Prep for Self Contained Basics Course


Welcome to “Prep week” of the Self-Contained Basics course, hosted by Oh So Kolo. This gives us time to get our feet wet, and start wrapping our brains around what we need to do to get ready for the first day of school! P.S. it all won’t be ready for the first day of school, but we can get most of it as close as we can. I’ll talk more about maintenance later in the course. 




Each summer, I print out my B.O.Y. checklist. You can do the same or just have an empty brain dump page on hand. This is to jot down any and all to-do's you’ll think of as we go through the course. If you need more structure, grab the Self-Contained Checklist (I don’t have the instruction and curriculum split up and that’s why it has 8 steps instead of 9).

Let’s begin preparing for SCB, you can follow one of two paths, depending on if you have student I.E.P.’s or not. I know it’s summer and we may not have our IEPs or caseloads, but hopefully, you have a ballpark idea of how many you MAY have. If not, just jot it on the checklist of what needs to be done when you’re back on contract. 


With Student I..EP.’s:

  1. Complete Profile Overview Sheets

    Profile Overview Blog
     Profile Overview Video

  2. Prep B.O.Y. parent surveys

  3. Prep Reinforcement Surveys

    +R Survey Blog
    +R Survey Video 

Without Student I..EP.’s
(hopefully, you’ll have an estimate of your caseload)

  1. Prep B.O.Y. parent surveys

  2. Prep Reinforcement Surveys

    +R Survey Blog
    +R Survey Video   

You will need 1 profile over sheet per student and 1 parent survey per student. I walk you through the profile sheets here (video) and here (blog), but you’re essentially combing through the IEP for the big, important chunks of information. This is what I keep on hand for substitutes, and staff and send to the inclusion teachers as a ‘cheat sheet’ of sorts. It DOES NOT replace reading the actual IEP and you need to make sure all staff working with your students have access to the FULL IEP, but this keeps the ‘overwhelm’ under control. 


Another resource listed in this section is the B2S workflow. I was using the back-to-school workflow in another district, but currently, I am required to use something similar to the IEP profile sheets. Feel free to do one or the other, or fill in the groups at the end of the B2S workflow. Depending on your state and district, this might be a better choice for your caseload. 


Tired of reading? Watch this blog post as a video!



Next, prepare the parent surveys, missing information on the profile sheet can sometimes be filled in from the information the guardians send you. Feel free to send these out before school (if you have guardian contact info), I usually have them meet the teacher, so I can explain face-to-face what I’m looking for.


Lastly, reinforcement surveys, I get several levels for the positive reinforcement surveys ready - ESPECIALLY if there wasn’t useful information on their motivators in the IEP or parent surveys. What will the child be working for!? This is something you need to find out as soon as you can. We wouldn’t go to work unless we know for a fact we were getting paid? Right? 



Okay, that’s quite a bit for the prep part. Reading through and processing a caseload of IEPs takes time. Overestimate how long it will take you, give yourself frequent breaks and work for something fun when you're done, I always like to get a chic-fil-a brownie when I’ve finished this daunting task. 


Use the notes page to jot down any questions you need to be clarified and let me know on social media or by email! Also, if you find any errors let me know so I can fix that too! 


Good luck preparing for our self-contained basics course. See you next week for Week 1: Step 1: Physical Structure & Materials. Want more info? Learn all about my SCB course here!



Image Credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/cdDDWLezAJ0 

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