Susan Traugh

We talked about personal privacy last week. But there’s more to protecting privacy than just hiding your address. Teaching young people, and especially young people with special needs, how to protect their privacy is an important independent living skill. How to Do This Lesson Read Page 260 to help students understand what privacy settings are and what purpose they serve in protecting students’ privacy. Read Privacy Setting Guidelines. Discuss each of the apps and sites discu

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 Dai

Hackers and scammers are everywhere. They are constantly trying to break into your personal information. Teaching young people, and especially young people with special needs, how to protect their privacy is an important independent living skill. This lesson will help students understand what information should be kept private and why. How to Do This Lesson Read “Protecting Your Money.” Have students discuss any times when they or someone they know was hacked or their persona

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

Impulse buying is one of the fastest ways to blow a budget. For teens just learning to manage their money, impulse buys can be irresistible. Help young people, and especially young people with special needs, understand the psychology behind impulse buys and what they can do to avoid their pitfalls and stay on budget. How to do the Lesson Ask students to describe their last impulse purchase. List them on a chart or board and analyze if there are any common pitfalls that studen

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