Blog Posts - Ms Palmer's Classroom - Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) in Action New Westminster School District #40 -Behaviour Support for Teachers and students

Learning to work in a group setting - Circle Time

3/13/2015

One important early learner skill is being able to learn as part of a group. None of our students were able to do this when they started school in September. Through careful shaping of their behaviour, using prompting and reinforcement, I am thrilled to say that they can now take part in Circle Time.

Our Circle Time is short and very predictable. Students check their schedule and find the Circle Time card. They then bring it and their chair to the Smartboard room and place their card on the Circle Time sign. Next they push their chairs to the table and sit down. Easy - not at all. It has taken months of hard work for all of us.

Next we sing the "Hello" song to each student. Then, Avery fills out the calendar on the Smartboard while the others watch. They enjoy hearing the names of the week. We have a song and activity for about 5 minutes and then close with the "Goodby" song. Circle Time lasts about 15 minutes altogether. This is a long time for our little ones to sit, follow directions and pay attention to an adult or screen.

One of our activities has been 5 Green and Speckled Frogs. I found the Raffi version (my own children's favourite) along with a video. This day we did some painting. It was a great success! I'm particularly thrilled with the interest they showed in each other's painting.

PS - How did they make such great art without getting covered in paint? I slipped card stock into ziplock bags and then squirted in the paint. This is also good for students who don't like to touch paint. These are the best speckled frogs sitting on a log that I have seen!

Our Swimming program (Warm Water Therapy)

3/10/2015

Swimming is offered to CSSI classrooms each year. Although we could have had 12 weeks at the beginning of the year I opted to wait until after Christmas and only attend for six weeks. There has been some research into the benefits of specific hydrotherapy or swimming programs which shows there could be increased in social responsiveness and fitness.

When considering whether a program or field trip is useful I always think of the skills that we will be working on. We missed considerable classroom teaching time to get to and from the pool. I also needed the support of parents as each child required one-to-one assistance and we were also required to provide a deck person. Luckily, our parents came through for us!

Beginning February 3rd we travelled by school bus to Ellen Follensbee School. Ellen Follensbee is a school for children with multiple, complex learning needs. The school has a warm water therapy pool, change rooms and lots of fun toys and equipment. Our students wore life jackets and participated in games which helped them feel comfortable in the water and learn to take directions from other adults. Enjoyable moments were had by all. MANY THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR HARD WORK MAKING THIS A FUN ACTIVITY! SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PARENTS!

Becoming part of the community

2/3/2015

We now have buddies take part in our classroom activities every day. However, we are continuing to build bridges from our new classroom to the school and community of learners that we are a part of. We have been welcomed by word and actions to join in with other classes anytime - in the gym, on the playground or in the classroom. We are slowly joining in to activities with larger groups of other students. I try to fit the activity to the student - rather than force them into uncomfortable situations.

Before Christmas, Michael joined the Grade 3 class for floor hockey. Although he found the hockey stick a little hard to handle (although he did give it a try), he took part in the warm up and loved watching all the action!

Also just before the Winter Break, Avery and Cheyenne not only watched the dress rehearsal for the Winter Solstice performance but they were able to explore what it was like to become a performer, joining in with the choir.

Last Thursday Quest Theatre presented "Snow Angel" to the entire school. This was a fabulous opportunity to come and enjoy some drama! Watch the short clip from Quest's "Snow Angel" video below. You can imagine Avery and Joash's amazement when all the paper snowballs started raining down from the bleachers! They could have been overwhelmed but they handled it well and stayed for most of the play. I provided reinforcers for sitting and watching and provided each with a fidget to keep their hands busy. The students around us were sometimes surprised by some of the exclamations and sounds but it didn't stop anyone's enjoyment.

On Monday our class was invited to watch the Drama rehearsal of our Grade 5 buddy class. Michael, Avery and I went and enjoyed the production. Both boys used their good audience skills of watching, listening and sitting.

In each activity we have joined, our students were able to match their actions to those of the individuals around them. This is such an important social skill to learn so that everyone can enjoy themselves. We will continue to take advantage of these opportunities whenever they arrive!

Explorations in Drama, Art and Friendship

1/28/2015

I think I have said a few times before how lucky we are to be at Monterey Park Elementary School. This teachers, support staff and students seem to have a special gift for including and sharing with our classroom. That goes double for Mrs. Tennisco and Mrs. Chrisfield, our very talented, inclusive and caring Drama and Music Teachers. Once a week they each come to our class to share, inspire and teach.

Today was Drama Class. Mrs. Tennisco has spent many hours getting to know our students' strengths and designs her lessons to build on them. She brought with her a book - Harold and the Purple Crayon which was given to her by her first class. Avery was fascinated with its simple design and looked at it for a long time. Here is the story.

After reading the story to our class Mrs. Tennisco brought out a large piece of paper and purple crayons. We were intrigued! Avery went first but everyone had several turns.

We took a break to pick up our Grade 5 buddies to join in to the fun. You can see them using our student's names, favourite reinforcers and patience to keep them involved. The finished product is wonderful and is hanging on our bulletin board.

Thanks to all involved for a great experience.

Our Learning environment - schedule and structure

1/19/2015

We have spent a few very busy months getting to know each other. We have six students, Noah - Grade 4, Avery - Grade 3, Joash - Grade 2, Michael, Noah and Cheyenne - Grade 1. I am so lucky to have two exceptional Educational Assistants - Veronica and Shauna and as well as a temporary assistant on the team. We are also extremely fortunate to have both a Drama Teacher and a Music Teacher coming in each week.

visuals - adding meaning to our words and routines

Research has demonstrated that many individuals with autism understand their world better when pictures are presented along with written and spoken words. To help our students follow "the shape of their day" we are using Boardmaker symbols to show which activities will happen and in what order. Although our students do not yet read time, the adults in the classroom use the same kind of schedule, so times have been added. We are also using these symbols to indicate where an activity happens - a navigational aid for our school.

We also know that predictability is important. Each day follows a similar routine. As students become older and learn the skill of "reading" their schedule we will be able to introduce changes with less anxiety.

Daily schedule for classroom staff - notice the times and Boardmaker symbols for activities. Each staff person has a row. The rectangular cards indicate which students they are working with during the activity.

Daily Routine

Our students arrive on two buses just after 9am. We greet them at the bus doors and walk into the school together.

Gym Class - By the second week in September, we already had Grade 4 buddies joining us in the gym on Tuesday mornings. We go to the buddies' classroom and pick up two buddies for each of our students. They participate in running and walking three laps, having free time and completing the circuit. Our students are learning how to follow the line and walk without complaint, how to kick a ball and love going on the scooters and through the tunnel. Now we have Grade 5 buddies coming on Thursdays as well. Buddy time is a favourite part of the week!

SmartBoard Music and Dance - We turn things up and notch and get moving! We spend 15 minutes singing and dancing to some great videos before we have snack. We also practice imitating and following directions during this time. Students are learning to clap hands, stamp feet and touch their noses and heads! We use edibles such as
small pieces of pretzels or cereal to reinforce correct responses. It is amazing how motivated our students are to work for such small prizes!

DeskWork/Centres/TableTime - This is skill building time. Read the descriptions below.

Deskwork comes from the structured TEACCH program. Students follow a visual schedule to complete three "baskets" (actually drawers"). Before they begin they choose the reinforce they are working for. Then they complete a red basket (puzzle), blue basket (matching or sorting task) and yellow basket (fine motor task). Students follow a visual schedule which shows them what to do. As they finish each task students remove a coloured token from the drawer and place it on their "I'm Working For" board. When they have finished all three tasks, they have earned their reward! The reward (reinforce) can be an activity such as a favourite ball, musical toy or spinning light, or it can be an edible treat such as a few M&M's or Froot Loops. Pairing or associating completing the tasks with a desired item increases motivation and develops feelings of success. Later we will be able to reduce the edible reinforcers and students will still feel the inner sense of pride and accomplishment that is developing.

Centres is time spent learning how to complete leisure and play activities. Only one of our students had any play skills when they began in September. Any time when they were not engaged they spent in repetitive sensory activities (stimming) such spinning, flapping, ball bouncing or simply staring out a window. Stimming behaviours can occur to help a child calm themselves however many times they happen because the child has not been taught how to do other activities. Although we do still allow these activities during "Free Time", it was very important to teach other skills which would allow our students to interact with classmates and peers. To begin I chose toys which were simple and high interest. These toys had interesting actions or sounds. I task analyzed how to play the game and taught the steps to the Educational Assistants. To begin, the student receives praise and an edible reinforce for each step they complete. This is slowly decreased. Already we have seen some students choose to play with the toy during "Free Time"! We have introduced a small ball drop and a larger Loops and Swirls using small cars. Now we are teaching how to build towers with large blocks and the shopping game (my favourite!).

TableTime is our intensive teaching time following a Verbal Behavior approach. Each student has an individualized program based on the ABLLS-R assessment tool. New skills are introduced using Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT). During this time we work on increasing ability to sit, focus and respond to teacher demands. I use prompting and reinforcement to shape new behaviours. This is hard work for our students but they seem to enjoy learning. Once a skill has been learned during TableTime, it will be practiced during DeskWork and throughout the day. This is called generalization and is a very important aspect of ABA.

Snack

Snack - During snack time, students follow a routine to get their chair and lunch bag and sit down in their spot at the table. They then use a picture exchange method to request their food from the adult working with them. No grabbing or messy eating in our classroom. This time is very important for students to learn how to request or mand for items that they want to have. Starting with preferred food items works the best to increase communication skills in early learners, especially when they have worked hard and are hungry!

Reading and Relaxation - When we return to the classroom (by following our visual schedule) we put away our coat and backpack and choose a book. With quiet music playing and the lights turned down, students are learning early literacy skills by pointing out objects and turning the pages of the book. During this time Avery is working on the Headsprout computer program through Reading A-Z. I can't say enough about how effective and fun it is. It is a phonics based program which uses ABA principles to teach children to read. It is truly amazing to watch Avery learn!

Playground - After snack our lunch supervisor arrives and students head outside for some fun. Getting ready to go out is easy right now, but will be more of a challenge once winter arrives! We use this time to work on the daily living skills of taking off shoes, putting on coats and boots (can you believe we had a huge snowfall at the beginning of September!). Outside our goals are to have children learn to stay on the playground, ask (by going to an adult and taking their hand) to move to the other playground and to sign "push" on the swing. Right now we are going out when there are rarely other students outside, still our kiddos wear bright yellow vests from Ikea just to make sure we can easily keep track of them.

Gym/Zone Room/Kindergarten Room - Most days students are able to go back to the gym for another fitness/brain break. When the gym is busy (on really cold days or when clubs are using it) we use the Zone Room instead. The Zone Room is short for Zones of Regulation. We are so lucky to have a space where we can take students who need to get energized, organized or calm down. In the Zone Room we have a climbing structure/slide, mini-trampoline, beanbag chairs and exercise balls with gym mats lining the floor. Students can run around, lie on the floor and yell and kick or jump on the trampoline. If they need a place to hide away they can go underneath the climbing structure. We also bring students here when they need a break and are disrupting the class. We are also able to use the kindergarten space during this time. However, our students are finding it difficult to adjust to a room with many things to touch and see, so we do not go very often.

Lunch - Lunch follows a similar routine as snack. Students go the bathroom, sit on chairs and wait their turn to wash their hands. When finished, everyone takes their lunch out of their backpacks, puts it on their chair and pushes it to the table. Once seated, the EAs take out the picture cards that the students will use to ask for their food. Each student has their own colour of placemat, plates and bowls. When they are finished, they clean up with staff help.

Toilet Training - This is a good time to talk about our toilet training program. Being able to use the toilet is a very important life skill and we take it very seriously in our classroom! In September only one child was trip-trained to use the toilet. Since then we have had success with two more students. For the first few months we took children to the washroom and changed them about 4 times a day. We kept track of whether they were wet or dry. When we were ready to start with toilet training, we have taken students more often. We have a visual schedule that students follow in the bathroom, whether they are wet or dry. Students sit on the toilet for 3 minutes. If wet, we give them a dry Pullup afterwards. If they are dry and do not pee at that time, we make sure to take them back every 30 minutes. All efforts are reinforced, but actuallyusing the toilet is celebrated! Our goal is to have all students trip-trained by June.

The afternoon schedule is very similar to the morning.
Playground - Follows the morning routine. I alternate students who stay in and do Table Time with me.

Reading and Relaxation/Library - In the afternoon, we sometimes go to the library to choose books and read. This fall I was so fortunate to receive funds from the Parents Council to choose books which would be suitable for our class. We had a teacher field trip to the United Library Services store. I chose 15 new hardpage books with simple language and images. We will be able to check out our books just like other classes and take them back to our classroom to read. It is nice to have a different place to practice our skills. In the afternoon, Avery is working on another great computer based program. Keyboarding Without Tears is the sister program to Handwriting without Tears and teaches keyboarding skills in a fun and step by step fashion. It costs only a few dollars per student for a year which makes it truly affordable for our kind of program.

Circle Time - Each student pushes their chair into the SmartBoard room. There we sing the "Hello Song" to each student. We are now working on Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes. Most know how to touch their heads and nose and we can practice this in a different way. Video modelling is a research-based method to teach children new skills. We show the short video on the SmartBoard and prompt students using hand-over-hand support. They are learning!

Snack - Afternoon snack follows the same routine as morning and lunch and again focuses on providing many opportunities for requesting either vocally or by picture exchange.

DeskWork and Centres - In the afternoon students have an opportunity to complete the activity they did not do in the morning.

Choice Time - This is a new addition to our day. Just before it is time to leave, students have a chance to do what they want to do! They can play with one of the many toys we have, they can watch a video, they can go the Zone Room or out on the playground. The important aspect is that they are learning to control their environment by choosing. It is not as easy as it sounds. Our students are still learning about picture symbols and they sometimes choose without even looking. Then they are surprised when they end up someplace they did not want to be. We always give another chance! Today our new buddies from Grade 5 came for the first time. It was fabulous. The Grade 5 buddies were attentive, playful and tried very hard to keep their little buddies motivated. We are looking forward to more visits.

Home – One last trip to the washroom and students get ready to go home. Although our students leave school a little early because of the bus schedule, they are encouraged to be as independent as possible. We are thrilled (and reinforcing) when a student can get their boots or coat on by themselves.

At the end of the day, everyone feels that they have given 100% and that's the way it should be!

December update

12/19/2014

December has been a busy time with parent-teacher learning conversations, lots of learning and Christmas preparations.

Parents took time from their busy schedules to come in and talk about their child's IPP (individual program plan) and how the year is progressing. Even though we talk with parents often and send home a daily update, it is really beneficial to be able meet in person.

The last two weeks of school included Christmas preparations and our school's Winter Concert. Cheyenne and Avery attended the morning dress rehearsal and had a chance to join the choir. It was wonderful to see how they enjoyed the music and participating with the other students.

Our classroom has benefited greatly from our two University student volunteers. Christina joined us four mornings a week gaining experience for her program in Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies through the University of Calgary (www.crds.org/practicum/index.shtml) Our students loved her enthusiasm and energy and Christina learned about reinforcement, feeding programs and working as part of a team! She moves on to a new placement after Christmas and we will really miss her.

christina's last day!

This week was our first trip as class to read in the library. The Parent Association donated funds for every class to purchase new special library books and we love them. A very big thank you to the Parent Association for your support.

Joining the Grade 3's for PE!

Christmas Preparations!

Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year from our classroom!

Setting the Scene for Success - our learning environment

9/2/2014

The right classroom environment is important to all children. The right classroom environment makes all the difference in the world to children who have sensory, communication and socialization challenges. Research into creating a learning environment that supports children with autism has determined important points to consider. To make sure that my classroom meet evidence-based standards I used the APERS self-assessment tool when setting up my classroom. APERS stands for Autism Program Environment Rating Scale - Preschool and Elementary version. It was designed by the National Professional Development Center on ASD in 2011.

the environment is free of major and minor environmental hazards (electrical plugs are covered and scissors safely stored out of reach, play areas in the classroom and outside play equipment is arranged and maintained to avoid potential safety problems
the classroom design and placement of team members allow all students to be monitored at all times
team members teach and encourage student independence for personal hygiene tasks such as washing hands and using the toilet
students are able to independently access materials such as books and schedules and have a personal space to work
the classroom is divided into well-defined spaces for individual and group activities and quiet and leisure activities
materials can be organized, used and stored safely
physical structures and boundaries exist to ensure that students' understand the activities that take place in specific areas
real items that would be used in natural environments are used whenever possible
there are enough materials for all students to participate

getting started - repurposing a kindergarten room

taking shape - moving furniture into place

I can't believe that I have been given such a beautiful, clean light-filled space. The room faces south and west. It has its own attached bathroom, a kitchen unit, a separate SmartBoard room accessed from inside. It is right beside the outside doors where the bus will drop off the students. (I found out later that this was the original school office and staff room.) It has just had new flooring and bathroom fixtures installed. It has its own furnace and thermostat! Having just come from a cold, dark, north-facing classroom which faced a concrete wall, this is a little piece of paradise!

The Structure begins to appear

Everything in the classroom has a place and a purpose. It sometimes takes a lot of trial and error furniture moving (unless you have good spatial awareness or use furniture cutouts on grid paper!) I always come into school early to move things around and get the best pick of left-over shelving units and desks. Sometimes there is fierce competition. The custodians in this school are the best and helped me out a lot. Thank you Mark and Al!

The rest of the school!

Although it is tempting to stay in this lovely light-filled space, I intend to make good use of the entire school. All the spaces are spacious, clean, beautiful and functional.

I think I'm ready to meet the rest of the staff and most importantly, my students!

Places and Faces change but the science remains the same!

9/1/2014

This is my first posting since the end of February. At that time I left my secure, fulfilling and established classroom in North Delta, BC to move to Calgary. I was full of optimism for my new role as head Behavior Analyst for the Calgary Board of Education. Calgary has a huge public school system with over 114,000 students. They provide a wide range of programs and services for children and recognized the growing need for behaviour supports in their schools. I was thrilled that CBE saw the value and specialized knowledge that behaviour analysts bring to support teams- along with psychologists, speech-language therapists and occupational therapists.

Teachers and support staff in Calgary seem to be especially welcoming to outside supports. They opened their classrooms for me to visit and stayed late after school for presentations on self-regulation and positive behaviour supports. They expressed their gratitude at having access to learn more about the students in their classroom and how to effectively teach them, especially the students with autism or behaviour challenges.

However, a new budget prevailed and the position was ended after just a few months. Which brought me to my new position - a primary CSSI classroom. CSSI officially stands for Communication, Socialization and Sensory Integration but as a behaviourist, I am renaming it to be a Communication, Socialization, Self-Regulation and Independence classroom.

I miss my students and colleagues from Jarvis Traditional and Vancouver. However, I am excited to have the chance to work with such young children. I know that with the right supports and using Applied Behaviour Analysis, these children have a chance to learn many new skills.

I plan to use this website to share our tools, stories and successes. Hopefully it will be helpful to other teachers, support staff and parents who work with similar children!

Let the adventure begin!

Moments to be proud of!

2/21/2014

In our classroom we love to celebrate our achievements - big or small. Here is a collection of moments we'd like to share!

Visit from our new teacher!

2/20/2014

The new teacher for the Jarvis Traditional Supportive Learning program came to visit the classroom today. Her name is Ms. Rupinder Atwal. She has been teaching at Delview Secondary School in the Alternate program. She is so excited to have this opportunity to work with intermediate students and learn more about how to use positive behaviour supports in a classroom.

She plans to keep all the activities that make this classroom special - Classroom Cash, Direct Instruction programs, using the computer and even Palmeropoly!

Ms. Atwal will also continue to write about daily classroom activities through this blog. It is good to know that the classroom is in good hands. Ms. Palmer will be in touch by email and Skype and will stop in and say hi to her favourite students whenever she can!