Focus Building Year

Now that Gus is on the cusp of his 'tween years, it seems more important than ever that he learns to manage himself without the need of constant adult prompting. Middle school is right around the corner, and state exams are at the end of this school year. While he'll get every accommodation available, it will be a major hurdle for him. I'd like to see him do well.

I'm not a big fan of standardized tests as the only way to determine what a child has learned, but I'm more interested in how he will view the results. I want him to do well because if he doesn't he'll feel badly – plain and simple. So whatever we can do this year to help him succeed, we'll do. The two big areas in need of major development are: focus and self-regulating. Gus will need to learn not only to focus, but also to recognize when his focus has shifted off task. He will also need to start controlling his impulses. We've seen some progress over the summer, but if he's going to manage a three-hour test, he's got a long way to go.

This morning I read an article (not a very recent one) about certain video games that could help to build focus. The games mentioned in the article seem older, but the concept intrigues me. One of the things that can hold Gus's attention for hours is his video games. I'm wondering if we can find a focus building game that is reasonably priced. (The Brain Train games were particularly astronomical.) It doesn't seem like a 'fad' method because another article published just this month in the Redding Pilot online, also discusses neurofeedback that uses video games as a basis. Play Attention seems like a possibility, but at $100 a month, I'm not so sure. They offer a free demo CD.

I'll post again if we decide to try it out.

What will your child be working on this year?

The Return of Thursday Thankfulness

I've been quite remiss lately with posting, but now that school is back in session, I can hear myself think again. It seems rather appropriate that Gus started school on a Thursday. Today I am thankful:

1. That Gus not only started school again, but that he was eager to start school again. Yesterday he said that he had "art-room-sickness," similar to homesickness but for the art room at school. He was a little nervous about starting 3rd grade, but that's normal. He'll have the same teacher and several friends in his class. He seems more concerned about the level of expectation and about getting his work done. This tells me that he values good grades, he wants to do well, and just maybe, he'll be a more motivated than ever to work on his focus and concentration. My fingers are crossed.

2. I am thankful that Gus go his bus monitor from last year! This is a big win, because she is just amazing and adores him. I couldn't have bought a better start to his day.

3. I am thankful that MM enjoyed her first day of school yesterday as well, despite the new bus driver whom has made her his sworn enemy already. We've got full day school now, which means that I have time to myself! I've got some projects that have been on hold all summer that I plan to move on, so extra thankful for that.

If your child has started school, did the year start off well? Please share your gratitude in a comment and have an awesome day!

Those Dreaded Questions

Hello readers! We've been out of contact for a little while for various reasons including a camping vacation. Life is starting to settle back into a routine as school approaches.

Speaking of school, we all know that the time will come when our children will have questions about topics that I, for one, don't particularly want to have to answer. Death, sex, why am I so different from everyone else...who actually looks forward to informing their kids about these things? Maybe lots of people look forward to these discussions, but I'm not one of them. Last night after Gus's bath this was the conversation that took place:

"What are these called?"

"Those are called testicles."

"What's in them?"

"Hmm...you know, that's really a good question for you to ask Daddy, since he has them too!...Daddy!"

Yeah, call me a wuss. I totally punked out of that one. So, DH came in and Gus started asking questions, that went fine until DH explained that testicles are involved with reproduction, "making babies," he clarified. "There are seeds in them."

"But I thought only women carried babies in their tummies."

"Uhh..."

At that point I had a compulsion to read MM her bedtime story and got out of there as soon as my legs would carry me. It's a good thing I remembered to open the door first or else I would have looked like a Loony Toon (but perhaps I looked that way anyway).

Later, I asked DH how he handled the questions. Apparently, Gus was pretty satisfied with testicles being some sort of seed machine and moved on to asking what was in his knee joints and where rashes come from. Maybe there isn't a need to panic just yet, but I've had a gentle reminder that the day is coming sooner than I thought. I'd better start getting some answers ready.

How have you handled, or how do you plan to handle, those uncomfortable topics with your child?

IEP Assessments

I recently wrote an article on Understanding IEP Assessments for Bright Hub and thought I'd put some comments here as well. I've always found the assessment score portion of Gus's IEP to be more complicated than deciphering the Dead Sea Scrolls, but I've come to gain a little better understanding of them. They're not quite as complicated as I thought (very close, but not quite). The odd thing is that the keys to understanding these things seem to be some nationally guarded secret – none of our service providers could ever give me a solid explanation for what it all meant. So here's my attempt at demystifying the matter.

The first things you need to understand are the terms and acronyms. Most of the assessment scores will be expressed as one or more of the following:

• SS – standard or scaled score. This is the score of the assessment itself. For instance, the SAT has a different scale (200-800) than the AP exams which are score on a scale of 1-5.
  
• Percentile – the percentile shows where your child falls within the range of other students being tested. A score in the 98^th percentile means your child scored in the top 2 percent of students tested, or better than 98 percent.
  
• AE/GE – age or grade equivalents tell where your child's skills are in comparison to kids of different age groups or in different academic grades.
  
• Raw Score – I've never seen this on our IEP, but it's useful to know just in case it comes up. The raw score is the actually number of successes your child has on each of the different test components. For example, your child might get 8 correct responses on one test out of a possible 10.
  

Many assessments use similar scales, but some have their own (just to keep parents hopping and guessing, I'd imagine). If you find out what assessment tool was used for your child in each area, you can try to find out what the scale is and take it from there. Some common tests are:

• General or Comprehensive
  
  • The Brigance Comprehensive Inventory of Basic Skills (CIBS)
    
• Speech/Language
  
  • Oral and Written Language Scales (OWLS – they're not just for wizards anymore)
    
  • Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)
    
  • Expressive Vocabulary Test (EVT)
    
  • Educational – Woodcock Johnson III
    
• Motor/Physical Skills
  
  • Bruininsky-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency
    
  • Peabody Developmental Motor Scales
    
• Behavior
  
  • Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales
    

The article goes into a little more detail about scoring and interpretation, so if this is a topic that tends to confuse you (like it did me) by all means, check it out! And if you know of any assessments that I can add to the list, by all means, please share! Have a great day!

An Award and a Blog Talk Radio Show You Want to Listen To

Hope you all had a great weekend! Ours was filled with soccer, running and family time. Then I came online and saw that I've been given an award from two different sources – my first one since leaving the Today network! John from Special Needs in Munchkinland and ATorturedSoul from All About Bipolar both honored me with the Educational Commitment Award! Thanks, guys!

About the award:

This award recognizes and gives value to:
1.- Commitment to Quality Education.
2.-Betting on the inclusion of Tics [children with tics] in the classroom.
3.-The effort of parents, professionals and educational centers in incorporating the Tics into the educational process.
4.-The struggle to defend, through the Teaching Values like: Solidarity, Love, Affection, Respect, Effort, Aid, Support, Sharing and Commitment, the future of our children and students.
5.-Recognize and value the effort of the families, professionals and educational centers for integrating effective conditions in the schools and in society for the children and special students, gaining them tons of love and allowing them all the resources at our disposal.

You can distribute this prize freely to those blogs that you consider to be working in these lines.

The Norms of distribution are:
1.-Publish the objectives of the prize and link to Recursos Educativos (Educational Resources).
2.-Publish a list of deserving blogs to pass on the prize.
3.-Communicate to each blog rewarded that they have won the prize.

I am passing on this award to:

Another Piece of the Puzzle

Autism Learning Felt

Autism Sucks

Autism is Not the Boss

On another note, I heard a great blog talk radio program today hosted by the Asperger Women Association and guest starring John Elder Robison, author of Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's. Being that I had read (or more accurately listened to) the book, I was very excited to hear Mr. Robison speaking about aspies and relationships and other topics. Although Gus isn't quite there yet, I still got some good information that will (I think) help when the time comes. Check it out!