I recently stumbled across a Facebook page created by a special education teacher called Special Books for Special Kids. He travels the country interviewing children who have a variety of diagnoses and their families. His goal is to break down social barriers in order to create one that is more accepting of neurodiversity. https://www.facebook.com/specialbooksbyspecialkids/
In it’s most basic form, self advocacy is the ability to speak up for what you need to be successful in social and academic situations. Its development starts at an early age. When a child asks for clarification or repetition of a direction, they are applying a simple yet powerful self advocacy skill. The inability to apply these skills can lead to confusion, frustration, and reduced independence. But if utilized, they can help kids gain confidence, self awareness, and problem solve across various situations. The needs of our kids with IEP’s are more nuanced, so it is very important that we teach these skills. Natural times to start talking to your child about their strengths/weaknesses and how to ask for
Calling all families! The Abilities Expo is coming to Chicago June 24-26 at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center. Come explore the events and entertainment including a number of free workshops. See you there. http://www.abilities.com/chicago/events.html
Does your child love superhero movies? Create your own superhero at http://marvel.com/games/play/31/create_your_own_superhero. While you personalize a superhero you can work on labeling body parts and following directions. Afterwards, glue your creation to a popsicle stick and take it on an adventure. You can incorporate sequencing words and -wh questions.
Researchers at Galudet University are using the 3D imaging technology often used to create animation, to create apps and movies which support language development in the deaf population. They’ve decided to focus on improving a child’s exposure to narrative structure and prosody by honing in on nursery rhymes. They are an important way that the hearing population learns about sound patterns, a language’s rhythm, and narrative elements; right now they are not accessible to the deaf community. The researchers have found a way to translate the temporal auditory rhythms heard in a nursery rhyme to a visual temporal rhythm in ASL. For more information about apps or current research, please see: http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/06/28/417109518/when-it-comes-to-learning-for-the-deaf-its-a-3-d-language
Social Stories describe a situation, skill, or concept in terms of relevant social cues, perspectives, and common responses in a specifically defined style and format. For many years, we could only create these stories via paper and pencil, but wonderful apps for both Apple and Android products have been developed that allow parents and therapists to create colorful, simple, and engaging social stories. Although your child’s therapist may have some great ideas for appropriate social stories, if you’re curious, the following link offers nice instructions on how to develop your own social stories as well as questions to ask while reading it with your child. https://www.erinoakkids.ca/ErinoakKids/media/EOK_Documents/Autism_Resources/Comic-Strip-Conversations.pdf
The term ‘neurodiversity’ is not a new one; it suggests that there are differences in the human brain due to natural variance in DNA. It is a biological fact. This idea is not the same as the neurodiversity movement. Unlike the term, the movement is related to social justice. Its members advocate for equality, respect, and full societal inclusion for the neurodivergent. The movement was developed to counteract the prevailing notion that neurodiversity is a thing to be fixed rather than celebrated. In honor of Autism Awareness Month, this neurodiversity movement discussion will be applied to autism. Not all families, adults, and children with autism align themselves with the neurodiversity movement. However, those that do, advocate for acceptance of autism
Schools are always searching for new ways to become more inclusive. One stand out special education teacher at Lawton Alternative School in San Francisco, CA has developed a fun and functional way for her students to integrate into their school and neighborhood communities. Her “Coffee Cart” reinforces interpersonal, academic, and life skills. Please check out this video for her innovative story. How does your child’s school support and celebrate neurodiversity? http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/11/12/a-fun-way-to-help-special-needs-students-feel-valued-by-school-community/
Spring is finally here and kids are eager to spend more time outside. While playgrounds are an automatic “fun” zone, they can also be a great place to reinforce language and social concepts. Building an obstacle course by using sequencing words “first, second, then, before, after” is a simple way to practice following directions. For instance, you can say “first go down the slide, then go across the monkey bars.” If your child is working on social skills, the playground is ripe with opportunities to take turns, make introductions, or simply say “hi”. For more ideas check out: https://www.speechandlanguagekids.com/speech-and-language-activities-for-the-park-or-playground/
Spring is upon us and before you know it you’ll be celebrating the end of another school year. Research tells us that kids lose up to two months of learning over the summer. So it is even more vital to continue to support learning for kids with learning disabilities, speech/language, and pragmatic impairment. Although there are many camps designed for children with various diagnoses, don’t overlook your city’s park district summer camps or activities. They offer a plethora of classes that tangentially support, receptive/expressive language and social skills. For instance, an acting class’s primary goal might be to produce a play, but it may also support social and expressive language skills. Here are a list of possible camps based on
