Starting With Their Strengths

This book provides a comprehensive and practical guide to using the project approach when teaching young children with special needs. While focusing on childrens individual strengths, which include their interests, intelligences, and unique styles of learning, this resource demonstrates teaching strategies that address multiple areas of development. Using scenarios from their own practice, the authors examine the process of accessing childrens strengths to facilitate social, emotional, cognitive, and motor development, including concepts and skills. The authors then provide tools to determine, organize, and plan with childrens strengths and demonstrate the use of documentation as an authentic assessment of childrens skills and goals. Teachers will use this book to create environments that enrich learning for all children. Book Features: Classroom vignettes that demonstrate the project approach in action. Examples of childrens work and photos of projects. Approaches to both determine the sources of behavior challenges and support positive behavior. Sample lesson plans that reflect childrens interests and developmental needs. Forms for data collection, communicating with parents, identifying sensory challenges, behavior analysis, and more. A strengths-based Individualized Education Plan (IEP) guide.