As people, we all experience the community on a daily basis.
Featured Guest Blogger: Ms. Ale’, ILS/Autism Secondary Teacher, SPED Voyage Blog
Forget an item for a recipe, run to the store. Need a haircut, schedule a hair appointment. Craving a sweet treat, head to a fast-food restaurant. Decorating for the holidays, head to a craft or home goods store. Mailing a package, drive to the post office. People with varying exposure to these community outings will need specific practice and opportunities for growth in feeling comfortable with going to the store, hair salon, restaurant, retail store, or post office.
In a non-pandemic world, we had the opportunity to go out in the community on a daily basis. I know, what a gift! With that, in our program we try to be very dynamic with the community-based education schedule so students can get the most exposure possible to many community offerings.
Also to note, in each community offering we have students work on skills like: crossing the street, parking lot awareness, appropriate community behaviors, asking staff members for help to locate a bathroom, item, etc. and locating specific items off a list.
In our program, we use a schedule for outings like this:
CBE Schedule
|
Monday |
Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
|
Vocational |
Shopping |
Restaurant
Or Community Access |
Public Transportation |
Leisure |
Vocational
For vocational opportunities, students are working on job skill opportunities like:
- Recycling Center (we volunteer and help patrons sort their recycling)- Before students can become volunteers in the community, we make sure students have the basics of recycling down and practice sorting recycling in the classroom. We have bins set up like this to practice!
- Trail Clean-Up– Adopt a portion of a natural resource trail in your community and help pick up trash.
- Internships– Students link with our ACE (Alternate Cooperative Employment) to get an internship to work on job skills.
Shopping
For shopping opportunities, students go to varying grocery stores or retail stores for items.
We may need for a specific activity or especially for cooking we do on Thursdays. We create our shopping list (After the file opens, click the download button in the top right corner) staff can also keep data on this template too.
Since I want students exposed to many different kinds of grocery stores, we generally do not go to the same grocery store two weeks in a row. Rotation as follows:
- Week 1: King Soopers/Safeway
- Week 2: Trader Joe’s/Whole Foods/ Sprouts
- Week 3: Target/Dollar Tree/Walmart
- Week 4: Sam’s Club/Costco*
*We have a school store so we need to insert in bulk purchases.
Restaurant
For restaurant opportunities, students practice ordering items off a menu. We either use money from our CBE Funds or ask families to send in $2-3 for a small item. If time allows us, we will stay and eat in the restaurant to practice social skills and appropriate eating etiquette in a public setting.
Some ideas for restaurants:
- Chick-fil-A, Sonic, Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Noodles & Company
- We also love to support local businesses for donuts, coffee shops, etc.
Community Access
For community access, students would practice going to places like:
- Post Office-Practice addressing letters and sending them.
- Hair Salon– Practice making an appointment and go get a haircut (we always get parent permission before we make a Princess Diaries transformation).
- Craft Store/ Hardware Store/ Sporting Goods– Students go on a scavenger hunt to find items around the store.
- Garden Centers– We have a greenhouse that students take care of our plants and fish, so sometimes we stock up on more dirt so we can propagate new plants and also like a scavenger hunt on new plants and insects.
- Schools– Sometimes we have things we like to drop off at other schools in our district. Teachers love seeing students they had in elementary school or middle school.
Public Transportation
For public transportation opportunities, students practice picking a destination and route for travel using our city bus transportation. We have a bus stop right next to our school so we walk out to the bus stop and check how far away the bus is using a local app called Transfort. Students text a number and receive back a response for when the bus will be coming back. If a student does not have a phone, I’ll let them borrow my phone.
We have gone to places like:
- Mall- Practice trying on shoes or identifying clothes we like.
- Movie Theater- See what new movies are out and what times they would be playing. We also work on asking for job applications.
Leisure
For leisure opportunities, students practice leisure activities. We practice going to places like this:
- Library– Learn how to check out books, appropriate
behaviors in a quiet setting, ask librarians to find a specific
kind of book, or using computers to look up books or movies. - Bowling/Ice Skating– Our students love these! We practice
asking for our correct shoe size and playing friendly
games vs. one another. Students like to compete against
staff members so we usually get to jump on board with this
leisure activity. - Recreational Center/Swimming– Students have the
opportunity to explore finding physical activities that best
fit their interests. - Park– When it is nice out, we like to keep our activities outside. We have a few nice parks close to our school and students will vote on which park they would like to go to that opportunity.
- Farms/Flower Gardens/Museums– We have a local farm that students can walk around and see animals. Sometimes for a fall activity, we may go on a hayride. In the spring and fall, we will walk around and learn about plants with a beautiful walk around a flower garden. We also have a Discovery Museum near the farm, students have some really cool options to learn about science and social studies materials in a very hands on environment.
- Coffee Shops– Students practice a drink or treat, then we usually sit at a big table or a few small tables and play a game like Go Fish or UNO! Or we like to sit and watch the baristas making coffee (taking notes for our own school coffee shop)!
AD: Check out Community Outing Reflection Worksheet Here.
Remote/Hybrid
The above community-based opportunities were before COVID. Our school district made the decision that we were unable to go on field trips for the first semester (as of now) of school. We have modified ALL of our CBE opportunities to on-campus or remote settings. Students can still practice skills or be exposed to different settings via TPT or practicing online orders.
AD: Check out Virtual Field Trips Here.
In the classroom, I have used video models to share a specific place or setting that we are learning about that week and then usually supplement my lesson with interactive materials that I have purchased (mostly SpedAdulting ones) via Google Slides, Boom Cards or pdfs. We always can practice or simulate certain events for social skills work.
I am super thankful for the support that we have in our school district for community-based education. We have a small bus that staff can take small vehicle training (SMV) so we can drive our students to and from community outings. If you have any questions or need brainstorming ideas to fit the needs in your classroom, please don’t hesitate to reach out! You can find me @Spedvoyage on Instagram. We are in the beginning stages of adding content about tips, and tricks for making travel more accessible for students with disabilities.
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