I am frequently asked about what I use in the classroom to keep it running. My students are super unique and there are SO many things I could not live without! For this blog series, I’ll be sharing 7 TANGIBLE items that I could not run my classroom without!
Today I want to share with you something I have been using for years… a hand lap counter! These are designed for counting laps for sports (like PE class or if you’re running around a track at your gym), but they are seriously perfect for data collection!
Most recently, I pulled out my lap counter to get a baseline for how many times my student blurted out. This helped me write his IEP goal, as I cannot just say I want him to “stop blurting out”. Though…. that would be ideal 😉 I held on to the counter ALL day and every single time my kiddo blurted, I pressed the silver lever. At the end of the day, I could mark down how many “blurts” I recorded. After 3 days, I averaged the numbers, and viola!
These are so helpful for behaviors that are SUPER frequent, like a child who grinds his teeth, blurts out, is out of his seat, stims, or the dreaded “hands in the pants”. Another perk? They’re super, super cheap! I suggest purchasing a few in a variety of colors. This way, you can color code them per student so you always know which child’s behavior you’re recording.
Here’s an affiliate link to grab these amazing behavior tools off of Amazon!
Love,
Allie