Archive for May, 2010

IEPs can be very stressful for teachers of any grade level or experience. However, there are things that parents can do to help reduce the stress on the special education teacher so that an autistic child gets the highest quality of care and guidance possible. A happy teacher can help to make a child’s educational experience – and IEP – even better. As an educator, it’s your responsibility to start building strong partnerships with parents, rather than administrators, to ensure that the IEP gets carried out easily and effectively.

Here are some easy things you can do as a teacher to reduce the stress of IEPs:
• Work with the parents to put a plan in place at the start of the school year so that you both have a roadmap of where the child needs to go (and what needs to be done).

• Get accurate contact information for the parents. Sometimes teachers overlook this simple information and when the time comes to contact the parent for assistance, it can become even more stressful. Take the time early on to establish contacts and contact guidelines.

• Set realistic expectations and goals for yourself as an educator. Besides IEPs, you have meetings, paperwork, lesson plans, maintaining parent communications, and students to teach. Reduce stress by managing your workload and setting expectations for what you can accomplish.

• Review successes in the IEP if you start to feel discouraged. Talk to the parents and recap on the progress the child has made.

• Organize your classroom and all of the paperwork associated with the IEP or the particular student. Organization can greatly reduce stress and make it easier to keep up with a student’s progress.

• Make it a point to address parent concerns and complaints as soon as possible. This will ensure a more proactive and positive relationship between you and the parent.

• Communicate with the parents over the child’s behavior outside the classroom. Try to form observations on certain behaviors and use them to develop a more successful IEP. Keep revisiting the IEP throughout the year to adapt it to the child’s needs and development.

As Summertime approaches, we are often asked, “What are some good travel toys for kids on the autism spectrum?”  So, we at National Autism Resources wanted to share with you a list of our best travel toys for those with autism:

Wikki Stix Activity Set:

Wikki Stixs are bendable, colorful yarn that sticks to a surface with just fingertip pressure.  These provide an interesting tactile experience and also help fine motor skills. Children can make all kinds of art projects with no glue or mess.  Fun Activity Kit includes: 96 Wikki Stix, Wooden shapes, Feathers, Pompoms, 4 blank faces that are great for exploring emotions, 2 greeting cards, Do-Wikki Gam,e Wikkidoodle sheets, a Travel Fun Book and more!  The activity set comes in a convenient carrying case.

Vibration Buddy:

We love vibration buddies, these soft musical buddies play music and vibrate when squeezed.  The soothing vibration is good for calming and soothing kiddos when they get stressed out.  We appreciate that the manufacturers have included volume control.

Squishy Dino Set:

This is one of our most popular toys.  These dinos are rubbery and squishy with little beads inside.  They are wonderful for imaginative play, incredibly sturdy, and provide great sensory input.

Knobby Teether Ball:

This is a teether ball that a child can hold and chew on. Many teachers use these during circle time to help kids sit who also need to chew.   These are nice for airplane and car rides, particularly if your child is prone to chew on things.

Mini Light Spinner:

It’s easy to keep track of the mini light spinner because it has a break away necklace.  Visually mesmerizing a child can  wear it and watch the lights spin and flicker.

Mini Dozer:

This small, inexpensive item is not meant to be durable.  However, depending on the child, it can keep them occupied for awhile.

Tangle Jr:

Tangles are great for keeping hands busy on trips in the car, on a plane or anytime. The Tangle Jr. has  18 interconnected pieces that a child can quietly twist keeping their fingers quietly moving. Tangles are a great manipulative toy that stimulates the brain as it helps increase finger dexterity.

Let’s Make Faces Book:

This spiral bound book is designed to be drawn in.  Kids can draw in faces, wipe them clean, and then draw them again! A wonderful tool for exploring emotions and easy to travel with.

With four kids, who three are on the spectrum, you would think Kathleen from Autism Herd wouldn’t have the time of day to blog, but we are so happy she fits this into her hectic schedule and had the time to recently connect with us at National Autism Resources. We stumbled across her blog to spread awareness of the vast amount of Mom blogs who are blogging about their children and how autism and other special needs affects their lives days in and days out.  We love the humor and good love Kathleen sheds throughout each of her posts.  You can easily continue to read through her various posts about the everyday happenings with her and her children, the adventures and troubles that arise as well as other ramblings about the days.  Stop on over to Autism Herd and say hello to Kathleen and enjoy following her updates on how life keeps her busy.