Introduce Yourself

Hi there! I am not officially a special ed teacher. However, for the last three years I worked at a small charter school that did not have a special ed classroom, so all the teachers had at least one ESE student in their classes. I had two autistic students in my class as well as a few struggling readers. Special education will always be near and dear to my heart because I was classified as being learning disabled in elementary school and was in a special ed classroom from 1st grade-5th grade.
I am currently working as a tutor. In my free time, I enjoy blogging, reading, and doing karaoke.

Hi I am Amita Khurana,
I am very excited to join Edutopia. It looks like great way to reflect your ideas and thoughts, Great learning community. I am Special Ed. Inclusion teacher. looking forward to share and collaborate.

Hi,
I am a special educator working on my Ph.D in special education leadership. I am currently a professor at MEC. I teach regular and special education teachers and find I am pleasantly surprised by the wonderful 'ah-ha' moments my students have when applying their own learning in their classrooms.

I have been teaching since 1986 and learning too.Teaching is an intimate behavior in itself. While in the class room, if we could teach one life principle every day ,we will find an army of logical human beings, who can not be be fooled.
We must tell them that the whole world exists because of them.
I think that is needed by a society in addition to doctors ,engineers, advocates, architects...........

I teach learning disability and higher functioning autistic students who have aged out of public ed without having a high school diploma nor employable skills. Many of my students have lower elementary skills in reading, writing, science, and social studies and higher skills in math.

We just received our first iPad minis. Some students with sensory issues had a difficult time learning how to touch the glass. Others were skeptical in using these new tools because they haven't had the exposure to digital media.

The challenge is to find apps that can be leveled for one student with a lower set of skills and the same skills in another app that challenge higher skilled students-- In my research, I'm finding some that will work.

Hello all!
I am a PK ESE Resource teacher. I work at a PK Inclusion center within an elementary school. We have 5 Early Head Start/Head Start classrooms - 1 Inf/Toddler room, 1 Three yr old room, and 3 Four year old classrooms - which include students with special needs (ESE - Exceptional Student Education) in each classroom. I LOVE MY JOB!! I am a resource for teachers, parents, assistants, and get to work daily with all the PK students in the classrooms. I am a firm believer in inclusion - ESPECIALLY in early childhood. I have seen amazing success at my school. Amazing!
Kerri

Welcome Deborah! Kudos for your teacher's heart and love for the kids and the art of teaching. I have also worked with students with special needs and they all loved music so much, I went on a quest to integrate more of it into my lessons plans. They really liked Acadamiacs.com. Here is a link for you : http://www.acadamiacs.com/ There are over 2000 educational songs for grades pre k - 12. we can now test & evaluate those students who cannot write just by having them sing the songs which contain the information. Even our non verbal population engages in the learning process - they LOVE the music and respond to the movement. Good luck! :)

Hi there! I am a Speech Language Pathologist in an elementary school in the mountains of Virginia. This is my third year working in the schools. I love using technology with my students and am always looking for new ideas!

Hello & welcome April! It's nice to meet you! Since you are a SLP and are looking for tech resources, you will not find a better one than Acadamiacs.com! Here is a link for you: http://www.acadamiacs.com/ Singing is the best thing for kids with speech problems I've been told. There are over 2000 educational songs for grades preK-12 in 38 different subject areas. Let me know what you think! happy singing!

Hi All!!! My name is Brynn some people think it is Brian, but not it is pronounced Brin. I have been teaching Special Ed for 7 years and I love every second about it. I love the fact they have come up with a website where we can all share ideas with one another. I am currently in the process of switching school districts and starting my Autistic Unit. I am looking for any ideas from anyone who is a veteran in this area. What do you recommend for the classroom (i.e. materials or tools to help students like weighted blankets, timers, etc) and the easiest way to collect data? My idea is to set up center based learning centers and am unsure of whether or not this would work at the high school level? Please let me know and really look forward to anything and all anyone can provide me!!!