Student Academic Struggles

I am having difficulty finding time to teach my students goals/objectives. How can I get this accomplished?

I have a student in my regular 5th grade classroom, who does not have a diagnosis of any kind. However, he often displays oppositional behaviors. He will refuse to open his eyes, pick his head up off the desk, answer questions, and has recently shown an increase in speaking out in a disrespectful manner towards his teachers. He does not lack the ability to do any of these. Often these defiant behaviors occur when he does not want to engage in a particular classroom assignment, either because he feels unsure of his own abilities or because he feels the exercise/activity/assignment is meaningless and irrelevant.

I have several forms of whole-class positive reinforcement systems, but he does not always respond. I have also tried additional individual positive reinforcement tools that he has not responded to either. Can you give some ideas as to how I can help him be more engaged and cooperative in class? Thank you for your insight. I welcome any guidance!

I lose many of my students during instructional time that is teacher directed and includes longer time spans of discussion and lecture. How can I hold the attention of my students who may have a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or students with a Learning Disability?

It seems that “I can’t” or “It’s too hard” is all my student can say when asked to do an assignment. He gets so anxious that he won’t even try.

I have a student who is pulled out of class for learning support remediation with a reading specialist, speech therapy, and occupational therapy. It seems like her schooling is so “disjointed.” When the teachers and therapists come to my room, I rarely have time to tell them what we are working on and how they can help. How can I make these pull-out sessions more meaningful and improve communication between team members?

How do I provide sensory breaks to a child during a busy classroom day without the child leaving his/her desk and missing important instructional time?

I have a child who is non-verbal but able to identify many common objects and is able to communicate basic wants and needs via a picture communication board. I would like to start teaching her some early literacy skills and words…any suggestions as to how I might start?

I am a regular education science teacher that has a student with autism in my class. He communicates very little and will not participate in most class activities. I’m looking for some ideas of how to get him to participate more meaningfully in class routines.

I am a Learning Support Teacher, and when I observe my kids in the general education class, they don’t seem to participate at all. While other kids raise their hands often, my students tend to just sit there doodling or daydreaming. How can I get the regular education teachers to engage them more?