Here are articles, activities, tips, and special helps for our special needs friends! A daily dose of chatter as we discover how God blesses us through special needs! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:34:00 -0500 Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:34:00 -0500 Visual processing affects all subject areas but specifically reading, reading comprehension, and math. With this simple evaluation you can determine if your child has a significant visual processing issue. If you find that your child is deficient in visual processing, activities and software is suggested at the end of this article.   This evaluation will require you to write out digits (letters and numbers) on 3x5 cards before you begin. You will need 30 cards.  If your child is not familiar with letters and numbers, you may start by using pictures of objects.  Write a set of 3 digits on a card, use fairly large lettering and space the digits apart across the card as best as you can, (see example below.) Make a set of 5 cards for each level, ie. 5 cards with 3 digits, 5 cards with 4 digits, 5 cards with 5 digits, and so on.   Of course, as the number of digits increases, the size and spacing will decrease, that is fine. These cards can be used later to instruct and work with the child to improve their visual processing.   The child (or adult, if you are testing yourself) is not supposed to use any mnemonic device such as clustering (like a phone number or 2 or 3 digit number – ie 29), putting to music, attaching to a known word, number, or picture, or any other memory tricks we use to remember things. Using these methods are tricks and devices and do not accurately identify the person’s processing ability.   T  4  9   Recording responses When the child reaches instructional level stop, this will be the instructional level used when remediating using digit spans.   Visual Processing Level at which the child missed 0-1  _____ digits   Ability Level Level at which the child missed 2-3  _____ digits    Instructional Level Level at which the child missed 4-5  _____ digits    Frustration Level   What does this information tell me? The number of digits the child functions at identifies the processing ability. The processing ability indicates the level of learning the child can attain. For example: a typical 3 year old should be able to process 3 pieces of information sequentially, a four year old, 4 pieces, and a 5 year old, 5 pieces. It is important to note that a child can not functionally learn to read without being able to accurately recall 5 pieces of visual information.  It is important to reach a level that is functional for the child. If your child is 5 years old you want the child to function at a level 5 digit span. If your child is over 8 then work toward 8 digits. You may go higher than 8 as well.   Interventions for Visual processing: Brain Age for Nintendo DS  www.brainage.com This game is a bit more advanced and is great for ages 8 to adult (depending on ability level, must be able to read.) Video games improve certain aspects of visual processing. They enhance finding objects in clutter, figure ground discrimination, tracking, visual perception, and subitizing (ability to identify the number of multiple items quickly). However, they do not enhance visual sequence recall unless that is what they are designed to do such as games like brain age. Digit Spans  -  develop a set of cards with pictures, letters and numbers,  or words starting at the instructional level. I suggest at least 10 sets of digits for each level so that after daily review, the sets will not be easily memorized. Review the digits spans for 3-5 minutes several times a day. Making it a game is always more fun. Try letting your child ‘test’ you on the digit spans and work on improving your processing.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/522113/ Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:34:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/522113/ Here is an article by James D. MacDonald, Ph.D./CCC of Communicating Partners. This is a very interesting insight and he has granted us permission to reprint it on our blog. Hi all, I am on a strange sleep cycle so this came to me tonight. Many parents want their child to learn and perform facts, to get ready for school. Many programs for autism and other late talking conditions focus on teaching facts and skills thinking that 'cognition'--or 'knowing things' comes first. Parents often seem more interested in their child knowing the colors and numbers than in taking turns and playing and communicating with sounds. Being social seems less important than knowing things for school. This memo asks which comes first cognition or social life? As you may know Communicating Partners focuses on getting a child social before getting him ready for school. I hope this will help clarify why we do that. QUESTION. Which comes first cognitive learning or social learning? We have been told that our son Sean, needed to be trained to learn cognitive skills like numbers and colors for school and to reduce his "autistic" habits and become compliant before he will be come social and communicative. Why does Communicating Partners begin by helping a child become social first? Answer: There are many heavier answers to this question , but sometimes a light one is the strongest. We begin by helping a child become social because it is the most enjoyable thing to do with a child. We and you get something personal and intimate when we get a child to "see" us and really respond and care. So , if enjoying your child and finding ways for him or her to enjoy you is at all important, then getting your child social is just a lot more fun than teaching him for school. And,now my more serious but less exciting answers: First, because that is the way child develop and learn. Most scholars in child development agree that the key to learning in daily life is by socially interacting with people the child is attached with and who act and communicate in ways the child can do. In fact it is now evident that a child will learn more of what he needs to be included in the social world from frequent daily interactions spontaneously than he will from intensive drilling on facts and skills for school. Making a child a successful student does not make him less autistic in real life and less isolated from society. Early and intensive social relationships are needed for that. A second critical reason to begin by helping a child be spontaneously social is that the more directive and intensive academic and compliance approaches can have the effect of discouraging the child from being social and learning what he needs at the natural movement. Such a child can easily become dependent on his teacher or trainer and not learn how to socially learn on his own. Then he becomes a student who knows what others think he should learn but he does not learn what he needs to effectively navigate his own interpersonal world. I know children with autism who perform, and answer very well but are at a loss in daily interactions where his real life learning must take place. A third reason for our focus of social learning first is that we and others have been very successful with many children and families in reducing the time that children are isolated from society. Both our research findings and our clinical reports from families show that many children with autism can become social when their families enter the child's world responsively and nurture who they are becoming rather than distrusting their social potential and trying to make them into compliant students learning a set curriculum rather than an individualized life. A fourth reason for our focus on social learning first is that it is something that anyone in the child's life can do. Treatment is no longer limited to trained and paid persons, but is available to anyone interacting daily with the child. Children clearly can learn in every interaction if it involves two features: one, something the child can do, and something the child is internally motivated to do, and three, something the child can use in daily life. A fifth reason is that ,contrary to the belief and practice of many, most children diagnosed on the autism spectrum can become much more social and genuinely communicative than they are. Observation of many children with autism reveals that very little attention is usually given to seeing if , indeed, the child can socialize with persons who actually enter his world of sensation and action. James D. MacDonald, Ph.D./CCC Communicating Partners website: www.jamesdmacdonald.org (614) 447-0768 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/332129/ Tue, 22 May 2007 15:55:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/332129/ This is an absolutely incredible interview with Rick Warren , "Purpose Driven Life " author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California .  His wife now has cancer, and he now has "wealth" from the book sales.  In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:  "People ask me, "What is the purpose of life?"  And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity.  We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.  One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.  I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity.  This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal.  God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.  Life is a series of problems:  Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.  The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.  God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.  We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life.  The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.  This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.  I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth.  I don't believe that anymore.  Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.  No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.  And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.  You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.   If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain."  But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.  We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.  It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.  You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder.  For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.  It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.  So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence.  He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.  First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit.  We made no major purchases.  Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.  Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.   Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back.  It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.   We need to ask ourselves:  Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?   Am I going to be driven by pressures?  Guilt?  Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?   When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better.  God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list.  He's more interested in what I am than what I do.  That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.  Happy moments, PRAISE GOD. Difficult moments, SEEK GOD. Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD. Painful moments, TRUST GOD. Every moment, THANK GOD. " http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/240509/ Fri, 17 Nov 2006 15:11:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/240509/ Thank you so much for your prayers!   I am doing much better, the infection is going away and I am no longer having a fever. I think I can actually get back to some daily routine!   Blessings, Christie http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/231075/ Thu, 2 Nov 2006 09:51:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/231075/ YOU SENT A TESTIMONIAL!   I went to my inbox, finally able to work and prepared to send out all those free ebooks I offered! Ack!!! ATT deleted all of the emails that you sent! They have a new policy that they delete everything after 30 days!   Please resend your testimonies so I can send you your free e-book and if you haven't sent us a testimony and still want to take advantage of this offer, please send us your testimony on how our ministry has helped you!   Blessings, Christie http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/231066/ Mon, 30 Oct 2006 09:44:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/231066/ Hi everyone,   I received a call from my mom recently. She is having some physical and other issues. I offered to come up to get her so she could move down here with us and she agreed! To many people this would be a simple offer. But for our home this means that our small 3 bdrm home with an additional room built in the garage is going to be overflowing. Currently we have our 2 children (one living at college part time and here part time), our newest 'daughter', and Grandpa (hubby's dad) all living in our little humble home. So inviting another person into our already crowded home was probably a nutty thing to do. But, I have always told my parents that we would be there if they needed and our home is always open.   Hubby and I drove to West Virginia to pick up Grandma and as much of her stuff as possible. She lives in a motor home and she and I drove it back to North Alabama for her to stay here.   The family has had to adjust and with God's help is doing pretty well. It has been a wonderful opportunity to teach my children about the first commandment with promise. Sometimes it isn't enough just to teach about it, sometimes you have to teach with examples and put the teaching into practice. I know with teens they begin to think themselves more important than others and loose sight of putting others before ourselves and the fact that we need to honor our parents even when it isn't convenient or fun.   Take time to honor your parents, teach your children by example. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/231064/ Tue, 10 Oct 2006 12:26:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/231064/ I have an infection and we are having to clean the incisions three times a day. Please keep us in prayer. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/231045/ Fri, 27 Oct 2006 09:24:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/231045/ I had surgery last week and am doing pretty well. Very sore, but pretty good! Thank you for all of your prayers! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/231041/ Fri, 20 Oct 2006 14:21:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/231041/ Hi everyone,   I will be having surgery in October so will be a bit out of pocket for awhile! It is a somewhat serious surgery... I have back issues and need to have a surgery to help it. I will try to keep everyone updated as I can. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/231035/ Wed, 20 Sep 2006 09:17:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/231035/   We need your help! We are updating our websites and would like to tell others how we have helped you! Send us your testimony and we will send you the Free E-book Learning Styles and Interests!     Learning Styles and Interests is a $15.00 value, FREE! This is a great resource for those just starting out as well as for seasoned home educators! This book provides information on learning styles, personality, talents, gifts and abilities and their effect on how our children learn! Includes worksheets and questionnaires to use with your children to find out how they learn best and what their interests are.   Just send us your testimonies of how we helped you to cberry@onefaithmin.org and we will reply with a link to a copy of this E-book for you to download onto your computer to read or print! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/193681/ Thu, 31 Aug 2006 09:11:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/193681/