Communication Skills

One of the IEP goals that I am working diligently on with my focus child is paying attention and answering questions about the content we are learning accurately.  She struggles with staying focused, so when she is asked questions during a lesson, she has not idea how to answer.  Part of her difficulty also has to do with her limited knowledge of sign language.  She does not have the expanded knowledge of signs that she should have at this point in order to answer these questions appropriately. 

In order to address these issues, I will uses the communication strategies "choices" and "manding."  I usually take a story I have read to the class and ask my focus child questions about it.  Instead of signing the answers, she tends to point to the pictures when she can.  I think that giving her some choices of answers will help build her sign language vocabulary and help her understand that I am looking for a more detailed answer, not just pointing.  As she begins to develop some new vocabulary, I will begin to use manding more.  I try to request more detailed responses from her now, but, again, her vocabulary is just not where it needs to be.  I can also use these strategies when I am just having a casual conversation with her.  She tends to sign the same things over and over because she doesn't know what else to sign.  So we will work on giving her choices for answers to questions I ask her and manding more detailed responses in the very near future.  As we work on these strategies, I also want to work with my focus child on expanding her answers to more than two words.  Even when she does give me an answer, it is one or two words.  I want her to expand these thoughts into more of a sentence form.


Cook, Ruth E., Klein M. Diane, & Tessier, Annette. (2008). Adapting Early Childhood Curricula for Children with Special Needs (7th Edition). Columbus, OH: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Motor and Self-Help Skills

My focus child has well-developed motor skills.  She is able to skip, hop on one foot, run, jump, swing on her own, and climb.  She is actually an excellent climber to be as small as she is.  She is one of the smallest in my class.  She swings like a monkey from bars on the playground.  She has no trouble keeping her balance when she is running or walking.  She is quiet good at walking on a balance beam as well.  She is able to catch and throw a ball too.  She can kick a ball also.

Her self-help skills are just as strong.  She is very independent.  This is her second year in my classroom.  When she first started, she was not potty-trained.  However, this year, she is able to take care of her bathroom needs on her own.  She feeds herself with a fork and spoon without difficulty.  Last year, she struggled with opening her milk and juice carton at snack and lunch.  Now she can do this task without assistance.  She is able to put on and take off her coat without help also.  She can zip her coat too.  Emily can clean up after herself when she is finished playing in a center.  She is a very strong-willed child who is independent.  Her self-help skills are very developed.

Cook, Ruth E., Klein M. Diane, & Tessier, Annette. (2008). Adapting Early Childhood Curricula for Children with Special Needs (7th Edition). Columbus, OH: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Colker, Laura J., Dodge, Diane T., & Heroman, C.  (2002).   The Creative Curriculum for Preschool.      Washington, D.C.:  Teaching Strategies.

Focus Behavior of the Social Story

My student stuggles with paying attention especially during group time and story time.  She is easily distracted by the smallest things.  One day this week, she had hit her head.  She spent the entire group time rubbing her head and complaining about it rather than paying attention to what I was teaching.  This is her "cop-out."  She complains often about scratches and other minor injuries in order to get out of doing her work.  If I get on to her about her behavior, she usually stops and begins to pay attention.  However, she struggled with focusing on many occasions this week.  Due to this behavior, she is falling behind in learning her numbers and some other skills.  One of her IEP goals is to answer questions appropriately when asked 80% of the time.  She is not able to do this either because of her inability to remain focused on a task.  As I work with her one-on-one to monitor her progress on her IEP goals, she has trouble staying on-task then as well.  Therefore, I am planning to focus my story on this behavior.