily so each day has a different written checklists which students can get each day when they come in for their intervention block.

Sandy Beck
Broadway Elementary, Tipp City

In some classrooms, the centers may only change daily so a chart can be used to group students and let them know where to go.

Kate Pennington
Kettering Early Childhood Education Center, Kettering

It is important to organize staff each day as well and to provide them with schedules and reminders. Adults need visuals too!

Amy Beanblossom
Arcanum-Butler Elementary, Arcanum-Butler

Amy Beanblossom
Arcanum-Butler Elementary, Arcanum-Butler

Carrie Prickett
Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg