Have you ever heard a new song from your favorite artist and you're listening closely for the lyrics, but you can't catch them all? You might replay that song so that you can listen more clearly to the words.  Availability to loop or repeat the song satisfied the objective to identify all the words to more appreciate the song in entirety.  A parallel happens in teaching.  You want each student to be able to appreciate their life in entirety so you carefully find the clues to their thinking patterns so you can best build access to the entirety of life.  And if you’ve had any experience with more complex needs or super-fast AND more complex needs you will understand why it can take a while to learn a student.  In this writing I share experience with looping the teacher with the students.  You may be familiar with research that shows minimal effect, but I have found looping with students beneficial as it helps build stronger relationships, provides opportunity for robust and consistent instructional strategies, and has a potential to serve as a programming framework that could attract and retain teachers.
 
It would be unlikely to go on a search for the most important factor in a classroom for student success and not come up with the result that indicates that the teacher relationship ranks as one of the highest if not the highest on many scores.  Why is this important here when a few research studies have shown that looping has bare minimum effect on achievement? First the research studies targeted were Neurotypical students and did not delineate complex special needs students. Second have you ever tried to develop a relationship with the student who significant communication or regulation deficits?  I have. 

I've spent 12 years in a self-contained classroom for students with emotional behavioral support needs and then seven in a self-contained classroom supporting students with complex needs arising from ASD and intellectual disabilities.  My experience with these populations has been that it can be incredibly difficult to build relationships as it may take a while to find a communication pattern that works, or it may take a while for that student to learn regulation skills to be able to make connections.
 
Rate of progress is different for each student.   With one student it took nearly 2 months to extinguish transition tantrums and then two years before he felt comfortable to take his hoodie down in the classroom.  Fast forward 5 years later and this student was participating in after school track and a game club as well as included in several middle school classes.   For another student we went through an entire year just working through regulation & significant communication needs presenting as a series of tantrums and maladaptive behaviors. The relationship couldn’t be maximized until the second year with that student. Another student only ‘meeped’ as communication for most of the first year so learning about interest was a bit of a challenge on top of his regulation needs as he wanted to spend most of the day on the floor. After two years he was saying short phrases and spending 80% of the day OFF of the floor and I don't think he would've been able to open up if he switched teachers more frequently. These are just a couple of examples of why considering the benefits of potentially building more solid relationships is supported by a looping model.  Impactful progress with complex needs is only achieved after true understanding of the student.

​As a special educator also trained in the general education curriculum, I've always been an advocate for providing as much Academic instruction as possible just in case a student is actually capable of receiving more than what we think they are capable of.  My years of service have supported that this has been beneficial. Many students in the emotional support program were very capable of average and even above average and in some cases ‘gifted & talented’ academic achievement.  Then when I transitioned to teaching students with complex needs on the spectrum and having watched the movie The Accountant and Temple Grandin biography, I became concerned that I might be holding some of these silent students back if I didn't provide access to academic instruction since it was impossible to know what they could receive. This effort is incredibly difficult. 

Each academic skill is a new skill for them to learn and particularly with complex students the instruction requires adaptation basically for each student to help them make better connections and understanding. Just like building relationship, building the awareness of their strengths to support their deficits can take time. If you have one class for only one year or perhaps just two years (I advocate for at least three-year cycle model) you barely get to know how the student receives information, rate of progress and the most successful reinforcement.  It is only after you have a good understanding of these things that you can design the most impactful and accelerating instruction. I say impactful and accelerating because typically students with complex needs are way behind the average starting line regarding skill positions.  The goal is always to decrease that gap which necessitates high impact instruction. And if you give a teacher high impact instruction then the teacher will likely ask for time to implement it with integrity which is where the real impact of a second or third year comes in. 
Lastly, you’ve probably seen at least one article written about the dire shortage of special education teachers. Having served in the role for many years and seen many teachers leave, I feel confident in making the comment that if a building does not have a program to bring a new teacher into rather than having the teacher create everything all at once the teacher is more likely to leave.  Of course, I have other things to say about how they could fix the shortage, like paraprofessionals being paid much more but I won't digress on that now. I advocate for systems to try to create a special needs program that allows for looping. In an elementary setting K ,1,2 & 3,4,5 is typically an easy grouping. Depending on numbers even more ideal would be keeping only two grade levels in a room so that mainstreaming opportunities do not punch holes in the classroom instructional opportunities due to classroom staff being out so frequently to support students and mainstream opportunities. For every level mainstreaming may not be such a strain on classroom paraprofessional support. I speak from my experience working mostly with just K through eighth grade and very heavy on the K-3 track.  Along with deciding on the looping nature I recommend buildings flesh out even more details as to what they want their program to be. A new special education teacher is probably going to feel more confident, supported and as if they are in a more capable system if that system has clearly identified what they are expecting. This happens naturally with general education teachers typically, but often special educators are left to ‘figure it out, for the kids’ when it should almost be the opposite. Those specialists are going to be entering a world of wild at the beginning of the school year, just a sense of boundaries could help them out, but of course a developed program plan would be better.

Some links for reading more about looping students:
​https://adamgrant.substack.com/p/the-power-of-having-the-same-teacher
 
https://www.chalkbeat.org/2022/6/29/23188239/looping-teachers-academic-behavior-research/
 
https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/looping-heres-what-happens-when-students-have-the-same-teacher-more-than-once/2022/06
 
https://dsc.duq.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2238&context=etd

The umbrella tor special education student services encompasses a variety of needs ranging from discussions to support a student to a student receiving 100% of services in a specialized setting.  It is typically a student with highly complex needs that requires individualized instruction within a smaller classroom setting. This writing will focus on an integrative classroom support service model for students with limited expressive and or receptive communication skills paired with possible intellectual disabilities that may or may not be co-morbid with ASD, defined as the student team committing to shared responsibility, push in minutes being heavier than pull out minutes and intentional focused and informal collaboration.

Shared responsibility is a necessity for effective complex needs instruction.   Karen Bethune et. el from Autism Spectrum News identifies that “whenever more than one person is responsible for client programming collaboration is necessary to best meet the needs of the client and to ensure continuity of care across settings, contacts and caregiver.”  This can play out as supporting student’s skills if they arise organically during your service minutes. For example, if the physical therapist is familiar with a student’s coping skills that they are learning and practicing through direct instruction with the occupational therapist that physical therapist may prompt the use of the skills as well.  Since there is intentional collaboration and opportunities for increased modeling or rehearsal this is more likely to support the skill acquisition.  Shared responsibility is a fundamental aspect for this model it emphasizes the collective effort of all team members to ensure student success.  It spans support across goals, team led activities and supporting direct needs.

Supporting students across goals is nothing but a major win for students.  It is frequent that a simple conversation about a student’s speech and language needs may be relevant for the social worker and vice versa.  It is possible that a minor adjustment in service could support that student’s acquisition of skill that another support service has identified for targeting.  Sharing the support for goals might look as simple as inputting data for a known goal by making the tally on the chart or clicking the data counter when frequency behavior occurs during your service rather than reporting it to the classroom teacher for them to document later for the student’s behavior intervention plan. It might also look like writing a team goal to support a student’s transitions, or the SLP and teacher writing and tracking a goal for expressive communication.  When there is more intentional connection building and increased practice, the goals should be achieved at a faster pace than when provided isolated and infrequent practice opportunities as may occur in a pull out service model.

​

​Team led activities are another way to increase collaboration while sharing responsibility for planning.  This might look like a 45-minute activity that is planned for and conducted by multiple support service staff and that is provided within the classroom setting or across shared building areas. There are many benefits to these type of co-treatment groups.  Often it is in these settings that specific skills can be modeled to the class team.  For example, if a student is working on using a specific strategy, a paraprofessional may be able to more closely observe the support service provider for modeling. There are many benefits to team led activities or co-treatment.  From experience one large benefit is helping to ensure the classroom teacher gets student or duty-free plan time.  Unfortunately for some program models the struggle for plan time is so real that even after thoughtful discussions with an administrator, at times a teachers plan times may even be broken up into 15 minute chunks here or there on ends of lunch or school day, or worst having no plan time scheduled within a day (which you can imagine how ineffective that is and can lead to staff exodus from your program).   Students with complex needs often need very individualized programming across many skills that team led activities can ensure more efficient use of learning time by being able to target multiple skills with less wait time.

Lastly, when it comes to shared responsibility, there's the basic benefits of having more hands for direct needs for students in a complex classroom.  For example, when support service staff are more regularly involved in conversation and modeling for supports such as specific sensory or communication tools, rather than redirect another human resource in the classroom or loose time transitioning to the tools they need, they themselves will be more capable of efficiently supporting the student.  This shared responsibility for direct needs also spans life skills supports such as assisting with shoe tying, using a tissue, or helping to support a transition.  Part of being an all hands-on team member is giving the student the support they need in the moment, that you are capable of, not just the support your certificates decree.   

In an integrated classroom support model, provider’s direct minutes are frequently provided within the special education classroom or other natural school day settings. In the classroom that might look like support services having their own station that they might see students at. It might also look like pushing into the classroom set times to direct instruct sensory support or it may be the speech language pathologist coming into the classroom and hanging out for blocks of time in the reading corner to work on skills during the student’s scheduled visits to that area. Service provider support may also look like attending a regular education class such as art or music with the student on a regular schedule to support goal targets.  When a support service’s direct minutes are provided within the natural school day it can increase the shared knowledge of routines, provide skill generalization opportunities and reduce transition times.

Having shared knowledge of day-to-day routines and happenings allow for skill connections and generalizations. When support staff are inside the classroom across multiple transitions, they see the student beyond their isolated targeted skill work and potentially can better plan for next steps.  There have been times where a speech pathologist has added words to AAC supports because they were not aware that the words were so frequently used within the structure of the classroom. There has also been adjustment with occupational therapists on how to better integrate and or adjust sensory activities that may not have happened without them frequently seeing the flow of the classroom through their lens of specialization. These two opportunities for improvement and many others I have experienced would not have been recognized if support staff were only pulling students from the room.  Without the connections that can be made by thoroughly understanding the student’s classroom it may take longer to generalize desired student skills
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If you've worked with very young students where just one student requires support in regulation, expressive communication, joint attention skills while working on your specific objective, then you'll know how difficult transition times can be.  By having support staff push in with the integrated model you reduce lost time in your schedule for transition out of the classroom (if your skill practice did not purposely include transition-based skills practice that is).  Within the classroom, particularly at the beginning fo the year, the additional support assists with students building more independent transition skills as support staff can provide faded prompts or even suggest positive momentum activities to assist with a student’s transition.  There can even be a balance of transitions where perhaps beginning of the year the students are not transitioning out of the class as frequently but as the year progresses support staff begins to develop their transitioning skills depending on the student, where they currently are in regard to transitions.  Transitions can take up a lot of time and most students with complex needs thrive in a predictable environment where prolonged transitions may throw off a classroom schedule. ​

Although all three are important, shared responsibility, push in service model and collaboration, through my experience I have found that the intentional collaboration, focused and informal., is most important.  I have worked wihtin several types of program dynamics, and you can have push in and shared responsibility every day but without intentional (think maybe of structured) and informal communication opportunities the student rate of growth is not as high.  Effective intentional collaboration is both focused and informal, shares skillsets, and provides multiple perspectives.

Intentional collaboration combines both scheduled and spontaneous interactions among team members to address student needs.  We can't rely on informal opportunities alone so must schedule focused collaboration to routinely review caseloads, ensuring continuous attention to all students. I've worked through several models where there have been no whole team planning times or weekly for team planning times. I've found at least once a week 30-45 (depending on caseloads) minutes with the whole team is most beneficial.  My favorite years were when I had the whole team plan time weekly and I had 20 minutes where I could communicate with my paraprofessionals without students each day (most years I have worked the paras are paid bell to bell).  With 20 minutes outside of student attendance time intentional collaboration was increased.  I could divide 10 minutes as a standup meeting and 10 minutes as a stand down to address information sharing as the school day itself, We know the informal will happen, but we must be very intentional and ensure we schedule the focused collaboration to best support our students. ​

Sharing skill sets is another major benefit of collaboration.  When support services model within the classroom it allows opportunity for discussion and or acquisition of new skills by the classroom team.  I have participated on teams in the past that have left spaces on the agenda specifically for skill/tip share out where one week the SLP would share a strategy and the next week the OT shares one.  There are many structures that your collaboration agendas can take but most important is that you have a structure and clear agenda for collaboration as it can be incredibly easy to get sidetracked with all the impromptu conversations that can arise when discussing a handful of neurodivergent students.  When sharing skill sets in a formal manner it allows opportunities for questions and promotes deeper understandings.

An integrated support service model that allows for co-treatment can provide multiple perspectives for one event.  When there are more eyes, more evidence can be taken.  For example, when a student hit another child, my perspective was that this student was angry as I only saw the hit and the facial expression, and it appeared over the past few days that the aggressive student targeted a particular student.  However, a specialist in the room for a co-treat group was able to see that the ‘aggressive’ student had been hovering and following this other student and he believed that the aggression could have come from an attempt to make a connection. After discussion, the ‘aggressive’ student was given more guided practice opportunities with getting attention from this student in a more positive manner.  It is hard to always have eyes on all students so the extra opportunities for multiple perspectives can be a net gain when problem solving for students.

The integrated classroom support service model for students with complex needs emphasizes shared responsibility, prioritizes push-in services, and fosters intentional collaboration. This approach not only supports skill acquisition and goal achievement but also enhances the overall learning environment through reduced transition times and increased opportunities for skill generalization and multiple perspectives. Despite the challenges, the benefits of this model make it a valuable approach in modern special education.
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Read more:
https://teacch.com/event/fundamentals-of-structured-teacching-virtual-14/
 
https://autismspectrumnews.org/effective-collaboration-models-for-individuals-with-complex-needs/
 
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13603116.2020.1735540
 
https://ctrinstitute.com/blog/basic-needs-for-people-with-autism/
 
https://vcuautismcenter.org/resources/factsheets/printView.cfm/1201

One of the more challenging things about special education teaching is that the undergraduate work focuses so much on needing to cover a broad field which includes legal paperwork, and navigating different disabilities, of which there are many but that is just one aspect of the job.  You just don’t get out of college with a special education degree able to thoroughly understand the core curriculum you must support.  Then, it is vice versa for regular education teachers who have clients in their classrooms with significant needs.  The Cooperative Association for Special Education Cooperative (CASE) has assisted in closing this gap with their professional development. 
 
They hosted a literacy professional development that encouraged research-based reading strategies to help engage students in language and reading activities.  They also made it extremely relevant for those teachers whose students utilize Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC).  This population of student has increased in the last half decade as many have found the ability to overcome communication skill barriers with low (eg. picture cards) to high (eg. ipad with word app) tech. 
 
They started the event right off the bat reminding attendees of the statistics that show that persons with non-intellectual disabilities have a poorer outcome when it comes to their reading skills.  For example, that 1 in 10 individuals with severe communication and physical disabilities is able to read at the same level as same age peers without disabilities.  That’s right, NON-INTTELLECTUAL disabilities.  So many assumptions are made by sight, which makes sense since that is where many of us take in most of our info.   
 
These instruction motivators then hit on one of my favorite points, that rote repetitive curriculum may not be the best the way.  I loved this as one year I was asked to use Early Literacy Skills Builder (ELSB) with a student one year and it was, well, just plain awful.  The same lesson over and over, just like some of those ‘task boxes’ that might go well for your cognitively challenged but might just push other students into a severe wish to never enter the classroom again.
 
So yes, this special education cooperative then conducted their hours long professional development in an organized manner that kept their audience rotating around the learning space so that none of us suffered from butt fatigue.  Strategies for sharing stories, phonological development, language acquisition and direct teaching of core words for meaning were shared.  Personally, I was lucky, as when I was given my complex needs assignments I had already completed two undergraduates in education, one for ‘reg-ed’ (which includes the pedagogy of all the subjects) and one for ‘SPED’ which focused more on interventions and procedures.  But again, not every special education teacher comes out with great subject pedagogy and here is why CASE is the Greatest Of All Time in supporting its staff with the tools it needs to make progress with the clients they care for.
 

​I had an amazing privilege to attend the ISTE conference in Philadelphia.  The heart of Philadelphia was structurally beautiful, and history oozed on every corner.  Everyone I had interactions with were such beautiful people.  From the woman who survived cancer and a heart attack and still encouraged others to the gentleman who requested money in a polite way.  A beautiful place for an inspiring event.
 
Inspiring.  I had requested to attend the event to try to reinvigorate the passion I had for public education upon entering the service.  I had hopes that this would set me in a steady direction of motivation as I had grown frustrated with public education which I had always seen as an avenue towards real equality.  
 
I was inspired.  The technology available to support learners is amazing.  From preschool STEM materials to college level life sized virtual models of the human body, it was all there.  Materials an educator at any level could appreciate and that would capture the attention of any learner.  
 
One of my favorite groups were the VR goggles.  The ability to be virtually ‘there’ and interact with objects for learning was impressive.  I was able to dissect a virtual cell and had a virtual checklist that checked off when I interacted with a given element and read the details.  AMAZING.  From creating a private virtual study room to help organize ideas and make connections to reviewing something with a peer who could log in and virtually join, the capabilities were very desirable.  
 
The tech was the best.
 
Paired with the excitement and glimmers of inspiration were reminders.  Reminders of how easy it is to track a student, person and if…. If a company wanted to use that info for a profit, they could easily do so.  Now, this leaning may have been because this event was in tandem to the biometric tracking issue that a certain company was having.  Nevertheless, the last thing a teacher or education supporter wants to do is to put anybody, especially kids at risk. 
 
The second reminder was that this tech was pricey.  Being a representative of a low socioeconomic area and also wearing the hat of being a representative for special education students (many need tech to meet functional needs, let alone with a budget to go far beyond that) I saw myself mentally weeding out items as I considered budgets.  My pared mental list screamed inequality.  As I thought about the students who had access to all the tech available versus the students who might get access to just a smidge of it, I felt like it would be a losing battle towards equality.
 
The potential for widening inequality was the worst.
 
One of the most powerful things I took away outside of physical tech was the push for global competence.  In fact that is the only physical purchase I made, a book called Educating for Global Competence.  A text encouraging teachers to help students examine and understand not only local, but global and intercultural issues including sustainable development.  I am hopeful that as we raise these upcoming generations they will be thoughtful about their actions as we all continue to share this one earth in as peaceful way as we can.
 
In the end though, despite my fluctuations in train of thought the event was indeed VERY inspiring.  I walked away with many new ideas both for student and self-learning.  As always with tech, I still feel the need for moderation, especially of what we allow it to collect and to control completely.  As often is said, tech can be used for bad or good, dependent upon the user.  At least in this ISTE environment I was surrounded by attendees who have it in their heart to use the tech for good to support rather than capitalize.  And that was beautiful.   
 

As a teacher of neurodiverse students I have had much exposure to unique situations.  As I downshift for a summer break rest I find myself reflecting on the year.  This situation was one of my favorite chuckles.

Most, well really all to the unfamiliar listener, of my students have extreme difficulty communicating.  So much so that functional communication activities must be intentionally incorporated throughout the day.  Well, one of my students (who I readily admit is one of my favorites) began the year with his only vocalizations as 'meep meep'.  I found myself mentally envisioning Beaker as this boy meeped his responses and requests with facial animation made extra adorable due to his huge light brown eyes.    

Although this boy often preferred to hide out or be in the break area as much as possible he would often come out for Jolly Phonics whole group online activity.  He appeared to enjoy the visuals such as the the A motion 'ah ah ants on me'  section where a boy has to brush ants off of himself from his picnic area.

One extra busy morning (read: late arrivals, multiple spilled breakfasts, all sincerely accidents except for the one where the ninja student had purposely dumped the chocolate milk on the floor because we were already busy with student retrieval or other mess) we had more ants than usual.  Yes, we had ants as many elementary buildings do.  The kind of colonies that are sustained by the serving of sugary cereal within their proximity.  Their force was strong because we could have a spill and several minutes later you would see their trail.  

Late in this morning as we prepared for lunch I hear 'ah ah' I recognize the voice.  It is my Meep Meep boy whom I have trained my ears on (as with all my language learners) so I could catch new phrases (like the time he verbally requested 'come here' and sent my heart to happy to hear the well articulated functional phrase spontaneously selected).  I look over to the direction of my chirpiest student and see that he is indeed in a moment of 'ah ah' as he is literally trying to wipe ants off of his sleeves.  

Although he was redirected several times to leave the ants alone and the ants were once swept away, he was now enthralled in his experience of Jolly Phonics Live.  My paras and I didn't even have to pay for that ticket, which was priceless.

​So ChatGPT has impressed me again. I signed up for the sample usage at chatopenapi.com.  I used this feature before to generate IEP goal assessment sets. As I'm Continuing my investigation of the ways that this resource can assist special educators and freeing up their sacred time I decided to try a couple more prompts.
 

​The first prompt I decided to try was in the generation of repeated reading stories. I have used this strategy in the past as a research-based intervention to improve oral reading fluency link here. As students worked on mastering sight words I would generate short stories with their name and interest along with the commonly misread words they would have as we were working on their site word lists. I would use the steps of repeated reading as a strategy with the small stories and saw wonderful progress with students as the stories were tailored just for them.  In a self contained special education classroom operating with stations I would recommend making this intervention a standing practice. In a typical classroom I would suggest using older-peer reading buddies.  
 
I wondered if ChatGPT could help with this process. I was very impressed with my first return result.  
 
My Specific prompt was; create a repeated reading fluency practice story with a character named Sam that likes trains at a 1st grade readability utilizing the sight words; even, then, they, that, there.  
 
Although the story is longer than I would typically use for first grade I imagine that if I ask for a specific number of word passage ChatGPT would oblige.  The following is what I received based on my prompt:
 
Title: Sam and the Train Ride
Sam loved trains. Every day, he would even ask his mom if they could go on a train ride. Finally, one day, his mom said yes. Sam was so excited!
They went to the train station and got on the train. Sam looked out the window and saw all the buildings passing by. Then, he saw a big field with cows in it. Sam thought they looked funny.
There was a conductor on the train. He told Sam and his mom that they were going to a town that had a big train museum. Sam was so happy. He couldn't wait to see all the trains.
When they got there, Sam saw so many trains. There were big ones, small ones, and even a train that looked like a dragon. Sam and his mom walked around the museum and looked at all the trains.
Then, they sawThey got on the train, and it started moving. Sam held on tight and looked out the window. They went through a tunnel, and it was dark. Sam was a little scared, but then they came out the other side and there was sunlight again.
The train ride was over too quickly. Sam and his mom got off the train and went back to the museum. They looked at all the trains again and then it was time to go home.
Sam was sad to leave the museum, but he knew that there would be more train rides in his future. As they walked away, Sam looked back at the museum and said, "There were so many trains there. I can't believe they had a train that looked like a dragon!"
And that was Sam's train adventure.

 a train that they could ride. Sam was so excited.
I have found incorporating names and interests in student’s stories maintained interest and engagement in the intervention.  When students have a strong interest in a topic they may already be familiar some of the words that may seem challenging so the more difficult train specific vocabulary doesn’t bother me.  It was a perfect individualized story that sprinkled in the specific words ‘Sam’ needed practice with.

I then decided to use check GPT for another common use in the special education realm. Which is writing social stories. In my experience they are very effective for students on the spectrum in managing small behaviors that need direct instruction link to meta analysis on the use of social stories for students on the spectrum
). The result of this check pleased me as well. It had all the components of a good social story that I had learned about during my teaching career and I was impressed by its ability to generate it so quickly (less than 2 minutes).
 
The following was my prompt:  create a social story to help an autistic student named sue keep her shoes on when on the bus.
 
The following is the response. Although this too is a little longer than I would typically write it is possible that I could request for the story to be at a certain readability or to a certain word length:
 
Title: Keeping My Shoes On
Hi, my name is Sue, and sometimes I take my shoes off when I ride the bus to school. I know this is not a good thing to do because it can be dangerous, and it also bothers the other students on the bus. I want to learn how to keep my shoes on.

 
is not a good When I get on the bus, I need to remember to keep my shoes on my feet. I can try to tie them extra tight, so they don't feel like they are slipping off. I can also wear socks that fit snugly on my feet, so my shoes don't slide around.
If I feel like taking my shoes off, I can remember that it's not safe, and it makes the other students uncomfortable. I can distract myself by looking out the window or listening to music. I can also bring a fidget toy or a stress ball to keep my hands busy.
I know that the bus driver and my teachers want me to be safe on the bus. Taking my shoes off is not safe, and it's also not polite to the other students. I want to be a good friend and a responsible student.
thing to dWhen I get to school, I can take my shoes off if I want to, but only in a safe and appropriate place like the classroom or the playground. I can also ask for help if I need it.
I am a smart and capable student, and I know that I can keep my shoes on during the bus ride. With practice and patience, I can learn how to be safe and comfortable on the bus.
Remembering to keep my shoes on is an important skill, and I am going to work hard to get better at it.

 
In future prompting I might be a little more specific and add details about ‘Sue’ such as the function of her shoe throwing behavior.  I want to note that it provided all of the suggestions that you might hear in a special education team meeting.  I imagine there may be some edits you might want to make but it is a wonderful support tool for new teachers or teams.
 
I just wanted to share these two examples of how I found the emerging AI market can assist in reducing the cognitive load for teachers so that focus can be on formative assessments, individualizing instruction and managing all the tasks special educators are responsible for.  As with any new technologies there are pros and cons with it and this duo of examples is a pro for AI.  You could try it out here https://chat.openai.com/ .  

​During my work as a special educator, I've come to work with students with various degrees of ability and fine motor control.  More recently, I've spent several years teaching students on the autism spectrum and students with intellectual difficulties.   During one of my first years with this population I was appalled when it was suggested to me that I not worry about developing a Couple students’ fine motor skills as they would never achieve gains.  Both in my professional and personal life I find the word ‘never’ ridiculous.  I felt that putting a ceiling on their growth would automatically hold them back so I worked to make gains despite the recommendation to call it a day on developing student skills.   To improve student’s fine motor skills I embedded supporting activities throughout their day. 
 
One such activity I embedded in my specialized academic classroom routine. In this specific classroom students went to rotations that had specific skill objectives for each rotation. Once a month I ensured that one of these rotations included guided drawing. The specific activity I handed over to a paraprofessional this year who was very skilled at building relationships. She had a special knack for making connections and was able to coax students into working on non-preferred tasks. Side note, always remember to appreciate your great paraprofessionals, not all of them come with this soft skill that is so necessary in a self-contained classroom or when working with neurodiverse students in different settings.  The paraprofessional would model each part of the picture and encourage students to mirror on their paper.  The instructions were given one step at a time rather than showing a completed picture and then asking a student to copy the whole thing which could be defeating for some students.  See the pictures of March and April drawings for the most recent comparison of progress.

​The guided drawing activity was multi-objective.  In addition to being given an opportunity for fine motor practice it was also a time to demonstrate following positional directions using words like bottom, top, left right and next to.  Direct instruction in color matching could be a sub objective for some students.   Having multiple objectives or at least being able to take advantage of each instructional moment is key to making the most progress with all students but especially for neurodiverse students as sometimes it may take quite a bit of time to develop rapport or there may be multiple barriers such as communication and dysregulation.
 
I also utilized a once-a-month whole group guided painting activity as well.  For this activity a painting was photographed after each thing was added like the grass, the colors of the rainbow one at a time or clouds etc.   Each month the picture was themed for accompanying holiday events or seasonal weather.  The photos were added to a PowerPoint with simple text directions to support reading at their level.  The students worked on one slide at a time with the emphasis on mirroring what they saw.  For those who needed extra support a light pencil line could guide their path as an accommodation.  Students typically had a high rate of focus on this task as all but one enjoyed painting.  Students were always thrilled to see their new artworks on display in the hallway.  I had several comments as well from staff that they were amazed that the students had turned out such nice pictures.
 
To sum it up, guided drawing and painting can help support improved fine motor control which is a prerequisite for many other tasks they will encounter.  I encourage you to try it and let me know what you think from your experiences.  Here is a link to an article on additional ways to support fine motor skill.  And lastly, never say never about what a student can eventually be capable of, instead help them find the rung of the ladder closest to them and help them rise up.

​One of the more challenging things about special education teaching is that the undergraduate work focuses so much on needing to cover a broad field which includes legal paperwork, and navigating different disabilities, of which there are many but that is just one aspect of the job.  You just don’t get out of college with a special education degree able to thoroughly understand the core curriculum you must support.  Then, it is vice versa for regular education teachers who have clients in their classrooms with significant needs.  The Cooperative Association for Special Education Cooperative (CASE) has assisted in closing this gap with their professional development. 
 
They hosted a literacy professional development that encouraged research-based reading strategies to help engage students in language and reading activities.  They also made it extremely relevant for those teachers whose students utilize Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC).  This population of student has increased in the last half decade as many have found the ability to overcome communication skill barriers with low (eg. picture cards) to high (eg. ipad with word app) tech. 
 
They started the event right off the bat reminding attendees of the statistics that show that persons with non-intellectual disabilities have a poorer outcome when it comes to their reading skills.  For example, that 1 in 10 individuals with severe communication and physical disabilities is able to read at the same level as same age peers without disabilities.  That’s right, NON-INTTELLECTUAL disabilities.  So many assumptions are made by sight, which makes sense since that is where many of us take in most of our info.   
 
These instruction motivators then hit on one of my favorite points, that rote repetitive curriculum may not be the best the way.  I loved this as one year I was asked to use Early Literacy Skills Builder (ELSB) with a student one year and it was, well, just plain awful.  The same lesson over and over, just like some of those ‘task boxes’ that might go well for your cognitively challenged but might just push other students into a severe wish to never enter the classroom again.
 
So yes, this special education cooperative then conducted their hours long professional development in an organized manner that kept their audience rotating around the learning space so that none of us suffered from butt fatigue.  Strategies for sharing stories, phonological development, language acquisition and direct teaching of core words for meaning were shared.  Personally, I was lucky, as when I was given my complex needs assignments I had already completed two undergraduates in education, one for ‘reg-ed’ (which includes the pedagogy of all the subjects) and one for ‘SPED’ which focused more on interventions and procedures.  But again, not every special education teacher comes out with great subject pedagogy and here is why CASE is the Greatest Of All Time in supporting its staff with the tools it needs to make progress with the clients they care for.
 

​A well written IEP goal can be crucial to making meaningful progress with students.  Ensuring the goal is specific, measurable, achievable, replicable and time bound allows data collection that shows rates and patterns of progress and can be continued even if their teacher changes throughout the year.  Identifying and writing that essential educational support are just the first steps.  Next you must ensure you have a way of monitoring progress.  This is where I investigated whether AI could help me.  You may have already done this and if so kudos and please share your learning through comments.
 
A lot of special education positions, especially for low incidence students in systems with limited resources are extremely challenging.  There is not a truly outstanding curriculum when you are working with students below the 1% as measured on standardized tests.  So many teachers have no choice but to become behavioral and learning scientists.  Learning what works for each student and attempting to provide materials that are meaningful is at the core of special education.  These then tend to translate into student’s goals for the coming year.
 
 

Having had a lot of experience as a classroom scientist trying different strategies for different situations, I continue to foster openness to new ideas.  Recently I took this mindset and tried ChatGPT.  I decided to use the service for creating IEP goal assessments.  If you are like me, you may write a goal and want to have all the assessment items and sets laid out for the year, ensuring that your assessments are reliable and valid.  Sometimes a goal doesn’t come with ready-made assessments that fairly cover all variables.  So, I wondered if ChatGPT could help me out with this tediousness.  I was pleasantly surprised it was spot on.  The generation of answers was swift and exactly what I was envisioning.
 
I mostly prompted for sets to cover some unique IEP goals.  For example, one goal involving a student’s acquisition of consonant-vowel-consonant word reading required novel 10 item lists for formative assessments.  Therefore, the prompt I put in was: Can I have 15 sets of pre primer and primer cvc words that do not repeat words and are composed of all short vowel sounds.  For this prompt the AI delivered to me 15 ten-word lists of cvc words representing all vowel sounds using only pre-primer and primer words. 
 
 I tried it out again in math.  This time I prompted for: Create 15 sets of 10 equally mixed addition and subtraction expressions where the sum and subtrahend are within 20.  Ta da!  It quickly generated 15 lists for the formative assessing towards the student’s goal.  With this success I continued and the amount of time that I saved is invaluable.
 
I recommend trying this tool out while it is free.  Albeit it did not format the worksheets, providing the continuum of assessment items was exactly what I was looking for on this particular venture.  Comment and share your experiences with AI and supporting students with unique needs.
 
To try this tech out in the area of special education goal assessment sets I used the following site and created an account.  I recommend using it while it is still free and encouraging its continued use at a discount to assist educators in areas of public teaching.
https://chat.openai.com/chat
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​At the moment I am cozy and grateful for the opportunity to write undisturbed in a comfortable location.  I am on a break, a much earned break from my 9-5.
 
My 9-5 is teaching (managing a classroom, managing/coaching paras, being cooperative with teammates, planning for instruction and the most intense…interacting with and instructing the students.  
 
Now here is where I might make enemies.  What I will express is only my opinion, and that is not all teaching jobs are equal.  I have often been envious of teachers in upper elementary, high school or my goodness of older more functional beings.  I have often been envious of teachers with students who can communicate effectively to solve problems rather than displaying a maladaptive behavior that you must go through the scientific process to determine communication function.  I have often been envious of teachers that work with a wide variety of parents that have a balance of challenges.  I have been envious of teachers who get to see progress at a much more steady, predictable rate.  Now, to be fair, I respect all teachers.  Using professions to uplift the life of others is just great peopling.  However, I do believe preschool and elementary student wranglers may have much more of a burden than learning directors of adults. 
 
At the preschool and elementary level, we are teaching regulation, executive functioning, social and academic skills.  There is also the burden of ‘first contact’ in building and maintaining positive relations with parents from the start of the little adorable germ breeder’s school career.  Toss in shoe tying, blowing noses and other add-ons, the preschool/elementary teacher has a whole heck of a lot of responsibility.  Now given they directly serve their often congested charges approximately 6.5 hours a day M-F, and given that these pint sized pupils really don’t do ‘independent tasks’ so great that requires the preschool, early elementary teacher to find planning time elsewhere.  Oh the number of times I have walked hurriedly past a room of compliant students working independently while a teacher plans or collaborates to improve the quality of their teaching.
 
Now that I’ve attempted to paint a picture that Brene Brown might approve of, I want to add on a level that some teachers are working with.  Sadly, not enough teachers, but it makes sense.  Now, take those preschool/early elementary teacher pictures I’ve attempted to conjure.  In all fairness, reduce the number of kids in the classroom.  Maybe add one or two other adults to help.  
 
Now that you’ve got a new view in mind, imagine that none of the 9 students can express their needs and wants in a clearly understandable way.  Some lucky students have a device to assist, which requires new learning on your part and a new layer to your instruction.  Imagine that most are in a state of uncomfortable dysregulation that comes through in tantrums, noises, self-harming behaviors and one student’s regulation strategy triggers another student to become dysregulated.  Now imagine that you must adhere to a 25 page per student individual plan, oh and through the year you must collect reliable data and draft a new legal document.  Contemplate working with families that all have an extra burden or several burdens due to difficulties of disabilities.  These could be trying to secure supplemental therapies, spending more time on supporting your child just so they could have a fulfilling life, or extensive doctor appointments to upkeep medications.  Consider trying to provide the best inclusion support with teachers who have less patience for your students, more teaching to another adult for each kiddo.  Ponder how it may feel to have a student unexpected behavior divert the course of your lesson plans seen as a normal daily occurrence (its like they collaborate to take turns).  Mull over the number of injuries these tiny tots incur through their behavioral expressions as they rebuff ‘hard’ work of learning.  Cogitate about how progress for students might occur in a setting such as this and the impact on the educator of limited progress.  
 
Lastly, ask yourself again, why are special education teachers hard to find in the shrinking field of all teachers?  Not all teaching jobs are equal.
 
My opinion (And I hope to goodness this occurs more than I know about, because most of my time was in a low socio economic school district that did not have all these resources…yet):
A solution for one special education teaching role, self-contained special education teacher.  Teaching noncommunicative students on the spectrum is extremely dauting.  Often, they are lumped together in a classroom that serves autism (some of the fastest neural speeds) and cognitive disabilities (some of the slowest neural speeds).  This exacerbates the challenges already mentioned above.  This type of classroom is best run with a series of ‘stations’ so that you can split up the learning groups for efficient learning time.  This requires quite a bit of transitions, which also serve to provide movement breaks.  Students in these classrooms at the younger level often have sensory diets to help learn regulation skills.  Students who are the youngest in these classrooms often have maladaptive behaviors.  So, running stations requires planning, communicating planning to other adults, managing regulation needs and fostering independent transitions.  
 
For the beginning of the year (at least) I believe students would be best served if the special education teacher didn’t have to be running (sometimes literally) at a lightning pace to get it all done.  I believe self-contained classrooms catering to students on the spectrum and/or cognitive challenges should have a classroom teacher, two paraprofessionals to help facilitate learning (others added if student comes in with limited independence and requires dedicated para times) AND a behavior tech support staff whose primary job is to work on the ‘classroom’ schedule and student transitions.  This would allow the teacher to teach more frequently rather than losing precious time in helping the student struggling with transitioning and leaving a learner just waiting in a learning station.  The behavior tech support staff could also be the data collector as well as the sensory diet manager, again allowing for the teacher to focus on the instruction of students, not just managing a sensory diet that was already drafted and may not need a teacher.  The behavior tech could also be assisting in students going into regular classrooms for special subjects or other integreation opportunities (again so an adult can be retained in the classroom for instruction).
 
Why am I advocating for a behavior tech when I have two paraprofessionals envisioned in the room?  I do this because over the years you never know what you are going to get with a paraprofessional outside of a great loving heart.  Additionally, if you are splitting your class of 9 (minimally communicative and often with bathroom schedules) into meaningful configurations for actual skill progress that means at more times than not, (except when they each take their lunch or are taking students to special subjects) you will want multiple learning groups running.  As the classroom teacher you are to instruct the paras on the new activities and of course teach, communicate to parents and on and on.  The behavior tech alleviates some of the daily demands in taking data on certain students so you don’t have to multi-task (something that I hear repeatedly is not good, yet expected of teachers every moment of every day).  The behavior tech ensures that sensory diets are managed with integrity without negatively impacting student learning by taking away an instructing adult.  The behavior tech can consistently target certain student behaviors that are being shaped.  Yep, lots of benefits that essentially boil down to increased learning opportunities.  Does this seem like a lot of resources to be granted?   
 
Well, given the increase and projected increase in special needs students, envision a future for the students, the families, and the communities 20 years down the road if we don’t maximize their time in the public education system.  ALL kids CAN learn, some just need different, if not given different these students may not learn, their families will need to work harder to assist their child, the student themselves may become self-defeated and the impact on the community in regard to safety and economy may be quite negative.