In this instructional video, Jen – a former K‑12 self‑contained autism teacher now with The Autism Helper – addresses the common concern that Level 0.5 of the Leveled Daily Curriculum is too advanced for foundational learners. She explains that the real barrier is not the academic content but the missing behavioral and functional skills such as joint attention, turn‑taking, following multi‑step directions, and basic fine‑motor actions. Jen outlines a step‑by‑step approach: (1) start with intensive one‑to‑one instruction to teach expectations and provide immediate reinforcement; (2) use highly hands‑on, scaffolded adaptations (pointing, hand‑under‑hand, dabber markers, highlighted tracing) to bridge the gap between the learner’s current abilities and the curriculum tasks; (3) leverage Level 0.5’s dual measurement system to assess both receptive and expressive vocabulary, accepting any communication mode (voice, AAC, sign); (4) gradually introduce peers, using rapid, clear directions and visual turn‑taking cues, while providing para‑ or SLP support that can be faded over time; (5) honor break requests with visual break cards. Throughout, Jen emphasizes reframing Level 0.5 as a “learning‑to‑learn” framework that teaches expectations alongside academics, rather than viewing the curriculum as too high. The video provides concrete examples of modifying worksheets (point‑instead‑of‑circle, highlighter‑guided tracing) and suggests resources such as extension activities, anchor charts, and break visuals available through the curriculum store.
Chapters
Let's talk about foundational learners. I am Jen and I am a former K-12 self-contained autism teacher, and now in my role here at The Autism Helper, one of the things that I love is that I get to talk to hundreds of teachers and parents just like yourselves who are working on helping students learn. I love that so much, and I get to bring so much of what I was doing in the classroom into practice and help coach you guys and That has been so fun for me. One of the questions that I'm asked often is what to do when level 0.5 is too high for my learners. So let's dig into that just a little bit, shall we? So the thing about using curriculum when you've only been doing direct instruction or one-to-one instruction, or your learner has never been to school before— let's say it's an early childhood environment— We have to think about context first, right? Our learners have actually never been in school. They don't know what's expected of them. They don't know how to attend. They don't know how to behave. They don't know how to listen. They don't know how to follow directions. They don't know how to use a pencil. They don't have independent skills. They don't have vocabulary. It's all up to us, and that seems overwhelming. So now with that context and that view, that lens, if you will, I want you to think about being asked to sit and attend at a table, hold a writing utensil, and complete a piece of paper. It's not that you can't do it, it's that you're missing the skills to help you be able to do it. There's a gap. We need to teach the gap, right? So here's the deal. If you are teaching the behavioral piece in addition to the academic piece, it's gonna be really hard. I'm not saying you can't do it. I'm just saying simply, it's gonna be really, really hard. Now, Level 0.5 is made for foundational, very basic, simple, simple learners. But if you jump into it full force and you're running a small group or a whole group, and you are asking learners to sit attend, have joint attention, wait their turn, not get out of their seats, follow multiple-step directions, listen and attend to you the entire time, it's likely going to fail. Your lesson will bomb, right? It just will. If you are a homeschool parent and you are even trying to implement curriculum for the first time and you're doing something different with one student and you've got 2 others working independently, chances are it's gonna be hard too, right? Because everybody wants your attention all at once. So the thing is, is that we have to teach expectations and we have to teach the behavior component. So when we go into these lessons with the mindset of I need to be coaching my student and teaching my student on how to have joint attention, I need to teach them how to ask for a break. I need to teach them how to be able to complete or draw a circle around something, identify with their finger maybe, or modify those skills just a little bit to step into the curriculum, you are going to be much more successful. So one of the things that I tell teachers is, when you get going and you get started, make it as hands-on as possible. Students love hands-on activities. We as teachers love hands-on activities too. If you are a Curriculum Access user, dig into your extension activities. That list is filled with hands-on activities and ideas for you to use that's going to reinforce those skills. Also, Level 0.5 is pretty cool because it measures things in two different ways. It can measure things, especially the language arts curriculum. Let's just talk about that one for a minute. It measures receptive vocabulary or expressive vocabulary. So I can hold up the anchor chart and say to the student, "Hey, what's this? What's this? What's this?" That is expressive, right? I'm asking the student to tell me what that item is. Now if the student has an AAC, of course they can use it. If they are a sign language user, of course they can use it. That would be expressive identification. They are telling me, just not with their voice. They're using something as their voice, and that is wonderful. We take that absolutely. So make that, make that a rule in your classroom that you'll accept any form of communication for them to be able to tell you. Now, let's talk about receptive ID. If I need a student to be able to tell me and they're not yet using AAC, they're not using sign language, they're not able to use their voice yet, or they are waiting and gaining those skills, and you want to measure things receptively, you can say, "Point to the," and students can point. That is receptive identification. So you can measure both ways. So you're already set up for success in that aspect, okay? The other thing is, is we often talk about students not having the fine motor, And we think that that is really what's holding us back. Really, we can simply have students point to identify and then help the student be able to learn how to circle. I want you to reframe your thinking on level 0.5 on these are the skills and, you know, I'm teaching just this core academic content to I'm teaching students to learn how to learn. I am teaching the expectations. I am teaching students how to listen, how to attend, how to follow a group lesson, in addition to all of the academics that you're covering. So it's not that Level 0.5 is too high, it's just not. You're not going to find a curriculum, honestly, that is lower or going to meet your students' needs, especially if they were doing direct one-to-one instruction, ABLES, VB-MAPP, something like that prior. The fact is, is that our curriculum follows that developmental sequence. That is outlined in those direct instruction programs. So if they are successful there, they will be successful in our curriculum, but we have to teach the expectation of what we want in a lesson. And my guess is once the behavior is gone, you're— and your student knows how to do things like circle, how to do things like point, how to do things like engage with you to tell us expressively or receptively what we're asking for, they're gonna be really successful in that. So here's a couple tips. First, always start one-to-one. Just start one-to-one. Have the student come one-to-one so you can have direct attention. That way you can quickly give redirection, some coaching, and reinforcement to help that student be able to follow and complete the task that you're asking. So start one-to-one. Now this is a short amount of time. I don't want you to be one-to-one for weeks on end, um, not unless that's the only student on that level of the curriculum. But I want you to start one-to-one, okay? That way all the attention's there, all the reinforcement is there. You are being the chocolate chip cookie. Now if you don't know what I'm talking about, definitely check out Sasha's videos on being the chocolate chip cookie. What we mean here is that you are being so reinforcing. You are giving them all of the attention. You are giving them everything they need. If they want to escape, you are letting them escape because they've completed their test. Oh my gosh, you finished everything! You get to go, go play, bye! So all of that is being built into what you are doing and your expectations here at the table. Then I want you to take the worksheets. Now, if I just hand a learner this worksheet, it's gonna be swiped off the table. There is absolutely no way. For us, we look at this and we're like, wow, this is very well visually divided. It is incredibly well visually divided. However, for our students who have never done anything paper pencil before, they don't even know what this is. We're gonna have to teach the scale. So I went ahead and pulled level 0.5 language arts so I could show you. And this one just says circle the match. Okay, so maybe to start, instead of circling the match, I'm going to have the student point to the match. What I'm measuring here is, can the student match? I'm not measuring, can the student circle? I'm measuring, can the student match? So modify it if you need to, make that adaptation. Have the student point to the apple. Great, they pointed to the apple. Now I'm going to help them or have them help me circle. I'm gonna model it. I'm gonna have the student do hand under hand. So my hand is underneath, their hand is on top, and they're helping me circle. I'm gonna have this student attempt to circle, or my favorite with little kids who don't yet have tripod grip, use a Dabber marker. Can you put a Dabber marker there? That is a great skill after we go from pointing. And even if a student can't isolate their index finger, finger, chances are they'll be able to show you. Now, if they can't match here, you can always pull out your anchor charts. You can pull out your anchor charts and have them do the same exact activity, but with really, really big pictures. You can also cut up those anchor charts and have them match that way. There's a million different ways in the curriculum that you can measure matching. The other one is the same thing, it's, it's matching the giraffe. Down below, we're going to trace lines. This is fantastic. We're gonna have students trace. Now if I just give them this, that might be really, really hard. So I could grab a highlighter and go all the way across and then help students know exactly where they're supposed to trace. So if I highlight in orange, I can say, "Hey, follow the orange line. Let's trace." And I can even give them the same prompt up here. I could find the match. I could circle the match in orange. Ooh, you circle. You do what I did. Now they've got some independence, I'm gonna fade that out. This is all about teaching the expectation as well as the skill. Down below, I've got that receptive and expressive identification that we were talking about. Remember, our goal here is not just to build vocabulary and not just to be able to build that receptive and expressive identification and language, it's to build independence. Our kids need to know the expectations when they come to a small group. So after you start one-on-one, after you've made some of these accommodations to help your students learn, I want you to slowly start adding in other peers. Now I want you to give really fast directions to each one so the joint attention is really, really quick. They're learning to share. They're learning to share that attention. And so if Student A is going, Student B should be watching, right? That's a hard skill to learn. Slowly add in those peers, and if you have the resources, add support with that as well. So have a para come so they can then provide support to help that child wait. Use the waiting visuals that we have so students can know, "Ooh, your turn to wait. You are waiting." The other student, "You are going. It's your turn." Your turn, my turn, a million different things that you can model on AACs as well. And then fade that para or that adult support out. This is a great thing to do also with your SLP. Bring your SLP in and have them help you run a small group. The language skills are so good here. And then also we wanna honor students' language. If they tell us that they need a break, we need to honor that, you know? And so follow those procedures that you've got set up in your classroom and look at the, like giving a break, visuals that we have in our store. They're phenomenal, they really are, and they help students be able to say, whoa, whoa, whoa, I've had enough, I need a minute, and then I can come back to this task. Remember, our goal here is teaching students. We're learning how to learn, we're learning how to sit in a chair, we're learning how to sit at the table, we're learning how to hold a pencil. All of these things are going to help make your students successful with Level 0.5 curriculum.
