My students are in a special education class called TAP (Transitional Academic Program), and they are in Kindergarten and first grade. Most of my students have a primary diagnoses is autism and a secondary diagnoses of speech-language. Currently I have one student who has Intellectual Disability. The purpose of the TAP program is to increase student's time in the general education classroom and to teach independence.
Special education students thrive to learn about everything around them.
They want to learn about math. They want to learn how to read. They want to learn how to write. Sometimes it just takes some extra adult support to help them learn the information. In the TAP program, I am to differentiate the material to meet the needs of each individual student and to meet their learning style.
My Project
My students are in need of sensory toys such as see-inside activity balls, Theraputty and gel-bead sensory shapes to support them in decreasing behavior and to support them on focusing n their class assignments. Having something fun to touch and play with will keep their minds focused and will be more motivating to learn
Students will utilize sensory toys to support them.
First, if a student is struggling to do work and behaviors have increased, I would provide the sensory object to the student to support their need. Another way I would utilize the sensory toy is to have students earn the object as a preferred item. For example, each of my students has a token board. After students earn 10 tokens, they may play with the preferred item for a certain amount of minutes, and then they go back to work. This token economy system supports students and increases their motivation to learn.
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