The Skinny: Draw Write Now is a drawing book… but really, it’s a lot more than that…they are educational books, where you don’t realize you are learning! If you have a kid who happens to be hyper-focused on one subject, this can be a nice gateway to expand that focus. It is a tool that our…
Draw Write Now for Vision and Fine Motor Planning was originally published on KidConnectionZ
As a parent of a kid with challenges the word “stimming” is like a dagger in the heart. I’m going to take the gloves off and tell you if you are working with a “professional” (yes, I purposely put that word in quotes, because sometimes you just wonder where they actually got that degree from) and they use the word “stimming” then get a new professional. Because they clearly don’t know what is driving child to do what they are doing. I am not joking here, although the irony of the title of this article doesn’t escape me. It seems that if some therapists don’t know what’s driving a kid to do what they do, then they drop this word like it’s no issue, it’s almost as if they are stimming on the word “stimming” itself.
If your therapist even mentions the word “stimming” to you, the parent, or even the more politically correct version, “perseverate”, lose them! They clearly don’t know how to work through and manage your kid’s challenges. Using those words are just a cop out for not knowing what to do! I know it is easy for me to sit here on a keyboard and say “just drop your therapist”. But, in reality, you should really start looking for one more appropriate for your child’s needs.
I learned this recently from working with a speech therapist, when my kid kept talking about a certain subject. I was getting frustrated and clearly lost. She brought up the word to teach me on how and we should not use it. Then I watched her simply sit back, watch my kid for a short while, then go in and start talking with him. What was amazing, is she just dove into what he was talking about, and started expanding in several different ways around the subject, until he stopped talking about it. Essentially, he has this itch to learn more about this word or subject, but didn’t quite know how to ask that or explain what he was thinking. She taught us a new way to approach it and all this “stimming” went away after a few months. She hit it right on the head, and it was her wisdom that knew what to look for. I am so grateful to work with her and, more importantly, to have her constantly educate us on the “why”, so we know what to do in the future.
Learn more ways to work with your child on their challenges at: KidConnectionZ.com
Innovation, it’s all about the process…
In this post, we look to provide some guidance and approaches that encourage leaders to focus on the SYSTEM of Innovation. As a review from past writings, to amplify success with Innovation, we advocate five key steps.
Most everyone understands how a manufacturing system works. In the manufacturing system, process are piloted, developed and continuously…
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This is a book review of STAGEiT! Shakespeare. The author of STAGEiT! Shakespeare is Floyd Rumohr, and he was gracious enough to send me a few copies so I could review them and give some away to my followers. I have 3 copies of STAGEiT! Shakespeare Grades 5-8 to give away, read on to learn…
STAGEiT! Shakespeare – Grades 5-8 – Book Review was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books
I want to share a heart warming story that recently happened to a friend if mine….and yes, it is true…
I had a meeting with a friend the other day. She is the widow of a good friend of mine who passed away too young, only 42. It’s been 5 years since then, and she still talks to him every day.
So, a funny story happened when she was going to get a new little sports car for herself. The car had arrived at the lot, they called her up, said they were going to gas it up, come on down to pick it up tomorrow.
Morning came around and she was heading over to the car dealership to pick up her new Volkswagen bug convertible. While she was driving she started having second thoughts about this “splurge”. Feeling guilty, she started talking to her late husband again, just as she does every day. On the way to the dealership, she stopped at the post office.
As she sat in the parking lot of the Post Office and turned off the car, she asked him just to give her a sign that this was the right thing to do. Was she doing this because she was still struggling with stuff, she still trying to find herself, or was it something that she honestly just deserved?
After a few minutes of conversation and self-deliberation, she went in the post office, dropped off her letter and walked back out to her car. No more than one, maybe two minutes at the most. She got into the car and the dashboard lights all turned on but she couldn’t start the car. In fact, it wouldn’t even turn over. Her car, that she had driven for years with no issues, just died. No warnings, no notice, just done.
Well, she clearly took this as a sign from her late husband, and got her brand-new little bug.
She had to get the car towed to her dealer to get it fixed. The weird piece is that the mechanic came out and said, “You know what is interesting about this problem, is that we never see it. It’s just the starter fuse blew out, very simple, very inexpensive. And we have no idea how it happened.”
Coincidence, I think not. And yes, this is a true story.
This is something that touches my heart deeply, but poses a bigger question, why don’t live theater and movie theaters do performances and shows for kids with sensory challenges more often? First of all, this post is inspired by Kelly Hunter from the Royal Shakespeare Company, in conjunction with the Ohio State University. A big shout out goes…
Shakespeare Plays Designed for Autistic Kids was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books
Interesting how the director missed the simple aspects of just, telling the story….
Getting ready for the play
This backdrop is supposed to tell us where we are. Can you figure it out?
There was a large crowed for the August 2 production of Lake Tahoe’s Shakespeare festival. As you can see a nice crowed had gathered for a night of cultural entertainment. How can you go wrong with one of Shakespeare’s best well written plays? Some of Shakespeare’s best lines are found in this play. From the well known, “All the world’s a stage” speech to Touchtone’s witty comebacks, what the play lacks in plot more than makes up for it with very witty writing. One would have to try very hard to screw this up. Yet, as much as I enjoyed the performance of the actors, a question came to mind as I watched. When is a Shakespeare play not Shakespeare?
I’m well aware that most modern productions of Shakespeare discard…
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Ahhh, Puck! My absolute favorite of all Shakespeare’s characters. I associate the most with him and his mischievous ways, and that is why I probably like him so. But, he is also the perfect character to kick off a post about Shakespeare Pranks.
Okay, this isn’t an actual Shakespeare prank, not yet, anyway. I am big into the creative process of a prank or a practical joke. I have history of doing practical jokes on people. I’ve always considered a practical joke simply a canvas for creativity. This past week I completed a practical joke on a fellow coworker who resisted putting any art on his wall, he took a week of vacation off, and I “arranged” for art to be applied while he was away. See the video below for the great fun it was…Slimetopia:
But after it was done, it really got me thinking about doing a Shakespeare Prank. Now, I cannot exactly do a Shakespeare prank on somebody here at work, not the right forum. However, there is a chance that you can! That’s right, you! Now, the school setting or theater setting, would be a great place to stage a Shakespeare prank. How great would it be to rally a class of kids together to pull a Shakespeare prank on another class or teacher within the school? Maybe it’s a MacBeth witch theme prank and they pull everything out of a teacher’s, or principal’s, office and replace it to look like the witches cave? or a Hamlet themed prank, where they fill every desk in a rival classroom with skulls? or some such craziness. Maybe they do an “impromptu” Mechanicals flash mob a do a scene from A Midsummer Nights Dream in the middle of another’s class!!! Oh, I can just see the chaos now!
I can start brainstorming a big list, but really, it’s about starting the idea then stoking the fire and letting the kids be creative with their ideas. I’ve always found, I start with a good foundation, add a little craziness and excitement, and everybody else will keep adding in ideas. And with Shakespeare, they can rally all the ideas around a specific play, helping to better understand all the symbolics of that particular storyline. What a great lesson idea this could be.
Do me a big favor, if you do this, please let me know and send me the video you create. Time progression pictures are always the best, as well as the reaction!
For more inspiration, here are a few other pranks that I have done in the past… They are YouTube videos, so click on them!
The Troll Door – we actually replaced and framed in his office door with a tiny troll door!
The Hen House – This was in retaliation to turning my office into an aquarium with 800 balloons!!!
Credit for the feature image to Great Scott – that’s a phenomenal drawing of Puck, the most mischievous prankster of them all!
The Shakespeare Prank was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books
The Skinny: Pictello is a great app for story sequencing and basic language. You easily create visual stories and talking books on your iPad or iPhone. Our speech therapist recommended this years ago, and we still use it to do a simple scrapbook of any trip we go on. However, we started by simply documenting an excursion we might go on during an afternoon. Essentially, each page is a simple photo pulled from your phone, and a caption for that event. Put a half-a-dozen of these together and share them with your family! The program has a nice read-along feature that will read what you write, so your kid can practice hearing the correct language about a subject they want to know about. And, once you are finished, you can share it!
What it is: Pictello
What it’s used for: Story Sequencing and Language
Ways to use it:
Where to find it: Apple App Store. Can be used on both iPhone and iPad.
The Source: Our speech therapist.
Pictello for Story Sequencing and Language was originally published on KidConnectionZ
I recently came across a great video through Twitter that is pretty impressive. Jim Meskimen is a professional impersonator and he spun together a great 2 minute video that’s both engaging and original. He was able to perform the famous, To be or not to be monologue from Hamlet with about 25 different famous celebrity impersonations. You can follow Jim on Twitter at: @jimrossmeskimen
You can see the video here:
And Jim has another Shakespeare from celebrity impersonations below. This one has been seen almost 1 million times! Not too shabby!
Celebrity Impersonations of Hamlet’s To be or not to be Speech was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books
Brendan's thoughts 