When we started Wolf in the Independent Study Program I thought it would be a lot of work, but that's not how it is turning out. In all actuality I do almost no "official" teaching. We just read his worksheets, he gets the concept and does the work. I almost never have to explain anything more than once or in a different way for him to "get" it.
We read science magazines, watch Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs and read chapters out of his social studies book every so often. We work in the garden, go for walks, go to martial arts and Cub Scout meetings. He soaks up so much information just by living. More than anything else we do, we talk.
The other day a friend of ours who is really into molecular biology asked Wolf if he wanted to learn about it and, when Wolf said yes, proceeded to go on about it for at least ten to fifteen minutes. Afterward, on our way home, I asked wolf if he wanted me to draw him some pictures to explain what our friend had been talking about, which he did. At home we had a lesson on molecules and how atoms go together to make them. We talked about electrons, protons and neutrons and electrons. We talked about the different states of matter and how the movement of molecules was related to that. Then he asked, "If atoms make up molecules and protons and neutrons make up atoms, what are atoms made of?" I said I'd go into that later! Then he asked, "Well what happens when things break?" I told him I'd get back to him on that.
I went online to a forum that deals with kids like Wolf and Bear and asked for a simple way to explain that. I got several responses, including one that was junior college level. That was the one I ended up working with. A couple days later I pulled out the Duplo blocks and explained that they were molecules. Each molecule has a positive and negative section which is how they fit together. When things break it's that bond between the two that breaks and I broke apart the blocks. Then I explained that if you take a hammer to one of the blocks it stops being a block and becomes a pile of plastic bits. That is basically what happens when a molecule is broken apart into its constituent atoms. It's a lot harder to do than just breaking the bonds between molecules. Wolf got it all right away.
Then we went into chemical reactions, like having a fire in the fire place...
Then we went online and found out what makes up protons and neutrons...
His first grade science book (we finished the workbook in a month or so) goes into solid, liquid and gas. No details mind you, just the terms and very basic concepts. Molecules aren't mentioned anywhere.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
SPD, SID, DSI Oh My!
So it is mostly official, Bear has Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) also know as Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID or DSI) and by several other names. What this means in the most basic terms is that we aren't bad parents and he isn't a bad kid, he just has a bit of a short circuit that makes dealing with things that other people take for granted (like basic transitions) very difficult. It also means that there are ways to help him cope with it and possibly even eventually make it easier for him rather than just something that has to be coped with.
The poster child for SPD/SID is the kid that can't handle tags in their shirts, socks whose seams sit wrong, any clothing other than sweats and more than a few simple foods. Another would be the kid who flies around the room banging into things, has no sense of fear and can spin or swing for hours and hours and hours (literally). Then there is the kid who can't handle bright lights, loud noises, or crowds.
The main way it presents in Bear is that he has a very abnormal difficulty with transitions and new places or people. His way of showing this is through horrible screaming tantrums that he often doesn't have the emotional control to calm down out of. He will tantrum over leaving the house to go to music class (which he loves) or when we attempt to change his clothes. He will tantrum when there is an unavoidable change in his schedule. He will tantrum when anything in his world is not ordered in the way he feels it is supposed to be.
Of course it also depends on the day. Some days are fine and some days are horrible. That's one of the interesting things about SPD, it doesn't show the same way all the time. It's like he has a frustration meter and some days he starts with it already almost full while other days it is empty.
The other “fun” thing about SPD is that it isn't officially recognized as a stand alone disorder. It should be soon, but until then insurance companies tend not to support it and government agencies will not provide support for it. Basically this means that unless Bear has something else with initials he probably won't be able to get any support from the school district even though this will affect his ability to function in a class setting. As it is he missed qualifying for our state's early intervention program (up to age 3) by 5%. I was told that if the testers had seen him tantrum he would have qualified. I was also told that he would have qualified if he had been tested earlier in the year before the laws changed.
The occupational therapy (OT) that we have learned about is helping, which is nice. One of his favorite OT things is to be gathered up in a blanket and swung around. It actually helps him get calm enough to sleep. In fact he's actually slept through the night two days in a row now. I've also found that tossing him around and rocking him vigorously can stop a tantrum as it is starting if I catch it early enough. He just got a Sit and Spin and is getting a mini trampoline for his birthday, both of which are supposed to help. Chiropractic helps also, lessening the occurrence of the really long tantrums.
It is horribly frustrating. There is obviously a glitch in his system, but it doesn't show on the outside. All other people see is a screaming kid who is spoiled about getting things his own way. He doesn't have enough initials to qualify for state support, but needs support none-the-less. Sigh...
The poster child for SPD/SID is the kid that can't handle tags in their shirts, socks whose seams sit wrong, any clothing other than sweats and more than a few simple foods. Another would be the kid who flies around the room banging into things, has no sense of fear and can spin or swing for hours and hours and hours (literally). Then there is the kid who can't handle bright lights, loud noises, or crowds.
The main way it presents in Bear is that he has a very abnormal difficulty with transitions and new places or people. His way of showing this is through horrible screaming tantrums that he often doesn't have the emotional control to calm down out of. He will tantrum over leaving the house to go to music class (which he loves) or when we attempt to change his clothes. He will tantrum when there is an unavoidable change in his schedule. He will tantrum when anything in his world is not ordered in the way he feels it is supposed to be.
Of course it also depends on the day. Some days are fine and some days are horrible. That's one of the interesting things about SPD, it doesn't show the same way all the time. It's like he has a frustration meter and some days he starts with it already almost full while other days it is empty.
The other “fun” thing about SPD is that it isn't officially recognized as a stand alone disorder. It should be soon, but until then insurance companies tend not to support it and government agencies will not provide support for it. Basically this means that unless Bear has something else with initials he probably won't be able to get any support from the school district even though this will affect his ability to function in a class setting. As it is he missed qualifying for our state's early intervention program (up to age 3) by 5%. I was told that if the testers had seen him tantrum he would have qualified. I was also told that he would have qualified if he had been tested earlier in the year before the laws changed.
The occupational therapy (OT) that we have learned about is helping, which is nice. One of his favorite OT things is to be gathered up in a blanket and swung around. It actually helps him get calm enough to sleep. In fact he's actually slept through the night two days in a row now. I've also found that tossing him around and rocking him vigorously can stop a tantrum as it is starting if I catch it early enough. He just got a Sit and Spin and is getting a mini trampoline for his birthday, both of which are supposed to help. Chiropractic helps also, lessening the occurrence of the really long tantrums.
It is horribly frustrating. There is obviously a glitch in his system, but it doesn't show on the outside. All other people see is a screaming kid who is spoiled about getting things his own way. He doesn't have enough initials to qualify for state support, but needs support none-the-less. Sigh...
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Why Bear is still a baby
Bear will be three in a couple of weeks now. He has been speaking in full sentences since he was a year old. He is HUGE compared to the other kids his age we know and yet I still call him a baby. Not a toddler, not a preschooler, but a baby.
People keep asking me why I call him a baby and I explain I did the same thing with Wolf. Until my kids tell me that they aren't babies anymore and that I shouldn't call them that they remain babies. When Wolf told me he wasn't a baby I stopped using that term for him.
The reasoning behind this is that our society pushes kids to grow up faster than is really healthy for them, in my opinion. Every aspect of many children's lives is scheduled. Even playing with other kids is written into the day planner as a "playdate." The problem becomes magnified when your kids are functioning several grades above their age. Kids get to be babies for such a small portion of their lives that I simply refuse to take that away from them before they let it go on their own. I know it probably isn't a conscious decision for them, but it is still their decision made on their own.
People keep asking me why I call him a baby and I explain I did the same thing with Wolf. Until my kids tell me that they aren't babies anymore and that I shouldn't call them that they remain babies. When Wolf told me he wasn't a baby I stopped using that term for him.
The reasoning behind this is that our society pushes kids to grow up faster than is really healthy for them, in my opinion. Every aspect of many children's lives is scheduled. Even playing with other kids is written into the day planner as a "playdate." The problem becomes magnified when your kids are functioning several grades above their age. Kids get to be babies for such a small portion of their lives that I simply refuse to take that away from them before they let it go on their own. I know it probably isn't a conscious decision for them, but it is still their decision made on their own.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Davidson and Bunny
We just sent in Wolf's application to the Davidson Young Scholar Program. It is a program aimed at serving extremely gifted young people between the ages of five and eighteen. We're hoping that he will be able to meet more kids like himself and get help finding special programs. I'm am SO bad at waiting though. I am pretty sure he will qualify, but you never know. By the time the process is over, possibly as long as six weeks from now, I will undoubtedly be a nervous wreck.
So we go from how advanced Wolf is to how he is still only five years old. This evening I found our younger rat, Bunny, a blue dumbo hairless rat, dead in her cage. Brendan has lost pets before, but this was the first one he had really attached to. All the others have been fish or reptiles, not nearly as cuddly. He is so sad and so hurt and so, well just plain confused by all of it. He has all of these emotions and hasn't had the experience to understand what he is feeling. It hurts to watch him hurt and it doesn't help that I'm hurting too. She was an adorable and wonderful pet.
Tomorrow we are going to bury her in the back yard in our little cemetery. She'll have a blanket and some food and we will get to say goodbye. I've explained that the part of her that made her Bunny still exists, that it is just her body that died and now her body will be able to become part of the earth and the trees that grow nearby. I've told him she is alive in our hearts and memories and the part that made her Bunny will never die. It's a hard enough concept for adults to comprehend.
So we go from how advanced Wolf is to how he is still only five years old. This evening I found our younger rat, Bunny, a blue dumbo hairless rat, dead in her cage. Brendan has lost pets before, but this was the first one he had really attached to. All the others have been fish or reptiles, not nearly as cuddly. He is so sad and so hurt and so, well just plain confused by all of it. He has all of these emotions and hasn't had the experience to understand what he is feeling. It hurts to watch him hurt and it doesn't help that I'm hurting too. She was an adorable and wonderful pet.
Tomorrow we are going to bury her in the back yard in our little cemetery. She'll have a blanket and some food and we will get to say goodbye. I've explained that the part of her that made her Bunny still exists, that it is just her body that died and now her body will be able to become part of the earth and the trees that grow nearby. I've told him she is alive in our hearts and memories and the part that made her Bunny will never die. It's a hard enough concept for adults to comprehend.
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