Susan Traugh

The last week in August is “Be Kind to Humankind” week and a perfect time to work on social skills with teens with special needs whether those kids are on the spectrum or deal with some other issue that makes reaching out a difficult skill for them. Learning to express kindness is an important adult living skill and can be key in whether students’ lives are enriched by relationships or spent isolated. So, how do we teach kindness? How to Teach Kindness to Teens Science tells

August is National Sandwich Month and the hot weather is a perfect time to help teens explore the cooking skill of making sandwiches. Especially teens with special needs can use an extensive repertoire of sandwich recipes. With whole grain bread, a protein source and a healthy serving of vegetables, either on or with the sandwich, this simple combination can be a boon for healthy food choices. Helping Students Create Healthy Sandwiches Here is a free lesson for you and your s

Selecting tasty produce is an important adult living skill for teens with special needs—or any young person. Knowing how to choose good produce can be the difference between a delightful meal and food that is inedible. Apple Week is the second week in August and an excellent time to help your students learn to pick tasty fruit. Picking Produce is a Science Apples, along with their pear cousins, are part of the pomes family of fruits. Picking Produce—Fruits is from the Daily L

National Smile Week is a wonderful time to address this vital role in relationship building for teens on the spectrum and other students who have difficulty with social skills. We’re Hard-Wired to Smile Did you know that even a mini-smile of as little as 4/100’s of a second can make another person smile back at you! That’s less time than it takes to blink! Helping students master the social skill of smiling at others can be a huge step towards building relationships and cemen

August is National Immunization Awareness Month and a good time to help your teens with special needs learn about and get control of their personal medical records regarding immunizations. Keeping Track of Vaccines Can Be Overwhelming For any young person, keeping track of the dozens of immunizations currently recommended can be a daunting task. But, for teens with special needs, it can feel downright overwhelming. Yet, in a few short years, many of your students will be resp