How was your 2011?

I want to do a bit of introspection for the year that was 2011. I know, there are still a few days left before we finally say goodbye to 2011 and this seems something that looks like “forced” and too early.

• 2011 was a busy year with even more focus on the children’s needs and activities as well as more focus on my students whose needs are developing too.

• 2011 was a challenging year especially since the family has to deal with more pressing concerns in different aspects of our lives.

• 2011 was like a myriad of emotions when it comes to how we reacted to the different local and world events as they unfold

• 2011 was and still is a year I have to deal with health issues plaguing the family members but we try our best to stay healthy by choosing healthier food choices and getting rid of or avoiding things/events that bring a lot of stress

• 2011 made me realize I can do so much more if only I put more effort into what I know I can do best

Are you looking forward to doing more improvements to your life and meeting more challenges in 2012?

The MIL wants to set up a gift shop in the small store she has in her home down south. We have been looking for ideas that will help her conceptualize what she really wants to do.

Gift shops are wonderful, especially those that have hard-to-find items. Personally, I like browsing items in gifts shops, especially those that are daintily designed.

Shopping is slowly getting revolutionized due to the presence of online sites. The comforts of doing your shopping through online means is not something everyone can do though.

I think the ladies do this online shopping more than the guys. Not all guys can get their love ones gifts and buy her valentines gifts online though the number of them are starting to get the hang of it. For guys who are not really fond of going to the malls to shop, this is definitely welcome.

Meanwhile, I hope the MIL will decide on what she wants so I can go with her, if she asks me to, when she shops for what she wants to sell

Christmas is one of the most anticipated events we have. For some of my students in the past, there were a few who believed in the magic of Santa Claus via the gifts thy receive.

Of course, there was no way I will burst their bubble by saying that … never mind. When asked if I tell my children about Santa Claus, I tell them that I teach the children about the birth of Jesus Christ and what it represents to the Christians.

I also tell them that we traditionally ask the children to choose what they want for Christmas to be given as gifts. They are surprised I do that. But I tell them, better we give what they like (as long as these are within the budget) than they get something they don’t like.

So what do we teach the children about Christmas besides the Bible-related verses? We teach them that Christmas is about:

• Love. Loving your family and friends not just during the Christmas season but the whole year through. Year after year after year.
• Generosity. Generosity that does not just pertain to gifts and things that money can buy but generosity of kind words, respect and kind words among others.
• Family. Christmas is about family and how we should treasure each and everyone in our family.

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas!

This post written today, December 28th, but time-stamped for an earlier date for the ABC posts that I had not done since the last post I published dated December 6.

Bullying is probably one of the worst things that can happen to children. Most vulnerable to bullying are children with special needs.

No matter how much we brief our children on what to do just in case they get bullied, it is another story when they are on their own.

Young children are not exempted from bullying.

Online bullying happens and is probably just as scary as being bullied at the back of the school building because more people read and see what is happening. It is important to teach children about being careful when they do online activities.

For the teens, with the many issues they are going through, there are some things happening that make them vulnerable to being bullied or becoming bullies themselves. Coping with the challenges they face may make them unsure of what they should do and there are cases when they act out unexpectedly. continue reading this entry »

I thought about updating this blog with ABC’s of special education and as it is I am late because it is the 6th day of December and I only have A is for Autism written. Thank goodness for the geniuses over at WordPress who thought about having that time-stamped button and I can post whenever I can. I know, it feels like cheating.

Exams are coming up and there are so many projects and activities that need to be accomplished. I still have to do the reviewers for the children.I also have some a lot of house chores to do and I hope I would not have to resort to having weight loss pills due to all the cooking I will do to be able to wear Christmas-y clothes. I have not done the tree yet as of today.

I am, however, optimistic that I can do this. Writing new posts about special education is long overdue and it is time I update.

And now on to do the dishes first! LOL.

Activities for Daily Living – these are activities that will help students with special needs to adapt to “real-life” situations like waiting for a bus ride, ordering food and preparing your own food like making a sandwich or a bowl of soup.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). I got several ADHD related posts here.

Affect is the general feeling tone. We can feel the happiness or sadness of a person based on his/her affect when they express themselves. For children diagnosed with autism, however, they need to be taught how to talk differently depending on their mood because most of them exhibit monotone voice when talking.

Alternative Career Options for those who are mainstreamed but would probably have difficulty getting full academic college degrees.

Auditory Discrimination is the ability to detect differences in sounds. One of the exercises for this would be drills about homographs. More about the terms pertaining to the auditory functions in this post.

Assessment is testing and evaluation to know what kind of services are to be given to a child diagnosed as having learning difficulties.

I am sure there are a lot more important terms that I missed so I am hoping I would be able to add more to this list.