Potty Training in the Classroom

Potty Training in the Classroom 

Potty training. Not normally something you would associate with your teaching career. However, if you are a teacher in special education, especially to students in a moderate to severe classroom setting, this is something you are going to be responsible for planning. It's something that you won't learn in college, and it's something you probably didn't expect to be doing, yet, here you are, in all your glory, potty training. Here are a few tips and tricks that I have learned over the years when embarking on a potty training journey. Hopefully they can help you too!

1. Parents must be on board with the plan

This is a tough one, which is why it is my first tip. The family needs to be ready to embark on a potty training journey. It's not easy. It won't happen over night. It is a ton of work and if the family of your student is not on board to begin potty training, you are wasting your time. Let me paint a picture for you: You are the teacher of a classroom of multiple children, and you have decided a student needs to be potty trained. You feel they are ready and are capable so you begin to plan for potty training. You work your hind end off potty training them at school, but at home, they are not using the potty. The family isn't on board yet and they aren't ready to make that commitment. What's wrong with that picture? Well, for starters there is team behind you, no support for you or your student. There is no consistency in the that situation and therefore you are unintentionally, massively confusing your student. To them, they are expected to use the potty at school but not at home. That is not a good situation to be in and typically results in slow, or little to no success.  In order for everyone to have a successful experience, everyone needs to be on the same page. Some families just aren't ready yet, and that's okay! They will get there, in their own time. It's important to keep an open conversation with your families about this topic. I always tell my parent's "let me know when you're ready!" and they do. When they are ready,  they come to me and say "let's do this!".

Parent letter and parent questionnaire 

2. Make sure your student is physically capable of being potty trained

This one is pretty self-explanatory but is worth mentioning. Unfortunately, there are some medical conditions that inhibit a child from being potty trained such as not being capable of holding their urine and/or bowels, not being able to detect when they have soiled themselves, etc. It's important that the student's family feels they are capable and has had a conversation with their doctor.

3. Have a meeting with the parents before you begin 

I can't stress this enough. It is so important for the family and the classroom staff to be on the same page. Having a meeting between you and the family of the student is absolutely critical for success. During this meeting you can discuss things like possible rewards, what's expected of the student in the restroom, what language you want to use, how will the student communicate the need to use the restroom, etc. Having a sit down where you can communicate with each other and make a plan as a team is important! 

Teacher check-list 

4. Start with a trip-trained schedule 

I always start my students on a trip-trained restroom schedule. This means that the restroom breaks are scheduled and that they are taken to the restroom at the same exact time every day. I typically start with a 2 hour trip-trained schedule, taking them every 2 hours, which results in 3 "potty sits" a day at school. We do this for awhile until we start catching on to their patterns, are they wet before we get them to the restroom at their scheduled time? If so, we bump up the time a half-hour until we start "catching" them on the potty. Once you start catching them when they need to go, you start giving them rewards and they start to make the association. I suggest before setting your meeting with the parents, have them document their restroom times at home. When they return it to you, you can analyze the data and develop a plan for that student. Catching them is key! 

Bathroom log for data collection 

5. Rewards must be special and immediate

Obviously, rewards are key to potty training. More importantly than rewarding the student is how you are using the rewards. Make sure that when you meet to decide which reward will be used that it is a special reward. The reward can't be an iPad that they get at home every day, because that won't have meaning. This needs to be a reward that they ONLY get for using the restroom. Make sure the reward is immediate! Whether you choose a special toy the student gets, or a special treat, keep it in the restroom! When the student goes on the potty, give them their toy or treat. My student's love to carry their rewards back to the classroom and proudly show it off to their friends. We keep a basket of rewards in the restroom and students put the toys back in the bathroom after they've earned them. They know they have to use the restroom to get them, and they know they have to put them back there to earn them again. Make sure the family uses the same reward at home and are aware that they also need to keep it in the restroom to be consistent.

6. What language will be used?

It's important that the family and staff are using the same language. Will you say bathroom, restroom, or potty? How will the student be prompted. Will the student use a visual to indicate their need to use the restroom? For nonverbal students, try having them use an AAC button every time they leave the room for their trip-trained restroom break. Eventually,  they will make the connection that if they need to go, this is how they ask. Make sure that the family has the exact same language and resources that you use to communicate their need to go.

AAC button programmed to say "restroom, please!"

7. Use visuals in the restroom 

Create a visual schedule of what's expected in the restroom and make sure the family receives the same schedule. Our typical routine (and therefore our icons indicate) pull down pants, sit on potty, use potty, flush, pull up pants, wash hands. We use it every time we're in the restroom that way the student's understand what we want from them. 

8. Communicate with all staff that needs to be involved 

If your student has physical needs, make sure you consult with the Physical Therapist before making a plan. There may be specialized equipment that needs to be purchased and the Physical Therapist will need to speak to the family about equipment needed for the restroom. Involve the Occupational Therapist if the student is going to be expected to pull up/pull down, button/unbutton clothing and attire. Involve the Speech-Language Therapist on what language and how the student will communicate the need for the restroom. It's important that the entire team knows the plan, has input into the plan, and is on board with the plan!

9. Give it time 

This is an important tip to emphasize to the family. It's not going to happen in two days, it's not going to happen in two weeks. It's going to take a lot of adjustment, a lot of encouragement, and a lot of patience. If you are six months in and not seeing success, it may be time to reconvene a meeting and discuss what's going on. Do you need to adjust your time? Is your reward not motivating enough? How are things going at home? Are we still on the same page? 

10. Potty above everything else 

This is the hardest part, well, for me at least. It's very difficult to stop instruction if you are on a roll, and your student is fully engaged in a lesson but potty time must come first. Even if you are in the middle of a math class, if it's time to go, it's time to go. You have to remain consistent with your plan in order to see if you are having success. So therefore, potty above all else. 

Conclusion 

Potty training isn't something you were trained to do, but it's something expected of you. I hope these tips can help you with your plans for potty training in the classroom! Communication, patience and consistency will get you far! Still feeling overwhelmed? Check out my resource for potty training in the classroom. It includes a parent questionnaire, parent data collection form, bathroom log for parents and for staff, and a teacher check-list for developing a solid potty training plan. You can find it here.

Potty Training Resources

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3 Easy Ways to Implement AAC at Morning Meeting

Looking for ways to incorporate more AAC into your daily classroom routines? I have three quick and easy ways you can incorporate AAC into your morning meeting that are meaningful and functional. Whether you have high tech devices or low tech, these three ideas can help your students communicate and participate in an engaging morning meeting. Don't have access to high-tech AAC? No problem, I have included some ideas for low-tech ways to introduce these concepts into your morning meeting. Check out these three simple ideas:

1. Attendance Check-In 

Have students check into the classroom once they arrive in the morning. Once everyone gathers for morning meeting, ask students if they are "here" or "at home". Phrasing your questions as "yes" and "no" questions is a great way to work on language skills! Once students are able to answer questions about themselves, move on to peers. Some quick examples of how you can phrase your questions: 

"Are you at home today Bobby?" 

"Shane, are you at school today?" 

"Kira, is Bobby here today?" 

High tech: Use yes/no on a tech talk device, buttons, or your choice of AAC device. Model first, then let students answer independently as they start to grasp the concept. 

Ablenet Buttons

Low tech: Use yes/no icons on popsicle sticks, Use icons on a choice board, or create a chart for answering yes/no questions where students can clip their answer choice. 

2. Greeting Peers

The first thing we do when we sit down for morning meeting is greet each other. I created this tech-talk slide of pictures of our classroom. It has easily become the best part of our morning.  Each student gets to pick a friend to say "good morning" to. We practice social skills by saying "good morning" back to the peer that chose them. It's a great way to practice social skills, manners and engage the kids in peer communication.  My class loves this part of our day. The smiles they give each other when they hear their name on the device melts my heart every day. 

High tech: Create a slide of student pictures. Record "good morning, (insert student name)!" on their picture. When the student chooses a friend, and touches the device it will say "good morning, Bobby!" I then pass the device to "Bobby" and he will practice saying it back. Not only are we practicing communication, but we are practicing identifying our friends in the classroom and increasing accuracy on selections. 

Low tech: Create a picture board and have students point to who they want to greet. Create a velcro board where students can pull of the picture of a peer and hand it to them to say good morning. 

3. Attendance Count 

I know I have talked about my leveled step-by-step communicator a lot, but it seriously has been the best thing I've come across for math instruction in my classroom. I had no idea how to teach non-verbal children how to count, well, with this device they absolutely can! It is worth the investment in my opinion. 

After students have checked-in and greeted each other, they help me with my attendance count. We use a chart on our smart board to see who is here at school and who is at home. We count how many people are here and then each student will count to that number. We pass the device and pair it with a number line (hello visuals!) and we count how many students we have at school that day. I started this routine by doing hand over hand and errorless learning. My paraprofessionals would help move the hand across the number line as I helped the student press the button to count. We are at the point in our learning where the students no longer need hand-over-hand assistance and they are pretty accurate with counting! Another tip is to teach the students to take their hand OFF the button when they are done counting, that way you know when they are finished. This takes multiple times of using hand over hand assistance with errorless learning. 

High tech: Get yourself a step-by-step communicator by ablenet! Record however high you want to count and use modeling and hand over hand assistance until students start understanding the idea. I recommend recording passed the number you have in your classroom. For example, I have 6 students so my button counts to 10. If a student isn't getting the concept of counting, they will continue to just press the button. This is where teaching them to take their hand off the button is important. 

Leveled Step-by-Step Communicator

Low tech: Use a number line to count using the same method as the device. Have students "touch" numbers on the number line for how many are in the classroom that day. You could also create a velcro number line and have students peel off and hand numbers (similar to PECS).  

So there you have it! Three super simple, super quick ideas that you can implement in your morning meeting tomorrow! Okay, well maybe not literally tomorrow, but maybe next week! Happy SPED prepping--- get those kids communicating!

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Top 5 Things I learned from the Behavior Specialist

When you have a student who is exhibiting difficult behavior it can become so emotionally and physically exhausting. Especially when you have that difficult student, who requires 100% of your attention, and you also have 8+ other students who need 100% of your attention for their education. You can't split yourself in two, and you'll drive yourself crazy trying to do both.

Sometimes there is a stigma in the education field about asking for help. Especially when you are trained to deal with this kind of thing, right? You are an intervention specialist. Isn't that your specialty? Dealing with and managing difficult behaviors? Sure, that's part of your job, but it isn't your WHOLE job. You have a ton on your plate. Do yourself a favor, and request help from a behavior specialist.

I have had access to two behavior specialist's in my 10 year career. We hire from an outside source, and they would come once or twice monthly, hang out with me in my classroom and intervene, coach, and guide me in new strategies. Here are the top five things I have learned from working closely with a behavior specialist.

1. Have an open classroom AND an open mind  

One thing that drives me crazy as an educator is when you are called in for a meeting to give advice, guidance, or support to a teacher and you are completely blown off. It's happened to me, on multiple occasions.  I have been called in to consult on certain behaviors, help develop behavior plans, etc. and the teacher sits in the meeting, writes everything down, and decides that your suggestions are "silly" or "not going to work". My question that I pose is "How do you know that, unless you give it a try"? 

I welcomed my behavior specialist with open arms. Some people, for some reason or another, can feel offended or even defensive when a behavior specialist gets involved. They feel like that the behavior specialist is there to almost "critique" their teaching (I have never understood this, but have seen this reaction with my own eyes on multiple occasions).  When mine came, I sang from the rooftops, "hallelujah!" cause I was on the struggle bus and she was there to help. She wasn't there to judge me or critique me, she was there to coach me, guide me and help me so that I could help this student.

If you need help and you request the help, I urge you to do this: listen. Try new things. Learn from them. They have extensive knowledge and training in this field. They are there in your classroom to help. They aren't going to give you suggestions that are meant to set you up for failure, they want success for you too. They are on your side. 

When I worked with my behavior specialist's I always, always, followed through with their suggestions. Sure, I had those thoughts "well this isn't going to work" and you know what? Sometimes things worked and sometimes things didn't work but we figured it out together. Stick with the plan, be consistent, and work together and you will see results. 

2. Data is absolutely essential 

Data Sheet from Autism Resources (link below!)

We obviously know this as intervention specialist's because this is literally what we do all day every day. Dealing with and figuring out the function of a student's behavior takes a lot of work, a lot of diligence and a lot of data. Without that data, you won't be able to proceed. 

When I was working with my behavior specialist, I had two days of just straight up data collection. That's it. Data all day, the whole day. I carried clip boards, and counters, and timers, and pens around on me for two days and just took data. We cruised through our day with the paraprofessionals stepping up and covering some of the routines, so that I could step back and observe. I learned new ways of collecting data, new data forms, how to analyze the data and use it to determine what needed to be changed or what I could do to re-design some things, with the guidance of the behavior specialist. 

My absolute favorite data collecting tool! 

My Favorite Data Resources :

Behavior Data Sheets Mega Pack by Autism Resources 

Ultimate Data Sheet Set by Especially Education

3. Structure the structure 

Task Drawer FREEBIES

I thought I was so structured in my classroom. Our routine is literally the same every day, with different activities sprinkled into the time slots. When my behavior specialist said to me, "he needs more structure" I was like, how? I am so structured already! So, she taught me that some students need to have structure within the structure. How many times can we say structure in a sentence? Ha! 

So we developed a little "check box" system. The student earns the checks as we are completing work so that the student can see the end. This was even within a task drawer system! We structured, a structured task drawer system! For example: This particular student needed to see that visual that he had to answer five questions within that first task drawer system in order for that task be "finished". He would then earn a reward for completing those five questions. As we would check off the boxes, we would say "Look! You finished this question, now you only have 4 more left!" and we did that after every question. 

I use this ALL the time now when I get a student with challenging behaviors and/or anxiety. It has become one of my "go to" behavior interventions because it works so well!

Easy check box system implemented with dry erase marker and white board. 

Check box system at work during a task drawer!

4. Consistency and Communication 

When you have a challenging student, your communication and staff need to be on point. You all need to know what's going on, when to do what intervention, how to react to specific behaviors, etc. She suggested monthly "debriefings" where we would meet and "staff" each student. A way to meet, plan and provide trainings on student behaviors. Her suggestion was to have the students come in once a month for a two-hour delay. Our district never fully adopted that suggestion, so we developed another way to stay informed. 

We have a communication binder where we log noted in to each other without communicating in front of the students. We write down things in this log such as behavior, student needs, or even questions about situations. This has been beyond helpful, and we use this strategy in my classroom ever since she introduced me to this. 

I also created a specific behavior plan chart. I wrote down which behaviors I want ignored or redirected, how we should manage that behavior, what that looks like for staff, and how we should implement that strategy etc. My paraprofessionals each get a copy and we keep a copy in the communication log. My paraprofessionals have reported back that this is extremely helpful to them.

Communication Station Resource

5. Positive reinforcement is magic 

Playground visual Support

I am a big positive reinforcement kind of teacher. I have always used this in my classroom, but I never really saw how scientifically evident the process can be, until you have a behavior specialist working with you, and she has a literal binder of strategies and reasons why it works. Like it's crazy. I have witnessed a few teachers use negative reinforcement strategies in my career, and to me, it just seems awkward. It's just not my thing-- and there is always that one person who says "I wish I could bribe my student's with goldfish to get them to listen" and I'm always like--" no, it's called positive reinforcement, it's a real thing, look it up." (My literal response, as I am rolling my eyes). 

To me, my biggest lesson, was reframing my language. I am sure we all use the words "no" and "don't" on occasion. I still do, I'll admit that. However re-phrasing my directives into a more positive instruction worked like magic. Instead of saying "don't hit" I re-phrased to "hands to self" or "don't kick" to "feet to self", others we use on occasion "quiet hands" "safe hands" and "walking feet". Even cutting out verbals to pointing gestures and using visuals to re-direct have been so life-changing for me, it's amazing. 

Token Reward System for Positive Reinforcement

My Favorite Positive Reinforcement Resources: 

Super Hero Token Reward System
Princess Token Reward System

Conclusion

I am not a behavior specialist, however, I have become very good at managing difficult behaviors because I took advantage of my situations and I learned from them. I often get the challenging students for this reason, and am even asked to step in to meetings to develop behavior plans. Here is my suggestion to anyone who may be struggling with a challenging kiddo- if you feel like you are drowning, ask for help. Go for it and if you get that help, soak up every little bit of new information from the behavior specialist you can. I literally took notes, I kept binders of information, I asked for handouts, asked for lunch meetings to learn about new strategies and data tracking, and you know what--- I absorbed it all. I use it all the time. I am not perfect by any means, however I am not afraid to learn, change, and follow the guidance of another. You do you and keep on learning!  

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A Look Inside Early Numeracy Curriculum by Attainment's

Tips for Getting Started 

When you open the box, it is extremely overwhelming. You get so much with this curriculum it just looks like it's going to be difficult to implement. Here are a few tips to get you started: 

• Take out and organize and store the manipulatives. I used dollar store storage containers and labeled them so I can quickly find them when I need them. 

• Use a three drawer system to store materials for your current lesson. I have two groups on two different levels/lessons. I use a three drawer system and put each groups materials for the lesson in the drawer, that way I can quickly grab them for the week and begin the lesson. 

Drawer system for storing lesson materials. 

In each drawer is everything I need for the lesson! 

• For nonverbal students, look into getting a multi-step leveled communicator so that they can practice counting and their early numeracy skills! 

AAC programmed to count with texturized numbers. 

• For students who require more tactile and visual supports, texturize numbers and a number line. 
• Go to the company's website and watch the model videos. This helped me a ton!

 Early Numeracy Curriculum

What do you get in a box? 

A ton of manipulatives, a teacher's guide for 6 units, an assessment manual, a student response book, a math stories book, student workbooks and posters for instruction. The manipulatives go along with the theme's of the lessons. On my Instagram page, I show you more of these in depth. Didn't get a chance to snap a picture of the manipulatives! 

Teacher's Guide for Lessons 

Math Stories Book 

Student Workbooks

Graphic Organizer Posters

What's in a Lesson? 

Each lesson has it's own theme. Currently, the lesson we are on is "My Favorite Fiesta" so everything is related to that theme. The manipulatives for this specific unit are maracas, which my student's love! 

Each lesson begins by reading a "math story" out of the math stories book. The stories are full of math concepts that the students will relate to once they start working on the objectives. The numbers in the math stories are highlighted in red, so that students can connect the numbers to the story. 

Each Lesson has 12 objectives that you will cover. The goal is to the teach the same lesson throughout the entire week, providing the most support, and then slowly fade back your prompting until the students can complete the objectives independently. The unit's build upon the skills that were acquired in each previous unit. For example, in unit one students are expected to count objects up to 5 on a line. In unit two, they are expected to count objects up to 5 in a scattered pattern. Here are a few pictures of my students in action using this curriculum: 

Working on the objective of identifying greater than and it's symbol. 

Measuring with standard unit for the Chinese New Year theme. 

Working on creating patterns. 

Assessment

The curriculum comes with progress monitoring forms that are super easy to use. I progress monitor once a week to see if we are making growth and identify which areas we are struggling on. There is also an assessment at the end of each unit in which students need to pass with a score of 80% in order to move on to the next level. The manual also gives tips if you are "stuck" in a level on how to modify the next level up to meet the needs of your students. 

Progress Monitoring Forms 

Overall, my student's have made huge growth with this program. They enjoy math time, and they love the themes and manipulatives. I am very happy with this program, and I can't wait to see how much we grow by the end of the year! 

I hope this was helpful and if you have any questions feel free to leave me a comment! 

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