5 MORE Autism Classroom Setup Must Haves!
I originally had one blog post with must haves but, now it’s split in two! If you’d like to read more about the first 5 must haves you can head over to this blog post.
Here are 5 more must haves that I feel like are needed in order to get your classroom up and running efficiently!
Home and School Communication Must Haves
The challenging part of home/school communication is our students often can not effectively share their adventures at school with their families. This means we need to be extra intentional with communicating with families!!
Be proactive with communicating with families. Reach out to each family before or at the beginning of the school year. Ask them what they want for communication! Some families will want, and expect, a LOT of communication. It’s important to set up a system that both you and the family are comfortable with. Think about what can be realistic during the day!
One idea is to have a paper form filled out for each student like this one below:
A home/school notebook is also a great idea. I like this because families can also write you back if there is something you may need to know about their time at home.
Paraprofessionals in the Autism Classroom
Paraprofessionals are truly our right and left hand. There is no way that my classroom could function without my paraprofessionals! With that being said, there is also no way our classrooms can function smoothly without explicit expectations. We shouldn’t expect paraprofessionals to read our minds, or be effectively responsive to situations if we do not tell them what we expect them to do, or be doing, during their days in the classroom.
I love this idea from Sasha at The Autism Helper of classroom mission statements. After getting on the same page, be sure to set up agreed upon expectations. Do you want them to be collecting data? How much? When? Where should they collect it? Should they be bathrooming students? Which ones? When do they have breaks? How do they let you know they need to step out of the classroom? What is the classroom policy about being on cell phones? See what I mean? There’s a lot of expectations that need to be clearly stated, and written down so that they can refer to it as needed.
Systems for all the paperwork!
Special education teachers are expected to do a LOT of paperwork for IEPs! This includes scheduling them, writing them, sending drafts out, collaborating with general educators and therapists, families, etc.
Create a timeline for yourself that includes all of your district and school guidelines, along with any other communications that you’d like to include. Having a timeline for when you’d ideally like each step of the IEP process done can really save you from ending up in a last minute pinch! I like setting calendar alerts on my Google calendars so that I am always reminded of my self-imposed due dates.
Have Extras planned ALWAYS!
No matter how prepared and organized you are, some days in our classrooms you will be thrown for a loop. You may have to step out for an unexpected meeting, you may have a paraprofessional absent, you may have to deal with a student behavioral or medical crisis – you just never know.
Having extra work on hand is essential for those moments when you just need to keep student hands busy! While we could just have them engage in free time or head outdoors for an extra recess (and sometimes, that’s the best idea!), having a few academic tasks prepped and ready for chaotic moments truly is part of a well run classroom. I love having these adapted books and these file folders ready in a bin for paraprofessionals, therapists, or me to grab off a shelf and pass out to students.
Making sure the material is familiar enough to kids is important – we don’t want to worry about teaching a new skill when we really just need them occupied and safe for a few moments.
Sensory Material Must Haves!
Lastly, no special education classroom is complete without sensory tools! Students with autism will absolutely need additional tools to support their sensory systems. You’ll find that often, student reinforcers are also sensory tools – especially for our sensory seekers.
Having tools like weighted lap pads, wiggle seats, noise cancelling headphones, bean bag chairs, and stress balls can help students regulate their sensory systems and get back on track with their academic work. Consulting with your students occupational therapist is essential to making sure the sensory tools in your classroom match the goals of each student’s sensory plan!
Check out my must have sensory items in my amazon store!
Phew! That was a lot but, in all honesty I feel like if you have the items from this blog post and the first one you should feel confident and ready for the upcoming school year!
If there was anything I missed please feel free to share it with me in the comments below!
