What does it mean to be a black or brown boy with ADHD? It can mean he displays symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, but he does not have a diagnosis. It may mean that a black or brown boy is appropriately diagnosed with ADHD, but because implicit bias is an issue facing schools and society, he …
When students engage in challenging behaviors it can be frustrating, confusing, and elicit other unwanted feelings. At times these feelings may interfere with our ability to look at the behaviors with clear eyes and ask: Why is this behavior happening? To answer this question and understand the behavior, one must consider a few fundamental concepts …
What is Social Emotional Learning? What does it look like? These questions are commonly asked by parents, yet they are commonly demonstrated by students daily by their interactions and interpersonal relationships established in the classroom with their instructors and peers. According to the ‘Committee for Children’, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is, “the process of developing …
One of the biggest concerns for teens with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is their social communication skills. As students become older, the focus of their speech therapy starts to stray away from the academic side and focuses more on the social aspects of communication. For example, how to initiate, continue and end a …
Why Incorporate Visuals? Visuals are beneficial supports for children with limited verbal communication. Hodgdon (1995) proposed four reasons for using visuals within home, school, and community environments: (a) visuals increase children’s reliability (they are more likely to know what to do and then to do this repeatedly), (b) visuals encourage children to be more independent, …
Using visuals at home is an effective and costless way to improve children’s speech and language skills and abilities. Visual aids have been shown to help advance communication. Visual aids can be broken down into any object that is viewed – it could be an object, picture, or sign. Visual aids can fall under the …
Our lives are full of transitions and tasks that need to be done daily; these could be things such as doing homework, getting paperwork done, or making dinner for your family. These may be simple tasks that everyone does, but some individuals may have a more challenging time than others. Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum …
Play is an important part of development for all children. It allows them to explore the world around them, communicate with others, share, problem-solve, and develop many other foundational skills. Language is one of the skills children learn during play. There are strategies we can use to support language growth during play and facilitate learning …
The last 18 months have been like no other. We know that the impact of the global pandemic was different on each community. For individuals experiencing food insecurity, their world looked much different than the overworked executive who welcomed the change of pace. Working parents who were home with school-aged children had an entirely different …
Phonological awareness is a foundational skill that is defined as the ability to manipulate oral language. It involves word structure and includes blending, segmenting, judging, and recombining words. It is a necessary skill because it relates to the individual’s developing literacy skills. Early phonological awareness skills are demonstrated by using rhyming, clapping out syllables, and …
