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It's So Much Work to Be Your
Friend
Drawing on three decades of experience in residential
schools, Rick Lavoie provides powerful strategies for teaching friendship
skills in the classroom, the homefront, and the community. First,
you'll explore the causes and consequences of "social incompetence."
Then, you'll gain field-tested advice on how to help children work
through daily social struggles and go from being picked on and isolated
to becoming accepted and involved
Must
see DVDs !! Richard Lavoie
More materials:
http://ldonline.learningstore.org/categories/lavoie.html
AUTISM
Some websites for information and support...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6899179/
http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer
http://www.autism-society.org/site/FrameSet?style=Directory
http://www.cureautismnow.org/
http://www.talkautism.org/
http://www.researchautism.org/
http://www.unlockingautism.org/
http://www.aap.org/healthtopics/autism.cfm
http://www.familiestogetherinc.org/
http://www.familiestogether.org/
http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/
http://www.autismcenter.org/
http://www.fightingautism.org/
http://www.theautismperspective.org/
Books and publications:
"The Boy Who Loved Windows" By Patricia Stacey
"The Child With Special Needs" By Stanley Greenspan
“What your Doctor May Not Tell you About Vaccinations” By Dr. Stephanie
Cave
"Children with Autism: A Parent's Guide" By Michael D., Powers,
Temple Grandin
“Teaching Children With Autism: Strategies for Initiating Positive
Interactions and Improving Learning Opportunities” Byy Robert L.
Koegel, Lynn Kern Koegel
“Thinking in Pictures” By Temple Grandin
“How To Compromise With Your School District Without Compromising
Your Child: A Field Guide For Getting Effective Services For Children
With Special Needs” By Gary Mayerson “Brothers & Sisters: A Special
Part of Exceptional Families” By Thomas H. Powell,
“Breaking the Vicious Cycle” By Elanie Gottschall
“The Autism Encyclopedia” By John T. Neisworth and Pamela S. Wolfe
“Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family's Triumph Over Autism” By Catherine
Maurice
"Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic:
A Medical Controversy" By David Kirby
http://www.kidsource.com/nfpa/learning.html
Learning Strengths in the Midst
of Learning Disabilities
The more we discover about learning disabilities in
children, the more we know they don't have to limit children at
all. Simply stated, learning disabilities are troubles children
might have with skills such as listening reading, writing, spelling
or speaking. These skill impairments have little to do with a child's
intelligence - in fact, most learning- disabled children have normal
or higher intelligence, and some who are gifted.
The following information lists five major types of
learning disabilities, and what parents can do to help. Children
can begin to show signs of these disabilities during preschool,
early grades and throughout their academic careers - so be sure
to watch children for the warning signs below.
Language Disabilities
Signs include a child: asking for repeated information; misunderstanding
directions, having trouble remembering and following directions;
having trouble expressing himself or herself; and using incorrect
grammar beyond an appropriate age (such as saying "I don't got none"
for "l don't have any" by school age). Parents can help improve
language skills by reading to children everyday. In addition, trips
that expose them to language through conversations, such as to museums
and zoos, are excellent vocabulary builders.
Speech Disabilities
These include slurred speech, stuttering and lisping which can
all affect a child's ability to communicate by making them hesitant
to speak because of embarrassment. Children may also be embarrassed
by hoarseness of voice or monotone, which can be caused for many
reasons. For all these speech disabilities, a parent can repeat
back the correct way to pronounce words through normal and frequent
conversation.
Reading Disabilities and Dyslexia
Children who show little interest in reading and the reading portions
of educational television may have a reading disability. Reading
difficulty can be caused by a variety of factors, so a reading evaluation
is necessary to determine exactly what causes the trouble. Parents
can help develop a child's reading skills by reading along and pointing
at each word to match the words up with sounds.
Writing Disabilities
Writing disabilities may be caused by underdeveloped muscles
in the hands or trouble with the combination of senses used to write.
Arts and crafts, as well as hand-eye games such as jump rope and
marbles, are excellent ways to develop the skills required for writing.
Math Disabilities
Any problems with math, such as poor grades or general frustration,
may signal a math disability. Parents can point out the math in
every day situations, such as setting the table and making change.
In each case, it helps to provide a visual symbol along with the
number to increase comprehension (such as two cups + three cups
= five cups).
In most cases, whatever the disability may be, both
children and parents must remember that there is nothing wrong with
the child or the child's intelligence. Just like learning a new
position in baseball or learning a new piece on the piano, families
must approach these challenges as new obstacles to overcome. If
you suspect any of these disabilities in a child, consult your doctor
and the child's teachers.
Reprinted from Triaminic Parents Club, winter 1996
http://www.kidsource.com/nfpa/learning.html
Gifted Students
Teaching Mathematics to Gifted
Students in a
Mixed-Ability Classroom
http://www.kidsource.com/education/teach.gift.math.html
Mathematically gifted students have needs that differ
in nature from those of other students. They require some differentiated
instruction, defined by Tomlinson (1995) as "consistently using
a variety of instructional approaches to modify content, process,
and/or products in response to learning readiness and interest of
academically diverse students." Yet recent studies have found few
instructional or curricular modifications in regular elementary
classrooms (Archambault et al., 1993; Westberg, Archambault, Dobyns
& Salvin, 1993). In grades 9-12, students may be able to select
honors, advanced, and AP courses; however, even in these more homogeneously
grouped classes there is a range of differences that need to be
acknowledged.
Why Should We Do Anything Different for Mathematically
Gifted Students?
Gifted students differ from their classmates in three
key areas that are especially important in mathematics. These are
summarized below.
How Gifted Learners Differ from Classmates:
Pace at which they learn
Depth of their understanding
Interests that they hold
(Maker, 1982)
Relationship to Mathematics Learning
The sequential nature of math content makes pacing an issue.
Deeper levels of understanding and abstraction are possible for
most mathematical topics, so differentiation becomes important.
If the interest is snuffed out early, the talent may not be developed.
To read the rest of the article:
http://www.kidsource.com/education/teach.gift.math.html
Gifted
Students
http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/pages/ed.gifted.html
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/parents.htm
check out Dabrowski's theories: http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/dabrowski.htm
ABA Materials
Please include me in your Autism Resource Links.
We are a small company that produce CD-ROMs with color images that
parents print as flash cards to teach children with Autism. The
CD-ROM, Flash! Pro2 was developed by us out of sheer desperation!
We had a severe lack of images for our son's home-based ABA program
so went about making our own and saving them all (over 8500 images)digitally
on a CD-ROM. This product is now used by numerous special schools
and parents across the US, UK, Europe and Australia and has proven
to be enormously useful to parents in need of resources. Among others,
it is used by the Autism Partnership (headed by Dr John McEachin
in their US, Canada and Australia centers. After 3 years of intensive
work, our son (now 6 years) has integrated extremely well into a
mainstream school. He is learning swimming, dancing and music. He
reads, writes and spells two years above his grade. Please include
me in your links so your families can view these very useful products.
The company is: ABA Materials
My website is : Early Learning Site
My URL is : http://www.aba-materials.com
Many many thanks
Sandra D'Souza
ABA Materials
10 Burnleigh Drive Gladstone Park VIC 3043 Australia
Email: sandra@aba-materials.com
Information about Special Ed:
http://www.specialednews.com/
Information about specific disabilities:
http://www.specialednews.com/disabilities/disabilities.html
Information from each state:
http://www.specialednews.com/states/states.html
Special
Ed Sites About.com's Lesson Plans and More
Education
World's Teaching Special Kids
Kodak
Special Education Lesson Plans
Marc Sheehan's
Lesson Plans Page
An Accomodation Check List
http://www.createdbyteachers.com/modchecklist.html
Special
Education Resources:
http://www.eagle.ca/~matink/teacher.html
http://www.pacificnet.net/~mandel/SpecialEducation.html
A resource for information about kids with learning
disabilities
and attention problems.
http://www.schwablearning.org/index.asp
A resource for information about special needs
kids.
http://www.specialchild.com/disorder.html
http://www.dyslexia-inst.org.uk/
The Dyslexia Institute
Teaching for dyslexic children and adults should
be:
STRUCTURED - so reading and spelling make sense.
CUMULATIVE - to build up skills gradually.
MULTI-SENSORY - using sight, sound and touch.
THOROUGH - over-learning to compensate for weak memory.
ACTIVE - to make it interesting.
USEFUL - related to school work.
This method leads to successful learning and builds up the student's
confidence.
Build for Success
DO…
praise wherever possible
encourage
find something that he is good at
give less homework (e.g. shorter essays, or underline main points
to learn) mark written work on content (not spelling) -
tick what is right instead of crossing what is wrong
mark on oral responses when possible
if reading long words, divide syllables with a pencil line help
him to pronounce words correctly
put him at front of the class so you can help make sure he understood
and remembered instructions
let him work with text book open
put important words on blackboard clearly
give plenty of time to copy from blackboard -
writing on alternate lines in different colours may help
check whether he knows his alphabet, and that he can say the days
of the week and months of the year in the right sequence, also whether
he can tell the time
send an exercise book home with him, with homework assignments written
in, and a note of important things to bring tomorrow, e.g. swimming
things have expectation of success.
DO NOT…
make a dyslexic read aloud in public if reluctant ridicule
or employ sarcasm
correct all mistakes in written work - it's too discouraging
give lists of spelling words to learn; two or three are as much
as he will manage, and it is better if they are related, e.g. plate,
cake, name
make him write out work again
compare with others
make him change his writing (put loops if he doesn't, etc.).
REMEMBER...
A dyslexic person tires more quickly than a 'normal' person;
far greater concentration is required
may read a passage correctly yet not get the sense of it
may have great difficulty with figures (e.g. learning tables), reading
music or anything which entails interpreting symbols
usually has difficulty learning foreign languages
is inconsistent in performance may omit a word or words, or write
a word twice
suffers from constant nagging uncertainty
cannot take good notes because he cannot listen and write at the
same time may have great difficulty in finding his place again when
he looks away from a book he is reading or a blackboard he is copying
from
reads slowly because of his difficulties, so is always under pressure
of time will probably be personally disorganised - he may also be
clumsy and forgetful, no matter how hard he tries
is likely to have difficulty following a string of instructions.
http://www.dyslexia-inst.org.uk/articles/howcani.htm
Welcome To Holland
by Emily Perl Kingsley c1987
Matthew and ... I am often asked to describe the
experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help
people who have not shared that unique experience to understand
it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...... When you're
going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip
- to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful
plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice.
You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You
pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands.
The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?"
you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm
supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in
Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they
haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full
of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a
whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people
you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced
than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there
for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you
begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips.
Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming
and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful
time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say
"Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because
the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But... if
you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy,
you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely
things ... about Holland.
See
the archives for more!
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