Unfortunately most middle and high school students don’t understand the importance of knowing their audience when giving a speech.  Students on speech and debate teams across the country fall into the bad habit of speaking the same way about the same topics to virtually all audiences.  Sure, in a perfect world we could all speak the same… Continue reading →

Bully, disruptive, unmotivated, and the list grows exponentially.  Many speculate and wonder about children described this way but those well-intended speculations are misguided.  Behavior is a form of communication and solution makers will focus on the function of behavior.   What needs aren’t being met? Building relationships is vital in establishing trust and working with… Continue reading →

Special education is a very special area of education that not only takes the teacher to help the student, but a whole team of educational professionals.   Within a collaborative effort, the whole educational team can come together and focus on certain aspects that will help the student thrive not only in the classroom, but in… Continue reading →

Positive reinforcement has been shown to be the most effective strategy to use when trying to evoke behavior change. Essentially, positive reinforcement means adding something to a situation to increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring again in the future. Here’s an example: Mrs. Smith gives Katie a gold star for turning in her math… Continue reading →

There are many myths out there about both people with autism. While below is an attempt to clear up some of those myths, it is important to remember that each person with autism is unique and there is no such thing as a “one size fits all” approach. Myth 1: • People with autism think… Continue reading →