Mom's Daily Homeschool Schedule!

A lot of people having been asking me lately how I manage to get everything done now that I am homeschooling Jackson.  I think those closest to me worry that I have taken on too much and it will negatively impact me on a variety of levels.

Prior to pulling him out of public school around Halloween, I was substitute teaching on a regular basis and/or part-time teaching reading, but did have plenty of free days as well.  Now that I have J home everyday, I have rearranged a few things, but have found a nice rhythm that seems to meet all our needs, without adding unnecessary stress. So please don't worry about me - I have the best life and find plenty of time to take care of myself:)

I thought I'd write up schedule for a typical day for me and give you a behind the scenes look at how I keep it all running relatively smoothly and keep my sanity as well.  I found this blog entitled "What Kind of Mom are You?" and it is awesome! I am definitely a "Rountine Lover" which puts me at a personality type of A-, which is a perfect description of how I run both my personal life and our homeschool day!

7:30-8:00  Drink 2 cups of coffee, let the dog out, eat some yogurt, check email, news, Facebook, Twitter, etc...

8:00-8:30  Get Caroline up (not an easy task), make her breakfast and pack her lunch, make Jackson breakfast

8:30-8:45  Drive C to school (usually in my PJs and slippers)

8:45-9  Help J shower.  While he gets himself dressed, I get my yoga clothes on

9-9:30  J and I do yoga together, then read a Bible devotional book and do some out loud reading (we are currently reading a poem book).

9:30-9:45  Quickly change out of my yoga clothes and try to look presentable for the day

9:45-11  Shopping w/ J...grocery shopping, cleaners, library, Target, CVS, Starbucks, car wash, etc...This gets easier everyday as he has more understanding of social expectations for behavior.  We usually have a great time just tooling around town! Once we get home, I have until 11 to unpack and organize anything we bought because at 11 on the dot...

11-11:30  We do a Math lesson & work

11:30-12   I make J's lunch which lately has been corn pasta and fruit and my lunch which is usually leftovers

12-12:30  While J is on the iPad, I prep his lessons for the afternoon and try to clean up from the whirlwind morning

12:30-1  J and I walk Duke, go for a short hike around the lake or play Wii Fit together

1-1:30  We do a Language Arts lesson & work

1:30-2  I teach J how to do daily chores which have included: filling and emptying the dishwasher, cleaning his room, vacuuming, sweeping, or picking up junk left strewn around the house.

2-2:30  We do a Social Studies or Science lesson & work

2:30-3  While J does an iPad reading lesson on the couch, I clean up the books, supplies and work from the school day and prep the lessons for the next morning

3-4  School day over!!  At this point I have 1 hour until C gets home, so I try to do NOTHING and just relax alone somewhere in the house.  I read a book, check the computer, watch TV, take a shower, workout, talk on the phone...whatever I want essentially:)

4-4:15  Pickup C from school

4:15-5  Hang out w/ C & help her w/ her homework

5-5:30  Paul gets home from work and we all get ready for whatever basketball event is going on that night: practice, games, Georgetown games, games on TV, etc...

5:30-6  Make snack or early dinner for Paul, C and I before they head out for basketball, make J dinner (special dietary needs)

6-7:30  Putter around house cleaning up, putting laundry away, doing dishes, etc...Occasionally workout if feeling motivated

7:30-8  Prep lessons for following day, answer emails, blog, tweet, etc... Paul and C usually come home during this time and heat up dinner leftovers if hungry

8  BEDTIME!!!  Paul handles these duties: vitamins, teeth, pray, and read while I finish cleaning up and then open a bottle of wine!

8-10:30  2 1/2 hours of blissfully uninterrupted time on the couch w/ Paul and no kids!  C comes downstairs occasionally to tell us something she deems urgent, but otherwise we just sit and talk, laugh, drink wine and relax from the day!

10:30-11ish  Bedtime...We can rarely stay up past 11 these days...but I sleep like a baby until...

7:30  Paul kisses me on the forehead when he leaves for work, and I roll out of bed to start the whole process over again...

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My New Teaching Style: Less Talky More Laughy

Math has always come easily to Jackson.  He is not a numbers genius or anything, in fact, I find it offensive that some people think all kids with autism have some weird super-math brain.  He is just a like any other kid with a normal aptitude for math, but since he struggles so profoundly with language-based subjects, he excels in math by comparison.

However, teaching math to Jackson has not always come easily.  Traditional classroom educators relay so heavily on verbal instruction that any student who struggles with audio-processing is going to get frustrated very easily.  I found this to be true with Jackson during our first month of homeschooling.

When we pulled him out of Poe Middle School, after 8 weeks of being there, he had done "zero academic work".  So I had to go all the way back to May of 2011 to get a sense of where to start with him.  I decided to start him at the beginning of 3rd grade math just to sort out his strengths and weaknesses.  I quickly discovered that his math skills were extremely unbalanced.  He accelerated in telling time, counting money and basic computation skills, but had no concept of greater than/less than, rounding, estimating, or measurement.  And while he could add, subtract and multiply well, he could not do any of them at an advanced level (i.e. regrouping or multiple digits).

I based his early math curriculum around a cool online resource by Education Creations called Morning Math.  These 1 page sheets provided me with a succinct overview of his skills.  I spent about 2 weeks evaluating him with these worksheets. During this time, I discovered that he was very resistant to me giving him math "lessons",  almost to the point where I could not say anything out loud for fear of getting a pencil thrown at my head.  He preferred to just do the work in silence and ask me questions as they arose.  He needed to be in control of the volume and tone of the educational experience.  This spoke to me of a deep sensory processing issue that was probably just seen as disobedience and defiance in the public school setting... "i.e. he is just being a pain in the a**" type observation by his teachers. This thought still makes me sick to my stomach just writing it down now...

At this point, I took a step back and tried to think about how I was going to teach him higher level math concepts without speaking out loud!  That's right, you read that correctly...I had to figure out how to teach without talking.  I guarantee no traditional university has an educational class on that!  But I knew that was THE roadblock preventing him from progressing and instead of trying to change his learning style, I needed to change my teaching style to meet his learning needs.

I tried using other methods geared towards the visual/kinesthetic learner, but those still relied heavily on the teacher's verbal cues.  And although Jackson's language skills are significantly delayed, he does not need a picture-card system to explain things.  He can read and communicate well enough that those are a bit patronizing from both his and my perspective.  So that left me at another dead end.

So I went to the only area I knew he responded to and that was humor.  He loves to laugh and he loves when people think he is funny. How in the world would I use that to teach him subtraction regrouping!?!  Well it all came together one afternoon when in December when Caroline suggested that I try using boxes to illustrate borrowing.  I wrote a problem on the white board and walked him through it, without talking, but just quietly drew boxes around the numbers that needed to be regrouped and for whatever reason, he thought that was hilarious...he kept talking about Spongebob's box and started to immediately draw his own boxes around the numbers and while he rambled on and on about Spongebob, he began to subtract quickly and accurately.  I just smiled and kept writing problems on the board and we walked through them together, him jibber-jabbering away and me laughing hysterically at his jokes.

And that is how in the last 2 months I have been able to bring Jackson all the way through 3rd grade math and into 4th early grade having learned such things as:

4 digit subtraction regrouping
Advanced addition
2 digit multiplication
Division up to 10
Addition & subtraction of fractions
Equivalent fractions
Greater/less than
Rounding & estimating




Notice I did not say that I taught him these subjects, because I have not. He has learned them through the slow and methodical building of skills by repetition and reinforcement with a non-stop string of jokes pouring out of his mouth.  I do not laugh at him, but have learned to appreciate his sense of humor and laugh with him so he feels understood and appreciated in a way I don't think he ever has before.  By creating an environment of acceptance and recognition, he has been able to absorb the information and process it in a way that fit his learning style - which I now call "Laughter-Processing".

To quote Jackson:

"Now that is funny, and I know funny." 

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Why I Want to be Homeschooled by Caroline Trotter

Caroline was home sick last Friday.  Ever since she has been begging me to homeschool her.  As a way to defer these irritating pleas, I told her to write me an essay detailing why she wanted to be homeschooled. I told her it was due by the end of the week and that we were not to speak about it again until then. She gave it to Paul and I last night.  I asked her if I could share it with you all because I think it offers an honest look at a traditional school environment from a 4th graders perspective.  It does not compel me to homeschool her at this point, but it does give me insight into the type of education she craves and makes me ask myself if I could provide that for her someday.

I think I should be homeschooled for many reasons, but I'm going to limit it to only four.


If you homeschool me, I wouldn't be late to school everyday.  We wouldn't need to rush to school, giving me three pieces of cereal for breakfast.  I could actually take my time, eat a healthy breakfast and be ready to start learning.

Another reason you should homeschool me is because I would get more work done.  In public schools, the teacher needs to wait on her or his other students if they don't understand something.  Since it would only be me (doing the work I am doing), we could spend only a few days or weeks on a topic and I could keep moving forward in school.  


A good thing about homeschooling is you don't need to deal with drama.  Drama as in, "she said I was stupid!" or even worse, "did you know he likes you?"  It is so annoying, to the point where people start crying.  I've heard so many problems from other people that it seems like they're more focused on their problems than school work.  It's really irritating and can hurt other people's feelings.

Finally, my last reason is I would be more free.  Every 10 year old kid can't stand being trapped in a room except for specials, recess and lunch.  It is boring and makes you want to just hate school just because the environment you're in.  I personally don't like being yelled at either.  It makes me feel stupid.  I also don't like sitting at hard, old, wooden desks that have been used for years.  They're uncomfortable and can be distracting.  At least at home I would be comfortable and happy in my bed or anywhere in the house.

I think it would be cool to be homeschooled and see Jackson all the time.  There are plenty more advantages at home than at school.  For example, I could do Bible study or do 6th grade math.  Think about it...it could be a cool experience!  




All she is really saying is that she wants to be able to work hard and play hard in a respectful and harmonious environment.  She observed that last Friday with Jackson and I, but obviously does not feel that way during her school day.  So will I homeschool her next year?  I doubt it...but I will remain open to the Lord's will and pray for her education everyday in the meantime.


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Get on Twitter, People!

Unless you are a teenage girl, Twitter is not the mindless social media wasteland that many have come to believe.  As a 37 year-old wife and mother of two, you might not think I'd be a big fan of consolidating my random thoughts into 140 characters and sharing them with the world multiple times a day...and you'd be right. Because that is not why I use Twitter.  I use it to listen, not to be heard.  


Everyone is passionate about something.  Whether it is photography, cooking, finance, cancer awareness, global politics, travel, tech, writing, baseball, film, music, or design, you can create a whole feed of information dedicated to that area.  I am on Twitter to learn from people who are passionate about educating special needs children in a way that has never been done before.

I am a Twitter novice.  I've only been on there since November.  But in that time, I have found some amazing people all over the world that are homeschooling special needs children with tremendous success.  Their ideas and encouragement are priceless to me as I am just beginning this journey.  I have found more than just educational resources, I have found people who can answer quick questions or concerns within minutes.  I have found links to articles, research, and events by industry experts that I never knew existed.  The scope of Twitter is staggering, yet it is easy to navigate and manage.

I am not going to pretend to understand it all.  I am just learning how to use hashtags (#) and ow.ly and I am still not exactly sure why people feel the need to track their stats or use specific software to follow/unfollow/message people automatically...and I probably never will.  I also know that there are a ton of people and organizations on there just to promote or market something.  But the beauty of how Twitter is organized is that you choose to follow who you want, no one has to "accept" your request (unless they are a locked account) and you can unfollow as easily if someone tweets stuff you don't care about.

I've heard people describe Twitter as Facebook if you had cool friends.  For me, it is like a Facebook page full of really smart and compassionate people fighting for the same things I am.  For Paul, it is like a Facebook page full of people as insanely into basketball as he is.  He follows his favorite coaches, teams, players and sports journalists. That is the beauty of Twitter, it is what you make of it.  It allows you the control to filter out all the nonsense and garbage you often have to sift through on other sites to get to the handful of valuable information you crave.

So what is keeping you off of Twitter?  See it as a pointless waste of time?  Don't know who you'd follow? Don't think you have anything valuable to offer the world in return? Whatever your reason, just ask yourself one question...What are you passionate about? Figure it out and then jump on Twitter and see if there are others who you can learn from or even encourage others with your wisdom and experience.  The more of you on there, the better for me since I find value in what you have to say.

Check out my Twitter page:  https://twitter.com/#!/hometeachautism

iPad App Review of Shake-A-Phrase

As many of you know, I am in love with using the iPad with Jackson. We have found so many brilliant apps that have worked seamlessly with our homeschooling programs.  I typically use the iPad to reinforce concepts because a big part of Jackson's learning style is massive repetition!  He simply needs time to go over and over and over and over a single bit of information to absorb and process it successfully.

That is why I was thrown a bit the app Shake-A-Phrase.  I was searching for good language arts apps that did more than ABC's, phonics and early reading.  Jackson is a good reader but lacks chunks of basic language arts understanding, which makes his comprehension terrible.  I was introduced to Shake-A-Phrase and was immediately intrigued by the iTunes description:


Shake-a-Phrase is a fun language app that teaches vocabulary and parts of speech for ages 8+.


The addictive language fun in Shake-a-Phrase will encourage children to:
• Read the silly, entertaining sentences
• Discover the meanings of unfamiliar words
• Create their own writing projects
• Test their knowledge of verbs, adjectives and nouns
• Share language arts fun with friends and family

How this app works is fairly straight forward.  You simply open it to find 3 choices: Shake It!, Quiz Me!, and Story Starter.  Each is a variant on learning basic sentence structure with a focus in nouns, verbs and adjectives.  It allows you to teach, quiz, and create for yourself silly sentences about animals, fairytales, monsters or sports.  


All of this sounded perfect!  I had high hopes for this app, but as soon as I downloaded it, I was immediately nervous and doubtful that Jackson would be able to play with it at all.  The vocabulary was way over his head.  There is no way he would be able to pronounce or understand half of the words on there.  I knew he'd go crazy for the shaking feature...it feeds into his love of all things that move around and wiggle, but other than that, I assumed this app would be a dud:(  

Boy, was I wrong!  Don't misunderstand me, just as I expected, the vocabulary was way too hard for him and he could barley pronounce most of the words...but in true Jackson fashion, he took the intended purpose of an item and recreated it to suit his needs.  He used the app to teach himself sentence structure by repetition.  He went to the Shake It! part first and just tapped on each word over and over until he decoded the way nouns, verbs and adjectives intermingled in a sentence.  He quickly figured out that that even though he had no idea what jubilant meant, he knew adjectives always came before nouns, and he knows enough nouns to make those kinds of leaps.  And similarly, he couldn't pronounce admired, but knew verbs always followed nouns.  From there he went on the the QuizMe! section and breezed through all the levels.  He was not interested in the Story Starter part at all which didn't surprise me because he struggles with comprehension so he didn't know how to elaborate on a given thought.  


Jackson's mind is so fascinating that I constantly underestimate what he is capable of learning.  I love to just sit back and watch him deconstruct something, tilt his head to the side and then rebuild it so it makes sense to him and him alone! So what if the app was full of difficult words he had never seen before, that was not going to stop him from earning those trophies for passing the quizzes!  That boy is committed to winning prizes and not much can stop him when he is on a mission.


I've included a video of Jackson trying, failing and ultimately succeeding in using Shake-A-Phrase: 




I am excited to introduce this app to Caroline as well, since she has a passion for creative writing and is addicted to her thesaurus these days.  I think this app will provide her with some fun and unique vocabulary to incorporate into her next great story.  

My only recommendation to improve the app would be to add a lower level vocabulary option as "training" so kids don't get discouraged right off the bat because they don't know what anything means.   Build some confidence and excitement so they will want to move onto the apps real brilliance which is its fun use of diverse and high level vocabulary that stimulates their young, eager minds! 

In my opinion, this is a great language arts app for older kids with special needs who learn primarily through decoding and repetition with a healthy does of fun! 

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Public School PTSD

Oh My Gosh!!!!  I usually spend hours thinking about and writing my blogs but I had to get this down ASAP, so forgive the brevity and poor composition!

I just got back from Glasgow Middle School (J's new home-base school) to sign a form giving them consent to do an OT evaluation on Jackson.  Even though he is homeschooled, J still has access to any services that are in his current IEP and/or any services that are recommended by a teacher.  Before leaving the autism program in October at Poe Middle School, he was referred for OT because his handwriting was poor...not because he has massive sensory issue...which is a whole other blog...

Anyway, so I brought J with me for what was supposed to be a quick trip in and out.  The minute he set foot into that building he lost his mind.  It was like watching Jekyll turn into Hyde right before my eyes as he passed through the doors.  You could see all his senses spike and his anxiety soar!  He whipped his head around like a caged animal and even crawled down the hallway on all fours barking - I am NOT KIDDING!

We made it into the woman's office after this bizarre episode and he immediately began spinning around wildly saying, "no detention, no follow your rules, no bad day, no Mr. Beret, etc..."  It was heartbreaking to watch.  I could barely comprehend what I was seeing.  He started kicking the desk and refused to even sit down in the chair.  We eventually made our way out and the second he passed back through those doors into the fresh air, he smiled and said to me, "Phew, that was close."

I began to cry in the car as I felt so guilty for not realizing sooner how bad the public middle school program was for him.  How could I not know and let him stay there for so long - 8 weeks of that is enough to create a powerful anxiety disorder for him that might last years.  We couldn't get him within 100 feet of a dentist for 5 years after they strapped him to a board when he was only 4 to do a routine cleaning.  This kid never forgets and harbors anxiety on a deep level that I never understood until today.

I promise not to expose him to that again until he has recovered from his experiences at Poe Middle School...it might be awhile and I am OK with that!

Making 2012 as Awesome as 2011

Halloween: J as Harry Potter and C as a USA Soccer Player

Out of the 365 days of 2011, 330 of them were awesome!  Let's be honest, October was terrible. We watched Jackson regress academically and behaviorally in a way that was heartbreaking to everyone who cared about him. But, if we could erase that whole month, except for Paul's amazing Halloween Extravaganza, 2011 was our best year as a family ever!

We are committed to making 2012 as awesome!  Paul and I thought up some cool stuff to do this year as a family and I have also brainstormed some ideas for J's homeschooling that I am excited about.  So in the spirit of sharing, I wanted write down some thoughts that might seem a bit unconventional, but I think the best way to teach Jackson is to throw out the special education rule book and let him lead me into 2012! 

1.  New Understanding:

The first thing I asked myself was, "What does Jackson like?" The answer to that was simple - to make people laugh.  So then I asked myself, "Why does he thrive on that?" Over the break, I read a hilarious book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me, by Mindy Kaling, one of the writer's of The Office.  She articulated the answer perfectly for me...it is just who he is and he can't change that, EVER!  Comedy is just a part of some people like athleticism or musicality.  Humor is more than just a way to "cut-up" or amuse other people to get attention (as some teachers like to think), it is a form of expression that is critical to their development as a whole person. 

This realization has helped drive all of my plans for this year.  I want to let in as much of J's humor and personality into our homeschooling as possible.  A quick way to do that is to switch our out-loud reading from standard fictional chapter books, to more fun and quirky books like Shel Silverstein or even Ronald Dahl.  It makes perfect sense now that for the first 10 years of his life, all he wanted to read was Dr. Seuss! He understood and identified with his humorous stories in a way we only saw as mildly entertaining and a bit annoying!

With this new perspective on Jackson always at the forefront of my mind, I plan to make a few other changes to his homeschooling which I hope will help make 2012 as awesome as 2011.

2.  New Schedule

Our current schedule looks similar to the one that I posted back in Novemeber when we began homeschooling.  Since Jackson is quickly coming up on 13yr old (yikes!), I want his daily school schedule to begin to look more like what his life schedule will look like as he becomes an adult.  So I created a few blocks of time and instruction between 8 - 10am that are a stretched out version of what an adult would do before beginning their workday.

8:00-8:30     Watch News and Eat Breakfast
8:30-9:00     Take a Shower, Get Dressed, Take Vitamins, Brush Teeth 
9:00-10:00   Yoga, Devotional, Reading

I want him to get in the habit of doing his devotional and reading time on the couch or in a comfy chair instead of at his "school desk" because I'd love to see him independently incorporate those activities into his adult life someday.  I see all of the above items as life skills not as academic skills, and with autism, these things need to be intentionally taught and practiced over and over. But in the spirit of my new understanding of his personality, they will all be done with much laughter!!

In addition to our new and improved morning routine, I plan to add a whole block of time at the end of our school day that is dedicated to playing board games as well as a dedicated block for the Wii Fit.  Both of these activities incorporate his need for fun and humor but help teach valuable skills such as following specific, and often restrictive directions which can be a challenge for him.  The Wii Fit has some wonderful games that require body control and calm movements which help him slow his mind down and focus for long periods of time. And while board games have always been a favorite of his, he  has never been interested in actually playing by the established rules.  A goal of mine is to get him to read and actually follow the stated rules...I'm not confident this is going to go well, but I am certainly going to try!!


3.  New Apps/iPad Use

Since my last post on The Awesome iPad, I have learned a lot of valuable lessons.  The most important one is to change to placement of his iPad use on the schedule.  I had it at the end of each instructional block - for example:

1:00-2:00  Math

1. Morning and Homework: 2 worksheets
2. Review 3 Digit Addition and Subtraction: 2 worksheets
3. Lesson on Fractions and Decimals: 2 worksheets and Pizza Game
4. Evaluation on Multiplication 1-6: 50 question speed test
5. iPad: Baseball Multiplication, iFractions, Sticker Sudoku

What I found was that over time he discovered that if he rushed through all his work he could get the iPad during any extra time left over before our 2:00 block finished.  He would get short tempered if I asked him to redo something or do try another problem, because in his mind it only ate into his iPad time.  I switched up his schedule during the week before break and it made a huge difference. Now we begin each block with 15 min of iPad activities and leave the remaining 45 min for his lessons. Not surprisingly, he is much more amicable to my instruction because he has no ulterior motives to rushing through.  

I also am excited to try a whole new crop of iPad apps in 2012. I have found that there is a weird gap in apps for his age and developmental disability.   There are tons of cool options for younger kids with autism and tons of great options for neurotypical adolescents, but for a 12yr old with his unique strengths and weaknesses, I am having a hard time finding apps that fit his needs.  I have been asked to review a promising app about sentence structure this week, so hopefully I can add that to his list soon! Here is a list of a few I have tried and liked recently:

Language Arts:

Anaolgies 4 Kids

Bluster

Reading Monster 1-4

Frankenstein Matchmaker

Big Nate Comix

Math:

Baseball Multiplication 1-12
Sticker Sudoku
iMazing

Fractions

iGraphs

Social Studies:

Stack the Countries
Presidents vs. Aliens
Spell USA States
TapQuiz Maps

4.  New Behavioral Approach 

I recently tweeted my 2012 Motto: "Behavior is Communication and I Promise to Listen" to much retweeting excitement!  Apparently this is a well-understood mantra by parents of special needs kids, but not very well understood by special needs professionals.  I included this amazing blog post entitled, Quiet Hands, by an adult woman with autism that was eye-opening (and heart breaking) to me and it also struck a Twitter nerve. I took every word of it to heart and have decided to be 100% committed to listening to Jackson's behavior as much as I would my daughter's words as his primary form of communication.  While Jackson is predominately verbal, his words don't always connect into clear thoughts and ideas. He uses chunks of language he has memorized and he does not always use them correctly, so trusting his words to accurately express his feelings is not ideal.  I need to watch and listen to his behavior for clues to his true thoughts and concerns.  

So as we head into 2012, we have a lot to be thankful for from 2011, and a lot to look forward to in the upcoming year.  My hope is that we can all agree that homeschooling autism has been a blessing to our whole family and that God has been good to the Trotters!  

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Unexpected Reading Breakthroughs

I am going to be a guest blogger on Hip Homeschool Moms this week and I decided to write about a minor-miracle we had with Jackson's reading last week.  In addition to that big breakthrough, we also had another big "ah-ha" moment.  I wanted to write about it here also and just link the 2 blog posts together so you could get the big picture.  So, if you've already read Part 1 of this blog on Hip Homeschool Moms, just skip over it to Part 2.

Part 1

My son Jackson, has always struggled with reading.  He does not like to read independently nor does he always understand what he is reading.  Comprehension has been the biggest road block to his advancement in a number of areas.  His special education teachers spent hours on the who, what, when, where, why questions with limited success.  They communicated that he refused to read out loud and when asked to answer simple questions about a passage, he would often have an outburst of some kind that involved kicking, spitting or yelling which led to an overemphasis on behavioral interventions and resulted in the side lining of his reading education.

From the minute we began our homeschooling adventure, I knew reading had to be a priority.  I started slowly with simply reading out loud, followed by basic comprehension activities.  I quickly discovered that he did in fact get very upset when asked these questions.  It did not take me long to figure out that my voice had power.  I could sooth or irritate, teach or torment.  I quickly learned when to speak and when to remain silent based on his needs at any particular moment.  I knew I had to change my approach to his reading challenges, I just had no idea where to begin.  

Then I listened to him.  I stopped berating him with The Five Ws worksheets, I stopped making charts of setting, character, problem, solution, etc... I gave him a book, asked him to read and watched him.  I did not correct his pronunciation errors or redirect him when he got distracted.   I was silent for a solid month.  I just observed and smiled a lot as he read to me.  And I noticed something peculiar.  Everytime he began to read out loud, within 30 seconds he would begin yawning and put his head on my shoulder.  I had never noticed it before, probably because I was too busy correcting him or telling him to pay attention.  So I jumped on my BFF, Google and found this article by HSLDA entitled Visual Processing Dysfunction Characteristics.  It mentioned that one of the signs of this learning issues was yawning shortly after reading begins.  This was a huge lightbulb moment for me!  

They suggested a few things to try to see if a visual processing dysfunction was the culprit behind a child's reading problems.  One idea caught my eye immediately because it had been suggested to me a few years earlier by our developmental pediatrician, but I dismissed it as unnecessary because Jackson's reading seemed fine at that time...Colored Overlays.  I ordered a pack of multi-colored transparencies from Amazon.com that day.  From the get-go that he preferred the darker colors that reduced the contrast between the white page and the black letters.

I decided to take a video of Jackson reading before and after using the dark blue colored overlay.  I can not stress enough how profound the change was in a 30 second time period.  Note that this video clip is of him reading from the same page - only a few seconds elapsed between the clips.  The only change that occurred was the addition of the overlay.   For those of you who have a child with ADD/ADHD/Dyslexia/ASD or any other learning disabilities, you will appreciate the "before" clip and laugh at how distracted and spacey Jackson is while he is reading.  It makes the "after" clip seem like a totally different child!


 

The most valuable lesson I learned through this process was that Jackson has great reading skills and comprehension ability, the challenge is figuring out how to get it out of him!  It's all in there, he just has a number of peculiar roadblocks that have prevent him from "succeeding" academically in this area.  Whether it is a visual processing dysfunction or even a speech and language delay, learning differences need to be addressed with patience and with an open mind to a new and unexpected technique.  I'm excited to tackle the next challenge in Jackson's education...since we've only been homeschooling for 6 weeks!

Part 2


After this discovery, I decided to push him a little farther in his reading comprehension. The hope was that this increase reading fluency and focus would translate into better comprehension.  Again, I was surprised by what I discovered.

I started with a new workbook that I picked because of its use of multiple activities for a single story.  Most comprehension materials I had used up until that point were all short passages coupled with a few questions and the information just went in one ear and out the other.  I wanted to find slightly longer passages with 6-10 activities that I could stretch out over a full week.  I finally found a good starter book at the 2nd grade level, which is about where Jackson's comprehension falls.  What I love about this book is that he can read the same story everyday for a week and be challenged to remember more and more details as time passes.  He is like a sponge that needs time to absorb the information and then process it before he can give it back to you.

Here is a video clip of him trying to answer a who question after reading the story only 1 time (and yes, we are using the blue overlay for his reading at this point, and yes, he is obviously distracted by the video camera:)

Now here is a clip of him on the 3rd day of reading the same story.  This time he was asked to do a sequencing activity, which has been impossible up until this point, even with basic concepts like how to build a snowman or get dressed.

 

I was genuinely surprised at how easily he ordered the parts of the story.  He was still a bit distracted by the video camera - he is a bit of a ham after all, but never the less, he knew the sequence of events in the story!  There was no yelling, kicking or spitting out of frustration!  This was a big moment for him and it will hopefully translate into more comprehension success in the future.

These 2 big discoveries illustrate why I am so excited about homeschooling autism.  The one-on-one attention that Jackson clearly needs is just not available in a big public middle school special needs program.  His 6th grade classroom had 7 students, all with completely different learning disabilities.  There was no way his teacher could spend this much time and thought on his reading.  We were told that during his morning Independent Reading Time, which was 20 min of silent reading at their desks, that he would just spin the book around and play with it and when the teacher would eventually come over to him and try to read with him, he would blow in her face and kick the desk. She tried to "focus his attention" and employ "behavior modification" to get him to do his work, but he simply refused to cooperate, therefore he was labeled as unmanageable and too difficult to teach.

It saddens me that those teachers have missed out on the experience of breaking through to an autistic student in such a profound way.  As a professional teacher myself, it is these moments that make a career of educating worth every challenging minute.  I am so blessed to be the one who gets to experience all of his victories and rejoice with him because he is clearly proud of himself as well!

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Yoga + Autism = Natural Calm

Jackson was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (autism) in October of 2002, in Fayetteville, NC while Paul was stationed at Ft. Bragg.  He left for Afghanistan 6 weeks later.  I have a very vivid memory of a moment between Caroline and I in the kitchen of our home.  I was loading the dishwasher while Jackson was running around, screaming and destroying the house and Caroline, who was only 14 months at the time, was promptly unloading all the dirty utensils I had just finished putting into the dishwasher.  I turned to her with a dead serious face and said, "if we are going to survive the next year, you have got to help me." Sweet thing looked right back at me, slowly put the forks back into the rack and sat on the floor quietly until I was finished.  I was at my breaking point and we clearly both knew it.  The next day, I ordered a yoga DVD and set off on a journey to learn to manage my stress during this very challenging time in my life.  Now, I am bringing Jackson on that journey with me, hoping that yoga will help him experience the same peacefulness and calm that I have through the simple practice of slowing my body and mind down to focus on the present and leave the worries about the future behind.

As a former gymnast, I was naturally drawn to yoga, in particular, its combination of balance and flexibility.  I had no previous experience with yoga, so I just went online and bought the first DVD that looked approachable to a novice, and what I discovered was, Yoga for Dummies by Sara Ivanhoe.  I absolutely loved it!  It was simple and clear, not too "out-there" from a spiritual perspective.  It slowly built up my confidence and in no time I felt much more peaceful and in control of my anxiety and emotions.  I learned very quickly that I could not let my young children derail my yoga practice time.  They would crawl under and on top of me while I worked out, but I was determined not to give up, so I did most of my early yoga with my eyes closed and this helped both Jackson and Caroline understand that I was not going to give them the attention they were seeking, so they both eventually wandered off and gave me the 20 minutes I needed to do a complete routine.

Overtime, I noticed that Jackson started to randomly do downward dogs and other yoga poses around the house.  He always liked being upside down, so yoga probably made a lot of sense to him from the very beginning.  I found the best DVD for him called, YogaKids ABCs that he must have watched a hundred times.  He memorized every pose within a few days and I eventually had to hide the movie because I was getting so sick of hearing that woman's overly soothing voice sing the alphabet song.   But to this day, he remembers a lot of the poses from that video that I can add to our morning practice and he knows exactly what I am talking about!

As of today, we do Yoga every morning at 8:45 to kick off our "Morning Work" block of instruction.  I used to have it at the end of this segment of time, but it seemed more logical to start off our school day with a calming and focused activity.  We follow up our yoga time with a Bible devotion and then do some outloud reading before finishing up with some quick "Daily Math" and handwriting practice.  All these activities are meant to kick start his brain and body so he is ready for the rest of the day.  It takes us about 45 min to do everything.

Here is our current yoga routine in both pictures and words, I think he really enjoys it and I can tell that he is getting better everyday!

We begin with Jackson setting up both our mats

The first series of poses we do are called "Sun Salutations" and they include the Downward Dog

Each Sun Salutation includes poses like the Warrior 2,  Triangle, Side Angle, Twists, Plank, and Updog

The cobra pose is done in the middle of this "Vinyasa" which the style of Yoga that we do.

We end our Sun Salutations with Child's Pose - a favorite of  his!

Next we do some mat work that includes Cat, Cow, Peacock, Table and other fun poses  

We both enjoy rolling our backs out after all this work!

I try to make sure each yoga session includes some stretching because he is pretty inflexible at this point.

I finish each practice with a balancing pose like Tree or Eagle.  He needs to hold it for 30 sec without falling.  This ensures he settles his mind and mouth long enough to focus.  This more than anything helps create calm for him. 

Traditional closing yoga pose, Namaste: May the light in me salute the light in you.

Jackson always puts both our mats away when we are finished.  Such an awesome helper! 

Homeschooling Jackson has opened up so many new and exciting doors for not just his education, but for all his developmental areas.  Yoga provides him with more than just physical exercise, it helps him connect himself to the world in a way that nothing else can.  It provides him with the framework in which to learn and practice being calm and still.  I enjoy listening to his deep breathing, watching him find his center of balance, and seeing him beam with pride when we say Namaste and he knows he has done something challenging and he has done it well.  Then he typically tackles me and knocks me over because he is a young man now, and no longer my little J-man who used to climb under my downward dog all those years ago at Ft. Bragg.  

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Freedom from Four White Walls

The best part about homeschooling Jackson has been the freedom we have regarding "out of the classroom" activities. We are not limited to 2 field trips a year or 1 CBI (Community Based Instruction) per month. We go out and about every single day. We go shopping, walk the dog, visit parks, libraries, and monuments. We meet all kinds of interesting people and ask a zillion random questions. We learn new life skills and practice, practice, practice social interactions.

Children with special needs have many developmental obstacles to overcome. Being stuck inside a classroom all day limits their ability to practice many of the critical life skills that they will need once they become adults and are expected to integrate into a "neurotypical" society. So Jackson and I take every opportunity to head outside of our dining room table-top classroom and explore the world around us. I categorize our excursions into 3 main groups with each one having it's own set of rules so he knows what to expect and can mentally prepare for each trip. This minimizes behavioral outbursts that are usually a result of confusion over expectations on his part.

1. Shopping - Every day, after we do our Morning Work, we head out to run errands. We typically leave the house around 10:00 and come home by 11:00. This is our time to practice everyday social and communication skills such as asking store employees for help, paying for items, counting money, waiting in line, talking with a quiet voice, using lists to buy only a few items, making hard choices about wants verses needs, etc... During these outings, he is allowed to have his iPod. This is important because the iPod gives him a tremendous amount of comfort and security that allows me to challenge him with harder social and communication tasks because he is already at ease and calm. Our favorite errands are grocery stores, coffee shops, big box stores, and anywhere that has enough people and commotion that any of his verbal or behavioral miscues go generally unnoticed.

2. CBI - Community Based Instruction A few times a week we try to do a CBI trip. CBI stands for "Community Based Instruction" which is a well known part of most special needs curriculum around the country. While it has always been a favorite activity of Jackson's, the public schools have decreased the number of outings to only a few a year due to decreased funding, transportation issues, behavioral concerns, and rapidly increasing numbers of special needs students per classroom. This has been a big disappointment for us since the community is such a critical part of his learning environment. The purpose of a CBI trip is not as much social/comunication skills practice as it is life experience gathering. It is our opportunity to show Jackson how many cool and exciting things are out there to see and do, so when he gets discouraged or frustrated with his limitations, we can remind him of all that is possible and not just what is impossible for him. So, thankfully, now that we homeschool, I can do as many CBIs as I want! We have already gone to the library, movie theater, mall, restaurants, lakes, parks, sporting events, and a college campus in the last 2 weeks. And there are so many more places try, such as farms, train stations, local museums, military bases, nature centers...the list goes on and on! I often allow the iPod on these trips, unless I think it will be disruptive or distracting. I want Jackson to take in the big picture during these activities and the iPod helps him focus and tune out any irritating sensory things that might derail the experience. These trips typically last an hour or so, and that can be a long period of time for him to "hold it together".

3. Field Trip At least once a month, I would like to take Jackson on a full day field trip. These outings are much more planned out and academic in nature. This month, we went to The White House. We spent a week learning all about it here at home before we ventured downtown to check out the real thing. I try to give Jackson a very detailed schedule of the day so he knows exactly what we will be doing and when. He is not allowed to have an iPod during these trips because I want him to be more actively involved in the learning process. I do allow him to take pictures which helps me guide him to certain objects of interest for us to discuss or highlight topics we learned about previously. I asked him to make a movie of our White House field trip using my iPhone, thinking it would be a cool way for him to capture the day and help him remember the important parts. But the craziest thing happened, he immediately switched my phone from video to camera and began taking pictures of all the protestors. He was fascinated with them all. He took pictures of their faces, their signs, their megaphones, their tents...He was drawn to the people around The White House, not the actual building itself.
It was a remarkable moment for me as I watched him study these people and show such a genuine interest in their emotions and faces. As we proceeded to walk around Lafayette Square and down towards the Washington Monument, he must have taken over 100 pictures of random people. What struck me about his desired subjects, was that he did not take one single picture of a man or woman in a business suit. Here we are, standing smack dab in the middle to the most powerful city on Earth, with very important people swirling all around us on their Blackberries, drinking their Starbucks, and he completely ignored them. He only took pictures of everyday people. It was neat for me to see humanity through his eyes and see what he values, not what the world tells me I should value in a person. I am excited to see what both Jackson and I learn on these adventures! Some of my other field trip ideas are the Newseum, Library of Congress, Great Falls, Mount Vernon, Baltimore Aquarium, Bull Run Battlefield, the list just goes on and on.

I had a lightbulb moment when we were sitting in our public school IEP meeting a few weeks ago to discuss Jackson's behavioral outbursts since beginning middle school. When Paul and I were discussing some of the techniques we use to manage Jackson's behavior, we talked a lot about how we do it while out and about in the community. The head administrator of the autism program looked at us with a shocked expression on his face, and said, "you take him out?" It hit me at that very moment that this man and that entire program would never "get it" in regards to not just Jackson but to developmentally disabled individuals in general. It broke my heart that this man did not believe in Jackson and never would. We pulled him out of that school the next day. So yes, "I take him out" and I love every glorious moment of seeing him discover the world around him and all of his potential in that world.


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