Special Education Teachers Are Awesome!

Special education teachers have jobs that are more challenging than ever these days. There is more and more paperwork that must be filled out, even if it is on computers, it still takes valuable time to get it done. With the economy causing systems to make budgets cuts, these teachers are having to do more with less. The student to teacher ratio is beginning to change in some classes, so some teachers have more students then ever and these students have individual educational needs that must be met according to IEP guidelines. How are these teachers doing it? They are educating our students with special needs and doing a fabulous job!

• They love their students—It is obvious that special education teachers love children.

• They engage their student's parents—These teachers make sure there is a home-school connection. This may be by sending a newsletter by email, phone calls, daily notes, etc.

• They are creative educators—With each student in their class having an IEP and each IEP having individual goals, these teachers have to be creative to come up with ways of meeting multiple goals at the same time. That is the ultimate in multitasking.

• They create safe classrooms—Special educators have classrooms where their students feel safe to make mistakes as they are learning. You will often find that these classrooms are where a lot of “typical” students will gather because they feel the security within that class provided by that teacher.

• They have patience—Oh do they have patience! Special education teachers know that they may have to go over and over an educational directive many times before it finally clicks. They also know that they may have to change the approach and these teachers never give up.

Special education teachers are so incredible and so vital to our students. We know (as mentioned in our How To Spot A Great Teacher post) that graduation time is coming up soon and student teachers are in classrooms. We are grateful to those individuals who are going into special education and we have the perfect online resource to help them get started. Our Teacher Toolbox is a compilation of advice from Dr. Claire Coles' team of experts at the Marcus Institute and the Maternal Substance Abuse and Child Development Center at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

We also have the perfect Graduation gift to help them get their new classrooms started. In fact it is a wonderful resource for ANY special education teacher! Our Special Needs Handbook for Teachers will help create an organized and efficient classroom where special needs students will thrive. Resources to help students develop problem solving in reading, language and math skills are included with a whole lot more.

Making this purchase for your favorite special education teacher will be received with such appreciation. They really need all the support and encouragement they can get these days for all the wonderful ways they are providing priceless education to our children.

Graphic Organizers – Let's Make It Visual!

Graphic organizers are offered as one of the many accommodations on IEPs (Individual Education Plan) in the United States, but often parents are unsure of what they actually are and how they can help their student. Because of this lack of knowledge they may pass over this much needed accommodation or even fail to see the usefulness of such a tool in the home. Let me assure you that you want to make certain your child's teacher is utilizing these types of visual organizers with your child if he or she is a visual learner.

Graphic organizers are tools designed to break down and teach important information in a visual way. It also takes the abstract and allows for it to be taught in chunks or sections. By teaching difficult concepts in such a visual manner you are allowing the student to absorb each piece of information at their own pace and for the student to build on information that has been previously taught.

Do2Learn offers several different types of graphic organizers that were developed in conjunction with Spectrum Resources of North Carolina, Inc. Please click on the links to get more detailed explanations of each graphic organizer and the best way to use each one. We also have links there to free printable blank ones for your own use.

• Behavioral Thermometer

• Brainstorming Map
• Circle Organizer
• Concept Map
• Data Chart

• Data Diagram
• Decision Making Guide
• Hierarchical Organizer
• Relationship Target
• T-Chart
• Topic Tree

These organizers can be modified to suit your child's/students individual learning needs. Again, please be sure that if you have a child who is a visual learner, that graphic organizers are an accommodation that is checked on the IEP and used in the class and at home.  Good luck and have fun!

Happy New Year and IEP Review

Happy 2012 from Do2Learn! Time to take a deep breath and look towards what you hope to accomplish in this new year. I have always liked this time of year to go over my child's IEP to see if her goals are still appropriate and perhaps plan for her IEP team to have a meeting to review this together.

Being the mother of a daughter (who is almost 19 now) who has Autism, I did not always feel as much a part of the IEP team as I should have. The more I learned, the more confidant I became as a member of this valuable educational team. Who knew my daughter the best in those meetings? Me, of course!

I hope that you will feel confidant as a member of your child's IEP Team. Learning about the process is very important to not feeling so lost in what can feel like a jungle of acronyms at times. Do2learn has several areas to help you begin learning about IEP's and other information to build your confidence when advocating for your child educationally.

Check under the RED, Disabilities box on our website. There is a lot of information under this box, but specifically related to the IEP, is within the Parents & Teachers section of the drop-down. You will also notice areas for Terms and Acronyms here too. Please enjoy exploring this area of our website and I hope you find that the information empowers you as you review your child's IEP for the new year.

All of this information in the Disabilities area is a FREE area of Do2Learn. Don't forget you can follow us on Facebook too.

Parents' Frustrations and Confusion: Where do I Begin?

Entering into the world of disabilities is like entering into a country where you don't speak the language and don't understand the people who live there. This new land is full of signs and road maps and, worst of all, acronyms...but you don't know what they mean and you aren't sure who to trust for help.

Do2Learn has developed some content that can be helpful as a cross cultural guide into the world of disabilities. Our Disabilities section includes:

• definitions of disabilities as written under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
• information on the evaluation and identification process

• characteristics and strategies for twelve different disabilities.

A screenshot for just some of the info on strategies for individuals who are Twice Exceptional



• Individualized Education Plan (IEP) development tips
• Acronyms and Terms defined in a way that makes sense
• Teacher Toolbox including Classroom Management, Learning Strategies, and Education Resources

These are just some of the resources available under the Disabilities tab on our home page at Do2Learn. Tell us...what did you find most confusing about navigating the new world of disabilities? Is there anything else you think we should add?