Many students with behavior challenges, especially those who are on the autism spectrum have difficulty expressing themselves. While receiving distance learning, they may  respond favorably to predictable routines and have strong visual memories but poor auditory processing. 

Using visual supports allows children to initiate and communicate independently. For students with behavior challenges, a visual schedule not only establishes a predictable environment where they feel safe, but it also provides motivation by helping them better understand expectations and when preferred activities will occur. 

Classroom Management: Distance Learning

Teachers should realize that best practices in traditional environments should not be discarded simply because the participants are interacting digitally from various locations. 

Here are some suggestions to enhance your classroom management skills:

1. Build an engaging online environment.

2. Have organization and routines for students to be at ease...answer questions, 

3. Establish norms for office hours and e-classroom. Norms include a dress code (no pajamas), no food, how to ask questions without interrupting the current speaker, etc.,

4. Establish expectations for parental support. If parents are present for on-line instruction with students, can they ask questions to clarify how the assignment could be completed? or should they send an email, or text? 

5. Use an on-line app like REMIND to maintain contact with parents/students 

6. Maintain a fixed meeting schedule for specific subjects: Don’t group mix subjects randomly.  

7.  Don’t shy away from difficult conversations. Stay on top of issues as they arise. Immediately. 

8. Teach about plagiarism: Remain open to students explaining the concepts they have "written" for answers, review assignments by having students share with the group their answers.

In the brain the ability to hold onto and work with information, focus thinking, filter distractions, and switch gears is like an airport having a highly effective air traffic control system to manage the arrivals and departures of dozens of planes on multiple runways. 

Scientists refer to these capacities as executive function and self-regulation—a set of skills that relies on three types of brain function: working memory, mental flexibility, and self-control. students aren’t born with these skills—they are born with the potential to develop them. The full range of abilities continues to grow and mature through the teen years and into early adulthood. 

To ensure that students during distance learning develop these capacities, it’s helpful to understand how the quality of the interactions and experiences that our communities provide for them either strengthens or undermines these emerging skills.