I started this blog Teacher Julie, Filipina Special Education teacher to write about special education issues and my experiences as a special education teacher and I’ve a Teacher Julie Facebook page I’ve recently had the courage to make.

Then I wrote posts about my family and about being a parent under the parenting posts.

Through it all, it gives me immense joy when people I don’t know send emails, comments and thank-yous for helping them while they read about my experiences as a special education teacher.

I know I still have a lot to learn. I know I have my own shortcomings and that my students have adapted to my quirks I know too that I fall short of the expectations I set for myself.

And there were times when I ranted online when I shouldn’t have.

But in the end, when I see where my students are right now, I feel pride and joy that all the things we went through together are worth every second: teenage issues, challenges, expectations, bittersweet moments, future plans, discussed controversial topics where I have been privy to their journey through the turbulent teenage years.

The sleepless nights, the crossroads, the questions, the doubts now look like just little stumbling blocks that made their parents and I hope that we have shaped the path for a better future for them.

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Children with learning-related problems who do not have formal lessons given to them regarding reading and other skills needed for academic-related tasks, often forget what they have learned.

I used to have a student who goes “on leave” from our sessions during summer. He and his family usually go abroad during the third week of April and come back after a month. What follows that month-long respite from individualized instructions are some more out of town trips with their company’s employees.

And when he comes back, he tends to misspell his own name. Worse, we have to re-learn what we have already accomplished especially in our Practical Reading drills.

Reading drills don’t have to be as toxic as a get-a-book-sit-down-and-read kind of thing. There are so much to read, just look around and you will see what I mean.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Road signs, township signs, and maps during road trips
• Food Menu in restaurants
• Magazine subscriptions
• Newspaper clips
• Food labels
• Written instructions for games to be played
• For online interactive games, turn off the audio and read the instructions aloud instead
• Keep a diary to keep tab of all the exciting summer fun activities and write about these happenings

The possibilities are endless.

Special needs parents? Whatever happened to children with special needs? Who are these people?

I am so happy to brag write about this. Woohoo!
Click here to read my article posted at FilipinoMomBlog.

Mobile phones have revolutionized the way communication has evolved.

Now it is easier to contact one another at a touch of a button. Those with good finger dexterity, they can send text messages in a flash.

Parents, couples, friends, business partners and “textmates” can send text messages when there is a need to let a message known. In short, communication is made easy (well as long as the mobile has enough credits to do such things like send text messages or make phone calls) with mobile phones.

There are, of course, negative effects to this. One is that in the case of children or a spouse or a partner, one can just call or send a text message to the other person even if that person is in the workplace.

Imagine a scenario when one is about to make a report to a board meeting and receives a text message that the baby fell from the crib and has a big lump on his head. Or in the case of couples who are having a misunderstanding, one calls and calls and never minds if that person being called is at work and is very busy.Talk about stressful situations.

And what about the murder of the spelling of words. I mean, come on, who hasn’t sent words texted in short cut and sentences with missing punctuation marks? And who hasn’t received messages like these?

And do we even think that this kind of spelling stops at text messaging? No! It is seen in test papers, in reports, in letters (yes, some still write letters), in bulletin boards, in emails, in signs, everywhere.

Are we to be alarmed? Yes, we should be. Read how spelling supports reading.

Here is a sample:

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Parents expect a lot when they have their children go into therapy, whether it is occupational therapy or speech and/or language therapy and physical therapy.

Of course, they expect a lot because they pay a lot of money to be able to get these services for their children.

Here in the Philippines, parents/families of children receiving therapy services pay for these services, unlike those children in other countries who get these as part of their tax benefits.

Getting into these therapy services don’t mean instant relief and instant improvement of the developmental and behavioral problems that need to be addressed.

So what should parents expect during the first few weeks of therapy?

Below are a few observations I have made during the course of working with these therapists:

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Writing or composition is one of the most difficult tasks children with developmental problems can do, especially those with Language Learning problems. Several  of my students have this problem, with grades in the Language subject bordering on the failing status. Why does this happen? Read here.

Yes, some of them have difficulty understanding the grammar rules or the syntax. The fact that they have difficulties understanding some of the finer skills in language like pragmatics and semantics, writing seems not a priority.

Many times this has happened to several of my students, they are able to explain in detail what was asked of them. But when they were asked to write down what they have just explained, they look blankly at me and ask: “What am I going to write?” When I tell them to write what they have just said, they really have that blank look on their faces like I have said something foreign to them.

Writing is a complex task and there are several ways to do this, to teach this:

• Plan what to write. making a graphic organizer or writing down key words and concepts would be a great help.

• Be sure that basic grammar rules, particularly subject-verb agreement is understood. Sometimes children can do this in drills but can not apply what has been learned in writing.

• Write in drafts so that corrections are easier to spot.

• Clear rules for what needs to be revised should be made known. It is also important to explain why the revisions need to be done.

There are many ways to encourage children to write and here are some suggestions:

• writing down a telephone message.

• Writing ideas, thoughts, dreams, quotations heard,movie or TV lines heard and even writing down information like phone numbers and addresses are just some examples.

• Writing down instructions like when to take the medicine and how to operate something.

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