These guys have free PECS too but I love how they have stored them. I like said above I don't tend to hang on to my pictures but this would be an easy way to keep them and a place where I can send teachers who are looking for one or two things without having to do it for them.



I use PECS for more than creating schedules for students. I also create games, books, and activities for them because some have such large language deficits it helps them out. I like this mat because its simple and an easy way for students to build vocabulary around a words with out me having to do tons of prep.



I hope I have inspired you to try something new or started the wheels moving on tweaking something that you do all ready. Have a great weekend and check the out posts.

Getting students to ask for help is always a challenge. For the last three weeks, a group of 6th grade students have been working on asking of help to build their self advocacy skill set. I was surprised by the number of self-determination video clips, that I found on You Tube. I found three that would best illustrate self-determine to a group of 6th students with learning disabilities.






Using the videos to continue to build their background knowledge, they were able to create a 5-point scale of how they feel when they have to ask for help. I got the idea from "The Incredible 5-point Scale" by: Kari Dunn Buron.
I have used her voice scale with wonderful results.  Everyone created their own High-Low Scale with emotion icons. Then we created a group on, that I have posted in their homerooms as well as my room. Since their are no names attached to it, no one else in the class is aware of who it's for.

As the year winds down, my 6th graders are looking forward too and talking about middle school and all the cool things that they get to do. Many are taking an active part in their IEP meeting for the first time. One thing I do to help them transition into middle school is to talk about self determination--what it looks like and what it means for them to become their own advocate. It was an exciting conversation to have with them as their teachers are having them research jobs and careers. We talked abut what self determination and created a circle map to define it. (Self determination is a person's ability to control his or her destiny.) The group defined self determination as taking responsibility of their actions and choices, making independent choices and problem solving on their own, setting and achieving goals both short and long term, and doing things without an adult telling them that it needed to get done.

What was every cooler was that they were able to clearly identify how they demonstrate their self determination throughout their day. Some of the things that they came up with were doing nightly homework, doing chores, being responsible, and making a long term goal about what they want to do after high school. They also talked about things they needed to work on like asking for help and when they achieve a goal then setting a new one.