It's the small things that count

We all need a reminder every now and then to celebrate the small accomplishments!  As an Intervention Specialist we not only manage our students, but paraprofessionals, administrators, general education teachers, specials teachers, and parents too.  We need to not only remind ourselves, but everyone around us, to celebrate the small accomplishments that we and our students continue to make.  If we constantly look at the skills that our students lack we will drive our selves mad.  We need to celebrate the small things, like our students responding to a greeting, our most severe ED students spending time in the general education setting (even if it is only a minute longer than what they normally tolerate), a student asking a question, us taking extra data for the day, or getting to eat lunch with a friend.  When we focus on the skill deficits that our students have or the loads of paper work left for us to conquer, we lose sight on what truly matters.  So my positive message that I hope to spread to you...Celebrate the little victories!  Celebrate the little victories with those that you work with and help others feel like they are making a difference in our sometimes difficult and depressing field.  When you celebrate the little victories you begin to see the big picture!

Weekly Interventions (for the general education classroom)

1) Self-Implemented Self-Regulation Break
  I have a student that has a difficult time with self-regulation skills.  In addition to implementing the Zone's of Regulation for this student/class, we are giving him a self-implemented self-regulation break.  He has a timer, which is set for 5 minutes, that is attached to the door.  When he feels like he is sad or going to cry, he is able to take the timer and go for a walk/drink/bathroom break.  He always returns on time after his 5 minutes are up and quickly returns back to work in his general education classroom. 

2) Wiggle Cushions!
  Wiggle cushions are a great way to get the wiggles out!  Wiggle cushions are great for students who: need to move during seated instruction, or have poor writing posture.