Teachers, are you getting overwhelmed thinking about back to school? Use this simple checklist to keep yourself organized now, and into the school year!

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ROOM-SET-UP:

· Set-up the room with areas for individual, small group, and whole group instruction.

· Create designated spots for students’ PECS Books with wall-hooks, chair bags, or something similar.

· Hang public postings and be ready to fill them in with student information that you will gather the first week of school.

· Review your current repertoire of activities and create/expand with functional, real-world activities. (ex: remove sorting cubes and replace with sorting silverware, laundry, groceries, etc.)

GATHERING INFORMATION:

· Send caregivers, past teachers or therapists a Preference Assessment form. Examples are on page 351 of the PECS Training Manual, Second Edition.

FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL:

· Assess Reinforcers for each student.

· Update a Critical Communication Skills Checklist for each student. See page 343 in the PECS Training Manual, Second Edition, or at the end of the Student Skills Checklist linked below. Use the information to update the student’s Public Posting (above) and plan to teach missing skills across the school year.

· Assess every student’s current communication skills.