In special education, and education in general, we are constantly told what to teach. We have state standards we must adhere to, goals outlined in various curricula, and of course the skills and milestones we must measure during our formal assessments. All of these guidelines are valuable for us as teachers. They provide us with a framework for teaching, assist us in developing goals and objectives, allow us to assess strengths and needs, and help us to measure progress. But there is so much more to teaching than that! There is an element of clinical judgment involved in education that cannot be found in any manual. We should not teach something because it is part of a curriculum or because it is measured in an assessment--we should teach something because it will improve our students' quality of life. In the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), we focus on modifying socially-significant behaviors. In other words, behavior that impacts an individual's daily life and functioning in the world. Put simply, we must remember to teach what actually matters.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Teach What Matters!
Posted by Ashley, Special Educator
In special education, and education in general, we are constantly told what to teach. We have state standards we must adhere to, goals outlined in various curricula, and of course the skills and milestones we must measure during our formal assessments. All of these guidelines are valuable for us as teachers. They provide us with a framework for teaching, assist us in developing goals and objectives, allow us to assess strengths and needs, and help us to measure progress. But there is so much more to teaching than that! There is an element of clinical judgment involved in education that cannot be found in any manual. We should not teach something because it is part of a curriculum or because it is measured in an assessment--we should teach something because it will improve our students' quality of life. In the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), we focus on modifying socially-significant behaviors. In other words, behavior that impacts an individual's daily life and functioning in the world. Put simply, we must remember to teach what actually matters.
In special education, and education in general, we are constantly told what to teach. We have state standards we must adhere to, goals outlined in various curricula, and of course the skills and milestones we must measure during our formal assessments. All of these guidelines are valuable for us as teachers. They provide us with a framework for teaching, assist us in developing goals and objectives, allow us to assess strengths and needs, and help us to measure progress. But there is so much more to teaching than that! There is an element of clinical judgment involved in education that cannot be found in any manual. We should not teach something because it is part of a curriculum or because it is measured in an assessment--we should teach something because it will improve our students' quality of life. In the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), we focus on modifying socially-significant behaviors. In other words, behavior that impacts an individual's daily life and functioning in the world. Put simply, we must remember to teach what actually matters.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
DTT: A Piece of the ABA Pie
Posted by Natalie, MA, Special Educator
Now that your mouth is watering with an image of pie, let me take you back to when I first heard this analogy. In graduate school, I took a course on curriculum and instruction for students with disabilities. My professor, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) was always telling us how the principles of ABA were beneficial for her students, and how important research-based interventions such as ABA are in all instruction (special education and general education alike). ABA was increasing in popularity as people learned more about the improvements students made, and with this increasing popularity came many misconceptions and misinformation. One such piece of information was that ABA is synonymous with DTT, or Discrete Trial Teaching. To this, my BCBA professor would say, "DTT is NOT ABA; it is a piece of the ABA pie!" You also may have read about this idea in my colleague Hiroe's post, "What is ABA?" She references that Discrete Trial Teaching is an effective teaching method utilized in many ABA programs, but that ABA is not wholly DTT. So what is the Discrete Trial Teaching thing all about?
Let's break it down DTT Style:
Now that your mouth is watering with an image of pie, let me take you back to when I first heard this analogy. In graduate school, I took a course on curriculum and instruction for students with disabilities. My professor, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) was always telling us how the principles of ABA were beneficial for her students, and how important research-based interventions such as ABA are in all instruction (special education and general education alike). ABA was increasing in popularity as people learned more about the improvements students made, and with this increasing popularity came many misconceptions and misinformation. One such piece of information was that ABA is synonymous with DTT, or Discrete Trial Teaching. To this, my BCBA professor would say, "DTT is NOT ABA; it is a piece of the ABA pie!" You also may have read about this idea in my colleague Hiroe's post, "What is ABA?" She references that Discrete Trial Teaching is an effective teaching method utilized in many ABA programs, but that ABA is not wholly DTT. So what is the Discrete Trial Teaching thing all about?
Let's break it down DTT Style:
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Tolerating Winter Clothing: A Sensory Approach to Staying Warm
Posted by Nicole, Occupational Therapist
As winter continues so does the cold weather and for a child
with sensory processing difficulties wearing winter clothing can be a very
unpleasant experience. After having various conversations with the parents I
work with specifically regarding different strategies for children having a hard
time with winter clothing such as hats, gloves, scarves, etc., I thought it
would be very helpful to share this information with our wonderful blog followers!
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Banish Bad Therapy!
Posted by Ashley, Special Educator
In a previous post, "Not All Therapists Are Created Equal," I discussed the qualities of a good therapist. That post focused on the idea that, regardless of qualifications on paper, all therapists have different strengths, weaknesses, and experiences. Therapists who look the same on paper may not be the same in practice. Clinical judgement is a difficult thing to teach. The sad truth is that there are some bad therapists out there. I hope my previous post has helped our parent readers to evaluate their child's therapists.
Because I have previously provided my thoughts on what defines good and bad therapists, I think it is now important to discuss what this means for your child. This sounds like common sense, but I think it is worth saying anyway: bad therapists will provide bad therapy. I will not go into extensive detail about what makes a bad therapist or what defines bad therapy because that information is available in "Not All Therapists Are Created Equal." This post will focus on the effects of bad therapy.
What I want you to know is that bad therapists and bad therapy can have detrimental effects for your child. If you have identified that your therapist is not right for your family, please make a change--and do it quickly! I know that requesting a change in therapist can feel awkward or intimidating, and can even come with feelings of guilt. For any parents out there who find themselves struggling with this decision, I write this post for you! I want you to know the effects of bad therapy so that you can make an informed decision for your child. What you are about to read may sound frightening. It is not my intention to scare you, but I do want you to know the truth so that you and your family can receive the best therapy possible.
In a previous post, "Not All Therapists Are Created Equal," I discussed the qualities of a good therapist. That post focused on the idea that, regardless of qualifications on paper, all therapists have different strengths, weaknesses, and experiences. Therapists who look the same on paper may not be the same in practice. Clinical judgement is a difficult thing to teach. The sad truth is that there are some bad therapists out there. I hope my previous post has helped our parent readers to evaluate their child's therapists.
Because I have previously provided my thoughts on what defines good and bad therapists, I think it is now important to discuss what this means for your child. This sounds like common sense, but I think it is worth saying anyway: bad therapists will provide bad therapy. I will not go into extensive detail about what makes a bad therapist or what defines bad therapy because that information is available in "Not All Therapists Are Created Equal." This post will focus on the effects of bad therapy.
What I want you to know is that bad therapists and bad therapy can have detrimental effects for your child. If you have identified that your therapist is not right for your family, please make a change--and do it quickly! I know that requesting a change in therapist can feel awkward or intimidating, and can even come with feelings of guilt. For any parents out there who find themselves struggling with this decision, I write this post for you! I want you to know the effects of bad therapy so that you can make an informed decision for your child. What you are about to read may sound frightening. It is not my intention to scare you, but I do want you to know the truth so that you and your family can receive the best therapy possible.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
MiliWHO??
Posted by Dani,
Speech-Language Pathologist MA CCC-SLP
OK don't worry this isn't going to be a boring journal article post but the speechie geek in me got really excited while reading this. Why? Because it literally describes EXACTLY how I do my therapy!! Specifically the article highlights the effectiveness of milieu approach to teaching prelinguistic (before speaking) communication skills. So get ready to learn a new word and feel smart: MILIEU! (To all my professors and speechies, yes this word rang a bell from the days I spent studying, just never stuck with me so meaningfully!)
Milieu! Milieu teaching
is pretty much the most accurate way I can describe the way I do therapy given
my population and their needs.
I subscribe to the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research and I
received an article that caught my eye the other day. Long story short, it
led me to a really old article (1993, I was only in 3rd grade!) entitled
"Facilitating Prelinguistic Communication Skills in Young Children with
Developmental Delay" (Warren, Yoder, Gazdag, Kim &Jones, 1993).
OK don't worry this isn't going to be a boring journal article post but the speechie geek in me got really excited while reading this. Why? Because it literally describes EXACTLY how I do my therapy!! Specifically the article highlights the effectiveness of milieu approach to teaching prelinguistic (before speaking) communication skills. So get ready to learn a new word and feel smart: MILIEU! (To all my professors and speechies, yes this word rang a bell from the days I spent studying, just never stuck with me so meaningfully!)
Sunday, December 9, 2012
What is ABA?
Posted
by Hiroe, Special Educator
I’ve
been working at an agency that provides services through the Early Intervention
Program (EIP) as a teacher and behavior analyst for the last several
years. Before I became a teacher, I worked as a service coordinator for
the EIP. As service coordinator I met many parents who opted against
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services for their children. In my
experience, parents often made this decision because they were misinformed by
people who did not fully understand ABA. Unfortunately this is very common
in the field! ABA is arguably the most misunderstood science. I
hope that this post, and this blog as a whole, will help to clear up some of
those misconceptions. Before discussing what ABA is, I think it
might be helpful to discuss what ABA is not.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Labeling or Disabling?
Posted by Ashley, Special Educator
Because we work closely with our families (which all educators should do, by the way!), we often hear the thoughts and concerns of our parents. One very common concern I encounter has to do with labeling children. Many families feel uncomfortable with having their child labeled with a diagnosis. This raises countless questions. Will this label follow my child throughout his life? Will it prevent opportunities for him in the future? Will he be judged or stigmatized? Will the diagnosis cause more harm than good? These are just a few of many concerns some of our parents face.
Because we work closely with our families (which all educators should do, by the way!), we often hear the thoughts and concerns of our parents. One very common concern I encounter has to do with labeling children. Many families feel uncomfortable with having their child labeled with a diagnosis. This raises countless questions. Will this label follow my child throughout his life? Will it prevent opportunities for him in the future? Will he be judged or stigmatized? Will the diagnosis cause more harm than good? These are just a few of many concerns some of our parents face.
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