IT’S NEVER TOO LATE – NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE ELSE SAYS

Unfortunately, far too often, I find both parents and teachers seem to think that by the time a kid gets to high school, they are who they are and that they don’t have the same potential for growth as they once did. DON’T THINK THAT! I have literally seen students come out of segregated “special” program classrooms in middle school, get what they need and become honor roll students in high school, or get the job offer of their dreams when finishing up their high school experience. Yes, it is hard to constantly be told how low your child’s FAST scores or iReady scores or Brigance scores or…. are and not have a sense of dread and defeat, but I encourage you to dig down deep and push that garbage right out the window. If you’re anything like me, you learn something new ALL of the time, and I am certainly NO spring-chicken. If we’re breathing, we can be learning, and it doesn’t matter who you are, what your needs are, what someone else with fancy letters after their name has determined your IQ to be – you CAN learn new things and create better outcomes towards a more meaningful future.

EASY TO USE HIGH SCHOOL TIPS

While I try to get down off my soapbox, in this week’s email I wanted to share some tips on how teachers (mostly, but parents you can do this too, AND you can encourage your teachers to give this stuff a try) can implement some pretty simple strategies into their classrooms to build and encourage comprehension, expressive communication, and interaction in the high school environment from the Center for Secondary Education for Students with ASD. If it were me, I would arrange the following tips into a checklist of sorts and cross them off as I implement them and watch for an impact.

1. Visual Supports

Provide objects, gestures, pictures, or written cues to support comprehension and expressive communication in the classroom.

• Use pictures or writing with verbal directions and questions to support understanding.

• Give cards with conversation starters, topics, or jokes to promote interaction during lunch or other times during the day.

2. Additional Processing Time

Build in extra time for support in processing and responding to directions or questions presented to the class.

• Make sure to pause for at least 5 seconds after giving a direction or asking a question

3. Opportunities for Communication

Arrange the environment in a way that encourages, and even necessitates communication.

• On occasion, put away materials that are necessary for a familiar routine (e.g., worksheet) so the student has to communicate in order to get the materials.

• Embed times for casual conversation during the day, just as you would see students doing during the day, similar to what you may see during passing time between classes.

• Use topics of interest to the student during class to increase interactions.

• Offer students the opportunity to communicate a choice whenever possible.

4. Modeling

Demonstrate and identify appropriate use of communication and social skills.

• Take short videos of other high school students (or your student) modeling appropriate communication and social skills and show the videos to your student. (I LOVE THIS ONE)

• Use classroom staff or peers to model skills live (e.g., turn taking in conversation, initiating an interaction)

5. Peer Supports and Social Connections

Find other high school students that may be able to support the student with communication and social connections in class or around school.

• Find clubs or sports teams for the student to join that align with his/her interests

• Arrange a lunch group with other high school students (e.g., Lunch Bunch)

• Start peer programs or have high school student interns in your classroom

About six years ago, I heard about the Peers as Partners in Learning program that was developed by the Florida Inclusion Network at Timber Creek High School in Orlando. This program CAN be replicated, and you can see a video on it here. If you’ve got a kid in high school (or you one day will), check out what they have accomplished, talk to your administration, and find out when they can start. 😊 Many of the above suggestions are part of the work they’ve done at Timber Creek and can be replicated on any high school campus – What is needed (as is in most cases) is a little push by a passionate parent!

For more blogs packed with lots of info, check out this page or this page or this page.

Happy Advocating!