Determining Participation Level
As we begin a new school year in such uncertain times, determining our learner's present level is critically important. Learners may have had decreased participation in instructional activities over the spring and summer months. Changes in home life may be impacting alertness and participation levels. I encourage you to spend some time {face to face} or {virtually} observing your learner interact and engage with sensory materials.
How do you determine participation levels? Here are some quick definitions from the Sensory Learning Kit to help:
1. Extended States: Is your learner agitated? Sleeping? Self-Stimulating?
2. Attention: Is your learner engaged and paying attention?
3. Exploration: Is your learner using their body to explore objects in any way? This can be touching, shaking banging, mouthing, moving cheek against, etc.
4. Function: Is your learner showing you they understand the purpose of an object? Ex: Ring a bell, throw a ball, turn on music player, etc.
When you figure out which level your learner is primarily participating at right now, you know where to start and where to go next. Our team gets excited about helping our learners "graduate" from one level to another. We can't wait to hear how yours do too.
-Stacey
