Just Different

What are Boom Cards? Simply put, Boom Cards are digital activities that allow students to learn and practice any skill imaginable! They are decks which are made up of slides. Each slide may have some teaching or a question on it. Students select their answer and it will automatically mark it correct or incorrect. 6 Reasons Why I Love Boom Cards 1. Students love it because they get immediate feedback (Ding!) Who doesn't love positive feedback? Students quickly learn (or already know) that computer and tablets will give them immediate feedback. Boom cards ding when you select the correct answer. It is very satisfying.  2. You can get a lot of practice in quickly. The slides change quickly, so you can get many repetitions of practice on a skill quite quickly. Boom cards automatically shuffle up the cards and shuffle up the answer choices (depending on the deck) so students will not be able to memorize the answer order.  Boom cards are also actually great for teaching . You ca...

Fireworks for New Year’s Eve are a worldwide tradition. I, for one, love New Year’s Eve because it is a holiday celebrated by the entire world, as far as I know. But imagine if you have a sensory sensitivity or get overwhelmed by excess stimulation. Fireworks shows could be completely terrifying. If I put myself in the shoes of someone with autism, I imagine that by could be scared out of my mind, completely confused, and baffled by the reactions of other people.  I wrote a social story to help with this sort of situation. My goal with this book was to help kids understand why fireworks are being used—people think they are exciting and use them to celebrate various events—and how they can cope around fireworks.  One page of the book In book the book, I explain what may seem obvious to us, but not to a child: that fireworks will not come near you or hurt you. Some strategies mentioned that a child can use to cope with fireworks are: * keeping a comfort item with them * wearin...

Autism awareness month For our students with autism, there are a few areas of need that can be unique (compared with other students in the classroom). I like to focus on safety, communication and social skills, just to name a few. Here are some resources for those needs.  And it's a SALE!! APRIL 5 - 8!! Safety The National Autism Association reports this startling statistic:  “In 2009, 2010, and 2011, accidental drowning accounted for 91% total U.S. deaths reported in children with an ASD ages 14 and younger subsequent to wandering/elopement.” [Autism & Safety Facts. National Autism Association. Web. 9 May 2016.] Print and laminate this book to pre-teach children what to do around water. Clear and simple illustrations help students focus on the main point. Repetitive text helps students remember what to do. At the end are five comprehension questions to check the students’ understanding. The story and questions are also available on Boom Learning:  Communication If yo...

Social stories are an evidence-based practice (EBP) for working with students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (autism). There are plenty of social stories out there on TPT or blogs for almost any situation you can come up with. Then... you have a kid that breaks the mold. But who are we kidding? When you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism.  So here are some tips for writing a social story tailored to a specific need. (I'm also shamelessly including examples from a social story I wrote that is available on Teachers Pay Teachers and Boom Learning. ) 1. Think of a specific problem that you encounter with a child or a class of children. Phrase it in concrete terms for yourself. 2. Come up with concrete steps for a student to follow in that situation. What appropriate behavior should the student do?  3. Write concretely and concisely. 4. I suggest using repetition . Kind of like how I keep using the word concrete . 😁 5. Make sure that you end w...

Teaching students to have appropriate behaviors in the classroom is important. Having staff who are strong in their understanding of functions of behavior is crucial to teaching students! I've created a slide presentation that can help with that.  I'm taking advantage of extra time we have during remote learning to help my staff brush up on their knowledge of behaviors.  Here are some sample slides from my presentation:  Get this product here . After you have taught your staff about the functions of behavior, you can quiz them on their knowledge with this quiz. 

This is my favorite Autism product! It's a book about being safe around water . Do you know that the greatest risk to kids with autism is wandering off and drowning? It's so important to teach water safety! This book is 20% off this weekend and next! (April 19 - 22 and April 26-29)