Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Hectic Times

Well, this week has been busy to say the least. One of my students moved out of state leaving me with one (not for very long though, no worries), and the other one moved and may or may not be picked up by the bus on Monday. The other elementary Lifeskills Deaf teacher and I have worked out a co-teaching agreement until my numbers increase. That will be interesting...she has two of my students that I had the past three years plus two more. It will be good for the one using PECS, though, because she hasn't been trained, so I can work with him to make-up anything he forgot over the summer. And, my one student is learning how to use a Go-Talk because of some bone issues that cause him to feel uncomfortable signing, so that will be a good pair. It won't be too long until I have ARDs for 3-4 more students (starting in September) which includes another student with AU. The main thing I am looking forward to investigating the first couple weeks is MEville to WEville. The state school for the Deaf uses it with their Lifeskills program, and we have one set, so I am very curious hopeful to see how this goes.

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Monday, August 9, 2010

PECS

Well, the school year has officially started (for teachers anyway), and that leads me to my first post!

PECS. The Picture Exchange Communication System. This is a great program geared towards autistic children. I had to pass some training materials onto another Lifeskills Deaf teacher today. She is going to have a nine-year-old severely autistic boy who is, of course, Deaf, and labeled mentally retarded. I had him for three years, and introduced him to PECS two years ago. It was a great discovery for him. He has never had an interest in sign language since his autism prevents him from really focusing on anyone for any significant period of time, but with the picture exchange, he finally had control over his wants and needs.  He caught onto the concept pretty fast, and although he is still discriminating between three pictures, it has significantly lowered his frustration levels, thereby lowering his tantrums. It's great, and I'm sure I will post more specific information about it at a later date.