Autism Classroom Resources Podcast: A Podcast for Special Educators

Task box activities are great for practicing independence and maintaining previously mastered skills. But how can we ensure our task boxes are set up to teach independence effectively? Not all task box activities are created equally - some might be great activities but would not work well in an independent work system. There are 5 key characteristics that task box activities must have if they are...

Setting up independent task box work systems can seem overwhelming if you don’t know where to begin or are unsure what systems to put in place to make them effective. However, once you have them implemented into your classroom, they can be incredibly beneficial for increasing independent work skills for your students. But how can you get started without wasting time trying to figure out an effecti...

I cannot believe we are 200 episodes into the Autism Classroom Resources podcast. I am so grateful to each and every one of you for tuning in! We have covered so many topics in the first 200 episodes, from challenging behavior to visual schedules to addressing systemic racism in special education. I am so glad that you have been able to gain valuable insight and tips from my autism classroom podca...

Parent-teacher relationships can be complicated and challenging on both sides. One of the most important things to keep in mind in order to have successful and respectful parent-teacher relationships is that judgment and blame are only going to do more harm than good and will not be beneficial to the student. That is why understanding different perspectives is crucial to a respectful parent-teache...

Independent work systems can be very helpful in helping students learn how to complete a series of tasks on their own, without assistance. However, some of our students may not be ready to work through a fully independent work system right away. We know that not all of our students come to us with independent work skills. So what can we do to help those students develop these skills? Some of our s...

The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) can be incredibly beneficial for helping our students with autism to communicate. Often, the term PECS is misused to talk about using pictures as a form of communication. However, PECS is actually a system that has specific phases that help in expanding the functions of our students' communication. We want students to be able to communicate in an ef...

This year especially, I have noticed that many special educators are struggling to remember why we do this job. This is a challenging job as it is and adding in staffing shortages, increased work requirements, and additional factors can make it even harder. That is why I feel it is important to find ways to help us all find the joy in teaching again. Remembering why we do what we do and why w...

As most of us are entering winter break, it is the perfect time for a little teacher self-care reminder. We hear a lot about self-care and coping skills for teachers, but as teachers, we often think that if we take a break, we will fall behind. The truth is that taking breaks actually makes you a better special education teacher! In this episode, I am giving you a sneak peek at an episode from the...

Social stories can be an incredible tool for helping students with autism, but there are elements to consider when writing social stories to make them the most effective they can be. They may not be effective for all students or for all skills and situations, but there is research supporting the effectiveness of social stories. In this episode, I am sharing how to apply the research behind social...

We are in the midst of the holiday season, and chances are you are seeing more challenging behaviors than usual due to schedule changes and different events and activities. Luckily, there is a great tool that can be used to help students with all of these changes - social stories! You have likely used or been told to use social stories for behavior at some point, but there are ways to craft and im...

Have you ever had a student who struggled to understand the value of money or how to transfer their money skills to real-life situations? Teaching a range of money skills and strategies that will help them be successful in real-life environments is so beneficial to our students. One strategy that is incredibly helpful for students to use in real-life situations is the next dollar up method. The ne...

Understanding money and how to use it is an important life skill for our students to learn, and providing explicit instruction on these skills is incredibly beneficial for our students. Being able to identify money, count it accurately, and use it effectively to make purchases are all valuable life skills. Whether your students need instruction in basic money skills or if they need support in unde...

We've discussed that discrete trial teaching is incredibly beneficial for our students with autism, but naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions are also very impactful for teaching students with autism. NDBIs allow students to practice skills in their natural, everyday environment, allowing them to generalize skills while initially developing these skills. In this episode, I am diving...

There are a lot of myths about discrete trial teaching, like when it is used and how it needs to be implemented. Discrete trial teaching is an evidence-based practice that allows a high level of repetition for students to practice a particular skill. They can be incredibly effective in helping students with autism learn new skills when they are used properly. But there are certain elements that ne...

Many young children come to school already equipped with learning readiness skills or will easily pick them up in preschool or kindergarten. However, for our students with autism, these learning to learn skills may not happen as readily. Because our students often don't take cues from what others are doing around them, we must explicitly teach these skills to our students so that they are able to...

Data is a key component of our teaching. When used correctly, data should guide our teaching in order to ensure that our students are getting the instruction, support, and practice they need to learn what we are teaching them. That means that we need to be smart about how we take data, analyze it, and make needed changes to our instruction. By using progress monitoring to allow our students’ perfo...

We know reinforcement can be incredibly effective for our students with autism when used correctly. But how can we ensure that we are using reinforcements in the best and most effective way possible? Not every student is going to have the same reinforcers, and not every skill for the student is going to have the reinforcers.  To help you implement reinforcement more effectively, I am sharing...

What are our choices when it comes to errors when working with our students? We know that there is no one approach that will work for all of our students with autism because each student is different. However, it may be helpful to have a default approach that we begin with and make adjustments as needed based on the student, their needs, and their performance.  In this episode, I am sharing h...

As special educators, we understand the importance of clear and concise communication. For our students with autism, the way we deliver instructions can have a great impact on their ability to learn and understand the skills and concepts we are trying to teach them. Because of this, it is key that we deliver instruction in a way that is clear so that our instruction is effective.  In this epi...

Creating effective special education teaching materials is more important than you may think, especially for our learners with autism. Students with autism oftentimes focus on details of pictures or learning materials that you may not even notice. Being aware and intentional of the teaching materials you are using is so important in helping them learn the concepts you are trying to teach.  Th...

Breaking down target skills into their component parts and teaching them systematically is so beneficial for our students. These task analyses for autism are used frequently in special ed, and there are different formats of them and different things to consider when choosing which task analysis format to use for a specific target skill. Teaching in a systematic way helps decrease decision fatigue...

Good instruction begins with assessment. It is so important to know what your students can and cannot do in order to determine what it is you actually need to teach them. When we are choosing learning objectives and target skills, we want to be sure we are not just pulling goals from the IEP. When determining what the target skills will be, it is important to take skills from both our curriculum-b...

Good instruction is good instruction. Whether you are using Discrete Trials, Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention, or something else, there are key elements to making your instruction effective. Tweaking these key elements to fit your students is what makes autism intervention strategies effective. There are noticeable differences in different autism intervention strategies but there...

Are you looking for ways to get your classroom chaos under control? Utilizing classroom management best practices is crucial to your classroom running smoothly and for both you and the students to clearly understand expectations. Classroom management doesn’t need to be overly complicated but there are some key components that will help your classroom management be more effective.  Following c...

Using reinforcement strategies in your classroom may seem fairly basic. But the truth is, effectively implementing reinforcement strategies is a bit more nuanced than you might think. Unfortunately, there is no magic reinforcer or reinforcement strategy that will work with all students but there are some things you can do to ensure you are using reinforcement strategies effectively. If you feel li...