Spiral We Student Support Journal

Spiral We Student Support Journal

by Karen Arnstein, EdD & Barry Gelston, EdD

The Spiral We Student Support Journal is a practical, teacher-friendly tool designed to help educators understand and support students whose development is complex, uneven, or difficult to interpret in the moment.

Rather than tracking behavior for compliance, the journal supports observation over time. Educators record brief daily observations across six core domains that influence learning and regulation: Focus & Attention, Emotional State, Sensory Management, Communication, Cognitive Processing, and Physical Energy. A simple, student-relative scale allows teachers to notice patterns without labeling or diagnosing.

Designed to take approximately two minutes per day, the journal helps educators see how regulation, context, and strengths interact across time. Weekly and monthly reflection prompts support pattern recognition and professional insight without requiring extensive documentation or additional workload.

Grounded in developmental science and the Spiral Adaptive Lens, the Student Support Journal supports professional judgment by helping educators respond to student behavior with curiosity rather than urgency. It is intended to be used alongside real classroom work, not as a program, intervention, or assessment system.

This journal is appropriate for classroom teachers, gifted and twice-exceptional specialists, special educators, school psychologists, instructional coaches, and other professionals supporting neurodivergent and complex learners.

• Designed for educators working with neurodivergent, gifted, and complex learners
• Focuses on observation and developmental understanding over time
• Six intuitive domains grounded in developmental science
• Requires approximately two minutes per day
• Includes weekly and monthly reflection prompts
• Non-diagnostic, non-prescriptive, and non-compliance-based
• Supports professional judgment and collaborative understanding