Special Education for Beginners | Managing Paraprofessionals, Special Education Strategies, First Year Sped Teachers, Special Ed Overwhelm, Paperwork for Special Education Teachers

Welcome to another episode of the Sped Prep Academy Podcast, where special educators can learn and grow both personally and professionally. In this episode, we welcome Hallie Sherman, a Speech Language Pathologist from Speech Time Fun who joins us to discuss tips on supporting students with language and effective ways for teachers to work with SLPs in their buildings. Discussion: Importance of spe...

The spinner gave us a B-R-O-A-D topic this week. In this 3rd installment of the Sped Teacher Small Talk, we dive into a topic that's super important for all special education teachers: writing present levels of academic and functional performance (PLAAFPs). Listen in as my co-host, Paul Hubbard, and l explore the importance of accurately assessing a student's strengths and needs, gatheri...

Transition planning is a process to help students with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) decide what they want to do after high school and then helps them figure out how to get there. The purpose is to help teens prepare to be independent young adults. Today on the Sped Prep Academy Podcast, Heather Gehrke from SPED with Heather Gehrke and I chat about the best way to facilitate the transi...

There are many transitions that take place within special education...transitioning from elementary to middle school and middle school to high school as well as transitioning out of high school into the real world. Join my co-host, Paul Hubbard, and I for the second segment of the Sped Teacher Small Talk where we chat about all things transitions. Resources for you: Transition Planning for IEPs Ca...

On today's show, we're going to dive into behavior once again.  I feel like it's such a broad topic that we could cover it week after week and it still not be something that very many of us are comfortable with.  So I've got Carly Hughes here with us today from Behind Behaviors, which is her educational consulting company created for families and caregivers of students with uni...

Today we have Robin from Expressively Sped to chat about progress monitoring. I know in my district this is often one of the areas where teachers have a lot of trouble as far as knowing the importance of it as well as how to actually write an accurate description of a student’s progress so I’m happy to have the opportunity to have a talk with someone who understands the struggles of progress monit...

Let's start 2023 off with something NEW! In order to mix things up just a little bit to provide you with something a little fun…a little lighthearted but still support you by giving you knowledge you can use within your classrooms and programs as special educators, the first episode of each month will be co-hosted by Paul Hubbard. After being a guest on each other's podcast, we decided t...

Do you use visual schedules within your special education classroom? Are you updating them often? Are you making sure they are age appropriate? Are the students ACTUALLY using them?  All these questions and more are addressed through today's episode with Lisa from the Chalkboard Superhero. Lisa is a special education teacher currently working in the high school setting.  She has been in the c...

Ange Anderson (all the way from Wales, UK) joins us on the show today to share her expertise about the importance of play for children who have Autism and other neurodiversities. Ange specializes in therapeutic and technological interventions and innovations for those who are neurodivergent in schools and  for families in UK. If that wasn’t enough, Ange has written books about those therapies and...

Last week I turned the big 5-0! And you know what? It didn’t bother me near as much as I thought it would.  In fact...I feel pretty dang good. I love the knowledge I have now and I like being able to say I’m an expert in a field that I love. This past week has given me the opportunity to reflect on life, take inventory of where I’ve been and what I’ve done and I want to use this opportunity to sha...

We want our students to be successful in all areas of the curriculum and today we are hitting on writing. Caitlyn Mitchell  joins the Sped Prep Academy Podcast today to talk about how to differentiate writing for students with IEPs.  Caitlyn is the co-founder and CEO of EB Academics, an organization on a mission to provide teachers with engaging and rigorous ELA lessons and she has agreed to come...

Are you the teacher who writes the same accommodations on every student's IEP?⁠ ⁠ 🤔⁠ Don't stress...you're not alone (I've been there too)⁠ ⁠ But after listening to today's episode you're going to be a pro at individualizing the accommodations and modifications you put on each student's IEP.⁠ ⁠ Shelley Kenow is our guest and she tells it like it is...the accommo...

Are you burned out to the point of walking out? Before you do, listen to Episode 106 of the Sped Prep Academy Podcast to learn about the different opportunities special educators have outside the 4 walls of a classroom. There are other options for you. Today's episode breaks these options up into 3 categories… Creative outlets Leadership roles Actual positions For some of the suggested career...

Does your meeting room look like the inside of a prison? You can do better my friend! So you might be thinking… who cares what my IEP meeting room looks like…it has functioned well for years and it gets the job done …and while I agree that what the room looks like is not going to have any affect on your IEP paperwork itself, it definitely could have a large impact on the relationship you are wanti...

Today is the fourth and final part (for now anyway!) of a series where I chat with brand new special education teachers and give them the opportunity to ask a veteran teacher ALL the questions. Today's questions are asked by Erika who is a student teacher preparing for a career as a special educator. Listen in as I help her learn about: What to expect from the first year as a student teacher...

Today is the third part of a series where I chat with brand new special education teachers who have had the opportunity to ask a veteran teacher ALL the questions. Today's questions were submitted by Debbie who was unable to join me in person to record the show but I wanted to get her answers to her. I know if one person has these questions, others are bound to as well.   Listen in as I help...

Ep 102: New Special Educator Question & Answer Series- Part 2 Today is the second part of a series where I chat with brand new special education teachers who have had the opportunity to ask a veteran teacher ALL the questions. Unfortunately, today's guest, Elyse, was unable to join me in person to record the show but I wanted to get her answers to her and what better way than to share the...

Ep 101: New Special Educator Question & Answer Series- Part 1 Today is the first of a 4 part series where I chat with brand new special education teachers who have a million questions about where to even begin in this overwhelming field.  When I started out, I really don’t remember all the questions I had…I just jumped right in and soaked up all the knowledge I could from my mentor. There wasn...

WE'VE BEEN HACKED!! ⚠️ 🚨 😂😂😂 To celebrate the 100th episode of the Sped Prep Academy Podcast, Paul Hubbard from the Special ODDucation Podcast has taken over the airways and is hosting today's show. Paul is one of my biggest fans and I knew I could depend on him to be entertaining and to sum up what he found as the most beneficial information from the show. Listen in to hear Paul&apo...

Ep: 99 Surviving the Back-to-School Scaries The beginning of a new school year can bring both feelings of excitement and stress. For a first year special education teacher, a veteran teacher who is moving to a new district or even someone (like me) who is starting a new position within the same district...things can get overwhelming quickly.  Through today's episode, I hope to provide support...

Ep 98: The Benefits of Criticism Today I want to chat about something that is difficult for everyone, including myself, but is something, I feel that helps mold us into better teachers and better humans overall and that is criticism.  A few weeks ago, I had my phone in my hand when a review of my Facebook Page came in. It was 5 stars and that made me smile but as I began to read it, that smile qui...

Ep 97: Using Task Boxes as Independent Work Stations Today’s guest is someone I’ve looked up to for a long time, both as an teacherpreneur and as a colleague within the field of special education. Jennifer DeBrosse of Positively Learning has been in education for over 25 years working in the inclusion setting, resource room, and most recently as a special education instructional coach. Like myself...

Ep 96: How to Implement Student-Led IEP Meetings I just created a new resource for this very topic and want to share it with you! Student Led IEP Meeting Presentation Template Today’s guest is Maureen Howard from Spoonful of Sped. Maureen is a high school special education department chair in Virginia and is about to start her 8th year in the field. She is passionate about working with older stude...

Ep 95 How to Organize IEP Files Have you ever received one of "those" IEP files? Sure it’s a file filled with all the pertinent information that a special educator needs to have…the IEP itself, meeting notices, testing information, copies of progress reports, documentation between the teacher and the parent but... there is no rhyme or reason to the items placed within making it a nightma...

Episode 94: The Benefits of Using a Goal Bank One of the ways special education teachers can be successful in their jobs without running themselves ragged is through the use of goal banks. In fact, I created a digital goal bank just for you! Get it here! Jen Murphy from The Sped Collective is joining me today to talk about how she streamlined the IEP writing process and learned not to overcomplica...