Did you know that the brain has a powerful need to finish what it starts?   When it can't finish something, your brain makes a mental sticky note to finish it. Thoughts about what we could not finish lingers in the back of our minds as a way to remind us that something still needs to be completed.   Although this natural mechanism exists to help us remember our “to do” list, it can also overwhelm us when that list is unending.  (James and Kendell, 1997).   

 Do you ever feel like the list of things you need to do to support your DHH child/student is unending?  This is because you can never mentally “check off” that you have completed the task of meeting their needs.  I know we are not supposed to use words like “always” or “never.”  But in this case, the situation really is NEVER.  As soon as you check something off your list, something new gets added.  It's...

When I started as an itinerant teacher my schedule was awful.  I felt scattered all the time.  I was literally driving in circles every week with more windshield time than time with my students.  I had students I would drive more than an hour to see, so that I could spend 30 minutes with them.   Is your schedule crazy like this?

I was frustrated.  I felt unorganized and unbalanced.  

I finally recognized that my schedule was controlling me.  I needed to turn things around so that I controlled it.  

Having domain over my schedule and having ongoing, easily accessible, materials at my fingertips for all students lightened my load and completely changed how I delivered services - and increased the impact I had.  

Let me give you the 5 steps I took, and you can take, to control of your schedule.

5 STEPS TO TAKE DOMAIN OF YOUR SCHEDULE:

1. Group kids in a similar area on the same day 
2. ...

What is an itinerant teacher?  That word, I-TIN-ER-ANT,  it’s hard to say let alone explain what it is.  

In a nutshell, an ITINERANT TEACHER is a traveling teacher.  You will most often see this type of teacher for students who have hearing loss or vision loss.  For the purpose of this post, we’re going to focus on Itinerant Teachers of the Deaf or Hard of Hearing.  We’ll discuss where this role came from and how it differs from a Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing who is NOT itinerant.

Where did the Itinerant Teacher come from?

These days, the majority of Teachers of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing are itinerant teachers.  It didn’t used to be that way.  This is actually a fairly new concept in deaf education.  

The delivery of services from a Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing have been impacted by a number of things, including evolving legislation, the Newborn Hearing Screening, Early...