Quick Tips: Written Directions

"Written directions" sounds like one of the easiest accommodations to make happen. However, it is one of the most overlooked, underappreciated, and underused. Written directions are especially essential for students who struggle with auditory encoding and recall, and students who are easily distracted. I'm sure you've seen your student take out his homework, stare at the page, and go "I don't know what to do". And, you are just as stuck as he is because there are no directions for what to do. Without written directions for every assignment with directions over one step (and I'd argue, for assignments that include even one step), students may do an assignment incorrectly or not even attempt it due to the confusion.

It is worth it to fight for your student to get written directions on all assignments. Here are some creative suggestions you can use when you are up against that teacher that's saying "well, I showed an example several times in class", or "he didn't pay attention the first time; that's not my fault", or the classic: "I can't write directions for everything I do". Here are my suggestions:

• Email them!  Ask the teacher to email the directions right there, in class, after checking in with your student about what to do. Most teachers say they "checked for understanding", but walk away before the student was able to encode. Help the teacher realize they can easily do both (check for understanding and provide written directions). Have the teacher write a quick list of steps in an email to the student as a "check out" for understanding.
• Write them!  Recently I helped facilitate an agreement between a student and their teacher. The agreement was simple: the teacher rephrased the directions, and the student wrote down the rephrased directions on the top of the page. The major key to this is that the teacher has to stay and wait for the student to get it correctly written down before walking away. 
• Say them! Nowadays we are so fortunate to have speech-to-text software accessible at the click of a button. The teacher or the student (under the teacher's supervision) can say the directions into a google doc after activating the voice recorder. This is especially helpful for auditory learners. 

If you have a "quick tip" need, reply to this post!

"I didn't know what I was supposed to do"

Ellen is in the 11th grade and has difficulty in the area of visual processing. In Chemistry Ellen is often frustrated. She received these two assignments. One was a practice worksheet and the other was the quiz to assess mastery of the same skill (identifying covalent compounds):

Ellen became so frustrated by the worksheet (the maze) that she ended up copying from another student. When it came to the quiz she got a 24%. The teacher showed Ellen the worksheet and the quiz and asked: "Ellen, you got everything right on the worksheet, why did you do so terribly on the quiz?" Ellen's response is classic:

"I didn't know what I was supposed to do."

The Truth: Ellen is not alone. Many students often do not know what a task/worksheet/assessment is asking them to do simply because of the formatting. Oftentimes students give up by either copying off others or guessing because the format of the page is inaccessible to them. When Ellen first received this worksheet she was thinking:
-Why are there so many boxes?
-How do I know where to go after the start box?
-Why do I put my name on the side?
-Do I go up or down?
-Where do I put the formula it's asking me for?
And so on...
Ellen spends so much mental energy on simply processing the layout of the assignment, that she is unable to learn a new skill and even once it is learned, show mastery of that skill. Ellen, like so many students with visual processing difficulties, get lost in the visual details. 

What I Suggest: Students like Ellen need: visual continuity between assignments of the same skills, and less clutter on the page to show mastery of learned skills. We need to make the main ideas and the details of each assignment clear to students who struggle to process visual information. Speaking with your child's teacher about overly cluttered and visually complicated assignments is a must for your child to get the same opportunity to show mastery as students without visual processing difficulties.

Some suggestions you can provide to teachers to support visual continuity are:

• Always use the same font and font size on all assignments/assessments.
• Always put the same header on the page, no matter what the assignment/assessment is.

Example:

• Always put the directions in the same place, and identify them as separate from the questions themselves by italicizing, bolding, or boxing them.

Example:

• Always line up information linearly. Students should be able to complete the assignment/assessment in the same order in which they read (left to right, and from one line to the next).
• Limit the use of visuals, and make sure the visuals are aligned linearly on the page so they are easily identifiable. 

Reply to this post with samples of visually cluttered assignments/tasks that need to be visually accommodated for your child.

Quick and Easy Attention-Getting Strategies

Tiffany has been struggling to attend to information in class and at home. Even one-on-one, Tiffany loses focus quickly. Tiffany's resource teacher told me "I've tried everything". When I inquired more about what "everything" meant I realized a key attention-getting strategies were missing.

The Truth: Tiffany is similar to many students who struggle with inattention, especially those children who have ADHD, high anxiety, executive dysfunction, or experience(d) trauma. Attending to information that is unpleasant, difficult to process, or not provided in the optimal learning style can make focusing even more challenging. Additionally, focusing, or attending, has a time limit - and it's different for every human being. The great news is we learn to attend to all types of information and extend the timeline to which we can attend as our brains mature! But remember, your child's frontal lobe (where the ability to attend lies) will not develop until near adulthood. 

What I Suggest: When Tiffany's teacher told me she tried "everything", she meant in terms of discipline, or verbal reminders. Kids who struggle with attending are really great at tuning that out. Verbal feedback can sound monotone to students so repeating the child's name or saying "focus" just doesn't work. I suggest you use the other senses and change up the routine constantly. You don't want to child to become immune to the attention-getting strategy because you've overused it. Use these attention grabbers to get a student's attention when it is most necessary to avoid the tune out and maxing out the amount of "attention reserves" your child has. Here are a few attention-getting strategies to try that use senses other than our ears:

• Touch:
• Hand on the Shoulder (a great silent full-class attention-grabber)
• The "High-Five and Go" (even just putting your hand in front of the student and saying "high five listening, go" and the getting that high five grabs the student's attention to your body and to theirs)
• Clap 3 Times (often an attention-grabber used in the NFL to refocus a teammate when getting back on the field)
• The "Mimic Me" Pose (where you touch your nose and the student needs to attend directly to you and their own body to touch their nose in response - don't forget to change it up by doing an ear pull the next time and a double eye blink the one after that)
• Smell:
• Waft of a Scent (this is tricky because it can be a distraction; however if done correctly it's as simple as running a quick gum wrapper, an open lotion bottle, or the cap of a lemon juice bottle under the student's nose and asking "what did you smell?". Once they answer you, you've hooked them back in for the next chunk of attending time.)

Notice: Some of these strategies involve verbal feedback from the student. This verbal output is great to re-focus the student, but may not always we able to happen in a classroom setting.

Reply to this post if you want one of these attention-getting strategies to be performed to get a visual.

What to look for in a school

I am working with Jaden's family right now to identify the best environment for her for high school. It is difficult to find the right placement for Jaden. Her parent's keenly asked: "where exists a school that is going to both challenge and at the same time understand my child?"


The Truth: No matter the age, finding a school that is a good fit for your child is very difficult because your child is unique. Finding a good fit is going to look different for you and your child compared to another child and their family. However, here are some key factors in identify the best environment for your child:



What I Suggest: First, you must realize that the choice of best fit is for your child right now. If you try to plan too long-term ("well this is where I want Jaden to be in 4 years") it's not going to work. Your child will be very different in 4 years, and maybe even in 2 years and another placement change may be necessary again. Second, follow these guidelines when touring schools so as not to get caught up in the new and shiny tech labs: 

• Identify the positive culture, and make sure it's pervasive in your child's day. You do not want your kid in a punitive system of punishment. You want a positive behavior cycle where your student is rewarded for being them instead of punished for not fitting into the square peg.
• Identify the alternatives, and flexibility allowed to students. Since your kid is unique, their path is as well. You want to find a school that honors multiple paths and has options for achievement. If you hear "all kids have to take..." or "we require that everyone must meet these standards...", you can feel free to walk out.
• Identify your child's top need in a school. Don't think of it in the categories of "social", "academic" or "athletic". Instead, what does your child need the most support with? Maybe the top need is organizational support. If that's the case, going to a school that provides weekly or monthly plans ahead of time would be a great fit! Or, maybe, the top need is more time to process information. If that's the case, then going to that school that is rooted in mastery-based grading is going to be your child's best fit.

Thirdly, and most importantly, do not look at the school for yourself. It's easy to get caught up in "I would love this school if I was your age". But remember, you are not your child, and they are not you.



Reply to this post if you'd like a list of concrete questions to ask for each suggestion above.

How to Prepare for Change

Raven's mom and I just got off the phone to discuss how she can best support Raven in their move to a new town, a new school, new friends, and a new grade. Raven's mom knows change is hard for both her and her daughter.


In fact, change is hard for all of us - adults, children, babies, and even our eldest members. Change is hard for so many reasons. Knowing the reasons change is hard can help us identify what to do to plan for the changes ahead. Humans are fearful of change because we don't like to be uncomfortable, we don't like to venture into the unknown, and we definitely do not like to make any mistakes along the way!


So, knowing that change (both big and small) makes us fearful in all these ways, we must take steps to lessen our fear of change. If you are trying to prepare your child for upcoming change here is what you need to do:

• Talk openly about your fears and give talking space for all fears. 

We often assume that keeping our fears to ourselves and hidden will make us feel better. But this is not true. All humans, but in particular, children need to discuss their fears, just like they need to discuss each bump and bruise. Telling you their fears, and hearing your own fears makes all feel heard, understood, and valued.

• Identify many possible solutions to all talked about fears.

Once a concern is aired, such as "I won't have any more friends". Many solutions need to be presented by everyone. "Maybe you will find friends at school." "Maybe you can join the swim team over there and make some swim friends." "Maybe there will be kids in our neighborhood that are your same age." Giving a lot of solutions opens up a child's mind to the many ways to cope with or even eliminate the fears they have.

Reply to this post if you want more suggestions for what to do once a change takes place and adjustment to change is not an easy task for you or your child.

What Happens When They Leave?

A senior whom I case manage came up to me and asked me a very simple and thoughtful question: “Who is my “IEP person” when I get to college?” Jasmine’s question was met with a very harsh response, as the truth was: “well… You!”.

The Truth: Jasmine is like every senior who gets learning or other support services from their school personnel (private or public). Case managers hold all the pieces together for their students by managing their IEPs. Case managers help students identify appropriate schedules for courses, create meaningful goals, monitor these goals, keep track of accommodations and make sure those accommodations are being provided. But what happens when that doesn’t exist for them after they leave high school? The simple truth: no one other than themselves.

What I Suggest: The good news: this harsh reality is something you can prepare your senior for. More general suggestions include: scaffolding the support so more responsibility falls on the student, have students run portions of their IEPs, and encourage them to ask for support directly and specifically. However, I suggest you do a bit more. Have your senior ask themselves the questions that case mangers ask themselves. Have your child put themselves in their case manager’s shoes. For example, I, as a case manager may ask “when does it make sense for me to schedule Jasmine’s extended time for the in class English essay coming up this week?”. Jasmine can ask herself the same question, but replacing “Jasmine” with “my” or “I”. Through repetition, students will learn how to ask themselves the right questions to then advocate for their needs. A sample of such questions that case managers ask each week that seniors can start asking themselves are:

• What is my load this week? 
• When should I schedule my extended time?
• What accommodations do I anticipate I’ll need?

Reply to this post if you’d like more example questions case managers ask themselves that your child can start asking themselves today.

Getting Support Services in College for Your Graduating Senior

Seniors are graduating from schools across the country, east and west, north and south. Several of these seniors are students who will need more support when they get to college. But where do they get this support? And how do they go about doing it?

Seniors with diagnosed disabilities who are headed to college in the Fall should start contacting the services at their college over the summer. Every school calls these services a different name, however most likely the name is a spin-off of “DPRC”, or the “Disabled Persons Resource Center”. While the name of this place is an obvious turn-off for any student with a disability, this place is their go to. As soon as possible, set up a meeting with a counselor there. At the meeting you will want to bring all documentation (IEPs or 504s, Psycho-educational Assessment Reports, etc.) and here is what you will want to know:

1. What support will I receive here based on my disability?
   (Most schools rank disabilities on a scale for funding and service reasons. Your child may not be eligible for services due to their disability marker.)
2. What accommodations are you able to provide me? (Colleges are usually limited in what they provide, but all do provide some basic accommodations, such as: priority registration, extended time, and shared note-taking.)
3. Where do I go to get my accommodations and will I need to request them for each class? (This is often the reality in college. Colleges want students to request the support they need for each class, each semester, for all semesters. This can be tiresome and time-consuming for students, so make sure your senior plans this into their schedule at the beginning of each semester.)
4. Will you inform my teachers I have a disability and of the accommodations I receive? (Many DPRCs keep student’s information private and believe it is a breech of privacy to inform the professor that one of their students has a disability. Knowing their procedures is important to know so your child can plan to communicate with their instructors directly about their disability. 

After meeting with the counselor, make sure you have another appointment set up about 2-3 weeks into the term. It may be helpful to check in and either add additional accommodations, problem-solve about a specific professor or class, or get support with adding or dropping classes. While this counselor will not keep tabs on your student, they are a resource and support on campus.