What is Social Emotional Learning (SEL)?
 
It is a way in which children gain a better understanding of their emotions through explicit learning of strategies and intentional reflection. This, in turn, helps to massively improve their social skills as they become more...

The class clown… always so much personality, usually really funny, often a great leader – but how do you get them to not mess around in class? Well, Jack, the main character in “The A team presents: Jack Gets Too Silly”, is the class clown. Whenever Jack feels bored, c...

Recently I have had awesome experiences with my students and my book characters.  After reading “Meet the A-Team” with one of my 4th graders, he asked if he was one of the book characters, Max.  I asked if he liked that idea.  He responded with a resounding, “Yes!”  I...

Here we go again...! It’s the start of a new school year and I am working overtime to get to know my new students. I’m writing social stories, Top-Secret Mission Cards, creating reinforcement systems and doing preference assessments. I am figuring out the best ways to...

My husband would not describe me as a flexible person. He’s right, I am not flexible. I don’t like schedule changes, I’m a creature of habit, and I could eat the same food for lunch every day. So, I can really relate to my students who struggle with inflexibility and r...

We are delighted to share that Ilene Schwartz, BCBA-D has supported and endorsed our work!

In addition to being a published author, Dr. Ilene Schwartz is a professor in the Area of Special Education at the University of Washington and the Director of the Haring Center...

“No!” my student replied, when I gently told her we needed to go outside for the fire drill. She was just frozen. I couldn’t figure out what was going on with her, but I knew she felt worried. 

We had done all that I had expected us to do, given her headphones...

“This game is my idea!”

“I’m in charge!”

“You have to play it this way or you aren’t my friend.”

“No! We have to do it this way!”

Giving up control and letting others make choices is really hard, both for adults and kids. Not being the boss of a group can be very challengi...

“I only want to play basketball!”

“If you won’t play this game, I won’t play with you!”

“But I want our team to be called the Purple Pandas!”

“I want to be the red piece!”

“No, that idea is stupid!”

As a teacher, I used to hear these phrases all day long. It would drive me...

Meet Alex and his friends Max, Lily, Bella and Jack who are all members of the A-team. “A” stands for Awesome and also Autism. Each member of the A-team has Autism, but they are all different!  

Join Alex as he helps us understand Autism. Learn more about the...