Sign up for SpEd Spot tips, tricks, and FREEBIES straight to your inbox!

    Monday, March 12, 2012

    Visual Contract

    Unfortunately I cannot take full credit for this system. This idea came to me from the amazing Miami Valley Regional Center ACT team (see Autism Team Moodle post under great books and websites). However, ever since implementing this idea it has made a world of difference with one student with autism.

    How it works: Student chooses what reinforcer to work for and places picture/word in designated spot. As they complete the given task(s) they are able to remove a token from the Velcro strip. Once all of the tokens are finished, they earn the reinforcer.


    Pros: great for kids who need to know when they will be done or have trouble staying on task


    Cons: very structured approach




    I have modified my visual contract to make it even more structured however due to this one kiddos specialized needs. The big concern we had with him was he HATED structured teacher time. He would have a meltdown every time he knew it was time to work one-on-one with myself or one of my paras. Knowing this student (he has been in my room for 5 long years!), I quickly figured out that it was because he needed to know when he was going to be finished. So this is what I did:

    He has mastered using the structured teaching TEACCH work system and works very well and very independently. Therefore, I started to model teacher time after the TEACCH work system. I numbered each of the poker chips on his visual contract and numbered small bins (empty baby wipes containers). When I work with this student, I put a designated number of poker chips on the front of the contract and I fill the corresponding number of bins. If it is a less demanding task I will have several things in each bin (possibly a worksheet in one, a stack of flashcards in the other, and a book in the third), but if it is a harder task then I will portion it out between bins (each bin having a certain number of items to count). 

    This has been AMAZING!! It also keeps me on task and I always have to make sure I have all my materials before sitting down to work with him. 

    1 comment:

    Unknown said...

    I use something like this with one of my students as well.

    I just found your blog and I am new follower.

    I''m also a special education teacher!! Can't wait to read more about your classroom and teaching!


    Rachel
    Ms. Rachel’s Room
    k