TRANSCRIPT
Exploring Routines and the New Routines Toolkit
9-21-26

>>Sarah: I'm Sarah Mossberger. I will be talking with you guys today about some information about routines, what they are, kind of an overview, and then we have a new product that we want to introduce to you guys called the routines toolkit. I just want to start off by saying I have practiced speaking slowly, but when I get excited, I tend to speak at like a warp speed so please, if I'm talking too fast, put it in the Chat. I also asked Casey to remind me but I'm going to do my best despite my excitement to speak slowly. With that, I want to start us off and let you guys put in the Chat, let's see if it will go -- here we go. Hold on. Whoopsie. What are routines? Tell me in the Chat. When you guys hear the word "routine" used, maybe you're thinking about within the classroom, what do you think of? What are they? What are routines? Tell me your thoughts. Ann says scheduled activities. Yes. Amy says something on a regular basis, for sure. Verna says routines are foundation. Oh, a ritual that humans rely on and benefit from. Addie says maybe the classroom schedule. You bring up a good point. She says bedtime routine. 100%, routines don't have to just be in the classroom. That's a really good point. RoxAnn says something that's done often that has a series of steps. Predictable activities. We will talk about predictability a lot. That's a good point, Nicole. Wait just a moment more in case you are a slow typer and are still adding something in. Aaron says sets of steps completed in the same order that can be learned and anticipated. Gold star to Aaron. Yes. She is taking the words from the next slide out of my mouth. Rachel says activities that have a clear beginning, middle and end and they're consistent. Yes. Consistency. Another piece we will talk about a lot. Okay. Everybody loves a cute kid picture. On this slide we have a picture of a little friend wearing a chef's hat and getting ready to do a chocolate milk-making routine. On the next slide, though, we have a picture of a little friend and he is doing a routine where he is learning to put the bowl in the sink. So y'all hit the nail on the head with what routines are within the classroom, within the home. It's a set way that we're going to do something, especially like initially, when we're trying to learn a skill. We want to do it the same way so that we can learn, we can anticipate, just like you guys pointed out. And I just want to add that we can do a lot of things, we are going to talk about it a little bit more in the next slides, in routine ways. We can do things that are maybe just like one step. We can do routines that have multiple steps. We can do routines that we're trying to learn how to like learn a skill or complete a task. But we can also do routines that are just fun and interactive that involve maybe playing a game. Okay. So when we think about routines and learning skills, we all know, we have all experienced that we have certain skills that we learned because we do them the same way over and over, kind of a muscle memory type thing. Right? We did it until it became automatic. For example, how did we learn to type? I am old, so I am of the generation where we still went to typing class in high school and we had Mavis Beacon and they covered our fingers with the paper so we couldn't cheat and look at our fingers or look at the keys, and we learned to type. How did we learn to type? We did it the same way. Every day. The keys, they didn't move on the keyboard. They are always in the same place. The lessons were structured. We started with the home row, right, and you had to get a certain amount of accuracy and then they added on more keys. It was a set way that we did it. Always the same way, and so we learned that motor memory and we learned how to type. Same thing with tying our shoes. There's lots of little catchy phrases that people can maybe use like with the bunny ears or the loop-around, but it's essentially the same motor pattern and we had to learn that and we learned to tie our shoes, now we can do it automatically. We don't have to say the little song anymore. I don't know if anybody on here likes to fish. If you like to fly fish, but to learn how to fly fish, you have to practice the cast. Some people maybe are gifted and can just go out and fly fish but you have to learn about the flicking and knowing that you're in the right plane and there's a whole thing. So there's lots of skills that we learn by doing it over and over, by having repetition. The same thing is true, though, for academics. There are academic skills that we learn because we do them the same way. Handwriting, that's kind of an example again of like that motor planning. I had horrible handwriting as a child and so my mom would have my teacher send home extra worksheets and make me sit at the table and practice. Clearly I still am a little scarred by this because I'm now telling you about it. I have good handwriting now, so I guess that it worked. But I practiced it over and over and that's how I got better. Math and science, they have a lot of skills that we learn because we do them the same way. Long division, you put the number, you have the house, you bring it down. There's like a set way that we learn how to do multiply, how to divide, order of operations, science experiments. Even learning to read. There are some skills that we need and we do them the same way, especially initially. So this is a bit of an overgeneralization on my part of routines and all that they can do, but it helps us to kind of understand that routines teach us how to learn to do a skill and they teach us that because of repetition. So before I move on, I want to talk a little bit more about why repetition is so important in learning for everybody. So one of the reasons that it's important is because it builds strong brain connections. I think somebody mentioned when I asked in the Chat about how the routines help us to anticipate, it's the building of the brain connections that does that. When we do a task over and over, see, I'm getting excited. I'm telling myself to slow down. When we do a task over and over, it goes from the front of our brain where we really have to think about it to more automatic part of our brain. Those neural pathways get stronger and so we are able to do things quicker and with less mental effort. It also fosters feelings of success when we know what's going to happen next, when we know what's expected of us and we can participate and we can do things and do them successfully, then we start to feel feelings of success. That's why as an adult it's hard to learn how to do new things, because we don't like those initial feelings of things being hard, and hard to learn. We like to have those feelings of success when we can do things. It can also strengthen language development. We will talk about that a little more specifically on the next slide. But we know that children need exposure and access towards signs sometimes up to 500 times before they are able to use it themselves. We need repetition. We need to see it over and over. Lastly, repetition is important because it helps lighten our cognitive load. So cognitive load theory tells us that our human working memory, it has kind of limited capacity. So when we're thinking about for all students, not just students who need routines learning but for all students, when we think about designing lessons, we don't want to overwhelm them, right? If they're overwhelmed, then they're not going to be able to keep up and to retain that knowledge. So when we think about doing things repetitively and having a nicely structured lesson, then we free up that working memory. Working memory again, it holds things in that short term and so as we have a lesson where we're able to do it, and do it to a point of where it's automatic, then again, it moves into that more long-term memory and we're freeing up working memory. so that we can again, do things faster. Okay. I mentioned routines and repetition and how it helps strengthen language. This next part that I'm going to talk about, it comes from a book and I will show you it a couple slides from now, I will show you the cover in case you're not used to it or in case you have never seen it. It's by Linda Haygood. It's an oldie but a goodie, still available on our website. It is not a digital download but you can order it in print. She talks a lot about routines, how we can use routines to build communication and language. So she talks about how we all use routines with little kids to help learn language. She mentions if you think about games that we play with little kids, right, Peek-a-boo, tickling, back and forth things, Patty-cake. Even repetitive songs we sing together like Wheels on The Bus. These are fun and full of turn-taking. They're full of turn-taking that happens how? In a predictable way. That's how we facilitate that language and that communication with our kids. So some of the ways that this happens is these songs and these games, they have a goal-directed nature. The kiddo knows what to expect because it's a game, right, and it's set to do something. There's an invariable sequence of steps that takes place. There's clear and reversible roles if we need to among the communication partners. We both have a role, me and the student or the child. The student's actions, their communication can direct the actions so if I'm playing Peek-a-boo and I pause and the kiddo giggles or leans in or touches me, the child starts to understand that my actions, I can do things that will continue this routine. Then there's a repetitive and predictable structure that lets children practice their response. We are going to talk about that a little bit more later when we talk about how to specifically design a routine. It's really important that we're keeping in mind that we're giving them the chance to practice and to practice responding and being a part of the routine. If I don't have a chance to talk to you, it's a really important skill to practice that we're missing out on within the routine. So a little more about that, then. Routines can also help build social interactions. Sometimes I think we think about routines being something that we want to set up so a student can learn to do a skill. They can learn to make their own snack. They can learn to heat up a part of their lunch. They can learn to do something. Those are important routines, too, but routines can also teach other skills. For example, joint attention. Maybe our student is at a place where they just need to understand that we can do things together. We can both look at, even if it's tactilely, we can look at the same thing. Maybe we want to help the student build visual attention. We want them to look at what we're trying to look at. Maybe we want to build that anticipation that they start to understand what's going to happen next and what items are used for. Routines can support physical skills like reaching. If we're having a routine about a highly motivating object, maybe they will start to reach or move towards that item. And routines can also teach a lot about turn-taking. If we don't know about taking turns, that's a big part of communicating, right, is that back-and-forth. Okay. We are going to talk a little bit more, those are routines. Before I move on, we are going to talk specifically now about how -- there's a guest appearance from my dog. So sorry. We are going to talk specifically about how to design routines but before I move on, does anybody have any questions? I don't see anything in the Chat. But if you do, throw it in there. While I'm waiting to see if you have any questions, this is the book I was talking about. The Communication book. This is the cover. Again, you can Google it and find it, it's still available for sale on the TSBVI publications website. So this next bit of information about how to design routines, this comes from Linda Hagood's book. We will also talk about it more in the toolkit. I will be showing you guys that at the end. Okay. I don't see any questions in the Chat. Feel free if you come up with one to throw it in there. Okay. We talked a little bit about routines and why repetition is important when we want to support learning. So now I want to talk about how we can design routines. I think a lot of times, this is where maybe when we come out and present with you guys or brainstorm with people, we talk about well, we need calendars and routines, and we do need those things. But if I know I need a routine and I don't know how to make one, then I'm stuck, right? So let's talk about how we can create good routines for our students. Linda Hagood talks about essential guidelines when we want to set up routines for our students. We will go over those now. The first one she talks about, she talks about activities and materials and she says you want to start with things that are motivating to the student. That's a huge one. Right? Because I don't know about y'all, but one of my favorite things to talk about is myself and then also, if I'm going to do an activity with you, like given the choice, I probably want to do something that I enjoy doing. My boyfriend loves video games. I do not. Given the choice I'm probably not going to pick that we spend time together playing video games. I don't like math. I do like to draw. Given the choice in class, I would have always picked a drawing activity. That doesn't mean I don't have to learn about math or how to do math skills, but if you're my teacher and we are trying to build a relationship and initially get my buy-in with the routine, starting with a math concept is probably not going to have the same punch for me as a student as picking something that I like to do. Right? So starting with things that are motivating to the student, especially if your student is new to using routines. Then thinking about things that are typically performed or enjoyed by the family and siblings. What better way to help our students learn language and learn how to participate more in family things than if we can also tie those in at school, picking a skill that the student needs to be able to better interact with their family and their siblings. Then we can use routines to expand current communication topics. Maybe again, there's some vocabulary that we want to work on in the classroom or with the speech language pathologist or the DHH is hoping to focus on. If we can build that language into a routine, then we've got that repetition and we're ensuring that practice. Then we can also build routines around things that are frequently and consistently performed. So that might be things like toileting, eating, dressing, and I do want to pause here and mention, I know that toileting is a skill that is really beneficial when we're trying to teach it, if we can set it up and we can use routines but toileting is often not a skill that is very preferred by our students. Because bathrooms can be scary. They can be loud. It can be hard to understand what it is I'm supposed to do in the bathroom. So maybe I don't really like to go in there to begin with, then I don't understand why. So routines are great for those skills that our students have to learn that maybe are less preferred. Just keeping in mind that maybe that's not where we want to start if we're just learning or just introducing routines. Then lastly, we want to make sure that we keep the routine simple initially. That doesn't mean that we don't want to create routines where we can build in steps and make them more complex, but when we're first trying to teach the routine, we want to keep it simple. Then as the next bullet says, we do want it to be flexible, though, so as the student does start to gain skills and understand and demonstrate that they have anticipation about this routine we can update and change it because we don't want to be bored as a teacher and we don't want our students to be bored. There is a point when repeating the same thing over and over, that can also become detrimental. So when the student is ready, we will talk about how we know in just a few slides, then it is okay to go ahead and start updating and changing it. Before we talk a little more about how to create routines, we talk a lot in the project, about having instruction that is meaningful and functional. So I just want to spend a moment and talk a little bit about those two words and how they can apply to routines. When we think about a routine that is meaningful for our student, some things we might want to keep in mind is what does this topic mean. Are we teaching a topic, are we making a routine around a subject that has meaning to the student. If it's maybe a skill that they're not ready for yet, maybe again, that's not where we want to start. Does the student have access to this skill. Do they have access to this routine. Again, we want to make sure that we're working on and targeting tasks that are meaningful and fun for the student. We're not starting with something that maybe doesn't have a whole lot of meaning for them. Then does this lesson make sense for a tactile learner. Sometimes we have a routine and we had it all set up and it's not that the topic isn't meaningful, but it's maybe that the way the routine is being presented just isn't the most accessible and doesn't make sense for our learner, especially if they're a tactile learner. So it might be that we need to be thinking as a team about ways that we can better organize the routine, right, the routine itself is not the problem, but maybe it's the way that it's organized. Then we want to think about functionality. So think back to one of the first bullets that Linda Hagood mentioned, that this is something the family and siblings do. Obviously that's going to have a lot of function in the student's life if it's something the family does, for sure. Is it something they are going to talk about? This is something that's happening in the home, 1,000%. People talk bit all the time. about it all the time. Is this something that will come up regularly for the students. When we think about topics we want to make routines for, keep in mind if it's meaningful and functional can also help you and your team decide if this is where we want to start for a routine. So having said that, before we go any further, let's stop. Let's collaborate together and let's listen I know we have a lot of people in this session that have a lot of experience. Just popcorn out, throw some things in the Chat. What are some ideas as we're talking or things that you know you have used in the past, what are some ideas or topics of routines that could be meaningful or functional or exciting for a student you have now or maybe a student you had in the past? I'm going to get a drink of water while y'all type it in. Melissa says a hair styling routine. She loves having her hair brushed. I love that. Foot bath routine, for sure. A friend who liked to play in the water so we gave her a dishes routine. Oh, plant watering and feeding a pet. That's a huge one. I had a friend with the brushing, I had a student who loved nails and she was kind of afraid to have her nails trimmed, but we did a whole like filing and painting of the nails and she really enjoyed that. Paper shredding routine. Yes. When I was a life skills teacher, my kiddos would fight over who got to be the paper shredder for the week. Paper shredding is a good one. Those machines, the vibration, oh, so many things with the paper shredding. Okay. I'm going to move to the next slide. Snack making. Yes. Especially if you have a friend who is very highly food-motivated, making food can be a great place to start because if you love food, gives you something good to talk about. Oh, tactile board with items during bath and cleaning time. Yeah. Hillary says delivering mail from the office. Oh, and yeah, they like to socialize and go around school. Washing hands. PE prep. Yeah. Yeah. There's a surprising amount of times we might need to change clothes at school which can seem maybe strange for a student, especially if they are deaf-blind so yeah, the dressing and why we dress, why we are changing clothes. A lot of things can go into that. Okay. Keep them coming if you have ideas. I'm going to close this little Chat box and go ahead to the next one. So we are going to spend just a little time now talking a little bit more about designing routines. In Hagood's book, she talks about how you can think of them in three stages. On our website, we talk about them in levels. It's the same difference. But essentially, we want routines to be flexible and dynamic but then we have to keep in mind that they need to be safe and predictable for our student to know to engage in and learn. So all that to say, we don't want it to be boring but we also like can't skip steps. If we start off with a routine that's too complex, it's going to be too hard for the student. So stage one is introducing the routine. The main thing to keep in mind for that, then,s is we want there to be very clear beginning and ending steps. Why? If I just randomly start an activity and you don't know and you don't really understand the purpose, you don't know what you're supposed to be watching. Like what am I supposed to be paying attention to, what part of this is important for me. And we need to know when it's over. So beginning and ending steps being clear is a huge one. Initially, again, we want it to be simple and predictable. Remember, we're trying to move things from working memory to the more long-term memory so we don't want seven steps. That's too much to try to hold on to when we're just learning the skill. We want the student to have multiple opportunities to respond. If I'm doing it and I don't have ways built in for the student to respond, are they really able to understand that we are supposed to do this and eventually, they are supposed to do this? So we want to make sure that this isn't just the teacher show and that we are giving the student a way to respond and interact. Then obviously, always, we want to acknowledge if there's any communicative intent on the part of the student. It's okay, especially again if the student is new to routines, if the routine is just focused on relation-building, relationship-building, and creating joint attention, nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with the routine being interactive and fun and just some play so the student can learn to trust you. Lastly, we want to make sure that again, we are keeping certain features consistent so that the student understands this is routine and this is what we do and why. Then what you are going to probably find is as you keep doing the routine, initially we want them to be able to observe us. That might look like hand under hand but as the student becomes more aware and more familiar, we are going to start to see them show us some signs that maybe they are ready to participate more, that they are anticipating more. They might show that by starting to do kind of the next step or reaching for the next item. They might start to have more vocalizations or some movements that let us know oh, yes, understand, I'm excited. Maybe the child isn't really able initially to stay focused and with you for the whole routine but when they become disinterested, they are able to come back. That's a huge step. That's a good sign. Then if they're starting to maybe participate like I said and show awareness that they know what's going to happen next, then we know hey, the student might be ready for stage two. Now, before we talk about stage two, though, I want to spend just a little bit more time in stage one with the argument well, maybe my student's not ready. So if you feel like your student is not ready for routines, there are a couple things you can do. You can continue to do activities with them in a routine manner, especially things that are like daily living activities or preferred activities for them that happen frequently or across the course of their day. You can use the time to develop trust and relationship. You can do things that are fun, kind of those interactive activities like we talked about before. But I want to show you this video. Then we will talk just a little bit more. Before I press Play, there's two boys, they are sitting at a table, and the little boy on the right in a blue shirt, he is trying to engage the little boy on the left with the red shirt. So they're both, you're going to hear they're hitting the table. 

>>Kaycee: He likes it! 

>>Sarah: The little boy says he likes it. They're smiling. Now they're taking turns rubbing the table. Scratching the table. Now hitting it. Both little boys are smiling. So let me know, tell me in the Chat, are these boys having fun? Is this an interaction that could be shaped into a turn-taking routine? I'm see yes, yes, yes, yes. I'm going to keep asking questions. Y'all keep throwing it in the Chat. Could there be a clear beginning and end to this routine? Is this simple and predictable with multiple opportunities for both boys to respond? Are we having opportunities for one partner to maybe acknowledge the other partner's communicative intent? Throw in the Chat to me, you guys are saying yes. Is there a language that we can maybe pair with this interaction if we made it into a routine? Any ideas on what kind of language you would maybe throw in there, a word or two or sign or two? I got Your turn and My turn, for sure. Fast and Slow. Andrea says maybe a song. Yeah. You could do it along to a song. You could throw in some textures. Yeah. Table's scratchy or smooth. Do you guys think this is an experience that those boys would want to talk about again and repeat? I hear Loud and Soft, that's another good one, too. Do you think it's an experience that -- yes. 100%. So all of this to say, right, I want you to remember that just because a student isn't ready to do like an entire routine by themselves, whole steps of a routine, maybe one or two steps of a routine, that doesn't mean that they aren't ready for or can't participate in any routines. It just maybe means that we need to adjust the expectation of the student or maybe the purpose of the routine that we're using. I would argue that we can use routines with a lot of our kids. So if we're hearing they're not ready or you're thinking they're not ready, maybe they're just not ready for that routine but maybe we can adjust it. Right? Okay. I'm going to keep moving. Stage two, then, is where we can start to infuse in some more communication. So we have been doing the routine, kiddos demonstrating, they're anticipating, they're understanding. Now is when we can start to expand it. Maybe now we are ready to teach a new skill. Maybe we want to add a step. Maybe we want to include choice-making. Maybe we're doing a real simple hygiene routine with brushing hair and brushing teeth and now we want to say do you want the electric toothbrush or do you want the regular toothbrush. We're adding something in. Now we're going to give the student a chance to not only respond but maybe they're ready to initiate. Now maybe we want to use our calendar conversation to not just prepare them about what's going to happen, but to do some planning or some revisiting. And maybe maybe we are ready to start to develop their symbolic understanding a little more by increasing the form level that we're using with them. So maybe they've showed us they know what a toothbrush is so now we want to pair it with a picture or a partial object. We know they know so now's the time to kind of expand that level, their form level. The other part of level two, also, is where we can start to share the work. So again, we see that the student is starting to participate more, they're anticipating, so now might be where we're able to let them do a little bit more of the routine. Help us out a little more. And maybe they're able to do a whole step independently. This is also a place where we can start modeling and teaching that concept of asking for help. Maybe there's a part of the routine where they need to pour and we know they are not independently able to pour and we can help but they can start to model that, oh, you need help and then we can help with the pouring. I have on the screen, on the right-hand side is a picture of an example of a routine. This is actually from the routines toolkit. We will get there in just a minute. I want to just point out real fast that middle column, which talks about scaffolding steps. It's really important because it's at this stage in routines where the student might be a little hit-or-miss on what they're independent on, and that's okay. But if we have documented how we're going to support them, then that ensures that when the kiddo's having a rough day and maybe they're not quite ready to share the work, everybody who does this routine with the student knows how to support them and make sure they are able to come along and keep being successful with the routine. Okay. Then we are going to talk real fast about stage three. This is kind of that final stage where we're starting to really expand or modify that routine. This is maybe where we can work in more peer interactions. Maybe it's no longer an adult that's doing the routine. Adults are really good partners because we know what they're trying to say, we are maybe a little more reliable, a peer would have all those skills. Maybe now they're ready to do this routine with a peer, with a buddy. Again, maybe now we are going to add some more steps or some more complexity. Maybe now we change the student's role. So perhaps instead of having the routine set up where it talks about being more loosely structured, now maybe the student is ready for all of the items to be in a basket and they're just going to take the items out and complete the routine. Then we can also really start to increase the length or the complexity of the calendar conversations. Okay. That's stage three. I want to talk about a few more things, then I will show you guys the toolkit. So we have designed our routine, now I just have a couple questions that we get asked a lot about. These are all in the toolkit so when we get to the toolkit I will show you where you can find more information about each of these questions. Once I have designed my routine, how do I implement it? A couple things to keep in mind is when am I going to implement a new routine. That goes all the way back to what we started with. We want to make sure that we're implementing routines with preferred activities and with preferred people and places. If we really hate going to PE class, that's probably not the place to introduce a new routine and a new skill, because we all know when our stress level's up we're not at a place for learning. Any time we are going to implement a new routine, we want to make sure we are doing it during preferred activities and people and places. One other thing to keep in mind, too, is some students might only need a routine to initially learn a skill but some students might always need a schedule that is just multiple routines across the day. And that's okay. How do I introduce the routine? We want to make sure the student is able to observe you. That might look like hand under hand. I know that I'm preaching to the choir but I do want to remind we never, ever want to force or manipulate a student's hands. So the student needs to observe you but that's going to be hand under hand and not us manipulating their hands to show them. And we want to be very consistent, you guys mentioned consistency early on in the Chat, in both the language that we use and the steps that we use. If every time we come to use the routine, we do it a slightly different way or we use slightly different order, the student isn't going to be able to learn to anticipate. So we want to make sure especially again, when it's new, that we're very consistent. Then this is a big one. Where do we set up the routines. So if we have a designated place for the student to complete certain routines, this is going to help them with anticipation and predictability. But it also can help expand your student's conceptual understanding of their environment. So for example, it would make a lot of sense for certain routines to happen in the kitchen. Right? Because what are things we do in the kitchen? We make snacks, we wash dishes. So if a kiddo has a routine where they're going to sort silverware, doing it over at their desk might not make the most sense because where do we find silverware? We find it in the kitchen. Then likewise, if we're going to do a hygiene routine, we are going to want to do that in the bathroom because that helps them understand that we go into the bathroom for multiple reasons besides just utilizing the toilet. So thinking about where that routine makes sense. Then also, when we store items for specific routines in a consistent area, it helps the student know where to find it when they're ready but it also helps staff. Staff isn't scrambling around trying to find the items that the student needs for that time of day. Everybody knows where it is. Then lastly, how do I talk about the routine? This is a huge one. We saw in stage three about how important, even in stage two, that we're starting to expand that calendar conversation. We don't want to just do the routine and have it be over. It's very important that we're talking about the routine. Whole point is that we want to build language, right? So we want to practice that language before and after the routine as well to help build that concept. Then also, I just want to give a shout-out to Robbie, who wrote the book on calendars. One thing she has been talking about lately as we look at updating the calendars book, it's really important that we don't forget that calendar conversations are meant to help the student build a narrative about what just happened. When we have that calendar conversation, that's where we're able to help the student remember and build a narrative about routines. So that's where we can practice the language on the screen, we have that third column that talks about phrasing to use, like schedule and bathroom and diaper. But that conversation piece then, too, is where we can also talk about what happened. Maybe I dropped my toothbrush during the hygiene routine. So when we talk about toothbrush, we can also talk about oops, yeah, we dropped it and it was dirty, so we can remember and revisit and build in other language. Okay. I'm going to show you the toolkit next. It's the part we have all been waiting for. We are all very excited. But before I go on, does anybody have any tips or tricks that they want to throw in the Chat that they feel like I missed or are there any crazy questions? Hillary mentioned too, that we want to make sure they're at a stage where they are ready to share the work. That's true. That's why it's really important that we don't skip steps. If we expect them to share the work when they're not ready, it will not be successful. A routine could be something you already do but you can invite the student to join you, for example, opening and closing the doors. Yes. 1,000%, Hex. A routine doesn't have to be something you're creating, like hanging up the backpack. Maybe your student doesn't get the opportunity, so inviting him to do those things that are already routinely happening that maybe they don't participate in yet. Okay. I'm going to show you guys the toolkit but it probably won't take up the rest of the time that we have, so if you have more ideas, keep putting them in or if you have questions, and we will circle back here in just a minute after I show you the toolkit. I hear about an experience book about the routine, especially, yes, 1,000%, experience book if it's preferred and then I would argue, Melissa, even if it's not preferred. Again, toileting, if you have to set up a routine and the student's scared, having that experience book so we can talk about it before could be helpful. 1,000%. I love that. Okay. We will come back to the Chat in just a minute. I want to show you guys the toolkit. Before I do, I just want to tell you real briefly how this got started. So we get asked about routines a lot. We talk about routines a lot. Because we all understand that they are important and we all know what they are. But kind of like I mentioned before, sometimes we know that we need a routine for a student but maybe we get stuck in creating it or maybe we made a routine and it epically failed, I have done that a lot, and you think back what happened, how could I have done this differently. So we wanted to come up with a routine where, I'm sorry, we wanted to come up with a resource where we could kind of compile questions we commonly get asked, the answers we commonly share. We have some example routine sheets, we had some templates for routine sheets. Some of them were accessible, some of them were not. Some people had access to share them. Some people -- anyhow, we wanted to put together a resource for you guys where you could go and find all of the things that we're commonly sharing and find it in one place so you're not scouring the internet to find the things. So the toolkit was born. I'm going to take you through the URL and show it to you in just a minute. Real fast, I want to tell you what's in it so you don't have to watch me scroll the screen. The first thing you guys will see is there's a section called Materials to help you get started. It's a two-parter. The first one is a workbook. It's about 20 pages and it has some guiding questions for how you can create, how you can implement the routines. It's got pictures and examples. A lot of really good information that you could use or maybe you are a pro at creating routines but you're wanting something you can share with your classroom teacher or with a related service provider. So there's the workbook. Then there's also a Likes and dislikes inventory. Remember we talked a lot about starting with something that your student is excited about. So maybe you're not sure or maybe you know one or two things but you're looking for more ideas to create routines around. So this likes and dislikes inventory is a great way to assess things that your student likes and doesn't like, people they like and don't like, sounds they like and don't like, so that you can expand that idea of things that might be helpful to create routines. Then we have some example routine videos. We have three currently. Doesn't mean there won't be more coming later but we have three. They are fully accessible. They have audio description, they have closed captioning, and there are three different students, real students from real classrooms. One little boy, the bottom picture, you see him putting the bowl in the sink. His routine is, like Hex was talking about, a task that happens every day that he needs to be more part of. We have a friend learning to make ice cream and a friend who is doing breakfast prep, all on his own using tactile symbols. Variety of routine levels. Then we have examples of if you wanted to document those routines, what they might look like in routine sheets as well as just kind of some information that you can kind of think about for like implementation considerations if you were setting up a similar routine with your student. Here's a good one. We also have three sample routines for you guys. They are all filled out and they are three different kinds of routines set up in different -- the routine sheets are set up in different ways. We also have three fillable PDF customizable routine sheets for you guys. Again, each one set up a little bit differently. You can take them and use those or maybe they just might spark some ideas for y'all about how you want to set up your own routine sheets. Then the last bit is we wanted to tie the routines to curriculum standards and objectives. So there's a little blurb that gives some ideas of how you could tie routines and routine learning to curriculum standards as well as objectives that you might use to create lesson plans or even goals for IEPs. The last bit is we did also tie the link to the National Center for Deafblindness to their routines module if you are familiar with Open Hands Open Access modules. We also linked that in. It's right there so you can click on it and you don't have to go look for it. I see things coming in the Chat and I'm excite /TOD see it. Before we go to that, I'm just going to show you real fast what it looks like. So the link is in your handout. You may have already clicked on it and opened it and looked at it. But if you for some reason lose the link and need to know how to find it, go to our website, then you click on Instructional Strategies. Click on Routines. Then you will find us, Routines Toolkit. I'm going to open it up real fast and show you. Except I have my thing set up. I have to scroll. Sorry, guys. I apologize. It's so huge. I'm going to mess it up if I try to fix it. There's the overview of what routines are. Then here are all the things that I told you about. The workbook, the likes and dislikes inventory, our videos. If you scroll a little bit more, the links to your resources and to the routine sheets in the template. At the very bottom are the standards. I apologize if you're not from Texas and you don't use TEKs but good information that can help you get started in thinking about your own state standards. Then here are some objectives. Okay. I know it's almost time for Casey. to do her bit. I'm going to go back -- oh, no! Okay. I have messed it up. This always happens. Okay. One moment, guys. One moment. There we go. Does anybody have any other questions? I'm going to go to the Chat. Any questions, any comments, any thoughts? I say I'm going to go to the Chat but the Chat won't open. Here we go. Okay. Let's see. You have experience books, oh, no, somebody pointed out about you can send them home to the family, yes. When you make your routine sheets, 1,000% sharing them with the family, getting the family's feedback. They may already have a routine that's similar so helping them structure it, 1,000% we want to incorporate the family. Let's see. Oh, somebody asked where we can find it. And the handout was re-sent. I don't see any questions. Does anybody have any questions or last-minute thoughts before the closing code? I will put up my E-mail address. As you guys are looking in the toolkit, if you find something that you feel like is missing, or that you want more information on, please go ahead and E-mail us and let us know. It lives on our website. Obviously we can update and we can add to, so if you have questions or thoughts or things that you're wanting to know more about, please shoot us an E-mail. Oh, and one other plug. We are currently working on a toileting and hygiene part to go along with this so there will be more coming. So keep your eyes out for that. I know toileting can be a skill that's complicated for our friends, so we'll have more coming on that specifically as well. Keep your eyes peeled for that. Okay. I think I finished a few minutes early. Sorry. I was looking at the wrong timer. 

>>Kaycee: You're good. I was reading in the Chat. Ann said there's an interesting conversation about what's boring and what's not boring. Routines are life skills and super necessary to learn and to do. Hex shared she's borrowing her kid's school recycling routine to do a home recycling routine. Love that. That will probably help him really generalize a lot of information, too. Alex said this is so great to share with teams. It seems very user-friendly for our team members who may only have one student and not do this very often. Perfect. 

>>Sarah: Okay. Since we do have a few minutes, hold on, I'm going to go back. I was looking at the timer and I was panicked. I know y'all have the link and can look at it and peruse but I'm going to come back real fast and just show you guys, within the workbook, like I said, we have -- I'm sorry. Hold on, guys. I know it's sharing ugly. My apologies. One moment. Close this. Scootch this up. So -- oh, gosh. Sorry. I closed that, too. If y'all don't already know, you're learning now, technology is not my Forte. So sorry. So within it, we do have some information, again, from Hagood's book about some things that make a quality routine. I'm going to scroll. We have some guiding questions so thinking about things that happen multiple times during the day but that meaningful and functional piece, it's happening multiple times, is it something that we want to create into a routine. If so, how could we do that. We also have a section to help you when it's time to pick what routine or sorry, what object you want to represent the routine. That can be a hard one, too. Like it's math time, so what do we use in math? Calculators, rulers. But if the kiddo's not using a calculator or ruler, maybe that's not the best object to use to let them know that it's math time. So some questions to help you think through that. Then we also have some questions again, about the choosing routines. We have some thoughts on how you can set up routines and we have, that's where we have our pictures with some real-life examples. We know it can be hard, like Alex was saying, if you have a classroom teacher who has never had a student who needs to use routines. So having some pictures and having some videos of real students doing real routines can really help teachers kind of wrap their brain around like oh, yeah, totally can do this for my student and probably there's other kiddos in that classroom, especially if it's a life skills classroom, who maybe also need to use routines. Helping them to see how we don't have to set this up for just one student. Other students might benefit from that as well. But we hope the workbook has a lot of really good examples of information for you guys to help you see one-step routines, multi-step routines, tactile symbols versus real objects. So lots of really great information as it pertains to setting up routines with your students. Somebody mentioned before about the experience book. Right here, here you go. It's a routine where the kiddo's making coffee and made a whole little book that goes through what the steps are so you can read about before but then that's another way that the student can independently access that routine and work through it. So lots of really great information in the toolkit as a whole but especially within that workbook. Hope you guys will check it out and see what you guys think. 

>>Kaycee: Awesome. Thanks so much, Sarah. Do you want to show them what the likes and dislikes inventory looks like real quick? 

>>Sarah: Yes. So the likes and dislikes inventory, it's actually a two-parter. It's not wanting to scroll. The first page is a filled-out one for you guys. It's a sample one. This is based off of one that's been floating around for a while. Kate Moss actually created it and we just updated it. So we pulled some information from the Washington State project. They have a likes and dislikes inventory that we really liked and we kind of merged them together. So this is the sample one. Then it tells you when the sample one is over, but it's fillable. It's a PDF but it is fillable for you guys. There's a place where you can really look at things that your students like and dislike but it goes beyond oh, they like iPads or they like lights, what kind of things do they like to taste, what kind of things do they like to smell. What kind of things do they like to touch. And do they not like to taste and touch. Is there movement that they like. If they have some vision, sights or if they have hearing, their sounds. It helps you dig into the nitty-gritty on what kind of things your students like and dislike. Back in the day we used to do every movement counts eval and this is similar to that where it really looks at all of the things and gives you a place to document it. Even self-soothing behaviors. There could be things the student is doing because it gives them a certain feedback that they're looking for, so maybe that's a way that we can create a routine, and do it with them and build off of that. Then there's just some summary information at the bottom. Then this part is probably my favorite. What are possible topics for communication. What routines can we build around this, what units, what themes, to help you and your team think about now that we have this information, how can we really use it to design our programming. 

>>Kaycee: Awesome. Thank you so much for sharing all of this today. I know so many people are going to be using this toolkit. 

>>Sarah: We hope so. Hope y'all like it.