Whether you are a brand new teacher or have worked in the field for 25 years, here are some suggestions for setting up a classroom for children with special needs.
Suggestion #1: Find out as much as you can about your students.
Sometimes new teachers go in and start setting up their classrooms without first learning anything about their students. This is a mistake, especially if your students have special needs. For instance, I had a student this year who had pica, meaning she ate a number of inedibles such as glue sticks, chalk, pencil erasers, and more. Because I knew that, I knew to keep these items locked up instead of putting them out on display the first day.
Read through cumulative records. Review IEPs and Multi-factored evaluations. Call parents or even do home visits if permissible and advisable.
Suggestion #2: Take inventory of what you have and Draw out a classroom diagram.
Make a list of what you have and what you need. Make sure you have enough desks, chairs, and tables for your students. If you are going to use tables and chairs, I suggest you try to get chairs for each of these places, so you will need twice as many chairs as students.
Draw a rectangle. Add doors, windows, bulletin boards and other “static” items. Draw out your basic classroom as below.
Suggestion #3: Don’t get fancy. You don’t have enough time. Set up a basic classroom.
A basic classroom for children with special needs generally includes:
•A Circle time/large group area with a large carpet which will include the following: Calendar, daily sign-in, lunch choices, and a daily schedule
•Desks or tables for independent work labeled with student names
•Cubbies or other storage areas labeled with children’s names
•A teacher desk or table with the following: a file for each student, basic desk supplies, a calendar and a notebook for lesson plans/substitute plans and parent contacts.
Put away or cover up all non-essential materials.
Children with special needs, particularly children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, do not do well with a lot of visual stimuli. Classrooms should use muted colors, if possible, minimal overhead lighting, and very little clutter. I’ll admit that this is a challenging task for me because I tend to have a lot of classroom materials but it is necessary. If I can’t put away items due to lack of storage, I try to put them in plastic storage bins or cover them with flannel-backed tablecloths.
There are many companies both on and off the internet who are promoting toys for children with autism. As an educator for over 20 years and also a parent, I have found some of the best toys are not toys. Therefore, in addition to suggested toys, I will also recommend some items most people have that children on the Autism spectrum seem to like.
Children with autism tend to have sensory processing problems. All of the following suggested “play items” encourage “heavy work” activities, which seem to be one area all of my students, but particularly my students with autism, seem to need a lot more sensory input.
•For children with a high need for heavy work activities, here is a list of things they can do.
- Run the sweeper/vacuum
- Push a lawnmower
- Pull a wagon Load up big, heavy toy trucks with blocks and push them around
- Put another student/sibling in a plastic bin and have the child push him/her around in it (They love this!)
- Put together chairs and make a tunnel – At the end of the tunnel there is something for the child to do such as match a letter or color card. This is one of my students’ favorites!
- Take long walks or runs
- Exercise to music. My children love Greg and Steve’s “Kids in Action” and the DVD “Move n’ Groove”
- Jump on a mini trampoline
- Dribble a basketball
- Kick a soccer ball
- Get 10 used boxes from the cafeteria and fill them with something not too heavy but something that will give them some weight. Blankets work well. Have the children take turns stacking and counting the boxes.
- Encourage the children to do push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks.
- Make a mini-obstacle course in the classroom.
- Put colored “lily pads “on the floor of the classroom (or any other concept you are working on) and have the children jump from one to the other.oDo musical games and act them out. For instance, have 10 children lay on a carpet (or however many you have). Then sing “There were 10 in the Bed and the little one said Roll over.” Then they all roll and one falls out. It becomes a sequencing game and teaches wait time. My children with autism really like it.
- Play “tug of war.”
- Play non-competitive musical chairs. This is how we do it. I put out enough chairs for each child. I turn on the music. At first we walk and sit down. It takes a while for the children to understand which way to walk and that they go to the closest chair, not necessarily the one they started on (it’s about learning to accept change). After they learn what’s expected, I start asking them to do something other than walk, such as “swim, fly like a bird, walk like a monkey, jump, hop, or their favorite is crawl.”
Music is a universal language. In my experience in working with children who have Autism Spectrum Disorder, most of them respond very well to music. In my classroom, we use music all day long. As a former music therapy major, I learned a number of ways to incorporate music into my classroom in a therapeutic manner.
There are a number of ways I use music to teach children. It has been my observation that all children, but particularly those with special needs, learn and benefit from having music incorporated into almost every part of their day.
The following are some of the ways in which I do so.
1. Sing the Daily Schedule
As in most classrooms for children with autism and other disabilities, I have a daily schedule posted with words and pictures. Most teachers use Boardmarker. Mine are schedule cards I got from ABCTeach.com. I point to the schedule and literally sing the words to the tune of “Oh My Darling Clementine.” I sing “First there’s breakfast, then there’s bathroom, morning work and check-in, then there’s recess, juice time, group time, and there’s trampoline if you’re on green.” And so forth. If I miss a day, one of my students will say “Ms. Whiting, I need you so sing to us.”
2. Exercise to music
We exercise in my classroom several times per day. I try to make sure the children get an hour of exercise per day, including their two fifteen minute recesses, but oftentimes they get more.
Here are some of my favorite CD’s and DVD’s for our exercise time:
• Greg and Steve’s CD – “Kids in Action”
• “Moove n Groove Kids” DVD
3. Calendar Time
We sing songs at Calendar time for the days of the week and the months of the year. Circle time is a particularly good time to use music to practice eye contact, wait time and social interaction.
4. Daily Sign-in
Because I teach younger children, they usually don’t know their names in print at the beginning of the year. A very simple sign-in game I use is with plain paper plates. I put each child’s name on a paper plate. The next thing I do is put one of the paper plates on the floor and sing to the tune of “If You’re happy and you know it”
“If your name is on the plate, stand up.
If your name is on the plate, stand up.
If you name is one the plate, then you’re doing really great.
If you name is on the plate stand up.”
The child stands up, picks up the plate and gives it to me. He then chooses his name from the magnetic white board and adds it to our daily sign-in chart and our daily lunch choice board.
Our daily sign-in is different every day. It is a “Question of the day” with two columns that I have made up such as:
What kind of ice cream to you like? Chocolate or Vanilla
What color do you like least? Red or Blue
The child has to put his name under the column that best fits for him.
5. Use music for teaching all basic skills.
I discovered a new series of DVD’s this year called “Super Simple Songs.” They were developed by the staff of the Knock Knock English School in Japan. They were having a hard time finding simple songs that were fun for their Japanese students who were learning English, so they developed their own.
Super Simple Songs can be used independently but I prefer to make or download from the website some kind of visual with every song I use. Children with autism are very visual and need pictures as much as possible.
I bought the series of three CDs and have used them every day since. I use songs to teach basic academic skills such as numbers, letters, shapes and colors. I also use them to teach social skills, emotions, wait time, and even humor, something children have a very hard time understanding. There is a song called “Do you like Broccoli Ice Cream?” that teaches humor and sarcasm.
As an elementary school principal for 11 years, I hired many teachers. I also witnessed how the district and fellow administrators went about hiring their teachers.
I have some tips for how to get a job as a Special Education Teacher.
Tip Number One – Excel at Student Teaching
This is my number one recommendation for landing a job as a special education teacher, because administrators want teachers who have demonstrated the ability to teach. If you don’t do well in student teaching and related field experiences, you stand a very low chance of being hired.
Administrators want teachers who know how to do two things:
1. Manage the classroom, meaning very few discipline referrals
2. Teach the children using best practice teaching strategies
3. Work as a team player, bringing good work habits, collaboration and knowledge to the table
Tip Number Two – Get great recommendations
You need recommendations from at least two cooperating teachers (the most important), one college professor, and an employer that you’ve had for at least six months. Job experience is important, particularly job experience in the area of working with children and particularly working with children who have special needs.
A good tip for getting good recommendations is to hand the recommender a copy of your current resume, highlighting special skills and job experience. When writing a recommendation, I appreciated this, because as a teacher and an elementary school administrator, time was of the essence.
Tip Number Three – Create an attention-getting, but easy to skim, cover letter and resume and deliver it in person if possible.
Administrators do not want pages of text to read or a big folder of materials. Submit a one page cover letter, an easy to skim one page resume highlighting special skills and job experience, and three letters of recommendation.
Tip Number Four – Go to as many college job fairs as you can.
Even if you don’t plan to look out of your area or state for a job, go to as many job fairs as you can. It gives you the opportunity to network and practice interview skills.
Tip Number Five – Learn as much as you can about the school district you which to apply for as possible.
Research the school districts for which you plan to apply. You can easily do this online. It will help you know who you want to work for and it will also allow you to tailor your resume and interview toward what the particular school district is looking for.
Tip Number Six – Don’t be afraid to search outside of your town or state if you need to. The move can be temporary if need be.
I had to take a job in a town two hours away from the city in which I hoped to live. It was hard but after two years I was able to get the job I wanted.
Tip Number Seven – Prepare for your interview.
This is very important and I offer two pointers:
1. Dress for the interview – Wear one step above the clothing you will be expected to wear as a teacher.
If in doubt, wear a simple suit with a jacket and a flat heeled shoe. The reason I say this is because administrators want to see people who we can imagine teaching our children and you have to be comfortable to do that. If you have the opportunity to see the principal of your prospective school ahead of time, dress in a fashion similar to what they are wearing. Administrators usually dress one step above their teachers.
2. Practice your interview skills. Write down sample questions. Answer them in writing and then orally. Be succinct. You will likely have 5-10 questions to answer in 15-20 minutes. Plan accordingly.
Tip Number Eight – Interview well.
Shake hands with the interview(ers). Talk about special skills and past job and student performance. Stress the above three things that administrators are looking for. Take a small bottle of water with you. I do not suggest taking a big binder portfolio. Instead, condense it into a five page document with colored pictures that you can leave with the interview team. Highlight activities that make you stand out as a teacher above the other candidates.
Tip Number Nine – Send a thank you note after your interview.
I can’t tell you how important this is. If you don’t get the job, it will keep you in the mind of the administrator interviewing you and when another principal calls him/her your name will be at the forefront of their mind.
Tip Number Ten – If you can’t get the job you want right away, substitute teach, but you will need to excel at it if you hope to land a full-time teaching job.
I can’t stress this enough. If you are a bad substitute teacher, you will not get a job as a teacher, particularly if you take a long-term assignment (such as a maternity leave) and do poorly at it. However, if you take a long-term assignment and excel at it you will get more assignments and you will land a full-time job. Make sure you get a recommendation from your building principal if you do a long-term assignment in their building.
“There is some feeling nowadays that reading is not as necessary as it once was.” This quote is from 1940 from How to Read a Book. How many of us believe that we are presently in the same situation? After all, we have video, iPods, computers, and televisions that have taken over many of the functions of books, newspapers, and journals. What happens when you stop reading is that you don’t ‘make up your own mind’ about something. Instead, you just accept the opinions of others without bothering to give much thought about the idea.
This is one of the reasons reading is so critical. Reading teaches everyone to think for themselves. Remember, reading is an actual activity. You just can’t be passive when you read. You need to actually put out some effort and process the information the writer is giving you. Reading becomes almost like playing catch with a ball. The writer throws the ball and the reader catches it.
Your success in catching the ball, reading, is then determined by how much you receive, understand, and utilize the information you have read. Reading is so much more than just word calling. Reading is the active understanding, contemplation, and utilization of the written word. The result is a greater understanding of the topic than you had before you started to read.
There are several goals of reading: to gain information, to have increased understanding, and to be entertained. Reading for entertainment is the least demanding kind of reading and requires the least amount of effort. This is why we start our children off with reading stories for entertainment. This helps to provide both ease and love of reading.
Once the process of reading is relatively easy, we add reading for information in the way of history, geography, and science. With this in mind, anytime your children read for pleasure -be it comic books, short stories, or novels – rejoice because it will be easier for them when they read for information. Pleasure reading is just that, pleasure reading. So, it is well and fine to read a book written at an easier grade level than their textbooks.
Our goal here is to create readers. As we create readers, we start teaching them how to process, retain, and comprehend the written word. The best way to do this is to teach your reader how to take notes from what they read using simple note-taking graphic organizer forms after they have read a short stories or book. Teach the process with material that is easy and fun. Once children are familiar with taking notes and writing summaries, it is easy to move on towards the goal of reading for information, understanding, utilization, and enlightenment with their text books.
There are painless ways to do this. Note taking and writing projects don’t have to be hard. Using specially designed graphic organizers will make the process quick and pain free!