World Autism Awareness Month

April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Month.

Teaching children with special needs is a very rewarding profession, as is teaching all children. I have been fortunate in my career to work with a number of children who were (and still are) on the autism spectrum.

The rate of autism in children continues to grow – according to a recent CBS news release, 1 out of every 88 children has an autism spectrum disorder. The rate is higher among boys (1 out of every 54) and varies from location to location. The CBS report is based on a study by the CDC.

Teaching today involves working with a variety of learning styles and needs. Our learners are more complex than ever, and children with autism spectrum disorder provide unique challenges for families, teachers, support staff and schools. I firmly believe that children with autism provide great benefits to a school.

One of my favourite things in public education is that we are open to all children, and have passionate people who are dedicated to optimizing learning experiences for children with special needs. I have been witness to children we were told were non-verbal reading the alphabet out loud – I still have a video of a little girl reading her letters and rearranging them into the proper order. I have been witness to a child learning to use an iPad to communicate with staff. I have been witness to positive social activities involving children with autism and their classroom peers. I have been witness to staff and parents being amazed at what children with autism can accomplish.

On Monday, I will take time from my day to reflect on the many children with autism I have had the privilege to have come in contact with over my 20+ years of teaching. I will think about all the challenges that they face in their daily lives, as well as the challenges that their families face. I will also smile as I remember the many successes that these children have accomplished.

One success story from the United States that I think people should hear is an interview with Dr. Temple Grandin, an associate professor of animal science at Colorado State University. Click here to hear an interview with Dr. Grandin about her experiences with autism. Thanks to Gowa Kong for tweeting this link.

Learn More about Autism

Autism Speaks is a very good source of information on autism and would be a good place to visit if you want to learn. Their page, What is Autism?, provides an excellent overview of autism spectrum disorder.

 

Take care.

Thoughts on Math Anxiety

I have found a blog site that I have added to my must read list. I found it through Twitter, and now I try to visit their site at least a couple of times per week.

The site is Mind Shift, and today, they posted an article about math; How to Deal With Kids’ Math Anxiety.

Anxiety will be a topic of discussion for teachers, parents, principals and vice-principals for years to come. More and more people are talking about anxiety in children of all ages, and we all need to make the effort to learn more about anxiety and how we can help one another handle it.

The above article focuses on a study at the Stanford University School of Medicine. They report some interesting findings:

“Brain scans of these children also show that when they’re in the grip of math anxiety, activity is reduced in the information-processing and reasoning areas of their brains—exactly the regions that should be working hard to figure out the problems in front of them. “

“The scientists’ analysis of neural networks revealed that the two activity levels were connected: The buzz in the brain’s fear center was interfering with the ability of its problem-solving regions to do their job.”

The final line of the article I think bears repeating: By deliberately shifting their frame of mind, students can make that creepy-crawly feeling of anxiety go away.

Many resources on anxiety talk about making use of replacement thoughts, and to try and focus on positive, confident feelings. Some thoughts could be:

  • “It’s hard, but I can do it.”
  • “Everyone makes mistakes.”
  • “I am going to be brave and try it on my own.”

Stress and anxious moments are part of school. Adults can play an active and positive role in modeling positive thinking for children, and encourage them to practice positive thoughts. Role playing, regular reminders (“I can do some breathing to relax.”), and proper nutrition, sleep and exercise can all assist someone who is feeling anxious.

If the level of anxiety continues to grow, or if it is something that a parent is concerned about, I recommend consulting your family doctor. Intervening early is important when dealing with anxiety, and asking for help from a doctor is a good problem solving strategy.

If you have an anxious child, work with your child’s teacher(s) to develop ways to help lesson the anxiety at school. Keep the home/school communication channels open, and visit school regularly.

I am sure we can all help one another to help lesson the anxiety about school.

Take care.

 

 

Playing Tag

I played some tag today at lunch on the primary playground. I am not sure how it started, but it may have had something to do with a soccer ball that defied gravity and would not come down from the trees, so we needed a new game to play. I am also not sure how many of us were playing, but I think we had children from all four primary grades.

If the purpose of tag nowadays is the person who is tagged the most wins – then “I win!” 🙂 Yessssss!

Take care.

Ready Set Learn

We often talk about public education being focused on children in Kindergarten through grade 12. Schools do more, and we look beyond the K-12 model and also focus on early learning.

Initiatives such as Ready Set Learn, and StrongStart programs are ways that schools are looking at helping support the development of our preschool children. The Ministry of Education has developed an Early Learning Framework document that outlines many key ideas related to our youngest learners.

This document, British Columbia’s Early Learning Framework, is intended to guide and support early childhood educators, StrongStart BC facilitators, early years professionals, service providers, communities and governments in providing rich early learning experiences for children from birth to kindergarten. The document may also be of interest for families with young children.

Play Matters

Learning through Playing – Most of children’s early learning takes place through play. Play is so important that its significance in children’s lives is recognized by the United Nations as a specific right in addition to the right to recreation and leisure.

Of course, in playing, children are having fun. The positive emotions associated with play are as important as the skills they are building in creating a disposition that embraces learning.

 

Ready Set Learn is a program that invites 3-year-olds (and their parents) into schools to play. This year, our theme is Sand, Water and Rice. Children will be given an opportunity to play with sand, water and rice along with their parents. Parents will be able to go home with some new ideas on playing with their child, and hopefully, an understanding and respect for the importance of play.

We have invited a guest speaker to join us and to share a story with children and help guide us through the wonders of play with children.

Some of the things parents will observe when children play with sand, water and rice are: comparing and measuring, sharing and talking turns, investigating, wondering, experimenting, building and modifying.

Do you know any 3-year-olds who would love to play?

Ask them to keep an eye out in the North Shore News for a Ready Set Learn ad from the North Vancouver School District. Our session is for the morning of April 24th, but if you are not free that day, there are other sessions being held at all North Vancouver elementary schools.

Our session begins at 9:00 am (location in the school to be announced) and is scheduled to run until 10:30. We invite parents of any 3-year-olds to come and join us. Please RSVP with the main office to assist us with our planning. You don’t have to stay the whole time, but your child may be having so much fun, you won’t be able to leave. More information will be sent out to our community through our newsletter and our web site.

All children in attendance will receive a bag of goodies related to sand, water and rice play. Please let us know you are coming so that we can have enough goodie bags. Thanks.

Please note: Ready Set Learn is different from a Kindergarten orientation. Cleveland will host an orientation session for our registered families in May.

We look forward to seeing our young learners.

Take care.

Sharing Stories

I have been fortunate these past two days to hear from some students about their Spring Break activities or vacation plans. Students were quite happy and willing to share their stories, so I thought I would share some of what I heard (no names though).
 
I heard this week about:
 
Trips out of country – kids liked their trips to Hawaii, Florida, California, Mexico, England, New York, Montreal, Seatle and many other places.
 
More local trips – Whistler, Rossland, Victoria, local mountains, cabins, shopping malls, etc.
 
Sports – we have tennis champs, hockey champs, skiers, swimmers, divers and other athletes who were very busy during the break.
 
Playtime – kids liked Disney World & Disney Land – kids had fun at Universal Studios & Harry Potter Land (I am not sure if that is the official name – I think it is somewhere in Florida)  
 
Sleeping in – I think this was a popular activity of choice for a lot of our  older students.    
 
   
Some stories were not as positive. Some kids were very sick during the break, but they report that they are feeling better now. Good news.
 
I am sure there are many more stories that I will hear over the next few weeks. I have not yet heard from our dancers or skaters or water polo players or soccer players or artists or skate boarders or explorers or dreamers or photographers or writers or readers or musicians or…
 
Thank you to those students who did share with me. I love to hear from you. Keep those stories coming.

Take care.