This is excellent, thank you! I also prefer reading to videos, although yours are very well done 🙂 If I had to watch videos to get information, I'd be sunk!

Well... I don't know anything about cosmetology, but you're right that there will always be a need for aides in school. My school may need to hire as many as 3 1-to-1 aides for next year alone! The trouble is the pay... it stinks. How is the pay for cosmetology?

This looks like a neat service. I'm already struggling to make use of the audio services I already have, so I'm going to pass this time. Thanks for offering! 🙂

LLBean has a cute version 🙂 . https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/118011?page=classic-utility-jacket&bc=516567-512920-504728-504734&feat=504734-GN3&csp=a

My mom makes excellent GF waffles in her waffle iron. If you use a gluten free mix, it's just as easy as making wheat-based waffles. You can make a big batch and keep them in the fridge, too, for an easy snack. You'd have to buy a brand-new waffle iron, though.

I LOVE Corner Gas and Kim's Convenience. Both are awesome! Thanks, Canada! 🙂

I agree with this. Wilson, which I use with my dyslexic students, has a "student reader" with paragraphs and sentences. It's wonderful to have a pre-made reader available. But... it's deathly dull. Even better would be to have chapter books (like High Noon does), or decodable magazines, like a Highlights but decodable at different levels. It's very annoying that all the phonics programs have different teaching sequences, so even if they DO have reading material included, you can't hop from program to program. I guess that's intentional, from a money perspective. But it's still annoying. High Noon books are fantastic, but they don't follow the same sequence as Wilson, or Fundations, etc. By the time my students have learned vowel teams like /ai/ and /oa/ in Wilson, they won't want to go back to reading books with only one-syllable words. Even "easy readers" are not easy - they often don't include multi-syllable words, but even a word like "pail" is just as challenging for my students as the word "captive." This is just me complaining, but I do think about it a lot. Something like a Common Core for phonics instruction would be very helpful! Or would that just open a massive can of worms...? 😝

🙂 Awesome! My most math-hating, math-confused student L-O-V-E-S Prodigy math (computer game). The basic version is free, and plenty fun. Kids earn rewards by doing "battles" after they solve math problems. You can set it up so you control the content she practices. I also use the buddy system when my student plays Prodigy - sitting right next to him with the whiteboard, and we solve problems together. It could be a fun after-lesson reward 🙂 https://www.prodigygame.com/

I have marble countertops in my rental. It's terrible! Anything you put on them gets sucked in and stains... once I left a stick of butter (wrapped) on the countertop to soften for cookies, and when I picked it up, there was a perfect rectangle stain on the counter. 😫 Luckily I got that stain out. I'd much rather have something I can't ruin!

I'm just experiencing common core now. There is a super lot of emphasis on meeting "grade level targets." It's cool that struggling readers get to tackle comprehension, but... phonics instruction seems to end early (3rd grade), so by 4th grade, if you can't read well, you're in a lot of trouble. Not to mention that a lot of struggling decoders are also struggling comprehenders.

I'm not an expert on autism by any means - I'm sure others will chime in with their experiences. If it were my child, I would continue doing math at his pace. Ronit Bird math books are a huge favorite around here, and I love them, too. I think RB's approach really helps connect the language and vocabulary and "real-ness" of math to the representation of math (written numbers/symbols). My elementary-aged students with language processing challenges have lots of trouble with the language parts of math - perhaps your son will, eventually, too. For any child, I think it's important to be comfortable using language to talk about what's going on when they work with math. Reading... do you suspect he has a problem learning to read, or are you just looking for a good program for young kids? You could investigate his phonological awareness skills, and practice the skills he needs. This is a super foundation for decoding. http://www.readingrockets.org/article/development-phonological-skills I have not used Rave-O before, but I have heard it recommended as an evidence-based intervention for children who need help connecting phonics, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. It says it's for grades 2 and up, but perhaps something to have on your radar in a year or two: https://www.voyagersopris.com/docs/default-source/literacy/rave-o/natl_raveo_overview.pdf?sfvrsn=1034f5ee_2

Interesting! I don't understand much about that, either. Could you find out if your type of mutation benefits from added folate? I know there's something about using real folate vs. folic acid...? Maybe a good first step would be to supplement some of the things people have suggested (folate, zinc, b12, b vitamins, etc). Not sure if a kids multi is the way to go with that, or if you should do individual supplements. I also think the allergist is a great suggestion.

Can she try to go toothpaste-free for a week or so, and just use baking soda? I get canker sores when I use certain toothpastes. A B12 supplement is another idea. Low B12 causes all kinds of crazy things! I get supplements that dissolve in my mouth, and they taste like cherry candy 🙂 This article says that kids tend to get cankers more when they have low B12 and folate. I have no idea if this is a reputable source, but it might be something to try: https://www.nicklauschildrens.org/health-information-library/symptoms/mouth-sores

Awesome, thank you! I love learning about what other schools use.

Hi, Elizabeth! Thank you so much for the detailed responses! I will go through them more carefully this weekend. I'm really liking Reading at the Speed of Sight. Even for a person with a master's degree in special ed, I'm finding it challenging to fully absorb. It's going to take many readings. On the SpellTalk forum, someone posted that the author was disappointed that it was deemed "too hard" to read by teachers. I can kind of see their point, though! It's not a light read, but I'm learning a lot. Thank you again for your suggestions! I'll be back once I digest them 🙂

I turned on NPR in the car, and boom! A story about how the show is leading to great finds in thrift stores across the country. Woo hoo! They also said that Netflix was genius for releasing the show on January 1st, right in time for New Year's resolutions.

I'm so sick of cooking. Tonight we're having bean and cheese quesadillas. I figured out how to make them extra delicious... fry them in a pan! Too bad that doesn't make them extra healthy 🤔

He's probably balking because it's mentally challenging, even if his handwriting is fine. Does he have to write sentences during your Barton lessons? In my Wilson lessons, I have kids write 1-2 sentences. For my 4th graders, 2 sentences is enough to wipe them out. Maybe I'm being a softy, but after they've written their words and sentences for the lesson, I scribe for any more writing. My students do better when I set them a certain limit, like 1 or 2 sentences per session. They eventually get used to that workload and don't protest. Theoretically, you could get to a place where he's doing fine and working without an issue, and then veeeerrrry gradually increase the writing.

This is very cool! Thank you!

Also, the "balance" can happen throughout the day. Reading comprehension can happen in many different lessons, but phonics instruction usually only happens in one dedicated lesson per day. That's why we have to make it count. It's too bad that teachers don't feel equipped to teach phonics. I think the prospect of teaching every skill is daunting, but in reality, you just do one step and then the next... and all of those "next steps" are less challenging because the foundation is solid. At least, that's the goal! I'm with you on the use of decodable texts. Love them so much.

It's nice to know there are other people in my shoes 🙂

Thanks for this. I know the earlier guided reading books are more about associating spoken words with written words (1-1 correspondence) than decoding. That's fine. I just don't think the books give enough systematic practice as the levels increase. With OG programs, everything a kid learns is reinforced constantly as they learn new concepts. In guided reading, it seems to me that there is not enough practice of previously taught skills. A struggling reader needs to practice the 'ea' vowel combination 20 times per session, not 2. The intensity is just not there in guided reading. Comprehension can be taught separately, if the decoding and comprehension are at different levels. I liked this quote from the article you linked. It pretty much sums up my opinion on guided reading: But balanced literacy is basically whole language with some phonics mixed in, says Tim Shanahan, a literacy expert who served on the National Reading Panel. "Balanced literacy began as the notion of a different attempt to try to settle the reading wars. It's supposed to be the best of both worlds."

Well, my plan is to make a switch for certain kids ASAP. We have the materials for both guided reading and structured literacy, but I'm trying to get some buy-in from the other RTI teachers. As far as general ed teachers, it would be great to have some education around what structured literacy is, and what struggling readers need in order to learn. Maybe at staff meetings, in-service, etc. 🙂 A big part of the problem is that everyone is so busy that there is a limited amount of time for teachers to learn new things. Actually, they're already so overloaded doing what they need to do in order to run their classrooms, that I think it's asking a lot for them to go do research, which is why I'm hoping for some basic info to pass along and hope they read it. The APM/NPR articles are a great start.

I don't know much about ASD in the younger years, but if you're concerned, you should definitely get an evaluation. He sounds like a wonderful boy. I hope you can find some ways to help him feel less frustrated 🙂

Thank you! I like that second link in particular. I'll share it around!