Sir Ken Robinson (one of my favorite educators) speaks about events that changed the direction in his life and inspired his work in education.



While I seldom write about it, I think my own brush with cancer was a turning point in my life. At twenty-two, I was undergoing major surgery and the strenuous treatments that accompany a cancer diagnosis. I had it easier than many, but my time with cancer was by no means fun. It shook my view of the world and the way I prioritize my life.

So many things that seemed important to me before cancer suddenly became irrelevant. I started noticing people around me more – their lives, how I affect them, how they affect me. I remember one of my managers at the bookstore for whom I worked criticizing me for spending more time talking with coworkers and customers rather than shelving. What I didn’t know how to express then was that, for the first time ever, those people were suddenly more important to me than the objects I was shelving. I never returned to retail after leaving a month later.

Cancer had a humbling affect on my life, and it inspired me to see such a large number of people come together to help one person. Some of my fellow patients awaiting daily treatments were constant discouragements, but others were an inspiration. They looked to each day as a new day full of opportunity for recovery. They helped me see what a blessing life is, what it means to be thankful for every new day – even if that day brings a barrage of needles, radiation, and hair loss.

While I would never wish my experiences on anyone, I do think I came out the other side a better person.

Tags: education, memoirs

“Okay, these are the kids on the bubble, so we need to focus remediating them the most before spring testing.”

“If we can get 10 more kids in this pull-out group to pass, we’ll meet AYP.”

“We have to prioritize which kids we think we can get to proficiency and those we can’t.”

When NCLB was passed, we were told that we wouldn’t have to teach to the test. We were told it would not take priority over standard instruction. After seven years, not only are we teaching to the test, but we are gaming our instruction to increase our odds of meeting AYP expectations.

I sincerely hope our president-elect takes a long, hard look at the adverse effects this bipartisan piece of legislation has wrought.

Tags: education, opinion

Childhood is a time of imagination, and creativity. However, as time passes, many of us seem to lose the creative spark that we enjoyed as children. While our social and academic skills evolve with maturation, our ability to create seems to devolve. We lapse into a pattern of "I can't sing," "I can't dance," "I can't paint." Fill in your own blank. What is it you think you are unable to do? Why don't you think you can do it?

The answer is probably simple. At some point in your life, one or all of the following happened:

• You had a friend or family member tell you you aren't good at something.
• You had a teacher or mentor figure reinforce the notion that you can't do something.
• You had a teacher or other authority figure consistently model learned inability.
• You had a particularly emotional failure in trying to do something creative.

These outside pressures eventually taught you that you can't sing, dance, draw, paint, sculpt. write, etc. You learned helplessness in a given area of human expression, and those teaching you that helplessness were probably unaware of their own influence.

An Aside About Teaching Learned Inability

One of the tenets of a newer movement in education -- usually referred to as Project Approach, Reggio-Emilia Approach, or Child-Directed Learning -- is that every child is an author; every child is a musician; every child is an artist. My wife teaches with this philosophy, and one of her preschoolers might come up and say, "We need a guitar for our campfire," to which she would respond, "Okay, how can we make one?"

In the Project classroom, every child is a teacher as well as a learner. Everyone is an expert in something, but in too many classrooms of the past and present, children are constantly reminded of how much they are helpless and incapable. They grow to rely on Teacher for everything. It is in this time that they learn they are unable to draw, that they are unable to sing. Implicitly, Teacher may be teaching them to disable their creative spark.

Additionally, we educators occasionally model this form of learned helplessness. "Here's what a horse looks like," we might say to draw a representation on the board, followed by the quick disclaimer of, "I'm no artist." I don't know many teachers who would admit, in front of their children, "I can't do math," "I'm not a very good writer," but we'll disclaim our creative talents without a second thought.

Stuck In Another Century

This brings me to the next part of education's role in stifling creativity: our entire education structure is based on the needs and values of the Industrial Revolution. Our basic educational fundamentals have remained largely unchanged for over a century. We just keep covering it with new coats of paint, but the fact remains. Through most of the United States, teachers are trying to prepare children for a twenty-first century world through a nineteenth century curriculum hierarchy.

Fortunately, some new philosophies like Project Approach encourage children to exercise those creative skills that will help them succeed as unique and innovative individuals in the workplace rather than carbon copies of one another. The point is in learning how to independently find answers to questions and problems, how to uniquely and individually share and/or implement those findings, and how to work as a team to reach a common goal. The point is not in reciting rote information. Now, if only we could get proficiency tests to reflect similar progress…

Back On Point

The truth is that you are a creative person. You can sing. You can draw. You can paint. The problem is that you don't believe you can. Whether outside influences have convinced you or you have simply convinced yourself is immaterial. Your creativity is as integral a part of your being as your academic self. It's in there, but you might have to do some work digging it out. We'll save that task for another post.

Tags: education, creativity

Have you ever said to yourself some thing like this? "I'm no artist;" "I'm practically tone deaf;" "I just don't have that good of an imagination."

In our culture (and I'm sure in others), there has developed a form of leaned helplessness when it comes to creative expression. A delusion has evolved informing us that most of us are incapable of true creativity, and we have to rely on others' talents and ideas. This self-inflicted myth is simply that: a myth.

Part 1: A Creative Childhood

Time and again, we read of the creative spirit of children. With few exceptions, they have no inhibitions expressing themselves in writing, in drawing, through song, dance, and other forms of artistic representations. I never hear a first grader tell me, "I can't sing." However, I hear it from adults all the time.

Sir Ken Robinson, an absolute genius on the topics of creativity and education, tells a story of a nativity play in which his son played Joseph. The three magi (also played by children) approach with their gifts of gold myrrh, and frankincense. Unfortunately, the child bearing the frankincense forgets what his gift is called, and he visibly struggles with what to say. Finally, he settles on, "Frank sent this!" The word he was supposed to say was incomprehensible to his mind, but he creatively rearranged the emphasis of syllables to make sense of the phonemes floating about his mind. In other words, he improvised in a moment when many of us would have merely frozen.

The same Ken Robinson also tells a story of Gillian Lynne, a girl who was seen as simply having something wrong with her in the 1930s when she was growing up. Today, she might have been diagnosed with ADHD, but a doctor suggested to her mother that she enroll the girl in dance school. She grew up to become the choreographer for Cats, Phantom of the Opera, the stage version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Imaginary Invalid. She even starred opposite Errol Flynn in a film called The Master of Ballantrae. This was all because the doctor told her mother, "Gillian isn't sick. She's a dancer." I shudder to think how many Gillian Lynnes have been stifled over the years due to encountering the wrong adults.

Speaking of Sir Robinson, take a moment and watch his talk. Don't worry. I won't go anywhere.



On a related note, my wife teaches preschool, and her instruction is heavily influenced by Reggio Emilia and Montessori philosophies. The results are amazing. Her children have built a stage to have plays on, have built a post office from PVC pipe and chart paper. They've created sculptures of tornadoes and set up a classroom weather station (correctly using terms like "hook echo" and "Doppler radar" in their discussions), and these are three to four-year-olds. Think about that for minute. All of the preschool academic foundations are incorporated into the class explorations and projects, sometimes even bleeding over into kindergarten and first grade standards. How much less effective might her teaching be if her kids were just sitting at desks completing ditto sheets?

There is no question that childhood is a time of exploration and creativity, but something happens to that spirit and those abilities as we get older. We'll explore that in part two. Stay tuned.

Tags: education, creativity

St. Petersburg Times: The Girl In the WIndow

This has to be one of the most disturbing yet inspiring things I've read in a while. It's quite a read but completely worth it.



Garfield Minus Garfield: Ballantine Books to Publish Book Inspired by the Webcomic Garfield Minus Garfield

The Garfield Minus Garfield comic is a brilliant experiment, and it's great to see that Jim Davis is so supportive.

Garfield creator Jim Davis was intrigued by—and pleased with—the concept. “I think it’s an inspired thing to do,” Davis said. “I want to thank Dan for enabling me to see another side of Garfield...."

Infinite Loop: Steve Jobs: MobileMe "not up to Apple's standards"

In an internal email, Steve Jobs admits that the MobileMe launch was botched, and he is reorganizing the MobileMe team, putting Eddie Cue of the iTunes team over the project.

Tags: apple inc, education

On Wednesday, conservative radio host Michael Savage had this to say about autism:

…A fraud, a racket. You know what autism is? I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is.

I have to admit that I didn't write about this the moment I read about it. I had to cool down first. Mr. Savage should be congratulated. He's now one of only four figures in the media who have managed to get under my skin. (In case you are wondering, the other three are Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, and Rush Limbaugh.)

Let's start with the assertion that 99% of autism cases are fraudulent. This figure is based on what, exactly? Does Mr. Savage have any scientific studies or educational experience to back this up? Has he personally conducted observation and surveys of autism-diagnosed children to verify the veracity of said diagnosis? No, he does what too many other talking-heads do. He makes up a statistic on the spot – a lie that his loyal listeners will begin repeating as fact.

He supports his hypothesis by citing minority asthma diagnoses.

For a long while, we were hearing that every minority child had asthma. Why did they sudden -- why was there an asthma epidemic amongst minority children? Because I'll tell you why: The children got extra welfare if they were disabled, and they got extra help in school. It was a money racket.

Of course, he fails to notice that concentrated minority populations are often centered most heavily around urban developments where air quality is generally poorer and temperatures are generally higher – compounding factors in the development of lung conditions such as asthma. He fails to note that the still-present racial economic divide gives many minority families less access to locations or products providing cleaner air. No, in his mind, minorities are thieves and doctors are supremely gullible.

He also fails to draw a parallel between asthma and autism that should be obvious. If autism, like asthma, is a minority-driven racket, why are the diagnosis rates among racially diverse populations not significantly higher than among Caucasians. Again, he is presenting his information so that his audience infers conclusions that are simply untrue.

Of the parents I come in contact with on a daily basis, those of my autistic children have some of the highest expectations. They are the most consistent, the most structured. They go above and beyond to ensure their children can function properly in a social world. In fact, if money was the issue, as Mr. Savage suggests, these parents picked the wrong disorder. Getting insurance to help with autism treatment can be a difficult task.

Are there misdiagnoses? Of course, especially since the academic and medical communities' understanding of autism is still evolving. However, it's much harder to misdiagnose autism and much easier to later catch a misdiagnosis than with some other learning disabilities such as ADHD. An autism label is not an excuse, nor is it a cop-out. It is a flag that this child does need help in specific areas, and the goal is that of independence – not reliance.

Mr. Savage wraps up with this jewel.

If I behaved like a fool, my father called me a fool. And he said to me, "Don't behave like a fool." The worst thing he said -- "Don't behave like a fool. Don't be anybody's dummy. Don't sound like an idiot.

You know, that's actually good advice. I just wish Mr. Savage and the uncounted other pundits with a venue to vent would take it. The world would be a quieter, less angry place, and the autistic population would enjoy that immensely.

Update: Gedblog provides some more commentary, and the author wonders what kind of backlash these remarks could gather from parents of autistic children.

via Media Matters

Tags: media, opinion, asd, education

I've heard or read this admission more than once: "A diagnosis for my child is basically a diagnosis for me." At this point, testing for autism or Asperger Syndrome is very likely to occur, and the parent will be supportive of the process. That might not have been the case prior to such a statement. In fact, there is a good chance this parent was resistant to evaluation of their child – an evaluation that might risk damaging that parent's sense of identity and normality.

In 1969, Elizabeth Kübler-Ross released her influential book On Death and Dying, in which she postulated that anyone going through grief will progress through a potential set of five stages. In short, the stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Despite how these stages are portrayed in popular culture, an individual does not have to go through all five stages, nor do they necessarily happen in the same order for every human. (Most people will, at least, experience denial and acceptance.)

Kübler-Ross applies these stages beyond death and dying. She claims any perceived catastrophic loss can bring about this cycle.

This is where autism comes in. Prior to the 1990s, autism was viewed exclusively as a profound disability often associated with extreme antisocial behaviors and mental retardation. After decades of research, the addition of Asperger Syndrome and high-functioning autism to the DSM-IV profoundly altered the landscape of autism. With this alteration came the realization that many adults may be undiagnosed, but they would likely remain that way due to the way special services in this country are handled almost exclusively through the school systems – most notably during the elementary years.

Autism and Asperger Syndrome usually have genetic links to the parents, most commonly the father, but I have seen a couple instances of mother-inheretied traits. It's very likely that one parent identifies more strongly with the child, seeing a younger version of him-/herself in the child. There is nothing wrong with the child because, "He's/She's just like me, and I've turned out okay." I don't type those words disrespectfully or lightly because, implicit in that statement, is a certain hold on reality and identity that an educator may be in the process of shattering.

Compare these phrases to the stages of grief.

• Denial: "There's nothing wrong with my child. They're just like me."
• Anger: "Why are you singling out my child? Why won't you give him/her a chance?"
• Bargaining: "Just wait a couple more years. I'm sure this is just a phase."
• Depression: "I don't know why I try. You must think me a terrible parent."
• Acceptance: "A diagnosis for my child is basically a diagnosis for me."

In all fairness, this progression could be applied to a parent coping with the realization that his or her child has any disability. However, in the case of autism and Asperger Syndrome, I think these stages can become much more pronounced. An educator isn't just asking a parent to shift his or her perception of a child. That educator is also implicitly asking the parent to take an inventory of self and everything he or she has viewed as normal for the past several years – whether or not either party is consciously aware of this internal warfare.

My plea is especially aimed toward educators – among whose numbers I am to be counted. This plea does not come from someone on the outside looking in; someone who is ignorant of the pressures and difficulties inherent in the current system; someone who views you as an enemy; someone who has never seen this painful process from your point of view. I ask you to look at that hesitant and resistant parent with the same eyes with which you look upon your own children, and see what is hiding underneath. Outwardly, he or she might seem belligerent, quarrelsome, and unreasonable, but buried underneath all of that may be a grieving soul who wants to cry out for help.

I remember riding in the car – a red Stanza – on an evening drive back from church on a peaceful interstate, and my fiancée (now wife), while having me grill her over some of the psychology materials she would be taking an exam on that week, suddenly slipped into the conversation, "I think autism could explain a lot of your behaviors." I never believed her. In fact, we would argue about it at times – until my little buddy Nick was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome during my second year of teaching. Then everything clicked into place. That journey took years. Don't expect a parent's journey of self-discovery to be any easier. An ingrained sense of self is a painful thing to shake. Reach out to the parent as you would a child. (Would you really just throw a bunch of badly copied handouts and impersonal informational packets to one of your students?) Understand the potential for grief, and always be ready with a soft answer.

Secondhand diagnosis is not the most pleasant way to discover something hidden within yourself. You, as an educator, can make the journey a little bit easier with a dose of understanding and patience.

Tags: education, asd

I know. Enough with the link-blogging, already, but the teaching schedule is merciless toward my online life. Hold tight. If we stick together, we'll make it out all right. Yes we ... you know.

ABC News: Autism Breakthrough: Girl's Writings Explain Her Behavior and Feelings

From the article:

"Autism is hard because you want to act one way, but you can't always do that. It's sad that sometimes people don't know that sometimes I can't stop myself and they get mad at me. If I could tell people one thing about autism it would be that I don't want to be this way. But I am, so don't be mad. Be understanding."

Just excellent.



Daily Kos: I Refuse to Buy into the Obama Hype

This is an incredibly well-researched post regarding legislation both Senators Clinton and Obama have been involved in and how these bills differentiate the candidates. This is good reading for anyone finding themselves having a hard time deciding which Democratic candidate to support.

I think, by know, you know which Democratic candidate I support. The question is, which Republican candidate do I like better? Inquiring minds...



The Huffington Post: Clinton, Obama And The Belief In The Magic Power Of Words

From the article:

Now, I agree with Clinton that it's important to look at how each of the Democratic candidates uses words and how rhetoric fits into how they've run their respective campaigns. And if you do, you'll see that one candidate does believe that words are like a magic wand: you utter them and reality changes. But it's not Barack Obama -- it's Hillary Clinton.

Clinton's use of words is disturbingly reminiscent of the way the Bush administration has used words: just saying something is true is magically supposed to make it true. Call it Presto-change-o Politics.

Macworld: Apple now No. 2 music retailer in the U.S.

This ranking includes brick-and-mortar locations by the way. I bet you can guess who's number one (shudder).

Tags: education, politics, itunes/ipods, asd

I don't often post negative experiences invloving people I work with because I don't want to embarrass anyone or cause trouble, but I want to write about my feelings toward a specific event that happened at work. Therefore, I'll just treat those parties involved anonymously. Like Dragnet. You know, to protect the innocent.

This last week was a rough one. I had to take a couple of sick days, and I hate taking sick days. Understand, an unanticipated change to my routine is never a Good Thing. Most breaks, half-days, and days-off are met with a certain quirkiness of behavior, but completely unforeseen sick days are the worst. My brain goes into this strange feedback loop of white noise and repeated patterns on sick days. I may lay in bed all day and get no sleep the night after – leading to further problems.

Wednesday, I felt like I could go back to school. I still was very hoarse and was speaking in a very manly register that sounded like a Caucasian Barry White. (Later in the day was worse. I began sounding like Michael Bolton!) I had stayed up far too late the night before, as I am doing right now, and I had a hard time getting myself around in the morning. Mornings are rough in general as it seems to take twenty or more minutes for mind and body to come to any kind of consensus as to what they are doing, but I think that is a familial trait more than anything.

I glanced at the clock as I rushed out the bedroom. I was going to be late – no question about it. A social seizure surfaced, but I managed to postpone it, so I could keep moving. Then, as I was on the road, I realized I had forgotten to put the trash out. Social seizure number two surfaced. I shouted at myself some, but I still had to stifle the meltdown for the sake of driving. (It's not like anyone else was in the car listening.) Shortly thereafter I realized I was going to be late to a meeting I was facilitating. Meltdown number three begins to boil. All of these surged through my brain within about twenty minutes of each other. This was not a Folgers morning.

Fast-forward to the conclusion of the meeting. Things went fine. Afterwards, a coworker asked me, "How are you feeling."

"Physically fine," I answered, immediately regretting my candor in responding.

"How are you mentally?" the coworker pressed.

"Very autistic today," I replied.

The coworker looked at me with an unreadable expression and said, "I'm moving away."

Cue repressed social seizure number four of the morning. Saying that reaction hurt would be like saying Les Misérables is kind of long. It would be like saying Alpha Centauri is a few miles away. It would be like saying Beethoven was slightly troubled. My brain screamed. My muscles ached. For a split instant, I wanted nothing more than to climb inside one of the room's cabinets and huddle away for the rest of the day.

But I didn't.

I postponed reaction again, so I could do my job. That's what you do when you are an adult with autism.

A highly-functioning autistic adult in the workforce – even one who works in education – gets no one-on-one help, gets no intervention strategies, has no access to a cool-down area, a weighted vest, nothing. Compassion can even be hard to come by. In this scenario, it was particularly devastating. My coworker is an educator! This is an individual who is familiar with IEPs and with accommodations. In theory, I could have confessed this to no better person. Still, all I received was a cold shoulder.

When an autistic individual manages to verbally communicate to you that he or she feels autistic, it is not meant to be a conversation-stopper. It is a cry for help – or at least understanding. Don't ignore that. Don't brush it off. In such an admittance, the autistic individual is attempting to reach out. Rebuffing such an effoort only serves to discourage such overtures in the future. It encourages social detachment and isolation. Don't be dismissive.

Tags: asd, education

The Issue

A while ago, Ars Technica ran an interesting piece about the dangers of your online identity to potential employment opportunities, and they recently followed up with another article about the issues facing teachers who blog or participate in social networking. Due to the high scrutiny teachers are held under – especially in regards to student/teacher interactions – online activities could lead to a perception of misconduct or the potential therefore. This may sound like stretching, but such feelings have led the Ohio Education Association to discourage any teachers from participating in online communities.

From the Ars article:

...The Ohio Education Association (OEA) has sent out a memo to teachers in the state, discouraging them from maintaining public profiles at all.

"While this advice might seem extreme, the dangers of participating in these two sites outweigh the benefits," the memo read, according to the Columbus Dispatch. "Because of the high standards placed on school employees and the risk of job and career loss, the OEA recommends avoiding even the appearance of impropriety."

The article continues, citing that online content can be used against Ohio teachers:

The flier also pointed out that anything found online could be used at evidence in disciplinary hearings. Teachers who post too much information online could risk disciplinary action or even lose their licenses, said the director of the Office of Professional Conduct in the Ohio Department of Education, James Miller.

Finally, the article discusses the risks of a student setting up a fake profile for a teacher online that could lead to a damaged reputation.

My Take

Addressing the problems of fakes initially, I seriously doubt that teachers avoiding online social activities such as blogging will prevent a student from setting up a fake profile for you somewhere. This is a risk regardless of your internet habits. However, if you do regularly blog or participate in social networking sites, you will probably be more likely to discover a malicious profile than if you completely abstain from such activities. In this case, I think the Ohio Education Association is naïvely incorrect. Let's face it, who will be more likely to defend themselves from a fraudulent online profile: a teacher who is savvy in social networking or one who only uses the the internet to look up recipes and cute pictures?

As far as blogging goes, here are some general guidelines I follow:

• I seldom post about work. When I do, it's usually something pretty mundane, and I never, ever will use this blog to verbally attack any of my coworkers or direct administrators. I will occasionally post about larger issues in my field of work for which I carry a strong opinion, but those posts will never target things going on at my specific employment location.
  
  
• I try to keep things pretty clean around here. There may be content you disagree with. I may even upset you at times. However, there is nothing on this site that you could define as impropriety. I will even tag a link post if it contains any potentially offensive language or content.
  
  
• This site and my other online activities focus on my life outside education. I have diverse interests that I don't have the freedom to share and explore in an education setting. This is the venue in which I express these.
  
  
• I don't talk to my students online. Some of my kids have found this site. Really, it's pretty boring for them, but I do have a standing policy that I will never email or IM with my students. Sorry kids, you get me at school. We might run into each other at the mall, but that's it.

I do believe potential employers and administrators have a responsibility in this as well. Quite simply, check the context in which something was written, and this includes the date. I know that I've been active in online communities since I was a teenager, and some of that stuff will surface if you search for me on Google. This is very likely true for other bloggers as well. Before you decide to hold something over someone's head, check to see if it's even relevant anymore. Chances are that you don't like being judged by things you did or said when you were seventeen. Don't do that to others.

My online identity is an integral part of who I am. If you are an administrator or a potential employer looking at this, great. Seriously. Feel free to ask me about this site. I'll talk your ear off about what I do here. In fact, you will find out more about me by spending an afternoon on this site than you will by asking me questions. Yes, I do believe that one must be careful if he or she chooses to engage in online networking, but outright prohibition may be a bit extreme. Just behave responsibly online, and you won't have much to worry about.

Tags: blogging, education

I've worked with more children with special needs than I can count anymore. I've experienced things through my children that may be unimaginable to some, even some in education.

I work near project housing. Many of my children come from homes smaller than my living room. Some live in trailers with dirt floors. Some are homeless. Some travel from school to school as parents try to stay one step ahead of collection agencies while other children bear the greatest responsibility for raising their siblings because mom or dad may have to work two or three jobs just to keep food on the table. Some find their only meals at school.

I knew a child who would disrobe and defecate under desks when he felt scared. I've had young children who masturbate as the result of sexual abuse. One of my children would be regularly spotted at a neighborhood park past sundown because that was where she went when her parents argued. It stopped bothering me that she slept in my class. She felt safe there. I know a child who knows how to wrap joints because he's seen it done at home. I've known a six-year old angry enough to destroy classrooms. I just held him. Nothing he can do will ever reciprocate harm for harm from me. I had a child who watched his father gunned down by police during a drug raid. He was never the same after that. Neither was I.

I've worked with children who are bullies, who are bullied, who are autistic, who are bipolar, who are schizophrenic, who are brain damaged, who are epileptic, who have Tourette's, who are gifted and talented, who don't speak English, who have dreams, who have hopes, who want to survive, who want to die.

They all have stories. They all view reality differently, and I want to know what they see. Their perception of reality is their reality, and their behaviors and actions are all informed by that unique reality they live in. Their sense of justice and morality are formed in that reality. Their sense of community and socialization is formed within that reality. Their sense of self-worth and human dignity is formed within that reality.

I cannot dismiss that reality because, when I do, I dismiss the individual.

If I tell one of my literal autistic children, "Get out of town!" in response to something amazing he did, I cannot blame it on him when he runs away. His response is not invalidated because my perception of meaning differs from his. I cannot tell a child who is being bullied day in and day out that, "It's okay," because that statement condones the actions of the aggressors in his or her eyes. I cannot write off issues I do not want to deal with because I perceive reality differently than my children.

Before I can help a child develop past the issues that may hinder healthy development, I have to be willing to stare at the world through his or her eyes. If I blind myself to the sights they offer me, I can in no way help them. If I deny the realities they experience on a daily basis, I fail them. If I cannot love them for who they are, then who will?

Tags: education, asd

This makes me a little angry. The below quote is taken from the front page of the Autism Society of America:

A 2007 Centers for Disease Control report found that 1 in 150 children in America today have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASA estimates that 1.5 million Americans and their families are now affected. Autism is a national health crisis, costing the U.S. at least $35 billion annually.

Translation: "We don't just view autistic children as individuals in need of love and guidance. We see them as burdens to their families and to the national economy!"

Nothing like monetizing and dehumanizing the individuals you claim to help within the first paragraph of your site's introduction. You call yourselves the "voice of autism," but I wonder how many children would introduce themselves as a statistic.

Tags: asd, education

This piece was a little harder to write than my previous reflection, and it was even harder deciding whether or not to post it. Unlike the story that reflects common issues I had in elementary school, this story is very accurate. Some very minor details have been fictionalized for the sake of narrative, and names have been changed, but this one is a very vivid memory. This narrative takes place nine years later than the first, and I was a sophomore in high school.

***

My mouthpiece is missing. The case for my mellophone is in its locker -- bay number 64, past all the woodwind lockers and next to the low brass. My instrument is in its case, but there is no mouthpiece in the case. I take fourteen steps to my French horn locker. It’s empty. Today is a gold day, no band or orchestra on gold days. They are both on blue days.

Marching band rehearsal begins in eighteen minutes. I cannot play without a mouthpiece. I cannot participate in practice without a mouthpiece. Conclusion: my French horn is at home. My mouthpiece is in my French horn case. My mouthpiece is at home.

Mom is at work. Dad is at work. Even if they could get off neither could make it to the house and to school in eighteen minutes -- now seventeen. I can feel myself starting to shake. My breathing becomes shallow and rapid. I know what’s coming, and I can’t stop it. Cold sweat beads up on my neck and shoulders, and the world becomes eerily silent around me.

Mom would take 12 minutes to get home (assuming she misses the light at 106th street, which is timed poorly) and up to 19 minutes getting back to the school -- more if the light at 98th street’s sensor is acting up again. That equals 31 minutes total drive time, not counting the time spent looking for the mouthpiece in the house. Dad would take almost 40 minutes to make it home -- completely out of the question.

Sixteen minutes. If I’m going to be on time for practice, I have to leave in one minute, and even that will cut it close. My friends have already left. I need to ask if anyone has an extra mouthpiece, but my voice has gone missing again. I hate that.

My hands are shaking so hard that I catch my finger in the latch when I close the instrument locker. I slip to the floor and begin rocking. How can I go to practice without my mouthpiece? I hate forgetting things! I hate how my memory seems to rely on location to work. I remember the mouthpiece in the instruments storage room. Why can’t I remember it when I’m someplace else?

My arms have scratches on them. I don’t remember those being there earlier. Scratches always appear on my arms when I’m upset. I look at my watch. Practice begins in two minutes. I’m too late.

I see the angry eyes in my mind of other band members and the directors as I imagine showing up late. I imagine the insults that will be hurled when they realize I’m not prepared to play. I’m immobilized by imagined cruelty, and my tumbling mind silently cries on the cold tile floor of the storage room.

I take 67 steps to the stairwell that leads to the practice rooms. I need to isolate. Now. 24 steps lead to the second level. Room 4 is small and has a piano in it. That’s the best room. The piano barely fits inside, but the strings vibrate very noticeably if you are playing in tune. I like that.

My trembling hand fumble with the door handle, closing it behind me as I collapse to the blue carpeted floor. I place my sweating face against the cold texture of the wall and try to slow my breathing. My mind is empty of thought yet full of fears, full of self-loathing. How can I be so stupid? How?

My head begins hurting, and I realize I’ve been hitting it against the wall. Pulling back, I clamber up onto the piano bench and begin playing chords. Harmonic intervals of two octaves, one octave, a fifth, a fourth, and a third produce the most calming vibrations. I hold the sustaining pedal down with my right foot and create the various major chords following this structure while I set my face against the piano’s smooth face board. I do this for a long time until I stop trembling, and my breathing returns to normal.

When I find my voice, I use a phone downstairs to call the band director I trust -- the one I’ve known since middle school. I leave a message for him saying I think I’ve had a breakdown, and I hang up. I don’t know what else to call it. I look at the clock. Practice will be done in 18 minutes. That’s where Dad will go to pick me up.

I stare fixedly at the ground as I take 3,154 very timid steps to the practice field, trying to be as small as possible the whole way, wishing I could somehow fold into myself and disappear…

***

The next day at school is terrible. Mr. Pike, the band director I don’t really like, tells me he never wants this to happen again, so it never happens again before marching band practice. On the upside, I’ll never forget my mouthpiece again because I’m not taking my French horn home anymore. If I leave it at school, I can’t forget it.

A saxophone player says that he’s sorry, but I don’t know why he’s apologizing. He didn’t leave my mouthpiece at home. Other students (and some adults) call me selfish, self-centered, irresponsible for not coming to practice anyway. The band director I trusted asks me how I think he felt getting that message at home, and how did I get his home number anyway? (It was in his own Rolodex on his desk next to his computer in his unlocked office.)

I know I’m not self-centered. I know I’m not irresponsible. I know I’m not selfish, but I have no answers. I don’t know what I am.

***

Asperger Syndrome was defined in the DSM-IV for the first time this very same year, but it would do me no good at the time. However, this incident was a turning point in that I finally became acutely aware of just how different I was from other people around me, and I began to develop the public character that I still rely on to this day. Great growth came from this one terrible event, and I finally began developing friendships and social circles through which I would later meet my wife.

Still, it would be another eight years before I really had myself figured out.

Tags: education, memoirs, asd

I was walking down the hall the other day, and I saw someone from whom I needed some information. I approached her, and she proceeded to walk right past me to greet someone else – completely ignoring me from my perspective. Completely frustrated, as I gave up and left, I muttered, "What am I? Invisible?"


original image by Jacek Freyer

One challenge I face (as do many other autistic individuals) is the question of how I get your attention. In many cases, your autistic friends, family, or students may not understand how to enter a conversation in a socially appropriate way. In my case, I catch myself just standing nearby waiting to be noticed – unfortunately making myself unintentionally unobtrusive. People don't ignore me. They just don't notice me.

Conversation skills are pretty challenging to teach to children in general, but the amount of unspoken interaction provides an even steeper challenge for autistic children and adults. At younger ages, consistent prompting and modeling as well as social role playing helps surmount those barriers. However, it can be difficult for an adult to relearn habits developed in those formative years.

It's important that teachers, mentors, and peers recognize the challenges faced by autistic individuals with conversation engagement. We can only help when we are consciously aware of those circumstances where are children are trying to get our or someone else's attention – especially if they are the silent, "wait-to-be-noticed" type. Otherwise, we may allow them to become invisible to us, and, if they are invisible to us, they may grow up being invisible to others.

Tags: asd, education

I wrote the following memoir as an assignment for a literacy conference session. It has received some minor edits (listed at the end) from the original but remains largely unaltered. This was scribbled in my notebook over a period of about twenty minutes in the middle of the night while my roommate snored loudly. This is actually fictional, but it is typical of my early school experiences.

There are twenty-two desks in the classroom, eighty-four ceiling tiles plus or minus a few (based on perspective, light arrangement, and wall irregularities), twenty-five cubbies with coat hangars, and one sink with a step stool in front of it.

Nineteen students (counting the author) occupy twenty-two desks. It takes three hundred eighteen steps to get to the cafeteria, eighty-six steps to accelerated math, twenty-eight to the sink, and fourteen to the right cubby – except a direct fourteen-step route makes for a bad day because “14” (like the letter “N”) is uncomfortable.

Teacher Miss Hiles is five feet, four inches (which equals 64 inches in all or 162.5 centimeters). She has been reading for four minutes or 240 seconds. Thirteen words have already begun with the letter “N.” If one more happens too soon – before the brain loses count – this won’t be a good chapter.

“Robert, are you listening?” Teacher says. That is not part of the story. It makes no sense. Ramona was just trying to convince her father to stop smoking after being caught throwing away his cigarettes. Ramona books are by Beverly Cleary who is a better author than Judy Blume because Fudge is annoying. There are three Ramona books at home, and “Robert” in not a character. Did Teacher mean “Ramona?”

“Robert, what did I just read?” What. When. Where. Why. They all sound the same. They are okay in writing, but they aren’t good out loud. They are okay in a book because the book gives the answer. “Romana, why did you throw my cigarettes away?” And Ramona gives a reason. “Why,” in this context, looks for motivation, but why can also mean different things. “Why, look at that rainbow!” Teacher says to listen for something called “inflection.” She once said sentences using different inflections, but they all sounded the same.

“Robert.” There is no Robert in this chapter! Romaona’s dad is Mr. Quimby. Here sister is Beatrice, but she calls Beatrice “Beezus,” and Beezuz is friends with Henry Huggins. Ramona was first introduced in the Henry Huggins books, and she got her own books later. This is called a “spin-off.” This fits Ramona because she likes to spin. She also likes to make curls go “BOING,” and she likes to make noise with Howie. Maybe Howie will get a spin-off.

“Robert, have you listened to a word I’ve said?” Teacher says louder to … to me. She takes some glasses out of a pair of hands. My hands. She puts the glasses on my face. “Robert, you’re daydreaming again. Can you tell me what we’ve been reading?”

Of course I can. I can tell her all about Ramona and her father, but my voice has gone missing. So I just look at my desk. I don’t expect to find my voice on the desk, but looking at the desk avoids all of the frightening faces looking in my direction.

Teacher shakes her head and says she will have to talk to my parents about my daydreaming again. It will be the fourth conference this school year. This is September. September has thirty-one days. Today is the twentieth. A Friday. Birthday was on August twentieth – number six. Six-years-old means kindergarten for some born in August, but I went to kindergarten at five. Something called an I.Q. (or “intelligence quotient”) is 135. I know that “intelligence” means how smart someone is, but “quotient” is a mystery.

I tried to find out by reading every “K” word in the dictionary (American: of or associated with the western hemisphere; Heritage: background or history) – all 2,180. It took five days to read them all. Anyway, it is likely that a quotient has to do with daydreaming. Dad says it has to do with division. “Division,” “daydream,” and “dad” all start with “D,” and you can use the letters in “daydream” to make “dad” as well as “yard” and “dare” and “made” and “ram” and “mare” and …

“Robert!”

I stare harder at the desk. Still no voice.

“Robert, if you are not going to listen, just go sit in the corner.”

I sit in the corner and try to be small. I’m very good at small. You’d be surprised at some of the places I can fit into. When I’m small, my voice comes back, so I count to feel better. Numbers (except for 14) are nice. “1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, …”



The next day we are supposed to write about a favorite book. My paper is about Ramona. I use a pen because pencils give me the bad kind of goose-bumps. So does chalk and velvet.

I write more than anyone in class. My voice was on my desk all along. It was hiding inside my pen.

Alteration from the original:

• The classroom originally had more ceiling tiles, but I felt a smaller number was more accurate. A part of me wants to go back and count.
• I double-checked my Ramona facts. Nothing to fix.
• I changed my teacher's name to keep her anonymous.
• In the original manuscript, I counted by fives. Though I liked fives, chances are I would have counted by odds if upset. They required more concentration and would have better served to take my mind off things. Primes serve that purpose well nowadays.

Tags: education, memoirs, literature, asd

Nobel Intent: The mathematics of language acquisition

Fascinating stuff, and it reinforces the difficulties adults have acquiring new languages. Remember that next you get frustrated that someone is having difficulty with English when they have moved here from another country.



TUAW: Microsoft Office 2008 for the Mac delayed until January 2008

This does not make Robert happy, but what can you do?



Realmac Software: What's New in RapidWeaver 3.6.2

All I care about here is the smart publishing bug fix, but some nice new features have been added as well.

Tags: science, microsoft, rapidweaver, education

Ars Technica: 15-year-old parallel processing patent threatens Sony, PS3

Seriously, what is the deal with these obscure companies that come out of the woodwork waving patents that they have never done anything with? Is patent-squatting some kind of new national pastime?



Infinite Loop: Apple schedules Mac event for Tuesday, August 7

Hmm, Apple is making it clear that this is not an iPod or iPhone related event. I know I'm interested.



Eureka Alert: Test scores slow under No Child Left Behind reforms, gauged by states/federal assessment

From the article:

The share of fourth-graders proficient in reading, based on federal NAEP results, climbed by one-half a percentage point each year, on average, between the mid-1990s and 2002. But over the four years after the legislation was passed, the share of students deemed proficient declined by about one percent.

The annual rise in the percentage of fourth-graders proficient in mathematics improved slightly in the same 12 states, moving up from 1.6 percent per year before ‘No Child’ was signed to a yearly growth rate of 2.5 percent following enactment of the law. This is the one out of six federal gauges where a post-NCLB gain was observed by the research team, tracking NAEP results.

Wow. NCLB is correlated with improvement in 1/6 of measured standards. Of course, NCLB really has little to do with what's best for children as much as it is about what's best for the perception that politician's care.



Infinite Loop: Eminem publisher sues Apple over iTunes downloads

The way I read the article, it sounds like this is really a dispute between Eminem's publisher and Universal Music. Anyway, Eminem's stuff has been on the iTunes store for how long now? Way to take initiative guys...

Tags: macintosh, education, video games, itunes/ipods

Ars Technica: Autism May All Be In the Genes

I tend to be skeptical of all-or-nothing correlations in behavioral science. An individual may be more prone to autistic tendencies due to genetic makeup, but environment will still influence the development of a social disorder to some extent.

However, I do have to admit a biased viewpoint...



The WebKit Open Source Project: WebKit Project Goals

WebKit development is surprisingly transparent when compared to Apple as a whole. Check this out for an idea of where they are taking WebKit, the most prolific web content engine for Mac OS X.



Apple Reports Third Quarter Results

Overall, another very good quarter for Apple. Hopefully, they will get their products to comply with the new Energy Star standards by the end of the current quarter.

Tags: education, software, browsers, apple inc, asd, science

I remember being told by an ex-girlfriend way back in the days of high school, "Leave me alone, and don't talk to me anymore." Several years have passed now, but I've run into her on very rare occasions. Each time, I've had difficulty engaging her in conversation – not due to any ill feeling or bitterness but rather because of that long-standing order of "don't talk to me anymore." Even half a lifetime later, that imperative statement lingers in my psyche, and while I have a rational understanding that her statement is no longer binding, the part of my brain that latches on to it overrides said rationality.

How does this apply to our working with autistic children? Well, how many times have we caught ourselves saying something like...

• ...I don't want to tell you again to follow directions?
• ...I don't want to hear about dinosaurs anymore?
• ...Never sharpen your pencil without my permission?

All of these statements have weight in very specific timeframes and contexts. Unfortunately, our autistic child may be unable to make the distinction, and you may find yourself dealing with a meltdown during a later project about dinosaurs or the next time you give any directions. The child may end up doing no work when you have a sub because he or she cannot ask you to sharpen a pencil if it breaks.

An autistic individual can potentially be extremely literal and will apply statements made by teachers, caregivers, and parents in every context. When teaching children with autism, we need to be conscious of how we say what we do and how that child might apply our casual comments.

Tags: asd, education

Ars: Technica: Gaming has no significant effects on schoolwork, sociability: study

From the article:

Instead of turning kids into loners, gaming largely fell in line with general trends of social interactions. Although there was some variability between the sexes, children who gamed with their friends generally spent more time with friends in every other activity.

and:

If people are concerned about the lack of reading done by adolescents, the fact that non-gamers spend only eight minutes a day reading should be a far larger concern than the fact that gaming causes that figure to drop by a little more than two minutes.

Yet the mainstream media put this study in a far more negative light.



YouTube: iPhone: The Music Video

This is hilarious, and no tech writer but David Pogue could pull this off! (By the way, is that New York representative John Hall at 2:16 in this video? If not, the guy bears an uncanny resemblance!)





RealMac Forge

Realmac Forge is an open-source portal for Realmac Software products. Realmac Forge was set up so users and developers can collaborate and produce new and exciting plugins for RapidWeaver.

Tags: video games, education, silly, software, iphone

YouTube: Paul McCartney - Dance Tonight - Apple iPod + iTunes TV Ad



via TUAW



Guardian Unlimited: Call to ban all school exams for under-16s

Well, this is interesting...



Newsweek: On A Roll, Or, How Microsoft Secured Yet Another Exclusive--Beautiful Katamari--From Namco Bandai

Okay, this just made the whole "which expensive console should I buy" question a whole lot more complicated ... unless, of course, Newsweek is wrong.

via Opposable Thumbs



Ars Technica: AMA chimes in on gaming/violence connection, gaming addiction

From the article:

Overall, the committee seems to have produced a fine report that both accurately affects the current state of knowledge and puts the impetus for acting on it where it belongs: on parents, acting in consultation with family physicians.

Parental responsibility? Imagine that.

Tags: education, video games, itunes/ipods, microsoft

Edutopia: Fast Forward: A School District Redefines Learning

Not only is this a nice article promoting project approach learning, but the elementary school I work at is featured in the article!


some of the wonderful children I work with


two of my favorite people



Pixelmator



This is an open-source based commercial photo editor with a very unique-looking interface. It also integrates with a lot of Mac OS X technologies, and it features GPU acceleration. It's due out in July and will cost $59. I'll definitely be downloading this when it becomes available.

Also, TUAW has posted a video of the application in action.

Tags: education, work, software

Some students and parents are protesting in Fort Worth on behalf of seniors who failed the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills Exam (aka TAKS). Even though the students will not receive diplomas, the protesters want the failed seniors to still have the chance to participate in the commencement ceremony. I think the sign below says it all.

Tags: education, silly

About a year ago, I wrote this about autism and loneliness:

No matter how many people I am around, I am still very much alone.

Autism and Asperger Syndrome can be very lonely conditions. There are few points when an individual dealing with these labels will feel truly comfortable interacting with peers and acquaintances. Even when social interaction occurs, a level of detachment exists that impedes the communication between the autistic individual and the neurotypical individual. Parents and teachers are constantly looking for ways to help their autistic child branch out better and feel more comfortable in social situations – from peer buddies, to journals, to visual cues, and many other strategies.

One strategy that has made a huge impact with me is blogging. What you are reading right now is the single most comfortable form of social interaction I could possible have with you. I express and communicate things through my blog I might have difficulty with face-to-face (or face-to-shoes as the case may be). Blogging has helped my social development, plain and simple, and this improvement has been slowly filtering into other social situations.


Before you dismiss this intervention, consider this. If you have an aspie or a high-functioning autistic individual in your life, how much does he like to write? Chances are, the answer is, "a lot." Blogging is a great outlet for writing. Whether it's poems, short stories, nonfiction, daily journals, or something else entirely, you can put it on a blog. Suddenly, the writing is no longer in a private notebook. It's on the web for anyone to see!

Privacy can be a concern here. MySpace has especially received its share of bad press when it comes to individuals stalking our children. Here's the thing: it doesn't have to be MySpace. Blogger, TypePad, and LiveJournal are all examples of MySpace alternatives. Also, as the adult, you should set up the account under a username that tells nothing of the child's identity. You can control what information is included in the "About Me" section, and you can decide whether or not other people can make comments on the site. Blogging can be a very safe way of communicating with the world. Much of the stigma comes from the many people who use blogging irresponsibly.

During the life of this blog, I have posted numerous entries on presenting. I've reviewed an office suite and an operating system. I've discussed internet ethics, game ratings, the recording industry, and, of course, my experiences with Asperger Syndrome. What might your child accomplish? What voice might he or she discover that lay repressed in other settings? Give this a try. Set up a safe blog for your child. Give it some time, and see what kind of product is produced. You might even learn some new things about your own child.

Tags: blogging, asd, education

Presentation Zen has a couple of good entries about faults surrounding PowerPoint and the option of avoiding the application (and those like it) entirely.

• David Byrne on PowerPoint: Freedom – who needs it?
• Is it finally time to ditch PowerPoint?

Daring Fireball has two posts regarding some facts about AAC and some of the recent misinformation spreading around regarding the audio format.

• Some Facts About AAC
• A Wee Bit More on AAC, Ogg, and MP3

Nobel Intent: Teachers and testing under scrutiny

I love the opening lines:

Education is a perennial political football. It is one of those lovely subjects where everyone feels that, since they went to school once, they have an equally valid view of "what is wrong with education today."

TUAW: More Leopard Delay Reaction

In case you didn't here, Leopard is experiencing a four-month release delay from June to October. My take is that the sky is not falling – not even close. Others disagree. TUAW's post here aggregates some sensible and entertaining views on the delay.

Tags: powerpoint, technology, education, leopard, drm, os x

I wasn't planning on blogging about this, but here I go. I'm going to warn you now that this post may be quite a bit more negative than you are used to reading here.

Steve Jobs and Michael Dell, this weekend, spoke very candidly about the needs of education reform in this country. I agree with much of what they have to say, and, even though neither probably have any clue what it is, they both advocated project-based learning in many of their comments.

From the Statesman.com article:

"Dell also recalled how, as a seventh-grade student, he was fascinated by his school's teletype machine. He and Jobs said it's that sort of passion and fascination that is critical to get students engaged and do their best work."

"Simply through a deep interest in something, students will learn how to work through problems and find ways of solving them, Jobs said."

This is fantastic material, and this is also the type of stuff that no standardized test can measure. However, neither Dell nor Jobs spoke to the travesty that is standardized testing and Adequate Yearly Progress.

Where things come apart is with this statement by Jobs:

"I believe that what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way," Jobs said. "This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy."

First off, at least in Indiana, lifetime employment is a thing of the past. Your license has to be renewed every five years if you are going to keep teaching. However, I don't have a problem with that statement. His information is just out-of-date there. My problem is with his calling out teachers unions. I'm sure there are plenty of examples of poorly implemented unions and sub-par teachers taking advantages of the security of unions, but let me tell you something you may not know about teachers: They put others before themselves.

This is the whole point of becoming a teacher. Teachers want to help others reach their potential and excel in life. They sacrifice of themselves to make sure their children are provided with what they need to learn. The type of person who will become a teacher is the type of person who will unquestioningly go above-and-beyond in making sure the learning and developmental needs of the children he or she works with are met.

"Why does this matter?" you ask. I didn't say that to merely blow my own horn. The fact is this type of person is easily exploited. School administration and politicians know what kind of people go into education. Administrators and politicians know they can get away with taking advantage of these employees because the employees, for the most part, will not retaliate in any meaningful way. Why? Because if they do, it is the children who suffer! I could easily provide numerous examples from both my wife's job and my own to support this. Unfortunately, if I get too specific, I could probably lose my job – despite our union.

Just from a financial standpoint, both my wife and I spend literally hundreds of dollars a year on our classrooms. We spend hundreds of unpaid hours doing school-related work, and all the while I've been watching my paycheck get smaller due to the imbalance between pay raises and hikes in fees like insurance. It's ridiculous how much teachers are stepped on by those running education in this country, and, without any unions in place, it could be much worse.

Unfortunately, these comments seem to be gaining some support in the tech circles they are being discussed in most. Favorite blogger of mine John Gruber says he completely agrees with Jobs, and some of the comments in this Infinite Loop post just turn my stomach:

"And, by the way, no teacher has a class with "two or three" times as many students as recommended. Classes are held to 34 students, except for very rare, and special circumstances. Then, a few more might be added."

I can't believe anyone actually thinks 30+ students is an acceptable class size. Perhaps it would be fine if every child came from a perfect family, had an average IQ, and all had similar experiences, but in reality this doesn't work. One colleague of mine has 30 students this year. A full third of them have IEPs, of those she has three or four with serious behavioral and emotional problems, specifically with aggression. She has students who are reading two grade levels above their current grade and student reading two levels below. She has kids who are very advanced in math while others have problems with simple addition and subtractions. Yet somehow, basically by herself, she has to meet all of their educational needs and get them to pass our state's standardized test next year.

"Teachers are rarely held accountable for their performance because schools don't have any particular need to excel. Jobs simply understands that a business needs to adapt and excel in order to survive. Throwing more money at schools is not a solution. We should be getting a far higher return on the investment we are already making."

Well my friend, perhaps you've never heard of an act called No Child Left Behind or, as I prefer to call it, No Teacher Left Standing. However, this person is right about the money. It shouldn't be thrown at schools. It should be thrown at teachers.

•••

In all of this, there were a couple of individuals who seemed to get it:

"That situation makes for the truly dangerous teacher: the apathetic one that only does enough to escape notice by parents and school boards, and does little but pass little Joanie to the next level. A teacher that challenges the students, truly educates them without attempting any politically motivated indoctrination, is a great teacher, but vulnerable and exposed."

Regarding "that situation," this person is speaking of all the negativity geared toward teachers from parents, administration, and politicians. Here's where apathetic teachers come from: they are the good ones who burned out.

"Steve forgot to note is that it isn't sufficient to fire bad employees. You also have to reward the good ones."

Unfortunately, the way the system is set up, the negative is much easier to focus on and react to that the positive. The entire AYP system in punitive, and that atmosphere trickles down from the politicians to the administration. This is the atmosphere that contributes to teacher burnout.

"Nearly all the problems in schools today are due to capitalistic ideals, and education should not be a contest."

Amen.

•••

When it comes down to it, unions are very necessary to the well-being of teachers. The fact is, politicians and businessmen run school systems – not educators – and they would exploit teachers for all they could if unions did not stand between them and the teachers. Right now, teachers have to play the roles of educator, moral compass, counselor, nutritionist, and sometimes therapist with our children. We have to teach the three "R"s while putting out behavioral fires and differentiating our instruction for the various ability levels in our classes. We have to appease administration and parents while trying to do what is best for the children. I can't imagine how things would deteriorate without a union there to help hold back the floodgates.

I'm all for education reform, but, just as I believe in student driven learning in the classroom, I believe education reform should be teacher-driven. No CEO, lawyer, politician, Hollywood producer, or pundit can determine what is best for the children of our country without getting into the trenches and actually teaching in a classroom for several years, and I would challenge any individual to work in a low-income school like many I've had experience with and not walk away a changed person.

Yes, there are a lot of problems with education. However, advocating the removal of the one entity that actually stands up for teachers' rights is not a solution to anything. Maybe Jobs wasn't really speaking to the actual removal of unions, but that is how a lot of people could take it, so that is the issue I decided to address.

Tags: education, opinion

CPUs: How much control should our users have

This is another great Kathy Sierra post. Oddly enough, even though she is talking about software and product design, this concept can apply back to classrooms. How much does the payoff of the work and projects we assign to students correlate with the perceived rewards of said work?



Presentations ETC Homepage

This site offers a lot of free PowerPoint backgrounds and Keynote themes (and the Keynote themes are honest-to-goodness theme files). Most are pretty average, but I found two I like: Cloudy, a very minimalist theme, and Old Book, a nostalgic-looking theme.

x

The site also contains links to several useful PowerPoint and Keynote resources.



Two more links to keep you feeling the RIAA love...

• Ars Technica: Leaked letter shows RIAA pressuring ISPs, planning discounts for early settlements
• Ars Technica: Study: P2P effect on legal music sales "not statistically distinguishable from zero"

Tags: riaa, education, powerpoint

CPUs: Marketing should be education, education should be marketing

This is a really neat article and something I've been trying to convince teachers of for some time.

Tags: education

An autistic individual is "never wrong." There is a sense of rightness many autistic individuals have (especially on the high-functioning end of the spectrum) that can be difficult to shake once it sets in. If your autistic child is convinced they are right about something – no matter how wrong they might be in reality – he or she is not likely to peacefully accept being contradicted.


In these situations, argument will achieve nothing. Your child will eventually walk away frustrated, and you will as well. You won't convince the child they are in error no matter how vehemently you try. The child will respond in equal vehemence, so what to do? Do you allow the error to persist to avoid conflict?

Not long ago, one of my little friends in fourth grade was frustratedly "correcting" some pictures of spiders on his class' dry erase board. The spiders had eight legs, and he had it in his head that the spiders should have six legs. When a peer told him that the spiders were supposed to have eight legs, our autistic friend became loudly argumentative about the topic. Instead of joining the argument on the side of the correct child, the teacher merely disingaged the conflict and left the altered spiders alone.

Later, the teacher just casually brought up spiders again, and the subject of legs came up. A student answered that spiders have eight legs, and the teacher praised the student for the answer. Immediately, our autistic friend hurried over to the board and added two legs to the spiders he had earlier removed those same legs from. Separated from the situation of being confronted and challenged for his thinking, the child was able to recognize and correct his mistake.

If you have an autistic child who becomes stubborn about an untrue fact, immediate contradiction will not correct the mistake. Even if you show the child concrete evidence that proves the point, you have still accomplished nothing. All you've done is create a frustrating situation that serves to alienate your child from yourself. Instead, fight the temptation to argue. Disengage, and allow time for the child to cool down. Then, subtly guide him or her into discovering the error. More often than not, the child will accept being wrong if he feels he has discovered it himself. Remember, we adults have to be more capable of being calm and in control than our students may be capable of having problems. Let's not allow ourselves to be drawn into arguments that get nowhere.

Tags: asd, education

Slate: The Autism Numbers: Why There's No Epidemic

This article nails a lot of good points. In the grand scheme of things, autism (and the spectrum disorders to a greater extent) is a relatively new diagnosis. However, the lack of diagnosis does not mean it didn't exist in previous centuries.



Macworld: Apple reports record-breaking $1 billion profit

That's a big number. Of course these record-breaking numbers sparked a drop in Apple's stock price. I'll never understand Wall Street.



Indexed

I really like this blog. You'll either get it, or you won't. Regardless, it's unique.



Ars Technica: Wireless power sparks interest at CES

This could be really great for absent-minded people like me who always forget to plug things in.

Tags: education, technology, apple inc, asd

In Mark Haddon's book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Christopher simply states, "I see everything." In this, he encapsulates the problem many autistic individuals have filtering the information around them.



In some cases, higher-functioning autism is misdiagnosed as ADHD – and for good reason. With both cases, you have what appears to be a general lack of focus in highly stimulating environments, but the root causes are different. With ADHD, the brain has difficulties focusing in on any one stimulus at a time and begins cycling through various points of attention in the environment – both external and internal. With autism, the brain has problems prioritizing stimuli, and it tries to simultaneously process too much information, resulting in a jumble of inputs.

Every autistic child will likely have one sense that is more prone to this than others. Sight and hearing are the most common. In any setting where there is a lot of aural or visual stimulation, it is a good idea to begin monitoring any children you have with autism. If the brain becomes overwhelmed in its attempts to simultaneously process everything, the child may go into a social seizure. If you see signs that a meltdown is imminent, it's a good time to utilize any safe spot you have determined for that child.

Too many inputs can create a state of confusion within the mind of an autistic individual. I had one student once tell me, "I don't like it when everyone talks at once. It stops making sense." It may be difficult, but if you have an autistic student or child, be aware of the amount of information that may be flooding the child's senses, and look for ways to regulate that stimulation when possible.

Tags: asd, education

At home or in the classroom, an autistic individual needs a place of escape – someplace that feels safe and secluded when social seizures or meltdowns occur. One of the harder things for parents and teachers to accept is that an autistic social seizure is not a choice. This is not a case of throwing a temper tantrum because the child is upset. A meltdown is far deeper than that.


I've heard social seizures compared to a psychological Control + Alt + Delete, but, in some cases, it may be more appropriate to describe them as hard reboots. Many factors can lead to this reboot, and it is seldom one specific trigger that leads to the meltdown. A variety of stimuli begin to create conflicting processes in the brain, and they become impossible to sort out, prioritize, and deal with. The result is a social seizure.

When (not "if") these occur, it is important that the autistic individual be able to remove him- or herself from the immediate environment and escape to a safe place. If not provided, the child will often create a safe place, such as a corner, under a desk, or in between bookcases – someplace where external inputs can be limited and monitored. By selecting a safe place ahead of time, you create a predictable structure to follow that benefits both you, the child, and other students in the class.

While the student is in his/her safe place, it is also important not to force them out too early. Just like you can't go printing a thesis the moment you reboot a computer, it will take time for the child's brain to return to its normal functioning level. Once back, the autistic individual may be able to carry on as if nothing happened at all. Break the process too early, and a more severe meltdown or outburst may be the result.

Even among the most high-functioning autistic individuals, social seizures are a fact of life. They may grow more rare with time or medication (in more severe situations), but, regardless of how intelligent or rationale an autistic child may be, caregivers and teachers need to have a plan in place when that rationality breaks down. A basic step in that plan is a place of escape when meltdowns occur. Create a safe haven for the child where he or she can recuperate, and you will save yourself and the child a great deal of grief.

Tags: asd, education

"Look at me when I'm talking." How many times do we say that when trying to communicate with a child – even if we know full and well this request poses a serious challenge for that individual? Even I catch myself doing this, and I should know better.


When speaking with an individual with a PDD such as Asperger Syndrome, don't demand eye contact. While seeing the eyes may make us feel we are being listened to, the fact is, the other person is concentrating so hard on maintaining eye contact that he/she may be having difficulties retaining what you are saying.

In my experience (on both ends of this challenge), I've found that I can allow the child's eyes to wander freely, but maintain a close proximity. Asking the child to re-explain what you are saying can help confirm understanding. Do this every couple of sentences. Finally, Kneel down to his/her level. The child will have an easier time making occasional eye contact if you do this.

In addition to these tips, over time, guide the child in trying to look at a part of a speaker's face close to the eyes – the bridge of the nose, for example. Most people really can't tell a lack of eye contact if it is "close enough." This helps the individual fit in better at social settings without doing too much damage to those social boundaries unique to autism.

Remember, eye contact, or lack thereof, is not necessarily an indicator of attention. When it comes to PDDs, demanding eye contact may damage comprehension, so look for other ways to confirm and reaffirm attentiveness that don't involve breaching social comfort levels. However, every autistic individual is unique. My suggestions work for me, but they will not work for every individual. Persistence and patience will eventually lead to better communication as you grow to better understand your autistic friend.

Tags: asd, education

One of the more interesting aspects of working with Asperger Syndrome is that some of the qualities are very childlike in nature. In other words, you would almost expect any child to posses that given quality, but the aspie child will not necessarily "grow-out" of that quality as he/she reaches adulthood.

One such quality is that of literalness. Most individuals with Asperger Syndrome (and other forms of autism spectrum disorder for that matter) have a difficult time translating idioms, figures of speech, and sarcasm into the intended meaning. Furthermore, differentiating a rhetorical question or statement from a purposeful question or statement can pose a problem.

Three Examples

1. A mother is printing out an important document and runs out of printer paper. She calls to her son: "Can you run to the store and buy some more printer paper?" Forty-five minutes later, her son rather sweaty, the mother is handed a new ream of printer paper.

What happened? The child jogged to the store, bought the paper, and jogged back – exactly as he was asked to do.

2. A girl drops a bowl on the floor, and it breaks. Mom throws her arms up in the air and yells, "Well that's just great!" when she sees the mess. Hearing this, the girl proceeds to throw another bowl on the floor.

What did the girl hear? "That's just great!" Now you could probably read voice inflection into that statement, but the autistic individual may not be able to translate voice inflection in a meaningful way. Read the example again, and try to remove any inflection from your inner voice. Can you understand why the girl threw another bowl on the floor?

3. On a test, a boy reads the question: "Can you explain the theme of this book?" The student honestly writes, "No," in the provided space and proceeds to the next question. Later, he is shocked to see that answer marked as wrong.

Again, look at the wording of the question. "Can you explain..." The student answered the question, but he honestly misunderstood the meaning of that question.

Now, if I said each of these examples were 6-8 year-olds, you would shrug your shoulders and say something like, "Kids do the silliest things." However, what if these are all teenagers? Well, the first one is just dumb, I guess, and the other two may be mistaken as serious attitude problems.

A Simple Matter of Mistranslation

A child with Asperger Syndrome will be very intelligent in many areas, so much so that we adults who interact with them may forget those areas where they are still developing. They are not being smart-aleks when they fire off an answer to a rhetorical question. No attitude is intended when an unexpected answer is given to a request. It is just a simple mistranslation. You said one thing, the meaning clear in your head, but the receiver heard exactly what you said and took every syllable literally.

Examples like numbers two and three still throw me off occasionally to this day. I answer rhetorical questions all the time, and I (admittedly) have no clue how to pitch my voice to correctly use figures of speech, sarcasm, or rhetorical questions in my everyday conversations. In fact, I've given up on rhetorical questions so entirely, I couldn't even come up with an example of one in the above illustrations!

These language devices are very common in everyday speech – so much so that it would be a difficult conscious effort for many to avoid using one or all of them for an entire day, but don't assume that everyone who hears you understands your meaning. You may have listeners who only understand exactly what you say.

Tags: asd, education