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 »

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.

Are you done with your Christmas shopping list? I’m not done yet. I have some gifts that need wrapping but I am still uninspired to start maybe because the second trimester exams are coming up next week and I know I will be swamped with reviewers to make.

The Christmas tree still needs to be taken out of its hiding place and decorated.

What do add to the list? leather backpacks? new shoes? wait we got those for the kids two weeks ago when we braved traffic to go to a sale. Do these count as gifts?

I think not.

My thought on gifting? As I have written in this post, “…expect me to wish you happiness and joy, without a gift tag”

Now, please excuse me while I help one of my children finish a book report and polish a poem with lots of rhyming words at the end of the lines for another one.

A is for Autism

Autism is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder that can be diagnosed during early childhood and is characterized by three major signs/symptoms:

1. communication problems
2. problems with social interaction
3. repetitive, restricted and stereotyped behaviors

There are different types and range of autism according to DSM IV-TR or Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Classical autism is considered as “severe” because of the inability of children diagnosed with this as having no or low eye contact, facial expression and use of gestures and body language to communicate, among other characteristics. Spoken language is severely delayed or not developed at all. There is a preoccupation to one object or part of that object like a certain toy car’s wheel.

If a child has very delayed or showed no attempts with communicating with others, it is best that he/she is brought to a specialist.

Autism spectrum disorder or ASD on the other hand is considered a “milder” form of autism. A child diagnosed with ASD has the ability to develop his/her language, self-help and cognitive skills but needs help in several areas of development like: developing social interactions, adjusting to changes in routine and rituals, emotional reciprocity and being able to share interests with peers.

PDD-NOS or Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Other Specified is a diagnosis that cuts across the two previously mentioned conditions. DSM IV-TR lists that: PDD-NOS is a type of childhood developmental disorder which forms part of the group of Autistic Spectrum disorders. (ASD) This group also includes Classical Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder. The diagnosis of PDD-NOS is one of exclusion, made when a toddler or child clearly has a Pervasive Developmental Disorder but the symptoms and signs do not comply with the Diagnostic Criteria for any of the other ASD’s (or childhood psychiatric disorders).

Autism and Communication

Children with autism have difficulties in talking to or expressing themselves using words the way other children do. There are those who usually “keep to themselves” and are able to communicate with devices.

These children can’t usually “connect” or easily understand the underlying language symbolisms which include non-verbal language cognition and the more advanced skills like pragmatics and listening. They usually respond to short and easily understandable instructions rather than long complicated ones. Their names will be called but they do not look at the person calling them.

They react differently in situations like when there’s a thunderstorm or a certain part of a tv/radio commercial or song being played.

Social Interaction

Due to these children’s difficulties in communicating with others, they have a hard time making friends, start conversations and “get” the humor behind jokes.

Repetitive, Restricted and/or Stereotyped Behavior

They thrive in routine like putting socks on the right foot first and not the other way around. They do repetitive behavior like banging or clapping. In some of those classified as having classical autism, these children manifest hand-flapping, rocking back and forth, turning things around over and over among other things.

Causes
The number used to be much bigger but these days, it is said that autism affects 1 child in every 150 children.

Scientists are still baffled as to the cause of this condition for one because of the complexity of the human brain.. Some believe that some of the brain connections that have something to do with communication, emotions and certain behaviors affecting social interactions do not develop as it should.

There are instances of sibling or cousins with autism.

How to Deal with Autism continue reading this entry »

The Department of Education (DepEd) has issued memo No. 244 s.2011 DECLARING NOVEMBER AS NATIONAL READING MONTH OF EVERY YEAR AND NOVEMBER 25, 2011 AS THE NATIONWIDE ARAW NG PAGBASA.

Reading is an important aspect of the whole learning process and not just a part of language development.

Reading is the basic foundation for learning. In this day and age when students are more adept at copy-pasting that they pass off as research, the fundamental reading (and writing) skills needed to create original research and documents seem to be rare traits in students.

We want our children to learn to read. We want our children to love to read. We want our children to have fun reading.

So how would we encourage them to do so?

They’d probably argue that reading does not just limit to holding a book and reading this. Sure, reading translates to many mediums like those troves of “comic book” treasures in the internet, e-books, magazines, newspaper articles and even instruction manuals of the latest gadget bought.

Technology has changed the way people read. I for one used to do an all-nighter, an I-can’t-put-a-good-book-down-until-I-finished-reading habit while tossing and turning on my body pillow. All these reading habits have changed because of technology. Yes, I’ve been into e-books several years before the tablets were invented because I read a lot of these in my old Palm Pilot and big Symbian phone. I’ve read almost all HP books (except 1,2 and Deathly Hallows) in e-book format.

In this blog, I’ve written posts about reading:

• children’s books to read like Chicka, Chicka Boom Boom, Grover, Grover, Come on Over, Franklin is Lost
• reading can take many forms like this rebus story
• some teaching techniques

On Friday, my youngest daughter will go to school “dressed” as a storybook character. We’ve been doing this storybook character for a long time when the teen-aged oldest child was still in preschool. Since we already have a costume worn by Kuya from last school year’s drama club presentation, we will just add details to it. No buying since we will adhere to the school’s “recycle and reuse” costumes rule.

Other school activities lined up till next week are: fashion show (for the storybook characters), speech choir, declamation pieces, English Night presentation, Drama Club presentation and exhibit of works related to reading and literature.

Reading is fun. Reading is great.

Now, off to prepare to face a student who asks: “Why can’t I read like my classmates?”

Extending a warm virtual hug to all the teachers all over the world.

May we all bring with us a pocketful of patience, fortitude and sunshine-y smiles as we deal with the children (and their families) whom we share our knowledge with.

Teachers for Gender Equality is a good theme for this year’s celebration. This is one topic I discuss with my older students, along with bullying, social media ethics, and good socialization skills.

Who would have thought at this day and age, there are still places where gender equality is not practiced nor recognized? I know it is something we can’t imagine especially with us who enjoy privileges that other women in other countries don’t enjoy.

To the many teachers who still continue to teach despite their struggles with meager salaries, inadequate facilities and big class sizes, my hats off to you!

To my aunt Letty Tapado, may you inspire teachers to follow what you selflessly do in the name of helping others because you are a teacher.

To the wonderful teachers of my eldest child who are now the teachers of my homeschoolers no more children, I am blessed to have you in our lives as you have helped me teach my children good values in a matter that is not too stressful for them.