Memories......I couldn't remember my password today. Too many passwords are in my brain, I guess. I know I haven't written for a few days, but when you are tired, have IEPs due, and you just can't think, blogs are the last thing one wants to do.
I went to a Reading First workshop today. Some good information so far. However, I realize how very unique my boys with ID and Autism are. Sure, their wires are crossed, but their skills are great in some ways. Take the second grader who loves lists of nouns......I challenge any other second grader to list as many addresses by heart as he can and spelled correctly! He is quite amazing. And sly, too. His assistant was absent one day and those cuss words came trickling back. Boy, is he the smart one! I can get away with anything today with these women. I am trying to turn him onto verbs and adjectives now. Then teach him how to write a sentence on his own. This takes time.
What about that nonverbal boy, 4th grade, who others classify as "plateaued", not interested in pictures? Just yesterday, he was looking at the Foxhound page in Carole Marsh's "Virginia" Coloring book and acting out all the pictures. Maybe he just doesn't like her pics.....
My teaching comes from my memories........the fourth grade teacher, Judy Jurkovic. We wrote a play. We did a puppet show. We created a relief map of California. We had 3 recesses. There were no computers, few movies, no free breakfast or free lunch to get in the way. We went to school and we worked and played.
And who could forget all those snakes who came to visit in third grade? Our children need rich experiences. How can they just muddle through words without pictures in their mind to associate with their reading?
How can teachers who attend a workshop just throw all their recyclables in the trash? Aren't we supposed to be modeling correct behaviors?
It just never gets better. The problem is, I would go to the workshop if they didn't pay me.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Childhood Obesity, good nutrition
Ok. We hear it everday. Children are fatter. We have to figure out why. Or maybe the question is this: we need to listen to what's happening. Our children don't play ( I had 3....that's 1, 2, 3 recesses in elementary school). Our children drink Hawaiian Punch and Coke, filled with high fructose cornsyrup......oh, hfc is safe in small amounts. Yeah, right.....the problem is, it is in everything! That isn't small amounts. We have to get the junk food out of school.....oh, you mean close the school lunch programs, right? Because school lunches for the most part are no longer freshly cooked, they are processed in a factory and just warmed up at school. It is a fact that processed food is full of bad oils, soy products, high fructose, and sugar.
Children don't get home cooking anymore because most people hate to cook. Cutting Home Economics, both parents working, and convenience fast food has almost deleted cooking out of our lives. Give a kid a choice between a Big Mac and a bowl of Vegetable Soup, they will likely pick the first one.
Colas and sweet juice are the drinks of the day. Milk is shelf ready which actually means that it lacks any nutrition and has to have vitamins added. We give children fat-free milk though brains need good whole fats in order to develop properly.
Butter and whole milk have long been forgotten.
And yet, Michelle Obama and others wonder what we can do.......
Maybe a bit of returning to old fashioned ways would be the answer.
Children don't get home cooking anymore because most people hate to cook. Cutting Home Economics, both parents working, and convenience fast food has almost deleted cooking out of our lives. Give a kid a choice between a Big Mac and a bowl of Vegetable Soup, they will likely pick the first one.
Colas and sweet juice are the drinks of the day. Milk is shelf ready which actually means that it lacks any nutrition and has to have vitamins added. We give children fat-free milk though brains need good whole fats in order to develop properly.
Butter and whole milk have long been forgotten.
And yet, Michelle Obama and others wonder what we can do.......
Maybe a bit of returning to old fashioned ways would be the answer.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Playing in the Snow
We were back to school today. Only half of the boys showed up. Four kids is a nice size.We are making winter scene pictures. They look quite nice so far. Then after lunch, we went outside to play in the snow....the only class to do so. We built a snowman and filled sand buckets with snow. Then we came in and, using the snow, and a hot pot, we investigated water as solid, liquid, and gas. They really responded to this science lesson. Now, to figure how to extend this lesson.
I love just thinking about school. But I am tired tonight and will think more tomorrow.
I love just thinking about school. But I am tired tonight and will think more tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Happy Groundhog's Day
Well, my little Groundhog who usually goes to school today didn't get to see his shadow. It was the second day of snow absence we had this week. Tomorrow we are still out. I am getting work done what with progress reports, movies, and psychologicals, it is never a dull moment.
This morning as aI drove down a street that was cleared of snow, I passed by the men in the yellow hats with their big snow clearing machines. I couldn't help think that they must really enjoy their jobs because its immediate result and the power that running such a machine gives a person. Then I wondered, how many of these guys may have played with little replicas of the big machines as children, pushing them around their sand boxes? So many adults find that when we can reach into our past experiences our jobs become so much easier. This is the very reason behind play as a child: to gain experience, learn new things, and discover who we want to be by testing out all the possibilities. A vet may have loved animals and played with stuffed ones as a child. A doctor's favorite toy may have been a toy medical kit. A chef may have loved the cooking center. Construction guys may have delighted in the block areas.
But what will today's children draw upon? Their ability to play a video game? Sure, if they all become computer software technicians. If we take away the toys, we take away their dreams.
This morning as aI drove down a street that was cleared of snow, I passed by the men in the yellow hats with their big snow clearing machines. I couldn't help think that they must really enjoy their jobs because its immediate result and the power that running such a machine gives a person. Then I wondered, how many of these guys may have played with little replicas of the big machines as children, pushing them around their sand boxes? So many adults find that when we can reach into our past experiences our jobs become so much easier. This is the very reason behind play as a child: to gain experience, learn new things, and discover who we want to be by testing out all the possibilities. A vet may have loved animals and played with stuffed ones as a child. A doctor's favorite toy may have been a toy medical kit. A chef may have loved the cooking center. Construction guys may have delighted in the block areas.
But what will today's children draw upon? Their ability to play a video game? Sure, if they all become computer software technicians. If we take away the toys, we take away their dreams.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Dr. Stack
For anybody who is interested in Dr. Stack and how he helps those with facial tics, I recommend giving him a call, even if you are in California or another state. He has many patients who actually come to him from places as far away as Norway! He also might be able to recommend other orthodontists in your area who think in a similar way.
Go to www.tmjstack.com. Check out the videos and call his staff. They are angels!
Go to www.tmjstack.com. Check out the videos and call his staff. They are angels!
What are the Children missing
Ok. Snow day today. I could have slept in, except I woke up thinking......I could be asleep right now if it were not for the thinking in my brain. And what, you may ask, was I thinking about? You got it.....what are today's children missing in life? I mean, we have catalogs full of sensory, learning, and behavior solutions.
For example, Integrations "Cuddle Loop": a stretchable snugly that provides a swaddle effect for a restless child. We went through a time of school when teachers became afraid of touching children. Yet, at my grad school, we had a rule: 12 hugs a day were the minimum and we were adults. So don't our children need 12 hugs too? Maybe they are not getting that touch anymore. Maybe with the onslaught of both parents working, early infant daycare, isolated cribs, etc., our children have developed these sensory deficits. When I review the catalog, I see a lot of "things" and "solutions" that remind me of good old-fashioned toys. Could it be that with computers, video games, TV, and commercial childcare, our children now lack real opportunities for play?
I wonder if in a city such as Reggio Emilia, Italy, which boasts of the best early childhood centers in the world, their children have as much sensory dysfunction as it seems American children have developed. I highly doubt it, for they have learned throughout the years that play is a child's work. I think that it makes the American Dollar look bad for trying to sell these things when for the most part, children if left to themselves, don't need. They just need time and encouragement.
I still give hugs to my students. My 7 year old who developmentally like a 2 year old in a lot of ways, often needs that full frontal hug. We should not be afraid to give children what they need.
My next thought all night was this: we have wonderful service people in our school systems such as Occupational Therapists, Speech Therapists, and Music Therapists. Yet problems arise daily in the general ed classes with children becoming stressed out, fatigued, and anxious. Why are we not seeking their help when it comes to general ed classrooms? Most of these classes have an overwhelming literacy environment, they sit in chairs too long, and have little playtime. We buy them a rocker, child size furniture for the Library area, SMART boards, but nothing to help these tykes with the wiggle factor. For the price of one Reading Rocker at $96.00, we could purchase 3 chair disks for 3 children.
Just a guess, but it almost seems that younger teachers are no longer encouraged to be creative in their approach to the class environment but to just buy as much as they can at the education store and plaster it everywhere. Speaking for myself, when I see a wall with words everywhere, I am overstimulated. Now, try to look at it through the eyes of a young child.
For example, Integrations "Cuddle Loop": a stretchable snugly that provides a swaddle effect for a restless child. We went through a time of school when teachers became afraid of touching children. Yet, at my grad school, we had a rule: 12 hugs a day were the minimum and we were adults. So don't our children need 12 hugs too? Maybe they are not getting that touch anymore. Maybe with the onslaught of both parents working, early infant daycare, isolated cribs, etc., our children have developed these sensory deficits. When I review the catalog, I see a lot of "things" and "solutions" that remind me of good old-fashioned toys. Could it be that with computers, video games, TV, and commercial childcare, our children now lack real opportunities for play?
I wonder if in a city such as Reggio Emilia, Italy, which boasts of the best early childhood centers in the world, their children have as much sensory dysfunction as it seems American children have developed. I highly doubt it, for they have learned throughout the years that play is a child's work. I think that it makes the American Dollar look bad for trying to sell these things when for the most part, children if left to themselves, don't need. They just need time and encouragement.
I still give hugs to my students. My 7 year old who developmentally like a 2 year old in a lot of ways, often needs that full frontal hug. We should not be afraid to give children what they need.
My next thought all night was this: we have wonderful service people in our school systems such as Occupational Therapists, Speech Therapists, and Music Therapists. Yet problems arise daily in the general ed classes with children becoming stressed out, fatigued, and anxious. Why are we not seeking their help when it comes to general ed classrooms? Most of these classes have an overwhelming literacy environment, they sit in chairs too long, and have little playtime. We buy them a rocker, child size furniture for the Library area, SMART boards, but nothing to help these tykes with the wiggle factor. For the price of one Reading Rocker at $96.00, we could purchase 3 chair disks for 3 children.
Just a guess, but it almost seems that younger teachers are no longer encouraged to be creative in their approach to the class environment but to just buy as much as they can at the education store and plaster it everywhere. Speaking for myself, when I see a wall with words everywhere, I am overstimulated. Now, try to look at it through the eyes of a young child.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
On Growing out of Autism and other disabilities
As a teacher, I see Autisms (recently I heard a speaker actually add the "s" on purpose.....because it isn't any one thing. There are so many variables. ) I just got this catalog from School Specialty chocked with items to help kids with their sensory and behavior needs and my first thought was, how has education changed in the last, say 30-40 years? What has happened that now more and more kids have issues of some kind? It isn't just a brain thing, we know......it isn't just environment or just vaccines but a real combination of society influences. Perhaps, our drive to be more competitive, no one knows. But as I look at the catalog, their are glimpses of things kids are missing in our schools......and things that are happening that keep kids from making progress. The lights.....we all know that fluorescence bothers many people's brains, but we still maintain those kind of lights, so that only if a school is wise and has the finances, they can then add the fabric underlays to remedy the situation. Why not change the lighting?
We all know that most class sizes are too big......a complaint that has long been said by teachers. The main reason why many kids end up in private schools, yet we keep increasing the size.
It has been documented that kids now have too much screen time from age 1 month into childhood......yet, tv manufacturers continue to make bigger and better tvs and push people to buy the big ones....so that a two year old watching almost disappears inside the box. Not to mention the amount of voices heard from the box, which is probably enough to mess up the brain.
When I regressed at 18 months, it was thought that my Dad's Navy experience was the reason, which would be environmental. He would go away on short cruises, and I would carry his picture everywhere with me. I lost ground in speech and toilet habits and pretty much withdrew from the world. I pulled my hair, sucked my thumb, and would not pay attention to my Dad as long as he was in his uniform. I also had three older half-sisters. A lot was going on in our house. Step relationships, teenagers, a nervous mother who had been widowed early before marrying my Dad. He had a previous family. Maybe something in me just said, hey, I don't want any part of it, I really don't know. My memories come from pictures (my Dad was a Navy Photographer). I have few memories before age 7.
I attended a preschool for retarded children at age 4 in the Tidewater area. I was in a class with other children with disabilities. Then we moved to Florida where I attended a small church kindergarten. Stop. In retrospect, I wish I would have gone to the church kindergarten for two years before moving on to first grade. I was a December birthday and always felt younger and less mature than my peers. So, if a young child needs more time, do it. Give them that time. You won't have a chance like that later.
That is what is so frustrating about today's public schools: even our prek children don't play. I say that because kindergarten used to be connected to real play opportunities. Not anymore. We read and write sentences in kindergarten. We do addition and subtraction. Dolls and blocks have been banished. Puppets are a rare commodity. Assemblies are about behavior not enrichment.
As a special ed teacher, I have learned a great deal about what is overwhelming.....how children can only process small chunks of information at a time. Even my daughter, when she was a baby, could not grow teeth and learn to walk together. Each step had to be mastered individually. But she did, and mastered them well. In our present time, baby stores pound the need to get the babies up and walking asap by pushing the walker concept upon young parents. You need this is what they hear. You can't live without it. Yet, a child will walk when they are ready. A walker can develop leg muscles, true, but it does nothing for the cognitive connection a baby needs to be able to push himself up and get balanced. By doing it on his own, the brain, muscles, bones, and senses are working together. Set the child in a walker and those important connections may get lost.
So, take away the toys of yesteryear: our catalogs now only use a few pages to focus upon the kitchen centers, block areas, inside play units.....because, schools are abandoning this kind of learning. We don't need this. But what cognitive-physical connections are going to be missed if our children leap right into playing paper games at a table?
The child with one of the many autisms or apraxia, etc. can't always succeed if they miss all those important connections of childhood. People like Dr. Howard Gardner has proven the need for multi-sensory learning, but schools think this, I will buy you a rocking chair and that is our mult-sensory input. Now, on to our scripted curriculums.....how can you be flexible and multi-sensory if you have to follow a script? Meanwhile, curriculum companies get rich.
I walk into a kindergarten room today, and see too much of a literacy environment......words from ceiling to floor....lists all over. If a child has trouble focusing, how is he going to focus here, on one thing?
Back to my childhood, I went to typical elementary school, was pulled out of class for speech through 2nd grade which I must have just hated cause I refused to return. I did speech finally in college with my teacher -speech pathologist who used the Lindamood method with me. Apparently, the Lindamoods were at Cal Poly when I was there. It is a good program.
My Tourette Syndrome / TMJ probably began around age 8 when I began to have my first orthodontics fixtures in my mouth. Then in High School when the Dentist did orthodontics on my upper teeth but not my lower teeth which again probably messed up my mandibular joints causing pain and facial ticking.
Why do I tic, was what I sought, as I went to counselor after counselor seeking answers, and occasionally some weird medicine that would just knock me out. At that time, I knew nothing about Tourette Syndrome till a doctor diagnosed me sometime around 1991. He looked at me for 5 minutes and diagnosed me. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???
No connection or questions about jaws.......parents, ask questions. Make connections.....don't wait.
So now, I am getting Tourette help from an orthodontist......yet, insurance won't pay cause it concerns my mouth!......
Ok, I know, I am rambling here. I guess what I want to say is, don't give up. Live each day at a time. Enjoy your child. Push for more play. Speak up. Children with Autisms learn differently.....but they can learn. Realistically, every child does not have to be an ace scholar and attend Harvard. Some kids love cars and may grow up to be very good at fixing them, thank the Lord, cause that is something I am not good at. Pride can come from knowing when to turn that hamburger over. Many young parents don't even know how to cook anymore because we have lost that in our schools: the home economics, the sewing, the woodworking, the crafting.....the Waldorf Schools encourage this kind of hands-on learning as essential to one's soul, but the public schools have abandoned it, preferring heads-on learning instead.
We must speak up for all the children. We must save our schools.
We all know that most class sizes are too big......a complaint that has long been said by teachers. The main reason why many kids end up in private schools, yet we keep increasing the size.
It has been documented that kids now have too much screen time from age 1 month into childhood......yet, tv manufacturers continue to make bigger and better tvs and push people to buy the big ones....so that a two year old watching almost disappears inside the box. Not to mention the amount of voices heard from the box, which is probably enough to mess up the brain.
When I regressed at 18 months, it was thought that my Dad's Navy experience was the reason, which would be environmental. He would go away on short cruises, and I would carry his picture everywhere with me. I lost ground in speech and toilet habits and pretty much withdrew from the world. I pulled my hair, sucked my thumb, and would not pay attention to my Dad as long as he was in his uniform. I also had three older half-sisters. A lot was going on in our house. Step relationships, teenagers, a nervous mother who had been widowed early before marrying my Dad. He had a previous family. Maybe something in me just said, hey, I don't want any part of it, I really don't know. My memories come from pictures (my Dad was a Navy Photographer). I have few memories before age 7.
I attended a preschool for retarded children at age 4 in the Tidewater area. I was in a class with other children with disabilities. Then we moved to Florida where I attended a small church kindergarten. Stop. In retrospect, I wish I would have gone to the church kindergarten for two years before moving on to first grade. I was a December birthday and always felt younger and less mature than my peers. So, if a young child needs more time, do it. Give them that time. You won't have a chance like that later.
That is what is so frustrating about today's public schools: even our prek children don't play. I say that because kindergarten used to be connected to real play opportunities. Not anymore. We read and write sentences in kindergarten. We do addition and subtraction. Dolls and blocks have been banished. Puppets are a rare commodity. Assemblies are about behavior not enrichment.
As a special ed teacher, I have learned a great deal about what is overwhelming.....how children can only process small chunks of information at a time. Even my daughter, when she was a baby, could not grow teeth and learn to walk together. Each step had to be mastered individually. But she did, and mastered them well. In our present time, baby stores pound the need to get the babies up and walking asap by pushing the walker concept upon young parents. You need this is what they hear. You can't live without it. Yet, a child will walk when they are ready. A walker can develop leg muscles, true, but it does nothing for the cognitive connection a baby needs to be able to push himself up and get balanced. By doing it on his own, the brain, muscles, bones, and senses are working together. Set the child in a walker and those important connections may get lost.
So, take away the toys of yesteryear: our catalogs now only use a few pages to focus upon the kitchen centers, block areas, inside play units.....because, schools are abandoning this kind of learning. We don't need this. But what cognitive-physical connections are going to be missed if our children leap right into playing paper games at a table?
The child with one of the many autisms or apraxia, etc. can't always succeed if they miss all those important connections of childhood. People like Dr. Howard Gardner has proven the need for multi-sensory learning, but schools think this, I will buy you a rocking chair and that is our mult-sensory input. Now, on to our scripted curriculums.....how can you be flexible and multi-sensory if you have to follow a script? Meanwhile, curriculum companies get rich.
I walk into a kindergarten room today, and see too much of a literacy environment......words from ceiling to floor....lists all over. If a child has trouble focusing, how is he going to focus here, on one thing?
Back to my childhood, I went to typical elementary school, was pulled out of class for speech through 2nd grade which I must have just hated cause I refused to return. I did speech finally in college with my teacher -speech pathologist who used the Lindamood method with me. Apparently, the Lindamoods were at Cal Poly when I was there. It is a good program.
My Tourette Syndrome / TMJ probably began around age 8 when I began to have my first orthodontics fixtures in my mouth. Then in High School when the Dentist did orthodontics on my upper teeth but not my lower teeth which again probably messed up my mandibular joints causing pain and facial ticking.
Why do I tic, was what I sought, as I went to counselor after counselor seeking answers, and occasionally some weird medicine that would just knock me out. At that time, I knew nothing about Tourette Syndrome till a doctor diagnosed me sometime around 1991. He looked at me for 5 minutes and diagnosed me. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???
No connection or questions about jaws.......parents, ask questions. Make connections.....don't wait.
So now, I am getting Tourette help from an orthodontist......yet, insurance won't pay cause it concerns my mouth!......
Ok, I know, I am rambling here. I guess what I want to say is, don't give up. Live each day at a time. Enjoy your child. Push for more play. Speak up. Children with Autisms learn differently.....but they can learn. Realistically, every child does not have to be an ace scholar and attend Harvard. Some kids love cars and may grow up to be very good at fixing them, thank the Lord, cause that is something I am not good at. Pride can come from knowing when to turn that hamburger over. Many young parents don't even know how to cook anymore because we have lost that in our schools: the home economics, the sewing, the woodworking, the crafting.....the Waldorf Schools encourage this kind of hands-on learning as essential to one's soul, but the public schools have abandoned it, preferring heads-on learning instead.
We must speak up for all the children. We must save our schools.
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