"As someone who is about to go into the teaching field, I couldn't be happier with the information in this book... I would have found myself dialing 911 before the end of the year for sure. I highly recommend." - C.M. "When I started teaching there was nothing like this book upon which to rely...I would have loved to had this book to help me get started. Having information, tried and true ideas, and some words of wisdom would have been a gift. I highly recommend this book to anyone who starting out with Pre-K students who have special needs." - LP "Jennifer Chop has written a most useful book. It focuses specifically on teaching young children in the classroom. All teachers struggle when they begin their teaching careers. Whatever their training and experience, there is so much to know and be prepared for right from the first day! Ms. Chop's book is just the ticket for dealing with those challenges. Her suggestions are written in clear and straightforward fashion." -Robert D. Hubbell, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, California State University, Sacramento Are you teaching preschool special needs children? What, where, and how do you start? Not only do you have the responsibility of teaching young children, which means combing through records for important medical information and goals for each child, but you also have to set up the classroom, communicate with parents, teach language through play, facilitate Circle Time, maintain a calm classroom, and so much more. This book provides systematic strategies for handling all of these challenging tasks. There are numerous solutions and tips-contained in this book-which will help you with the day-to-day classroom experience run smoothly. Do you wish you knew... -What to do before the first day of teaching? -How to organize the day? -What to do during Circle Time? -How to integrate movement? -How to teach language skills through play? -How to provide a calm environment? Then this book is for you! It's really more of a "manual," because it provides a simple framework for setting up and running your classroom. It will reduce the understandable anxieties you might have about starting up your own classroom for the first time. Don't be afraid to be unconventional-think outside the box when you're teaching. In a mild to moderate classroom the abilities of the children can vary widely. Why did you get into teaching? It was probably not in order to worry about setting up and managing a classroom. The tips in this manual will help you become the teacher you want to be, without dwelling on the stress of setting up your classroom. This book lets you focus on what you actually want to do-TEACH! If you are a parent of a special needs child, you will learn tips about how to elicit communication with your child through play, learn simple behavior strategies that work, and learn about possible other issues that might be affecting your child.
About the Author: Retired after thirty years of teaching a class of preschool children with severe oral language disabilities, Jennifer Chop still thinks fondly of the "good old days" of teaching. She has a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley in Oriental Languages and an M.A. in Speech and Language Pathology from California State University, Sacramento. With her husband of forty-three years they live in Kensington, California with their two-year old dog, Lucy. Jennifer raised two fantastic daughters, on whom she tested out so many of her theories about child development that they often wondered why their toys went missing. In another life, she might have been a toy inventor. Jennifer has traveled extensively to many countries around the world: rode camels in deserts, watched elephants paint flowers and self portraits, played elephant polo, flown next to the Himalayas, rode horses among the moais on Easter Island. These experiences inspired her to bring the same magic and wonder into her classroom. Jennifer loved studying the ways children learned and figuring out what clicked for them. These challenges and solutions manifested in many "aha" moments. Throughout her career she thrived on dreaming up art projects from interesting children's literature that were fun and messy, and that taught vocabulary and concepts to her students. She loved using magic tricks in her class to get the students to practice their speech and language skills.