Teaching Child Communication Skills

I have a student who can not keep his spit in his mouth, but he will also purposely spit on his peers.  Do you have any suggestions?

I’m a primary school special educator in a large school district where students transition to several different upper elementary schools when they leave second grade.  Due to the size of our district, it’s nearly impossible to meet with all of the receiving teachers for my students at the end of the school year.  I’d like these teachers to know more about my kids before they start in the fall.  I know they’ll get the IEPs, but I wondered if you had any suggestions on how I can help the new teachers learn about my students?

I have a new student who has extremely limited communication skills and many challenging behaviors. He can imitate some sounds and words but does not use them functionally. He will hit, scream, or scratch to get something he wants or to get out of something that he doesn’t want to do. Also, when he wants something he will just go and get it on his own. His parents report the same behaviors at home and that they often give him whatever he wants just to stop the screaming.

I have some students in my kindergarten classroom diagnosed with autism. They don’t seem to know the names of their classmates, or really talk to many of the other children. Is there something I could do to increase interactions with their classmates?

My child has a very difficult time going to family-style restaurants. In particular, he has difficulty sitting and waiting quietly, eating neatly, and interacting with the waiter or waitress. How can I help my child learn to be more appropriate in this setting?

I have a student who uses a communication book. At times he will just point to an item on the snack table instead of using his book in response to a question. Sometimes he will indicate yes or no with a headshake instead of using his book. We keep prompting but then he becomes frustrated and displays other behaviors such as throwing materials or yelling. How can we increase his communication book usage?

I’m a special education teacher and a few of my 5th grade students are getting nervous about moving to the Middle School in the fall.  We always visit the new school towards the end of the year, but I don’t think it’s enough to calm their anxiety.  Any ideas to help make the transition smoother?

My son is non-verbal.  Recently he has begun screaming.  This is not out of anger, but to hear his own voice.  It is quite loud and can be very distracting at home to his siblings and out  in public.  I don’t want to discourage his trying to communicate, so am not sure how to handle it.

The students in my Life Skills class need more practice with social skills, but they always seem to clam up in those unstructured times like lunch and in between classes.  Is there something I can do to help them have more opportunities to interact?