As you know, SENIA was started by a group of international school teachers in China in 2002. The goal was to create a support network for teachers and other professionals working with children with special educational needs in Asia. Our round table discussions are a perfect way to continue that networking piece and to learn from each other.
Today I speak with Vanessa Weber and Kate Balsamo, both from International School Kuala Lumpur. All three of us work with students with moderate to severe needs and thought it would be helpful for us and hopefully others, to discuss what we’re doing in our virtual lessons and what we’ve learned about all of this along the way. And trust me, we’ve learned a lot!
Vanessa Weber | Learning Specialist |International School Kuala Lumpur
Vanessa Weber, M.Ed of Special Education, has spent the last 10 years internationally supporting students, ages 4-21, with a wide range of abilities. She is passionate about the power of student self-advocacy, life skills programming, and transitions. Vanessa is currently leading the Secondary Life-Centered Education program at the ISKL.
Kate Balsamo | Speech Language Pathologist |International School Kuala Lumpur
SENIA Board Chairperson
Kate Balsamo is a Speech-Language Pathologist with 9 years of experience working overseas at the International School of Kuala Lumpur. She holds a Master’s Degree in Communication Disorders and a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
She is on the executive board of the Special Education Network & Inclusion Association (SENIA) and is a founding member of the SENIA’s local chapter in Malaysia (SENIA Malaysia).
Helpful Links
Resources we use in our virtual teaching:
- www.toytheater.com Math Manipulatives and Elkonin Boxes, Visual Memory Games
- www.readinga-z.com Projectable leveled and decodable books
- https://www.timeforkids.com/ Free subscriptions with differentiated magazines, teacher guides, and worksheets/activities
- www.seesaw.com
- www.education.com (need an account)
- https://edpuzzle.com/home – Create highly engaging, interactive lessons
- Zoom Whiteboard
- Zoom “Share my screen†– they speak, I do (acting as a scribe)
- Units of Sound (need an account)
- PlayingCards.io
- Kahoot
- Padlet
- Florida Reading Research https://www.fcrr.org/
- Twinkl – https://www.twinkl.co.uk/
- Go Noodle – https://app.gonoodle.com/categories
PreSchool
- https://www.sesamestreet.org/
- https://pbskids.org/
- https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/
- Motivation: https://toytheater.com/marble-jar/#
- Editable Spinner – Color Spinner – https://toytheater.com/spinner/#
- Coloring – https://www.thecolor.com/
- Coloring – http://www.hellokids.com/r_3/coloring-pages
- Starfall – https://www.starfall.com/h/
Wilson Reading
Social Thinking
- Free COVID Social Stories & Visual Supports
- Wearing a Mask (From Autism Little Learners)
- Visual Supports for the home (From Autism Little Learners)
- What is COVID? (From the Autism Educators)
- Time to Come In Bear is just lovely for explaining social distancing. (Kim St.
Lawrence – children’s author) - How to Explain Social Distancing to Kids has a more practical/science slant. If you stop and explain parts of the video, it may be quite useful. (KIwiCo)
- Supporting Families During COVID-19
- My Hero is You
- Exercise Buddy Autism Exercise App
Social Stories
- University of North Carolina Autism Research Center Webinar
- IEP plan Template
- Sample: Complex Needs Continuity of Learning
- UDL – Universal Design for Learning
- First-Then example
- Use https://www.apple.com/my/pages/ to create and send to parents before lessons
- Michelle Garcia Winner Social Thinking Free Resources
Video lessons using Boardmaker
Free I spy activities – https://www.andnextcomesl.com/2018/01/free-dragon-i-spy-printable-for-kids.html
Ultimate SLP (2 week FREE Trial and then $12.95/month) – Language (compare/contrast, synonyms, following directions, sequencing, inference, categorization, prepositions, pronouns, wh- questions), Social (reading facial expressions and body language, idioms, social problems solving and social screen photos) Articulation games with therapy cards.