Comments for Different Roads to Learning Blog

Comment on Reinforcement Development – Strategies for Teaching Students with ASD by Autism Partnership by Amy

Amy — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:41:23 +0000

Absolutely spot on!! Thank you for a most timely and informative article. I am copying and passing it along to my son’s team members. Well done.

Comment on Building Language for Your Child with Autism, Part 2: Matching Objects and Pictures as a Precursor to Language by Christina

Christina — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:04:28 +0000

Love the new blog! My daughter didn’t get her “official” autism dx until last year when she was 8 yrs old. Until then we really just did tons of testing and searching for answers and struggling to figure out why she did what she did all through the years. Even though she was in speech therapy from the age of 2, the focus was so broad to just get her verbal that something like this would have been so helpful to her and I. I don’t know how many times I found myself frustrated and in disbelief because she “still” didn’t know or understand what I was saying when I gave her the name of an everyday object. Thanks for this post. Such great information!!

Comment on Enter to win a free iPad from the HollyRod Foundation by Cora Taylor

Cora Taylor — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 04:39:04 +0000

My son Joel is nonverbal and has been abused in the schools. He can only communicate using for sign language words. His teacher recommended for him to get an ipad, but they are very expensive. I put his name in the drawing but he was not selected. I do not work and my husband is disabled and no longer in our home. It would be nice to have one for my son to be able to communicate what happened and what is happening.

Comment on Walks for Autism by Allison Gilmour

Allison Gilmour — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 20:14:40 +0000

Thank you for highlighting Organization for Autism Research! i just wanted to point out you can find more information about the run program at http://www.researchautism.org/news/run/index.asp or call and talk to one of the amazing run staff members. We would love to have you on our team!

Comment on Apps for Children with Special Needs by Apps for Children with Special Needs (via Different Roads to Learning Blog) « Chicago Mac/PC Support

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:47:31 +0000

[...] For all you technophiles who are loving using the iPad with your students and children, this website – Apps for Children with Special Needs – is going to knock your socks off. They're completely on top of all the new educational apps coming out. They list each one, explaining their features in detail and even provide a video of the app in use so you can decide if it's right for you before shelling out the money. This is a GREAT site that we highl … Read More [...]

Comment on Defining ‘Essential’ Care by Kristine

Kristine — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 22:45:28 +0000

Here’s what I think: I responsibly bought health insurance for my son, as I did with all of my children, with the understanding that if one of them got sick their medical treatments would be covered. My child got sick, his brain has damage and that makes him display the behaviors of severe autism. ABA, speech, OT are all evidenced based treatments for autism. Why WOULDN’T his medical insurance cover that? I don’t care the cost. If he had cancer they’d cover the evidenced based treatment for that. If they didn’t there would be huge outrage. I don’t like the idea of mandating insurance companies to pay for treatment, but what choice do we have? They are breaking their contract with these children- I bought the insurance, how can they not pay for my sick child’s treatment when that was our agreement?

Comment on Billions of Dollars Allocated for Community Living by Tweets that mention Billions of Dollars Allocated for Community Living | Different Roads to Learning Blog -- Topsy.com

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:05:38 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Alltop Autism, Diff Roads to Learn. Diff Roads to Learn said: Billions of Dollars Allocated for Community Living http://wp.me/pZj2q-om [...]

Comment on President’s Day by vmgillen

vmgillen — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 13:57:29 +0000

My child has been channelling Martha Stewart lately – so we’ve been making all manner of things using wood, clay, papier mache, etc. Sculpey works well as a modelling clay: you can fire it in the oven. You can really load the activity with “valued outcomes” – measuring/math, decorating/arts, execution/planning and attending, giving the product as a gift/social skill. Ah yes, parent-as-teacher multi-tasking..

Home offers great opportunities for decision making: school tends to focus on compliance to exclusion of self-determination. You can structure this by working within the broad activity: “now’s the time to do X” with subset options: “want to do a or b?” -or more choices, if that’s appropriate.

Comment on Discoveries Program at the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art by Different Roads to Learning

Different Roads to Learning — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 21:02:22 +0000

This is such great information! Thank you for letting us know about more great programs in NY!

Comment on Discoveries Program at the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art by vmgillen

vmgillen — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 21:00:34 +0000

The Met program is fabulous – but it’s not the only one. Check City Access: http://www.cityaccessny.org/mac.php for a full list. These are links to several specific museums (including the Met)

http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/learninganddevdisabilities
http://www.moma.org/learn/disabilities/developmental
http://www.metmuseum.org/events/visitorsdisabilities/developmental

Finally, never ever hesitate to ask that a program be created, or concessions made: that’s how we got to this point! – Access NYC can help…

Comment on Special Education Funding in the 2012 U.S. Budget by Tweets that mention Special Education Funding in the 2012 U.S. Budget -- Topsy.com

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 18:55:36 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by ξɭɭíҽ ℳҽŋɬ, Alltop Autism. Alltop Autism said: Special Education Funding in the 2012 U.S. Budget http://bit.ly/fcV0j8 [...]

Comment on Refer-A-Friend Program by Mary Beth Palo

Mary Beth Palo — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 02:10:14 +0000

What a nice contribution to the people who need it the most! As usual – you are giving!

Comment on Enter to win a free iPad from the HollyRod Foundation by Julie Albers

Julie Albers — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 19:30:21 +0000

My son is sometimes hard to reach he was born what they call a micro preemie and is legally blind and learning delayed
his Teacher a most amazing and gifted person uses her ipad to help him i would love to have one at home to use with him as well

Comment on Congress To Consider National Special Needs Parent Day by Louise

Louise — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 16:14:56 +0000

I agree, what on earth will a day provide? No one will benefit from having a day set aside for special needs parents. I wont get a day off work or someone coming in to assist me with my special needs kids at home… I dont care about medals or recognition for the work I do with my sons as much as I care about getting them more services, getting the awareness out there and receiving better support for my family…. Put money into special needs schools, fund more programs and educate more people instead!!

Comment on Special Screening of Harry Potter for Hearing & Sight Impaired Children by Deaf Deaf

Deaf Deaf — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 05:36:20 +0000

Hearing Impaired

Please be advised that the term, “hearing impaired” is unacceptable. Here is the explanation:

The term “Hearing Impaired” is a technically accurate term much preferred by hearing people, largely because they view it as politically correct. In the mainstream society, to boldly state one’s disability (e.g., deaf, blind, etc.) is somewhat rude and impolite. To their way of thinking, it is far better to soften the harsh reality by using the word “impaired” along with “visual”, “hearing”, and so on. “hearing-impaired” is a well-meaning word that is much-resented by deaf and hard of hearing people.

While it’s true that their hearing is not perfect, that doesn’t make them impaired as people. Most would prefer to be called Deaf, Hard of Hearing or deaf when the need arises to refer to their hearing status, but not as a primary way to identify them as people (where their hearing status is not significant).

Hope that you and your people respect by refusing to use the outdated and offensive term.

Comment on Did You Know? by Special Screening of Harry Potter for Hearing & Sight Impaired Children | Different Roads to Learning Blog

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 20:04:09 +0000

[...] & Sight Impaired Children by Different Roads to Learning Awhile back, we told you about AMC Entertainment offering special monthly viewings for children with autism spectrum disorders where they dim the lights and turn down the sound to make movie watching less of an overwhelming [...]

Comment on YouTube! by Mary Beth

Mary Beth — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 02:42:02 +0000

YEAH!!!!

we look forward to them and look forward to contributing also! Video is the way to go!

Comment on Children helping children! by Mary Beth

Mary Beth — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 21:32:02 +0000

Peer Modeling does work – i have living proof of that !!!!! And it can be beneficial to the peer who is modeling – Peers learn understanding, empathy, how to communicate more effectively and most importantly – that not everyoen is the same – we all have different talents, likes, learning styles, personalities and gifts….. and more.
Effective Peer modeling is difficult because it is hard to find children willing to do it – which is a result of them not understanding or their families not understanding…..
I hope to see Peer Modeling become a part of mainstream education – it is a part of my home and should be in all. Therapists should also be using it as part of their programming.

Comment on Night of Too Many Stars! by Different Roads to Learning

Different Roads to Learning — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 14:47:14 +0000

Autieadvocacy, you absolutely are correct that severe autism is not at all funny. We wanted to clarify that the comedians at the event did not use autism as the source of their jokes in any way. The night brought out recognized celebrities who used their fame and talents to raise money for autism education and awareness. We were actually quite impressed by the sensitivity and breadth of the organizer’s knowledge of the realities of living with autism.

Comment on Language Delays Found in Siblings of Children With Autism by Regina

Regina — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 22:51:20 +0000

I’m not sure about this (and generally there is dependency on the composition of the participants, and definitions and parameters of the particular study). FWIW, our quite older (non ASD, but ADHD child) was language precocious. It was the second child who received the autism diagnosis and has a significant and severe language delay and deficit. But a potential genetic and familial contribution? Oh, of course.

Comment on Night of Too Many Stars! by autieadvocacy

autieadvocacy — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 05:38:17 +0000

It’s great the comedians have tried to bring humor to autism, but the reality of lives lived, such as seen on You Tube when you type in “severe autism” isn’t really funny. Unless. of course you want to do a parody of how much money the states could SAVE by providing adequate IN HOME support care (the care ARNOLD and other POLITICIANS want to CUT) in comparison to the cost of OUT OF HOME PLACEMENTS. Yes indeed, that is funny.

Comment on iPad and Autism? by Different Roads to Learning

Different Roads to Learning — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 20:23:24 +0000

I bought an I Pad so I could play and see the Apps that relate to our kids.

Some of my favorites are: Balloon Animals as a reinforcer (for me, especially). Shape Builder a touch puzzle game, Memory cards for a quick concentration game and Pattern Recognition…a sequencing game.