Plan and Predictability

Overview

This first lesson establishes a calm, individualized learning routine for the “Connected Learning and Independence” unit. The teacher gathers low-pressure baseline information while maintaining familiar alphabet and number skills and introducing small, measurable opportunities for choice, communication, shared play, and independence.

Learning intentions

Students will be able to:

• Make or indicate choices using speech, gestures, visuals, or AAC.
• Follow a predictable two-step routine with visual support.
• Show what they know about familiar letters, sounds, numbers, and counting.
• Use a functional communication form to request, protest, ask for help, take a break, or comment.
• Join an adult-supported functional play activity.

Success criteria

• I can choose between two activities or materials.
• I can follow “first, then” with help when needed.
• I can show what I know by pointing, matching, selecting, moving, or saying.
• I can communicate request, no, help, break, or a comment in a way that works for me.
• I can play or work with an adult for a short time.

Curriculum links

• Foundational reading: demonstrate awareness of spoken words, syllables, and beginning and ending sounds through accessible matching and sound activities.
• Writing and language conventions: use familiar letters, names, labels, symbols, or AAC selections to communicate.
• Number and Operations in Base Ten: count, read, write, and represent numbers within 120 using concrete materials.
• Speaking and listening: add drawings, symbols, or visual displays to clarify ideas and communication.
• Informational reading: participate in supported reading and identify or retell a key idea from a short visual text.

Lesson structure (300 minutes)

1. 0–30 min · Arrival, schedule, and baseline. Welcome the student without requiring eye contact or speech, then review the visual timetable cards and build a five-hour picture schedule with “now,” “next,” and “finished” spaces. Use the predictable routine and choice slides to introduce the first-then board, choice board, break card, and transition song. Students place or indicate the first activity, complete a morning binder routine, and independently show baseline responses when possible: name or letter matching, number identification, requesting, rejecting, and transitioning. Record the response, prompt level, communication mode, and regulation state without correcting or pressuring.

2. 30–65 min · Playful literacy baseline. Present a small set of familiar letters, name letters, and simple picture objects. Model matching, then invite the student to match 8–10 letters and identify or select beginning sounds in up to five trials; include final-sound awareness only if developmentally appropriate. Students may point, hand over a card, use AAC, select from two choices, or respond through movement. Read a short, accessible informational picture text using the predictable routine and choice slides and ask, “What is this mostly about?” and “Show me one thing you remember.” Accept a drawing, symbol, object, gesture, or spoken response.

3. 65–80 min · Movement and regulation break. Show the next schedule symbol and sing the same short transition song before offering two movement choices, such as animal walks, pushing a wall, dancing, or carrying objects. Students choose, participate at their own level, and practice requesting “more,” “stop,” “help,” or “break” with speech, gesture, visuals, or AAC. Observe whether the student transitions with no prompt, one prompt, or more support.

4. 80–110 min · Concrete math baseline. Use counters, linking cubes, ten-frames, and number cards. Students identify or match familiar numbers, count collections up to 20, and represent a selected number with objects or a written numeral. Compare two concrete sets using more, fewer, or same; accept pointing, moving objects, or AAC. Use the accessible number and counting recording sheet only as a teacher-supported record: the student may mark, place stickers, trace, or dictate rather than write. Record accuracy and prompt level, including any independent counting to 100 or beyond.

5. 110–135 min · Snack, self-help, and communication. Preview the routine with the predictable routine and choice slides, then offer two snack or utensil choices. Students practice requesting, rejecting, asking for help, commenting, and indicating “finished.” Prompt only as needed, waiting several seconds before helping. Support handwashing, opening containers, wiping the space, and putting materials away as a two-step routine: “wash, then snack” or “eat, then clean.”

6. 135–210 min · Centers, lunch, and gross-motor play. Offer short, predictable centers such as letter-and-picture matching, counting and building, sensory bins, books, pretend cooking, or a simple cause-and-effect activity. Use a first-then board for each center and provide a clear finish container. During shared play, model one functional action and invite the student to continue it for up to three minutes; do not require imitation. At lunch, repeat communication and self-help opportunities. During recess or gross-motor play, offer two choices and observe joining, requesting, rejecting, and transitions. Revisit the predictable routine and choice slides at each major transition.

7. 210–300 min · Regulation, functional play, reflection, and pack-up. Provide a 15-minute sensory regulation period based on known preferences, with access to the break card and a quiet space. Follow with 25 minutes of functional play and communication, then 25 minutes for choice, reflection, and pack-up. Students choose a preferred activity, indicate “like,” “not yet,” “again,” or “finished,” and help place schedule cards in a finished area. Review one successful moment using a photo, object, drawing, gesture, or AAC selection. Finish with the predictable transition song and a two-step pack-up routine. Record the day’s communication attempts and share the next-day visual preview.

Resources

• the predictable routine and choice slides
• the accessible number and counting recording sheet
• the visual timetable cards
• Five-hour picture schedule
• First-then board and finished box
• Choice board and break card
• AAC device, communication book, or symbol cards
• Familiar letter cards, picture cards, and books
• Number cards, counters, linking cubes, and ten-frames
• Sensory and functional-play materials

Assessment

• Record baseline performance for letter matching, beginning or ending sounds, number identification, counting, comparing sets, joining play, communication, and transitions.
• During each routine, note the communication form used, independence level, prompt level, duration of engagement, and regulation needs.
• End with a brief teacher-recorded exit check: offer two choices and one two-step routine, then document whether the student chooses and completes the routine independently, with one prompt, or with more support.

Differentiation

• Provide multimodal access: objects, photographs, symbols, gestures, AAC, drawing, movement, and spoken language. Never require eye contact, speech imitation, handwriting, or a particular response mode.
• Use short directions, visual modeling, wait time, repeated routines, and graduated prompts. Honor scripted language and gestalts rather than replacing them.
• For sensory, motor, communication, or attention needs, reduce visual clutter, offer adapted materials, allow movement, and schedule regulation before signs of overload.
• For extension, increase independence rather than difficulty: offer a third choice, extend shared play, count a larger set, or invite the student to help create the next schedule step.