While summer break is a much needed time for students to recharge and enjoy some well-deserved fun, time away from regular schooling can also lead to learning regression. For students with moderate to severe disabilities, continuous learning is critical to maintaining progress on IEP goals and skill building.
We’ve compiled a list of hands-on, engaging activities that can be embedded into students’ regular schedule and play. With these tips and ideas, learning will be so integrated into students’ fun-filled days, they won’t even realize it’s happening!
These activities are great for summer school, day camps, or for parents/guardians to use throughout the summer break!
Research has shown that visual schedules help students with disabilities stay on task and reduce challenging behavior. Students are already acquainted with having a schedule at school, so creating a summer schedule will help them continue to know what to expect. As soon as the summer starts, create a schedule with the student that includes daily activities – morning walks, meal time, chores, and story time – and find ways to incorporate learning into these moments.
Summer is the perfect time to visit interactive learning environments such as zoos, museums, aquariums, planetariums, and other STEAM-based facilities. Spaces like these have been designed to be highly interactive and accessible for learners of all ages, and most already come with educational programming! Tip: Ask the staff at your facility for any learning accommodations they have available for participants with disabilities.
Learning is always easier and more fun when it’s associated with something we enjoy! Does this learner love space, animals, fashion, cars, etc.? Write down all of the student’s favorite things and consider how they can be incorporated into learning activities. For example, you can use characters from a student’s favorite show to work on social skills, or Legos and Magna-tiles to work on counting. When a student’s hobbies and interests are embedded into their learning, they’re already being reinforced!
Multisensory learning is another engaging, hands-on approach parents/guardians can use to maintain learning over the summer. One example of this is to turn educational content into a game. Gamified learning is an interactive approach that research has shown to improve retention and learning outcomes. At home, this can look like incorporating IEP goals into activities such as a bingo card or a scavenger hunt. Other examples of multisensory learning include incorporating music, dancing, and sensory tactile items (i.e. playdough) into lessons.
By aligning evidence-based interventions with our award-winning adapted, core curriculum, enCORE, TeachTown ensures that every student has the tools to build independence, confidence, and lifelong skills. Because we want to see every student continuously grow and thrive, TeachTown’s curriculum solutions provide additional instruction and resources to extend learning beyond the traditional school year.
TeachTown offers an Extended School Year (ESY) program for PreK – 12+, with Launch for PreK serving our early childhood districts and enCORE serving our K-12+ districts. ESY is a 4-week program designed to help students maintain essential skills across key learning domains (PreK) and core subject areas (K12). Each week includes engaging lessons, activities, and hands-on learning experiences, plus the ability to track student progress and collect data. This year’s ESY theme is Summer Around the United States! Students will embark on a virtual road trip across the U.S., exploring different cities and engaging in region-specific learning experiences.
Contributor Bio
Tasha McKinney brings over eight years of experience in education. After four years of teaching outdoor education programs, she pursued a Master’s in Early Childhood Special Education at the University of Texas. Since then, she has worked in classroom settings and created content for EdTech companies.