Wacky Wednesday! My Halloween Freebies!

Wacky doesn't even begin to cover it today! Every kid in class was in a total funk today! I swear it became contagious. Days like this make teaching special ed a real challenge. In a regular class, kids can keep going about their business if one kid is out of wack. My little guys need so much help that if one kid is having a tantrum and I get held up, the other kids get thrown off because they can't figure out what to do without specific instructions. I saw 3 sets of tears today (from different kids), several bursts of yelling, door slamming, and a large amount of "NO!" being said (by both them and me!). Did I mention today was Open House and random strangers were touring our school to see if they'd like to bring their kids to our school?! Thank goodness they came in between chaotic moments because of course they had lots of questions about how I run my program and I'm telling them how great it is.

(This is the point where I begin to babble about life as a SPED teacher, so if you don't want to laugh at the thought of me squishing a kid on purpose, you're welcome to skip down to the freebies at the bottom.)

At one point I was laying on a kid to help him calm down. He asked for it, I wasn't punishing him! Some of my kids have autism and crave sensory stimulation to calm down. After a full day of hitting, grabbing, and other inappropriate touching a boy finally asked "Can you squish me?" I about squealed with cheer that he figured out what would make him feel better and asked for it!! I can't do it unless he wants to, or it just makes him more upset. I've tried suggesting it in the past, but he refused. So for math today my little guy laid on the ground on his tummy with a weighted blanket on top of him. Then I laid across his back and he got a full 2 pages of math done without a fight! This was the ONLY completed work out of the entire day, and the only time he didn't touch other people. His mom told me the OT sat on a bean bag on top of him the other day and he liked it, and I could do it too if it would help anything. I'm going to make a reminder card for sensory stimulation so maybe tomorrow he'll ask for it a little sooner if he needs it. I'll post it when it's ready. If you are a SPED teacher and want a modified version of the choice list, just let me know. I realize we all have different equipment/gear in our classrooms.


I'm linking up with Think, Wonder, Teach for Halloween Freebies! I've made a few to share with you. They have become spread out in a few different posts, so now they are all in one! Just click the images!

If you like my Halloween materials, my Numbers to 10 set is only $2.50. I've used the materials in several ways for the last 2 weeks. Feel free to look at other posts to see how I've used them.