Blog
Creating a Writing Space
Posted on May 26, 2011 in Literacy
After getting such a great response to the blog post about bolstering your in-home library, I decided to keep the theme going this week by writing about in-home writing centers.
My oldest daughter had the idea to create a writing center after seeing the one her first grade teacher created in the classroom. Here is our designated area “before”. This was a drawer in a table in our play area used to store workbooks, coloring books and pencils—not very functional or inspiring.
Bolster Your Home Library
Posted on May 19, 2011 in Literacy
If you have paged though A Land We Can Share, you know that one of the recommendations we have for teachers is to work with families to learn how students interact with literacy materials at home. So often, parents of children with disabilities hold the knowledge teachers need to successfully teach reading and writing. In fact, in a study I did with Kelly Chandler-Olcott, we found that the mothers of students with autism often were successful at teaching their children with significant disabilities to read when teachers could not.
Your Chance to See “Wretches and Jabberers”
Posted on May 09, 2011 in Advocacy, Autism, News
After months of waiting for many of us, May 12th, 2011 is our chance to see Wretches and Jabberers. The film’s producer, John Hussman, is sponsoring “100 Cities, One NIght for Autism”, which promises to be special viewing of the movie in 100 select cities across the country (full listing of locations).
A Whale of a Day
Posted on May 06, 2011 in Autism, Literacy, News
It isn’t often I get to spend the day with 500 kids talking about matchbox cars, stuffed animals, trains, and baseball cards. For this reason, this past Tuesday was an exceptionally fun day. Patrick Schwarz (my co-author) and I got to spend an entire day reading Pedro’s Whale and speaking to children about how to tap into their fascinations and gifts as a tool for learning, comfort, inspiration, and social connection.
