Top Twelve Tools of a Successful Autism Classroom #11 {Freebie}

Christine Reeve

Christine Reeve, PhD, BCBA-D, has spent more than 30 years in and around special education classrooms — as a teacher, a consultant, and a behavior analyst. She directed autism and ABA graduate programs at Nova Southeastern University for 14 years and has written books on classroom setup, data collection, and independent work systems. She founded Autism Classroom Resources and the Special Educator Academy.

A collage with text Top Twelve Tools of a Successful Autism Classroom #11 above images of classroom activity cards, a matching file folder game, and a students hand matching jelly bean cards.

You can catch the rest of this series here.

We are getting close to the end of our list and today’s tool is file folders. When making this list I was talking with a colleague and we went back and forth about whether these were necessary. However, she made a good point that they were necessary not just for making file folder games and storing data and files, but because they have a myriad of other uses. So, here 3 uses for file folders other than file folder activities….and a free file folder activity.

1. You can use file folders to back visuals when you don’t have cardstock (which didn’t make my essentials list). When you need something more sturdy, you can glue the visuals to the file folder and cut them out before you laminate them to make them more sturdy and durable.

2. If you don’t have #10 on the list, Velcro, to make a schedule, you can use a file folder. I used to have one of these I carried around when I did home visits and training so that parents could make schedules without Velcro and laminating. Take the file folder and position it in portrait–as if you were going to read a book in it. Then, fold the bottom half up to make a pocket. Staple the sides or use packing tape to seal the sides and use staples to close in pockets. Make the pockets about the size of a vertical index card (i.e., 3 inches). Then you can put pictures on index cards and insert them in the pockets. Fold it up and you can carry it with you and you have a schedule without Velcro.

A purple folder with two white rectangular cards placed inside the left pocket, laying open on a flat surface. The copyright info and website autismclassroomnews.com are visible in the bottom right corner.

3. For students working on paper-and-pencil tasks for independent work that don’t require baskets, you can set up their structured work system in a file holder and put 1 task in each file folder. The student then works from the front to the back of the file holder to complete the system.

And now for the freebie. To make getting ready for back to school a bit sweeter, I created this color jelly bean sorting file folder. Click on the picture to download and enjoy!