Motivational+Ideas

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 * 1) For a student with behavior issues, my special education pre-k teacher had a laminated picture of a fire truck that she cut into four pieces. She tried to motivate him by letting him put one piece of the fire truck on the white board when he did something good. When he got all four pieces on the whiteboard, he would get to listen to the fire truck song, which is his favorite song.
 * 1) The speech therapist had the idea of videotaping the student with behavior issues when he used "nice hands" (petting someone softly on the arm). Then she would show the video to the student so that he could be motivated by watching himself be good.
 * 1) My special education pre-k teacher motivates the students with skittles. She will say something along the lines of, "Whoever's sitting quietly will get a skittle..." The students usually then sit quietly immediately.
 * 1) To motivate a specific student with behavior issues, my special education pre-k teacher takes him to visit the Instructional Technology Specialist (ITS) and his robots for about ten minutes each day. When the student acts inappropriately, she says, "Oh, do you want to see the robots? Then you need to make good choices." Sometimes she will write ROBOTS on a piece of paper; when the student misbehaves, she will cross off one letter, and if she has to cross off all the letters, then the student will not get to see the robots.
 * 1) To motivate the same student, my special education pre-k teacher reminds him that he needs to make good choices in order to get to read the Thomas the Train book. This student absolutely loves Thomas the Train and is very affected by the possibility of not getting to read the book.
 * 1) The greatest motivator in the special education pre-k class is bar none the treasure box ladder. The students become extremely excited when they get to move their name up and extremely upset when they have to move their name down. When students refuse to listen or obey me, I threaten to move their name down on the treasure box ladder, and since the thought of moving their name down makes them very upset, they usually listen to me.
 * 1) My special education pre-k teacher motivates the students by complimenting particular students who are following directions. The students loved to be praised and pointing out the students who are doing what they're supposed to be doing gives the misbehaving students a visual reminder and model.
 * 1) My special education pre-k teacher motivates the students by allowing them to listen to more songs when they make good choices. She'll usually say something along the lines of, "If you're good for the rest of the time, then I'll let you pick two songs to listen to."
 * 1) One student with major behavior issues has his own paraprofessional. She motivates him by allowing him to use a bird pen when he makes good choices.
 * 1) The same paraprofessional motivates the student by encouraging him to make good choices so that he can color his chart green and not red. She emphasizes how coloring his chart red is not good and not something that he should want. They fill out the chart after every activity so that it is a constant reminder.
 * 1) The occupational therapist motivates the students by allowing them to play with intriguing materials such as stretchy and gooey toys. If they complete an activity, she will also let them do something they want to do, such as toss a ball back and forth.