CARAs Kit Routine #1-Choice time Objective: John will bounce on the trampoline to dispel restlessness (or do another

semiactive activity, in this case, walking around the classroom as opposed to sitting) Activity Type: Though choice time involves Tabletop Activities or Small Group Play, for this objective I am focusing more on Transitions Between Activities, because were really talking about moving John from choice to choice. Potential Challenges: 1. Children are moving chaotically from one activity to the next. This could either mean that John is moving chaotically from one activity to the next, or that the other children are. Either way, this could agitate the children (John included) and cause a meltdown in class. 2. Children are pushing and hitting each other when moving from one activity to the next. This is a possible direct result of the first challenge, and could be the direct cause of a tantrum or fight. This could also lead to toys being broken. Potential Strategies to use if needed: 1a. The easiest fix here is to ensure that there is enough space for children and adults to move about during transition time. If no one is cramped, children will not feel rushed and chaos should not erupt. 1b. Have one adult available to move with each small group of children throughout the day. This especially applies to John because he may be moving when most other children are not. He is normally with an adult, so this works well. 2a. Again, ensure that there is enough space for children and adults to move about

during transition time. The number one cause for shoving during transitions (this even applies to adults!) is when there is not enough space. One person accidentally bumps another, its seen as a sign of aggression, and the second person shoves back. 2b. If many children are moving, lets say it is the end of choice time, then it would be a good idea to incorporate an activity during transitions (eg. Singing a song, pretending to be an animal, or introducing the next activity). John really enjoys songs such as Who Fed the Chickens. The other children know all the words and will sing along. Its really hard to push someone when youre both busy singing. Routine #2- Snack time Objective: John will use his talker to share his feelings or thoughts (with assistance, if needed). Activity Type: Routines (Arrival and departure, rest/map, meals, personal hygiene) Potential Challenges: 1. Children are dropping a lot of food on the floor. John really likes chips, so when these are being served for snack, it will not be a problem. Otherwise, if he does not like something he might accidentally (or purposefully) knock it to the floor. 2. Children are becoming distracted and are not listening to what you are saying. This is more of an issue for Jessica than me. If she is prompting John to ask for snack and he stops listening, he will not get the snack! Potential Strategies to use if needed: 1a. Cut sandwiches or other finger food into small pieces so children can pick up and handle easily. For chips, we can break them up so that John has many small chips instead of one big one. Rather than taking a huge bite and shattering the chip, he can put an

entire piece in his mouth at one time. 1b. Provide children with cookie trays upon which to keep their food during lunch. While John is not eating lunch, he is still eating, and this would be an excellent way to keep his (or anyone elses) crumbs contained. Also, if he drops food off of the plate, he often tries to pick it up and eat it. This way, there is no problem with that because the tray is clean. 2a. Use pictures of what you want the children to do in addition to providing verbal direction. This would work especially well for Jessica because essentially, she only wants him to push one or two buttons on his talker. If she printed an enlarged picture of the button that she wanted him to press, she could show it to him like a flashcard. 2b. Demonstrate what you want children to do rather than telling them (e.g., Watch me) We kind of mentioned this before with John, as a last resort. If we press the button, then press it using his hand, perhaps he will press the button on his own, to ask for the chips.

ELO-at-a Glance Date: November 2011 Team Members: Erin Engelhard Childs Name: John Routines: Choice Time Objectives: John will bounce on the trampoline to dispel restlessness (or do another semiactive activity, in this case, walking around the classroom as opposed to sitting) What are you going to do? Jessica (the graduate student teacher in this classroom) normally interacts one-on-one with John on the days that he is there. She (or I) will stay with him for the entire choice time, and when he gets restless, she will give him the choice to move to another activity. The point is to be up and walking so that he does not get upset or frustrated with any one activity. If he is inconsolable, she will use the manding approach to move him to an area where he can bounce on the trampoline. What are you going to say? When John seems to be getting bored/restless, Jessica will present him with one or two new choices. She will say something like would you like to play with ____(ex. Puzzles) or ______(ex. Paint/stay here/etc.)? She may also ask, Would you like to stay here or go bounce? How will you respond? He will not verbally answer, so either he will say something on his talker, or more likely, he will just move in the direction of the new activity. Jessica should move faster than him, prompting him to walk quickly, but not run. As she is doing this she should say, Okay, so lets go to ________ (activity that he has probably chosen). What materials do you need? No specific materials are needed. There will always be a number of choices laid out at this time, and the little trampoline we use does not move. How many opportunities will you provide each day? Friday This is the only day that John comes to UPS. There are two choice times per day. If he came every day, we would do this two times a day. Once at 9am, and once at 11am.

ELO-at-a Glance Date: November 2011 Team Members: Erin Engelhard Childs Name: John Routines: Snack Objectives: John will use his talker to share his feelings or thoughts (with assistance, if needed). What are you going to do? I will serve snack to all the students, but I will only give John one chip. I will remind him to tell me if he wants more, and then move on. In the mean time, Jessica will be sitting with him. He will eat his one chip and expect more, but she will prompt him until he uses his talker to ask for them. This is an example of the inadequate portions method. What are you going to say? I will say, John, if you want more chips, ask me for more chips, please! Jessica will say, John, ask Miss Erin for more chips. John, press this button (demonstrates). She will also move his hand to press it for him, if he does not do so himself. How will you respond? If John presses the button alone, I will give him a large serving of chips and say, Oh, John you want more chips! Here you go. If he presses the button with Jessicas help, I will give him a few chips and then say, If you want more chips, John, ask me again, please! What materials do you need? We will need a small portion of whatever snack is being offered that day, and more to add when he asks for it. How many opportunities will you provide each day? Friday This is the only day that John comes to UPS. There is only one snack time per day. If he came every day, we would do once every day.

Erin Engelhard

SPED 465-Fall 2011 Routines and Activities Assignment

I selected choice time as an area to focus on because this is the largest portion of our day. John only attends UPS on Fridays, which means we only have that one day a week to work with him, and I want to maximize on what little time we have. Choice time is also very much a free play time, and the objective I focused on involved staying active to reduce agitation. The only other time for children to be active is during outside time, and at that point John can just run to burn off energy. In the classroom he must be more controlled, but there is still room for activity. In fact, this is the optimal opportunity for John to practice learning new coping strategies besides bouncing on the trampoline and running. I selected snack time as another area to focus on, because John absolutely loves chips and other snacks. One of our main objectives is for John to use his talker to share his feelings, thoughts, needs, etc. Asking for something he loves is that optimal opportunity for John to practice using his talker. It is very simple for him to realize that he wants more food, and there is nothing that John is more likely to ask for at school than a second helping. This exercise can be used as a gateway to asking for things during other activities, and the hope is that John will eventually branch out and share his feelings or thoughts through the talker. For the Caras Kit portion of the assignment, I also chose snack and choice time. Even though choice time is a time for children to work in small groups, often at tables, those adjustments that the Caras Kit manual suggested did not seem to quite fit the objective that I had set for John. Instead, I focused on the Transitions Between Activities section, because the objective was more focused on moving John from choice to choice. I chose the first adaptation, Children are moving chaotically from one activity to the next, because we are focusing on keeping John calm and engaged. Any child would be flustered by the chaos of transitions, and John is no exception. The second situation I focused on was Children are pushing and hitting each other when moving from one activity to the next because where there is chaos and cramped space, there is bound to be aggression. There were many solutions suggested for this is Caras kit, but the ensure there is enough space was the obvious first choice, for both situations. Moving the tables so that the walkways

are slightly larger is such a simple, quick fix. It is easily the best idea to try first because even if it does not alleviate the chaos in the classroom, it took little time or effort to give it a try. The other suggestion I chose for this problem was Have one adult available to move with each small group of children throughout the day. Since John almost always has an aid or other teacher with him, this is an obvious choice to implement during transitions. The presence of a teacher may also keep the chaos to a manageable level. Additionally, I thought that singing would be an excellent idea to avoid violence during whole group transitions, because it generally works for my class. For the snack time activity, the problems I noted were Children are dropping a lot of food on the floor and Children are becoming distracted and are not listening to what you are saying. For the first issue, I chose two Caras Kit suggestionsProvide children with cookie trays upon which to keep their food during lunch and Cut sandwiches or other finger food into small pieces so children can pick up and handle easily Both of these ideas are very easy, and quick fixes. The first does require that the teacher provides a tray for each student, but Overall, I dont anticipate that my plans will be too challenging to follow through on, because we dont have any extraordinary materials. Snack is served every day, there are choices every day, etc. The biggest issue will be consistency on the part of the adults. I focused on what we can do here at school to help John, but his parents will need to stay consistent, too. Additionally, I have Jessica listed as helping John out a lot, but she will not always be in the picture because she is a student teacher. The most important part is to educate everyone who works with John regarding strategies such as manding, choices, inadequate portions, etc. As teachers, we need to be flexiblethis means that any of us may be asked to step in, or quickly train a substitute.

Resources 1. Milbourne, S.A., & Campell, P.H. (2007). CARAs Kit: Creating adaptations for routines and activities. Philadelphia, PA: Child and Family Studies Research Programs, Thomas Jefferson University. 2. Rule, Sarah. Creating Teaching Opportunities: Module 1. 1998. 3. Rule, Sarah. Incidental Teaching: Module 3. 1998.