I teach students who have severe special needs and live at below the poverty line at a middle school in a suburb or Orange County, CA. In the future the students will need to be independent to have jobs. The students are educated in a Special Day Class with others students with severe disabilities, and they participate in general education for non-academic electives during the school day. They are growing and developing similarly to their non disabled peers and want to be independent and work..
Most of the teens in the program have Autism and other developmental disabilities and it is my responsibility and desire to teach them to work by themselves and be proud of what they can do.
They can learn to be productive students and later employees without an adult standing next to them. Independence is everything!
We have started a program called structured work systems. It has been very effective but needs more structure and organization to be effective. We use markers, boogie boards, iPad mini and white boards to help the students learn to organize themselves.
My Project
The students in my classroom for students with severe disabilities have various skills. When I develop schedules and work systems for students to become independent they start with a white board and a pen and learn how to check or cross off what they have done. This allows them to see what is done and what is next throughout the day. This system works well for my students who can read single words in isolation. However, my students who cannot read need pictures or voice output to let them know what to do and what is next in their day. An iPad mini can provide students this additional input, both by listening and seeing in a manner that the child can be understood as well as understand what is happening. Knowledge is power and everyone wants to have some order and control in their day. By providing both simple (white boards) and higher technology (iPad) in my class, all students can be successful and do work themselves.
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