To prove autistics have a sense of humor, here is a parody website by an autistic author who describes being non-autistic ("neurologically typical")
as if it were a disease, "a neurobiological disorder characterized by preoccupation with social concerns, delusions of superiority, and obsession with conformity."
If your child has benefited from other neurodevelopmental treatments, and you know other useful neurdevelopmental websites, please send them to me.
It seems to be the word "neurodevelopment" is used to mean many different things.
It's becoming nearly as common as "brain-based learning" (as opposed to "elbow-based learning," I suppose.)
Proposed National Education Standards: How Would They Affect You?
In the U.S., schools began as communities banded together. They are still supervised by local school boards. More recently, states adopted standards of learning, and now there is a movement toward national standards.
In June 2010 the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School officers released the final version of the Common Core State Standards for grades K-12.
States can decide whether to adopt them.
But in the competition among states for "Race to the Top" federal grants, the U.S. Department of Education announced, even before the standards were released, that they were giving extra points to states that adopt these as their own standards.
One example of what I liked are his exercises on varying sentence structure.
Once our students can construct a clear sentence, we often move on to paragraph writing.
But if our children don't know how to vary their sentence structure, they may write boring paragraphs like this:
I like trees. Trees are tall and green. They lose their leaves in the fall. We rake them in piles. [Subject-verb-adjective. Subject-verb-object. Subject-verb-object....]
If your child writes like this, then have a look at the section on ways to vary sentences. But don't neglect the other 41 pages of this excellent resource.
Van Cleave is a student of Diana Hanbury King, whose Writing Skills books are among the resources I recommend in Homeschooling Your Struggling Learner.
Here's hoping he publishes this material as a book soon.
Need help managing your time on the computer? Here are two helps I learned about at the same LDA conference.
I do not guarantee this software. I have not even tried them yet. I pass them along for you to consider.
More from the LDA Conference: Lesson plans and Worksheets
I like to write my own lesson plans, but some days we want help.
A friend recommends Lesson Pathways online teaching resources, which are now free.
They offer lesson plans, projects, games, and activities for K-5 students. Browse their content here.
If you use worksheets, you can find free ones that may help you at edWorksheets.com.
I receive no benefit from your clicking these links. You may find them useful. Please let me know.
Peacemaker Ministries offers help in conflict resolution from a biblical perspective.
I've found Ken Sande's book, The Peacemaker, and Corlette Sande's Young Peacemaker workbooks both very practical and thought-provoking.
Eide Neurolearning Clinic will tell you more about Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide and their practice in Edmonds, Washington.
People travel across the country to get their advice. Friends here in Virginia say it was worth the trip.
Homeschooling mother Tammy Glaser blogs about homeschooling her eighteen-year-old daughter with autism and syntactic aphasia.
I had the privilege of interviewing Tammy for my book, and she is a great help.I especially enjoy her book reviews, tips, and video clips.
Memory and the Brain,
a free, downloadable lecture from The Teaching Company by Professor Jeanette Norden of Vanderbilt University's School of Medicine.
Most of it was over my head, but it was still interesting.
Free worksheets from Worksheet Library for those days when you need one.
I'm not a huge fan of worksheets (we get bored easily here at the Kuhl Academy), but some kids love them, and some days they can be very handy.
Graphic organizers, holiday worksheets, and more for grades K-8 in all subjects.
A New York Times article on the controversy over removing the Asperger's Syndrome diagnosis from the psychiatry's diagnostic manual, lumping it together with PDD/NOS (pervasive developmental dissorder not otherwise specified).
The Struggling Reader is a small business that provides testing materials to help you understand your child's reading difficulties, and related teaching materials.
Sharon C. Hensley, not only wrote a book I reviewed in 2009,
Home Schooling Children with Special Needs, she also runs an umbrella school (independent study program),
Almaden Valley Christian School,
providing an online bookstore and consulting services nationwide. For families who live in California, AVCS offers private school enrollment and other umbrella school services, and a support group.
Free Digital Version of Exceptional Parent Magazine
Exceptional Parent Magazine is “the nation’s oldest and most respected monthly publication dedicated to practical, therapeutic and inspirational information for families, educators and healthcare professionals serving the special needs community.” See a free digital version of the July 2009 issues here.
