I love my class and all of the challenges I face with them. While I have 11 sparkling personalities that I am blessed with, I also have a lot of challenging behaviors I have to manage. Every student is different, and every behavior is stemming from a different cause. It’s important to remember that all behaviors are speaking for something; either internal pain, frustration, lack of communication, sensory overload etc. I LOVE to implement individualized behavior systems that will set student’s up for success. I have shared all of my little creations with all of my co-workers in the district, and the feedback is nothing but positive. I am not saying that these working cards will work for every student, but there is a good chance one of these will work just right! Here is my bundle I’m selling on TPT!
The first “working card” I have in the bundle is the traditional “I am working for…” visual cue card. This is a great working card and is easy for the student to carry around. In this bundle there are PECS for some of the most common rewards I have found in my classroom. The way I implement the working cards is that I start by having the student choose a preferred task or object. From here, I can easily point or prompt the student to their working card to remind them to stay on task or follow the school rules. Depending on the student, I may need to reward them for staying on task every minute by providing them with an attachable happy face PEC (in this bundle!). For some of my higher student’s I may reward them every 15 minutes. The ultimate goal of implementing these working cards is to spread the amount of time in between reinforcements and to gradually reduce the overall amount of reinforcers in one day. KEY WORD -> GRADUALLY!
Similar to the traditional working car above, I like to implement vertical working cards. These vertical cards are smaller and easier for some student’s to manage. I like to fade students from the horizontal card above to the vertical card below. Similar to the working card above, student’s earn 3 happy face PECS in exchange for their choice activity/item.
I have also included the famous “First-Then” card. I use this for the most needy of my student’s. This card is great for visual leaners and student’s with Autism. This card can be used to reinforce the student with a preferred task/item or it can be used for tansitioning students. For some of my student’s they struggle with transitions in between activites. For these student’s I provide the visual, “First breakfast, Then work centers.” This visual helps minimize behaviors and maximize educational time~
I would not be able to make it through a school day without the implementation of these working cards. It takes a little trial and error when first introducing these, but once you find the right fit it helps tremendously! These card allow students to feel successful, independent and safe.
