Regardless of the method used to classify children as minimally verbal, 43 to 52 percent of minimally verbal children have significantly higher nonverbal than verbal intelligence scores. Great news for all of us that care for children with a communication impairment even though it’s something we already knew as parents. Something I’ve been saying for…
Pursuit
Professor Pup’s Phoneme Farm….For Speech?
“Nearly 70% of America’s kids read below grade level. I am Dr. Michael Colvard and I teamed up with a producer from The Simpsons to build a game to help!”~ Dr. Michael Colvard Professor Pup’s Phoneme Farm….For Speech? I read this AMA (ask me anything) by Dr. Michael Colvard, a practicing eye surgeon in Los Angeles on Reddit “Nearly…
DIY Sensory Swing
“My son Logan has been going to occupational therapy and he loves the swing there and it really benefits his need to be held snuggled close and to swing around but when I looked on line either stuff is super expensive or I can’t find anything. So I made our own version” ~Raluca This was…
Dr. Tomorrow Predictions Come True #PokemonGo
“Why do students leave school? Mostly due to boredom. Yet Nintendo can hold a kid’s interest for six hours. Maybe we are doing something wrong.”~Dr. Tomorrow All that is missing from Dr. Tomorrow’s quote is #PokemonGo As a parent I’ve been sharing about how video games can help with special needs since my boys were…
The True Story Of The Real Life Little Mermaid
“Crying was viewed by the ABA people Melanie worked with as a “breakthrough” With no alternative means of communication, and no way to talk, Melanie failed miserably on simple tasks that were well beneath her capabilities, and her confidence and energy for life, what was left of it, slipped away as well. The only thing Mel…
Newborn Babies Cry With An Accent
“Newborns are likely highly motivated to imitate their mothers in order to enhance bonding” ~Kathleen Wermke PhD Language begins with the very first cry A study published in 2009 in the journal Current Biology suggested crying infants may be imitating the patterns of the language they heard while in the womb. Essentially they found babies from…
Planning Your Child’s Transition to Preschool
Planning Your Child’s Transition to Preschool: A Step-by-Step Guide for Families Original Paper by Lynette K. Chandler, Susan A. Fowler, Sarah Hadden, and Lisa Stahurski A publication of FACTS/LRE, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign I’ve referred to this paper for over a decade and the original website that hosted this has been gone for…
Tips On Easing Preschool Separation Anxiety
According to a newsletter published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), early childhood educators suggest staying in the new situation with your child the first few days, for decreasing amounts of time, until he is comfortable with his new environment. Your child will feel more comfortable with you there for…
Notes From A Warrior Mom For IEP Meetings
“I went in there so prepared….. but most of all, I had a belief of what was right… and I was not going to settle for anything BUT what was APPROPRIATE for my Son…. LOL- my hubby used the word “best” a few times…. it was perfect….. and gave me a chance to say “that…
Wise Words About Stupid Standardized Testing
“I asked the district at that point to give me the closest thing they could legally to the FCAT reading and math test, and I took it. That test labelled me as a poor reader, and I have a couple of masters’ degrees, and I’ve been re-elected four times and I teach 39 graduate courses at six universities in this country.” ~John…