Mountains and Valleys, educating the special needs child

Once a child receives a diagnosis, especially one with a learning difficulty attached to it, it often feels like every minute they are not trying to learn something new or practicing a skill is a minute lost.  A minute that they will never get back.  A minute that sets them that much further behind.  A minute that spreads the gap that much wider between them and their peers.  That is exactly the panicky feeling that I had for years after my son's developmental regression. And if hours or heaven forbid; a DAY went by that he was not working on...

Making manners matter to children and teenagers is part of our parental duties. One reason we do this is because we want our children to grow into respectful, kind and empathetic adults. And the other reason is we do not want them to embarrass us in public!  We, the parents of individuals with ADHD, Autism, Asperger's, Anxiety and Sensory Processing Disorders, spend so much time on anticipating, avoiding, re-directing, accepting and managing behaviours that arise due to their complex needs and underlying issues. So where do manners fall into play?  The quick answer: Always. Whenever appropriate. Sometimes not at all. ...

How come nobody ever told me that? Mom is a synonym for manager. What kind of management do we oversee day in and day out you may ask? Here is the short list. Managing people As soon as a household is more than one person, the awareness over who's responsibility it is to do which "job" is so important.  I found an awesome template for household chores to motivate and remind the kids to get some chores done without hounding them. Here is the link to Confessions of a Homeschooler. There is a chore chart for younger kids and for older...

Hello fellow educators and parents!  Following my previous post on looking for budget friendly educational materials, I have decided to GIVE AWAY a free math activity that I created. It is an activity that promotes counting and the spelling of the numbers one to ten- EN FRANÇAIS! This is great not only for kids in the French system but also for immersion students.  Here is a look at the activity: * Reading the word and matching it to the amount of "Minion Batmans".  Now, I will show you how you can take ONE activity and expand it into FIVE!! #2. This...

As soon as you stamp the word "educational" on the packaging, the price doubles. Marketing is clever. They know parents want what is best for their children and of course we will choose the product that says it will not only entertain my child but also teach some amazing skill at the same time. And for parents of kids with learning difficulties, this is heightened. We grasp at any tool that may possibly make learning more fun, more natural, more effective for our child.  So we spend a FORTUNE! And unfortunately many of these novelty educational toys are barely even...