When I'm Sixty-Four

I recently came across a very interesting article about the first person actually diagnosed with Autism. His name is Donald Triplet, he is 77 years old, and lives in Forest, Mississippi. It was a very fascinating article and it got me thinking about all my students and where they will go once they are out of the school system's hands. Will the be prepared for the adventures ahead? Will they be able to live a normal life? Who will they live with? What happens if their parents/guardians die before them? All of the children we teach in our special needs classrooms will be adults one day and it is our jobs to prepare them for adulthood. However, as a classroom teacher I find it very hard to do this when academics are being pushed down our throats. It is also very hard when, after reading this article, I read the following:

"This leads to the question of where they will live. As it is, 85 percent of adults with autism still live with parents, siblings, or other relatives. But what happens when that is no longer an option? Large-scale warehousing is gone—and good riddance, most say. An obvious alternative is residential arrangements offering multiple spaces to people with autism, who can share support services under one roof in a setting that really is a home. At present, however, given both start-up costs and resistance from neighbors, the number of spaces in such homes is limited, and landing a spot can be extremely difficult: nationally, more than 88,000 adults are already on waiting lists."

WOW! 88,00 adults are on waiting lists for residential facilities. If we can teach our students the life skills they need to live independently and provide them with the community experiences needed to practice these skills, then the waiting lists will decrease. We need to look at the bigger picture for our student. After all isn't that what schools want for EVERY student is to be successful in the future? We have a duty to our students to teach them what really matters and what really will help them to be successful and independent.

I encourage all of you to click on the link below and read Donald's story and keep in mind that we have and will continue to have a lot of Donald's out there that need us to begin teaching, plannig, and caring for their futures.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2010/10/autism-8217-s-first-child/8227/

Until we meet again,
Mallory Watkins

Let's Give It Up For Para-Pros!!

I have decided to dedicate this post to all the awesome special education para-pros that work with our students on a daily basis. I am truly blessed to have some great para-pros who do just as much if not more with my students. They are willing to do whatever I ask them to do not matter how crazy it sounds.

For those special education teachers who are just starting out I want to make sure that you know just how beneficial para-pros can be. They are not there to do the dirty work but they are there to provide an extra set of hands, eyes, and ears when you need them. The success of para-pros lies somewhat in the teacher's hands though. I think it is important for constant communication to occur and that everyone is viewed as an equal. When I send home letters to parents I almost always sign my name as well as my para-pros names because our classroom is a community and my students know that the are teachers just as much as I am one. It is important for parents to understand this as well so be sure to introduce your para-pros to the parents so that they ar familiar with them and are comfortable with their kids around them. In our classroom ideas are shared and exchanged and dicussions about best practices for our kids are discussed together so that we are all on the same page and all have same expectations.

I want to say thank you to my para-pros (you know who you are) and I want to encourage all special education teachers to take the time to say thank you to them and to think about what you can do personally to make para-pros feel part of your community...the classroom:)

Until we meet again,
Mallory Watkins

P.S. This is an awesome web-site dedicated to paraprofessionals!!
http://www.slc.sevier.org/TAs.htm

It's Time For School!

WOW! I apologize for not posting recently but I have been so busy in my room getting ready! My kids start this Monday and I am so anxious to see them and get the year going. I have posted pictures of my classroom so that other teachers can get ideas or parents can get ideas. Enjoy and be sure to post any questions you have or topics you want me to discuss!
Until we meet again,
Mallory

Take the survey and make a diference!

I have worked with many different children in the West Tennessee area and have talked to many parents about different topics in special education. All of these discussions have led me to create a survey for parents of children with special needs. I want to know what parents are thinking about the school system and the services their child is receiving. This survey will hopefull provide information that will be useful in determining what services are needed in the West Tennessee area. So if you are a parent of a child or children with special needs please take the survey below so your voice can be heard.
Until we meet again,
Mallory

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J9NZHGY


"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." ~Dr. Seuss

Be A Parent Advocate

I was recntly watching the Dr. Phil show and he had a special education lawyer on his show and her name was Areva Martin. Now typically I do not pay attention to a lot of celebrities who are trying to make a dollar off of parents with special needs children. They are often trying to make money off of their books or talk about a new treatment for children with special needs and I just don't buy into it unless the science and research is there to back it up. However, I continued to watch the show and listen to what she had to say. She has recently written a book called, "The Everyday Advocate". She discussed the importance of parents being advocates for their children with special needs in order to be their voice. I purchased the book at Books-A-Million and just finished it. This book is a must read for all parents of children with special needs. In her book, Areva outlines clear advocacy strategies and provides useful information and resources for families. A lot of books that discuss special education law are complicated and hard to follow but Areva does a great job clearly defining terms and gives multiple examples of cases she has worked on. She has seven Advocacy Principles and they include:
1. Take Responsibility...Be a leader
2. Learn...Be an expert
3. Think Critically...Be discerning
4. Speak with Authority...Be proactive
5. Document...Be prepared
6. Collaborate...Be a team builder
7. Educate...Be a voice for your child

I encourage all parents reading this to purchase this book really take note of what she is saying. You don't have to be a lawyer to take a stand for your child...your love, determination, and only wanting what is best for them is enough to make you the best advocate ever!


"Leaders rarely fail because of lack of knowledge or technical incompetence; they fail from lack of character."

Until we meet again,
Mallory

Social Skills=Success

Recently I had the opportunity of working at the TRIAD Social Skills Camp at Vanderbilt University. TRIAD Summer Camp provides an integrated social skills program that is designed specifically for children and youth with autism spectrum disorders between the ages of 7 and 21 who have language and reading skills. Social skills is something that we often take for granted because we learn them as we develop and it just comes naturally for us. Many people with high functioning Autism are very bright but lack the social skills to be successful in life. I find it very sad that these people who are so bright cannot hold a job due to their lack of social skills. I worked with the elementary students and the curriculum developed for this camp was based around the book: Superflex: A Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum. Superflex is the comic hero in the story and he has to fight off the team of unthinkables that are constantly trying to get into his brain. These unthinkables include:
Rock Brain: He makes people get stuck on their ideas
Wasfunnyonce: He gets people to use humor at the wrong time
Space Invader: He gets people to invade other people's space
Body Snatcher: He gets people to move away from the group
Topic Twistermeister: He get people to change topics to only what they want to talk about.
There are a total of 14 unthinkables and the book comes with comic books, worksheets, and activities that can help these students learn important social skills in a way that they can understand. A lot of people in society think these people with Autism/Aspergers are "different" because they lack the social skills that most of us take for granted. However, they have to be taught these skills because they don't acquire them like most of us do. I was really touched by an interview that was shown during our pre-camp training of a teenager girl with Aspergers and she was explaining her thoughts about social skills. She said she did not know where everyone else gets these social skills and its like everyone can just pull them out of thin air except for her. She said people at her school never talked to her because they thought she was weird and she knew that bad people did not have friends so she must be a bad person. We need to realize that these people want friends they just don't know how to make friends because they lack the important social skills that can make them so successful.
Until we meet again,
Mallory

P.S. The Superflex Curriculum can be purchased at www.socialthinking.com

It's official...I am a blogger!

I have never really understood blogging and always thought it was kind of weird that people would want to tell everyone their personal business on the web for all to see. However, I thought that maybe I can do blogging a little differently. This blog is focused on special education along with my thoughts, experiences, and information to help parents, teachers, and the community better understand the children that are "different". The title for my blog actually came from the HBO movie: Temple Grandin. If you have not seen this movie it will be released on DVD in August and I suggest you see it. Temple's mother always knew her daughter was different but did not want her treated less. That really strikes my heart because too often our society treats these children and adults as different and less. My mission for this blog is to provide information so that those who are not familiar with special education or people with special needs may change their attitudes so that everyone is treated as the great human beings they are. I look forward to sharing everything with you and I hope you can get great teaching ideas, helpful information, and give me input on things that are on your mind dealing with special education.
Until we meet again,
Mallory

"Please don't talk about me because I am different, talk to me because were not the same."