Our blog has been designed to keep our educators, parents and clinicians up-to-date on trending topics in special education.
In most professions, professional development is essential in building your craft, growing your knowledge base and boosting your productivity and performance at work. This holds true for doctors, nurses, chefs, marketing professionals, mechanics, etc. For now though, let’s focus on professional development for educators and why it is so vital to not only your success, but your students, as well.
The first five years of a child’s life are often viewed as the most influential when it comes to learning growth and development. Naturally, every child will develop at a different pace, but if you have questions about your child’s development, it's never too early to schedule an appointment with your local pediatrician or early intervention agency to discuss your concerns.
Just like any other relationship in your life, your professional relationships require effort to maintain and blossom. Without phenomenal communication, compromise and respect, your working relationships may fall flat, ultimately affecting the students you serve. As an educator working with students with moderate to severe disabilities, maintaining a strong relationship with your paraprofessional is key.
As a special education teacher, administrator, paraprofessional, clinician or even parent, those 7.3 million students with disabilities rely on you to be one of the dependable individuals in their lives that can uplift them with constant support, motivation to succeed and endless flexibility to ensure these students can learn and grow into the best possible versions of themselves.
An Individualized Education Program, sometimes known as an Individualized Education Plan and more commonly referred to as an IEP, is a formal document outlining a child’s individual educational plan from Pre-K through 12th grade in public schools.
We have LOTS of ideas here at TeachTown – tons of them actually! And, while we’d love to stick around and share them all with you now, that’s not the kind of idea we’re referring to when we say, “Hey! What’s the big IDEA?”
At the onset of the pandemic, districts and educators were left scrambling to piece together curriculum plans that catered to students working within a remote learning environment – a scenario that the majority weren't prepared for.
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a highly effective method of behavior therapy for children on the autism spectrum based on teaching desired behaviors through a system of positive reinforcement.
Over the past three decades, federal policy and legislation have resulted in significant educational advances for students with moderate and severe disabilities. Federal legislation mandates that all students have access to the general curriculum and specially designed instruction that meets the unique needs of each student (IDEA, 1997).