Everyone says you must have visuals in an autism classroom. But everyone assumes you know what that means or that these visuals will somehow magically solve students’ behavioral problems. While they can’t do that, they are a really important component of your classroom (and not just for those with autism, either). In this episode, I discuss seven reasons why you need to use visual schedules in your classroom.

3:32​ - The 1st reason helps with your primary goal for students

5:10 - Reason #2 helps cut down on arguments between you and the student

5:54 - Why the actual visual aspect of visual schedules is important

7:07 - How the 4th reason relieves student stress and anxiety

8:40 - Reason number 5 sounds obvious but helps those with difficulty processing information around them

9:38 - The 6th reason reveals a common trait for special ed students (and honestly, a large part of society in general)

10:38 - The final reason why you want to use visual schedules

11:35 - One more thing you need to know to make visual schedules useful in your classroom

Grab the transcript, freebie and resource links at http://autismclassroomresources.com/episode137

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Just the facts, ma’am. That’s the attitude you need to have when you’re collecting antecedent behavior consequence data in a functional behavior assessment. Like I talked about last week, you want to keep your emotions out of it. In this episode, I want to get a little more specific and follow up with a couple more things to think about when taking ABC data, including a strategy to help you amend some of them if your classroom staff have difficulty keeping emotions out of it.

1:36​ - What you can do if you think you know the function of the student’s behavior

3:01 - Why making assumptions about the behavior data you gather can backfire

5:40 - Examples of how underlying causes of behavior can be different in the same scenario

7:16 - The mistake to avoid with your factual observations after taking the data

8:57 - One thing that can help if classroom staff struggle with sticking to the facts

Grab the transcript, freebie and resource links at http://autismclassroomresources.com/episode136

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Students learn their ABCs, but special ed teachers need to know their ABC. When dealing with challenging behavior from students, you need to collect antecedent behavior consequence data (a.k.a. ABC) so you can figure out the why behind the behavior. In fact, it can give you all kinds of information, but only if you take it correctly. In this episode, I reveal some specific things you need to know in order to correctly collect ABC data.

2:​16 - The first thing you need to know about collecting ABC data

4:07 - What do consequences mean when talking about antecedent behavior consequence data

5:12 - One of the biggest issues I see when using ABC data sheets

6:24 - How to be objective while recording antecedent behavior consequence data

8:56 - Why objectivity in ABC data collection is so important

11:17 - One last thing you must include in your data collection

Grab the transcript, freebie and resource links at http://autismclassroomresources.com/episode135

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For a lot of special educators, data is the giant elephant in the room. It gets treated like that kind of a four-letter word when it’s not. Now I’m a huge data geek, so much so that I wrote a book about it. But I know data only helps you if it’s real, reliable, and teachable. So in this episode, I talk about how you can use data in a real classroom, with real students for group instruction.

3:​14 - The key to making data collection feel less painful

4:18 - What we know about taking instructional data and how my naturalistic data sheet is set up

6:29 - How to take data on multiple points for multiple students during group activity

7:45 - Do you necessarily have to be the one to run the group activity?

9:59 - Another way to more easily record instructional data

10:23 - Tips for making instructional data collection work in your classroom

Grab the transcript, freebie and resource links at http://autismclassroomresources.com/episode107

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You’ve collected some classroom data, so now what? Leaving it sitting in a binder doesn’t help anybody; therefore, it’s critical that you set up systems for regular analysis. We take this data for legal reasons, to show progress, but most importantly, to troubleshoot any learning issues confronting our students. 

In this episode, I discuss how to make analysis happen and the three elements to consider for developing systems that ensure the data gets analyzed and is practical for your classroom.

4:40 - The biggest takeaway from what little research exists on classroom data collection

6:14 - A tool that makes graphing your classroom data easier than ever

9:22 - How my ex-preschool’s strategy can help you fit this into everything else you have to do

10:52 - Two keys to adapting the preschool’s strategy to work for you

12:56 - Why paraprofessionals must get on-board with the analysis process

Grab the transcript, freebie and resource links at http://autismclassroomresources.com/episode88

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When it comes to data collection, there’s no one-size-fits-all, and it involves way more than just finding the right datasheet. You have to ensure you build a system with the right data, not more data. So today is all about focusing on data systems. 

In this episode, I walk you through how to get started and what you need to consider when creating your systems for instructional data collection.

3:14​ - The question I get asked a LOT about data collection and why there’s no real answer

4:48 - Why quality over quantity matters when collecting data

6:06 - Two things you must be aware of when you’re collecting data

7:52 - How to get started on building a strategy for data collection

11:04 - Why you need to integrate your data plan with your zoning plan and what to look for afterward

12:41 - The final key about data collection systems I must reveal

Grab the transcript, freebie and resource links at http://autismclassroomresources.com/episode87

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Wouldn’t it be nice to have data collection work for you instead of against you? I hear from teachers all the time that data collection is one of the most difficult things to figure out. You get told to take it but not how. In this episode, I cover the three most important aspects of the data you collect and five things you can do to improve your data collection over the next few months.

1:45​ - Three things your collected data must be

3:03 - How to write data-friendly goals

7:37 - How to make a data plan (and why it’s critical)

10:09 - Creating a data collection system for your classroom

12:27 - How to correctly analyze the data you’ve collected

14:25 - Using your data to write your next set of goals

Grab the transcript, freebie and resource links at http://autismclassroomresources.com/episode22

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As a leader of the classroom, you’ve done everything you needed to do to set up your staff for success. You’ve created the zoning plan, trained them, and provided feedback to them (and received feedback in kind). But what do you do when things still aren’t going well with the staff? That’s the really hard question I tackle in today’s episode, so buckle in!

1:57​ - What to do if you have concerns about student safety due to a staff member’s behavior

4:13 - The mindset you must have in order to lead classroom staff effectively

6:15 - Where to start when someone on your staff isn’t performing as planned

7:25 - How to address a problem you see with anyone on the classroom staff

10:03 - What to do if the staff member’s issue keeps repeating itself

Grab the transcript, freebie and resource links at http://autismclassroomresources.com/episode134

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You went into education wanting to teach kids, not manage adults. But to run a special ed classroom takes a village--one you need to lead--and that takes the form of your classroom staff. I’ve dedicated this month to discuss how to train that staff and so far in this series, I’ve talked about setting up the classroom structure for them and addressed three of the most common roadblocks in training them. 

In this episode, I continue with how you can give meaningful feedback in the classroom when you have no time for one-on-one collaboration.

2:35​ - Why giving feedback is such a critical training tool

4:23 - Why you don’t want to wait to give feedback to your staff

6:15 - My first tip for having meaningful feedback

8:35 - An easy way you can provide feedback

9:28 - A way I love to share positive feedback, in particular

11:13 - The golden ratio of positive-to-negative feedback and how to integrate it

Grab the transcript, freebie and resource links at http://autismclassroomresources.com/episode133

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Special education classrooms are unique in that they have a level of supervision not seen in other areas of the school. In running the classroom, you have a staff and are expected to train, but you’re not really a supervisor nor have a hand in selecting who’s on the staff. And with the students taking up so much time, you also don’t have a lot of opportunities to train them, either.

In today’s episode, I focus on three of the biggest roadblocks you’ll face in training your staff and ways you can clear those roadblocks.

3:32​ - How to deal with the first roadblock to training your classroom staff

5:30 - Does everyone on the staff need this?

7:26 - My rule of thumb for handling the second roadblock that can come up

10:57 - Some solutions for clearing arguably the biggest roadblock of all

Grab the transcript, freebie and resource links at http://autismclassroomresources.com/episode132

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