Special Education Toolkit
RethinkEd’s Special Education Success solution combines technology and research to power a comprehensive suite of tools that deliver innovative, scalable, individualized, defensible and evidence-based supports for students with special needs.
The Research Behind MTSS
MTSS is an important framework used in schools in every state to support all students withacademics, behavior, social and emotional learning, and mental health.
The Research Behind RethinkEd: Social Emotional Learning Platform
Social and emotional learning, or SEL, refers to evidence-based practices informedby rigorous, systematic social science that underscore the way we understand, use, andmanage emotions to learn. Emotions drive how we think, pay attention, make decisions,manage our time, and countless other processes that impact how students and teachersshow up in the classroom.
RethinkEd Webinar Summary: Empowering Educators to Support Students with Autism and Related Disabilities (April 28, 2022)
Panelists Houston ISD Dr. Charlotte Fontenot (Senior Manager for the AU, Behavior, and Intensive Intervention Team at Houston ISD) (Contributing Faculty for Walden University) Anthony Jones (Manager for Intensive Intervention Services Team in the Office of Special Education Services) East Baton Rouge Parish School System Adam Smith (Associate Superintendent) Tracy Smith (Autism Program Facilitator) Moderated […]
One Size Does Not Fit All: Autism Spectrum Disorders
April is Autism Awareness Month. This is a great time to build our understanding and to celebrate these individuals, their loved ones, and their educational and behavioral support teams. Not one person with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is the same. With an estimated prevalence of 1-2% of the U.S. and worldwide population, ASD is not […]
Top Take-Aways From Webinar on Meeting the Needs of Children with Behavioral Challenges Virtually
Remember, it is relatively easy to teach social skills and provide social-emotional supports via web-based technologies. School districts need to be creative in figuring out new ways of reaching and teaching students. Kurt Hulett Tweet Take-Away #1: The Law has Not Changed in Light of COVID-19: The Department of Education has made it clear since […]
Harnessing Universal Design for Learning and SEL in Special Education
By implementing a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) that supports all learners, we can create a place where all learners actively engage in their learning experiences. Whether you’re exploring how to foster engagement so all learners can be invested, or you’re seeking ways to present information that support learner independence, developing opportunities for action and […]
5 Things a Student with Autism Wishes His Teachers Had Known
If students are like flowers, then students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are a unique and extraordinary part of the garden that is a school. At first, we may seem out of place – our differences stand out and you can’t take your eyes off us. However, you will quickly come to realize that what […]
Tips for Creating Employability Opportunities for Students with Neurodiverse Conditions
Students with neurodiverse conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, developmental delays, ADHD and social anxiety have tremendous strengths that could benefit any employer. As educators, our end goal for ALL students includes having them learn, practice, and model employability skills. We also want employers and coworkers to see our students with neurodiverse conditions as capable young adults […]
Taking Parent Fear and Anxiety out of the Evaluation and IEP Process
Talking with numerous educators over the years, I have heard many colleagues express significant concern regarding how anxiety- and fear-provoking the initial special education evaluation and IEP development process can be for parents and caregivers, especially when the area of autism is being considered. Instead of focusing on the hope that comes with the collaboration […]
Effective Reinforcement Strategies for Children with Autism
by Tranika Jefferson, BCBA, LBA Many teachers have used “First ___, then ____” statements in planning lessons for teaching with their students with autism. For example: As adults, we also use “First ___, then ____” statements in our everyday lives. For example: Essentially, this method of using “First ___, then ____” statements is a behavioral analytic strategy […]
Using Student Strengths to Create Belonging
In my role as Director of Student Services, I recently observed in a classroom where a student, we’ll call him Lewis, demonstrated minimal eye contact, response (verbal or physical), or social interaction. Upon Lewis’s arrival to the classroom, I observed the educator working with him provide a number of visual, physical, and verbal prompts to […]
The Forgotten Service Providers: Rethinking Paraprofessional Collaboration
In delivering special education programming, it is becoming more and more common to support our students with disabilities within the general education classroom. No one will argue that students with disabilities, including those who have autism, don’t benefit from being around their general education peers and the high expectations that come with the general education […]
It’s About Progress, Not Perfection: Celebrating the History of Special Education and Autism Advocacy
Special education, as we know it today, was born out of conflict and has continued to serve as a lightning rod for controversy and litigation since the early 1970s. In the history of the United States few areas in the pantheon of education have drawn any where near the amount of debate, litigation, and scrutiny […]
Using Baseline Data to Inform Instruction
It’s no secret that data can be daunting. For some of us, the word “data” means pile-high clipboards and stacks of complex data sheets or binders of reports. Data can also feel like never-ending lists of impersonal statistics that are difficult to difficult to comprehend and cumbersome to analyze. When we look at data through […]
Techniques for Teaching Complex Skills to Children with Special Needs
Have you ever written a shopping list for the upcoming weeks groceries and then forgot to bring it with you to the store? If so, you will know how difficult it is to remember everything that was on the list. The same is true when we have to remember significant amounts of information for an […]
3 Tips for Building Your Personal Learning Network
Becoming a more informed, more knowledgeable, more connected educator through your personal learning network. It’s spring, which at Rethink can only mean one thing—it’s User Group Season! Throughout April and May Rethink has been visiting districts across the country that are utilizing Rethink in their special education programs and facilitating conversation and sharing around best […]
Inclusion: Making it Work
What is inclusion? According to the Council for Exceptional Children, “all children, youth, and young adults with disabilities are entitled to a free and appropriate education and/or services that lead to an adult life characterized by satisfying relations with others, independent living, productive engagement in the community, and participation in society at large. To achieve […]
