Language development is the process through which students acquire the ability to communicate. In typically developing children, this process begins at around 3 months of age and continues most intensely during the first three years of life. This process begins with an infant’s cry which is when children learn that crying brings food, social attention, and general nourishment. The crying develops into basic cooing at around 3 months when babies begin to understand basic speech sounds. Cooing turns to babbling, which turns to a child’s first few communicative words by age one. By two or three years old, most children know about 500 words. There are developmental checklists that lay out these foundational steps in sequential order.
When working with students with moderate to severe disabilities, relationships and a student’s motivation are central to academic success. In Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), relationship building is also called pairing. Pairing is the process of establishing yourself as a reinforcer to build a positive relationship with a child. When a teacher or paraprofessional is properly paired with a student, the student should look forward to working with the adult. It is possible to pair people, environments, and objects.
TeachTown, a leading provider of special education curriculum for students with disabilities, is pleased to debut Launch for PreK, a comprehensive, inclusive early childhood special education curriculum for students ages 3–5. A first of its kind, Launch for PreK celebrates diversity and inclusivity while targeting key global learning domains, including language, literacy, and social development.
Based on your feedback, we are pleased to announce the release of several enhancements to our brand new Manage Students page. TeachTown administrators now have the ability to search across campuses; add, remove, and/or override licenses for students in bulk; and more!
Daily living skills are the routine self care activities that people engage in that promote independence. These skills span from toilet training to food preparation but generally help people maintain a level of health and safety. Some students with delays or disabilities are slow to master daily living skills but it is possible to teach these vital skills. Daily living skills are each set of multiple skills that are strung together. For instance, think about hand washing. Consider all of the smaller component skills that a person has to do to perform the larger task of hand washing: turning on the sink, pumping soap, tolerating getting wet, understanding clean versus dirty. Read on!
As adults, we rely on visual supports to navigate our daily lives. We often look to our Google calendars to see what’s next on our schedule. We create lists for the grocery store, and consult our never-ending to-do lists to complete tasks. Checking items off our lists and reviewing our calendar for what's next gives us a sense of accomplishment and reduces anxiety by providing clarity about our upcoming activities. Now, imagine being a 3, 4, or 5-year-old and getting placed inside a classroom with strangers, likely the first time away from parents for an extended period, with no idea about what will happen next. In these instances, implementation of visual supports can help ease the anxieties of our youngest learners, and especially for our students with disabilities.
We are pleased to announce the release of brand new bulk data management features, accessible to TeachTown administrators on the Manage Students page. These bulk edit features will help you get your lists set faster so you can spend more time supporting teachers and students. The Manage Students page has a new look and feel, including the ability to take bulk action to manage student profiles by adjusting: grade levels, student licenses, teacher-student associations, transferring students, and more!
Imagine that peak moment when something sour, like lemon or lime juice, hits your tongue. You experience a rush of sensations, from the tingling on your taste buds to the involuntary wince and twitch of your facial muscles. Now, think about those times when you have an irritating itch on your body that you just can't seem to soothe, no matter how hard you try. These sensations might seem like minor inconveniences to some, but for individuals with sensory processing challenges, they can be a daily struggle.
The beginning of the school year will be here before we know it! To make your lives simpler during the busy back to school sprint, we are releasing several new data management features over the next few weeks. You will save time and increase efficiency with auto-licensing and rostering synchronization. These features will help you get your lists set so you can spend more time supporting teachers and students. Check out the NEW advanced administration tools you’ll see within the platform regarding auto-licensing and rostering synchronization.
Imagine a young student named Daniel, eyes wide with excitement as he picks up his brand new book, Chicken Little, to follow along as his teacher reads it aloud to his class. He thinks to himself, “This book has farm animals! I like to watch the chickens when we go to my grandmother’s house.” At his last school, Daniel never had his own copy of the books, let alone a brand new copy! Some of the letters on the pages of the book seem like a mystery to him, but with each new lesson activity in phonics and phonemic awareness, those letters begin to make more sense. They transform into sounds, words, and eventually, as he progresses through the year, stories.