Category: Uncategorized

Need a little incentive to keep your child reading over the summer? Barnes and Noble is offering a free book for kids who answer three questions about the longest book, favorite series (Harry Potter, Junie B. Jones, Diary of a Wimpy Kid), and which book made you stretch your imagination. Personally, I love “Tuesday” by David Weisner. This wordless book lets you create your own story about why frogs might be flying around on lily pads. http://dispatch.barnesandnoble.com/content/dam/ccr/pdf/2016/summer-reading/BN_SummerReading_Journal.pdf?x=y

Families who have a family member with a disability know that the cost to care for the loved one can mount very quickly. To address these concerns, President Obama passed the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act in 2014. It allows families to create a special tax-exempt savings account to pay for the myriad of different “qualified disability costs”, including but not limited to transportation, building a ramp to get into a house, therapy, and housing. Each state is responsible for adopting this law, and Illinois adopted it in 2015. To find out more about this act and how it may benefit your family, please refer to the following resources: http://naminorthernillinois.org/the-able-act-law-and-the-10-things-you-must-know-about-the-able-act/ http://realeconomicimpact.org/public-policy/able-act.aspx

Does your kindergartener-2nd grader need an extra reading boost over the summer? Improving phonological awareness (syllable counting, rhyming, segmenting, and word manipulation) has been proven to help improve a child’s reading ability. Check out these fun online games to play with your child. Remember, play these games with your child so that you can help teach and reinforce skills not quite mastered. http://pbskids.org/games/rhyming/

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