Blog Post Listing

It is a difficult time for schools across the nation as teachers now have to find innovative ways to educate their students regardless of how their school districts decided to implement school—in-person instruction, online, or a hybrid model. Many educators are searching for solutions and seeking out new instructional methods.

Educators should not waste hours and hours searching or creating curriculums from scratch. Our Healthy Relationship Curriculum can be used for online or in-person instruction and is well-equipped with all the tools needed to provide a high-quality education.

With many schools moving online, staying connected with your students, their parents, and  your fellow educators has become one of many difficulties with online instruction. To address that issue, the Healthy Relationships Curriculum has a built-in myHRC interactive online portal. On the portal, teachers can remain in contact with their students, parents, colleagues, and us! It’s a space where you can seek advice, brainstorm, or simply ask questions.

A large number of students are visual learners, especially those with varying needs. They need to be shown how to do things and why.  To further connect with parents or family members, home supplements are included in order to reinforce the learning and encourage family participation. For experiential learners, there are role-plays and demonstrations to apply lessons to actual interactions. And to measure a student’s progress the curriculum is equipped with outcome tools and quizzes.

Don’t exhaust valuable time reinventing your lesson plan for the situation this fall. Get our Healthy Relationships Curriculum and ensure a successful future for your students.

One of the most important aspects of special education is preparing students for an independent life. There are many facets to living an independent life, but being able to interact and communicate with others is crucial.

Developing social skills is difficult even with in-person learning, and with the move to online learning, teaching student social skills has been made more difficult for students with varying needs. With many schools moving entirely online last year, many students have lost the progress they had made prior to quarantine. Students have trouble staying focused and discerning social skill cues over video chat is tough.

Anxiety around the spread of coronavirus has caused a massive change in how students and adults interact with one another Conventional greetings like handshakes or hugs are being thrown by the wayside, as limiting contact with one another is the best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Things may never be the same, the handshake may no longer be the standard greeting, school and work may be conducted virtually for longer than most of us expected. As learning and social environments shift, educators and students must adapt. Teaching students how to communicate over Zoom may be as valuable as learning to communicate face-to-face. That’s why our Healthy Relationships Curriculum can help.

Our curriculum provides outcome tools, video lessons, quizzes, and even a portal that connects educators to parents to communicate with one another—all of this is available online! In addition to teaching students social skills that will help them live an independent life, our curriculum is equipped to fulfill IEP requirements and would make teaching a lot easier for you!

No one likes a bully. But unfortunately, bullying in the US has become an epidemic. Cyberbullying is the most prevalent form of bullying with experts estimating that nearly 60 percent of teenagers have experienced some type of cyberbullying or harassment online. And, with many schools having shifted completely to an online format, we can only anticipate these incidents to increase.

Cyberbullying often occurs in chatrooms, on message boards, on social media, or through text messaging. More often than not, educators and parents are not aware that their students and children are being bullied.

It is very important to teach students how to navigate cyberbullying and build the social skills needed to work through negative situations. Our curriculum has extensive video lessons designed to assist students with unique challenges such as cognitive impairments, on the autism spectrum, or a learning disability with understanding and processing bullying.

Unfortunately, the internet has given a platform for bullies to pester their victims with little oversight and it can sometimes be very difficult to recognize when a comment or post is in fact bullying. Here are some indicators for educators, parents, caretakers, or educators to recognize when a child is being cyberbullied:

• When the student/child uncharacteristically stops using their device.
• Refuses to talk about their technology usage/interactions online.
• If the student/child appears nervous, angry, or sad when using technology.

To prevent your student from being cyberbullied it is crucial that they know how to stay safe online, and if they are being bullied when to tell a trusted adult.  Our curriculum provides in-depth lessons for students with disabilities to learn about how to navigate bullying, stay safe online, and ultimately build the social skills they need to live an independent life.

Practicing good personal hygiene is important for helping keep the body healthy and clean. As an educator, you are aware that some of your students probably require detailed instructions on what good personal hygiene actually means.

Often, educators may find themselves trying to explain why brushing one’s teeth or washing one’s hands is important. With our country in the midst of trying to combat the coronavirus, there has never been a better time to teach and reinforce with your students that they need to take steps to keep themselves clean.

According to the CDC, handwashing with soap removes germs from hands. This helps prevent infections because individuals frequently touch their eyes, nose, and mouth without even realizing it. Germs can get into the body through the eyes, nose, and mouth and make us sick. That’s why we did a video lesson plan that specifically focuses on proper hygiene. You can watch it here.

With our Healthy Relationships Curriculum, you will receive detailed lesson plans including more than 85 videos, and your students will be provided with visual demonstrations so they can approach hygiene and other issues from a practical standpoint.

Have you seen the Netflix docuseries Love on the Spectrum yet? If not, you should because it’s giving our society a glimpse into how adolescents and young adults are navigating dating and relationships as an individual on the autism spectrum. Our Healthy Relationships Curriculum offers educators with a robust program that provides them with the skills and tools they need to address topics like interpersonal interactions, dating, relationships, and sex education with their students.

As an educator, you understand that addressing these topics with your students who may have varying needs can be difficult. Not only do they process things differently, but these topics also have the potential to make them (and you) uncomfortable. At the core, these issues personal and they are a part of the fabric of who we are and how we interact with one another. You need to be able to explain and teach these issues in a way that your students can understand.

Often, students with various needs are not taught these topics in a manner that they can understand and relate to. It’s important for them to learn how to date, what appropriate personal boundaries are, and what sex is. It would be naïve for all of us to think that students are not thinking about these things. Just because they may have varying needs, does not make them any less interested in all the aspects of being a teenager.

That’s why our Healthy Relationships Curriculum specifically addresses these issues head-on. We know that you want to be able to have appropriate and direct conversations with your students. We have designed lesson plans that provide you will the tools and resources you need to be successful in teaching these issues.

Social distancing, a phrase that most of us have heard and said nearly a million times over by now. But, how does it prevent the spread of COVID-19? How can schools enforce and encourage social distancing practices? And, how can teachers educate their students on how to do it?

The CDC defines social distancing as “remaining out of congregate settings, avoiding mass gatherings, and maintaining distance (6 feet or more) from others whenever possible.” Given this definition, having schools return to an in-person instructional format has been a difficult task with many districts across the country deciding to shift to a virtual or hybrid model.

Social distancing can be a difficult concept for some students to understand, especially for those who may have varying needs. Social distancing is something that all students should know about and practice—whether that’s in school or out at a store.

Helping students better understand how and why to socially distance is vital as learning models continually change, and our country continues to grapple with the pandemic. Coming up with an effective method to educate students on this practice is tough. That’s why we’ve adapted our Healthy Relationships Curriculum to serve and meet the needs of the environment we’re now living in.

Included as part of our curriculum are detailed video lesson plans which visually show students why personal space is important and what physical boundaries are. As an educator, we know that you are looking for creative ways to teach your students. What we are all going through right now is difficult, and having the best tools and resources at your disposal with help both you and your students

Video calls, digital assignments, online tests and quizzes, and not being in-person with your students—this fall looks vastly different than what we have grown accustomed to. For some students, the virtual classroom may be preferable, but for many others it is a struggle to remain engaged and focused on school.

Not only have students had to adjust to the virtual learning environment, but educators have had to completely transform their lesson plans to conform to online mediums. This change has stolen a lot of time from teachers as they scramble to convert lessons meant to be taught in-person to a virtual format. Because many students are teaching from home, it seems like the workday never ends. There is no longer a separation of space and time, and many are hoping for a return to a more normal work-life balance.

As you know, the group feeling the greatest impact of virtual learning are students with varying needs. Teaching students critical life and social skills is one of the tenets of special education. As many educators have noted, it can also be a struggle to achieve requirements under IDEA and fulfill IEP transition goals without face-to-face instruction.

We understand the challenges, frustrations, and dilemmas you are facing. Our team is comprised of individuals who know these issues inside and out, including a former special education teacher and therapist have specialized in working with adolescents on the autism spectrum.

As a part of the program, you will receive over 85 educational videos, 39 ready-to-use lessons, outcome measurement tools, and an online portal that connects you with us. Our online portal is also designed for you to connect directly with your students and their family.

That’s why our Healthy Relationships Curriculum is made specifically for special education teachers and educators who work with students that have varying needs. We want you to know that we’re here for you. We also provide a training with educators, so they will feel confident in teaching the Healthy Curriculum. When you purchase the Healthy Relationships Curriculum, you not only receive a program that can be used virtually or in a traditional classroom setting, you have our support and can contact us with any questions or concerns at any time.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced many educators to learn new skills—like working on Zoom or Skype—in order to teach class. With an increasingly online and interconnected world we’re now living in, it’s critically important for your students with varying needs to learn how to communicate effectively through video chatting.

While video chatting is not necessarily a new concept to many, usage has skyrocketed in schools. Experts are estimating that nearly 6 in 10 Americans currently use video chat platforms, and many did not use these platforms for work prior to the pandemic.

As an educator, you more than anyone else, know that the traditional classroom setting is looking vastly different this fall than in previous years. With more schools utilizing virtual platforms to educate their students, we cannot think of a better time than now to ensure they are prepared.

Video chatting may or may not be new for your students with varying needs. Regardless of what they know already, one of our lesson plans will walk them through step-by-step how-to video chat appropriately and communicate effectively. In our lesson outlining video chatting, we explore the safety, how-to’s, and other common practices to make a successful video chat whether it be on your phone, tablet, or computer.

Our Healthy Relationships Curriculum works to overcome barriers that exist and prepare students with critical life and social skills. Video chat is not only important for school, but your students can use it to remain in touch with friends and family, as they practice social distancing to protect themselves and others from the spread of COVID-19.