What educational website should I subscribe to as a first year special ed teacher?

Question

What educational website should I subscribe to as a first year special ed teacher?

I need every day activities, graphic organizers and lesson plan ideas. My students are autistic and would be considered low functioning to very low functioning. They are between the ages of 18-21. One student, however, functions at a 7th grade level. The disparity is alarming but, because of his behavior, he is lumped with the rest. 

I would not mind paying 40-50 dollars if it means I have a resource to aid in getting activities for every day. 

I taught high school English last year and broke my back with all the lesson planning and grading, often spending 4-6 hours on such work per day. I am hoping to make my life easier as there is no real set curriculum and the most important thing for me is in providing the students with fun and engaging activities that will provide them with useful life skills or basic academic skills.

JazzyGee · Accepted Answer

The starting place needs to be the IEP goals and objectives for each student.
If your students are very limited in terms of cognitive functioning, you might look at some sites geared to early childhood classes as they will include more manipulatives and visuals to engage your students as you teach those IEP skills. Try something like  http://www.makinglearningfun.com  as a start.

Does your school system have an autism specialist?   He or she is a tremendous resource in helping you structure your day, find appropriate teaching resources and guide you with behavior management. 
My concern would be that a student functioning at a 7th grade level is not being included in academic classes. Wow - in my school system that is a law suit waiting to happen. 

Good Luck in your fist year!

mcc · Answer

(This is a list of links that I’ve come across.   Some have found information that has been helpful to them.  I do not endorse or support any items for sale, any particular process, program or curriculum over any other.)

You might want to subscribe to the Watson Institute small fee

www.socialthinking.org.

http://www.ausm.org/educationServices/index.asp   - main page of the Autism society of Minnesota – nice information on workshops, support services and other things that you might find useful 

http://www.autism.org/ - Center for the Study of Autism.  A good site with a lot of links to information organized in a topical manner.

http://www.irsc.org/  - I good website that has information on Autism and Aspergers as well as other issue that sometimes can impact student success like anxiety, depression etc.

http://www.autism.org/links.html  - General list of Autism resources 

http://www.spdsupport.org.uk/plskills.html - nice link that covers some of the skills needed for pragmatic language – typically these kinds of strategies are embedded throughout a school day.


http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/specconn/index.php   - A good site that coordinates and provides example of how to integrate special need considerations in regular academics.


http://www.polyxo.com/socialstories/  - nice site with social story suggestions as well as places in the community.    There is also a discussion list that may be helpful.

http://www.5pointscale.com/  - books related to the 5-point scale and how to use it to manage behavior, voice volume, frustration etc.

http://www.brighttots.com/aba_therapy.html  - Good basic information on Applied Behavior Analysis a way of instruction that trayss to get the the basic way that a child reacts before or after a request and how to frame information and instruction to work around resistance.  It is a STRUCTURE – not a specific curriculum.

http://www.researchautism.org/  - Great website to search for specific strategies.

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What educational website should I subscribe to as a first year special ed teacher?

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