Sorry it's so hard ? I'm able to eat sugary things, but only if they're paired with protein/fat... like I could eat sugary cereal or a muffin for breakfast, but with two eggs as well. I don't know why it drops... I was really interested to find out for a while, but then it was costing a lot of money for lab tests that showed nothing, so I decided to just deal with it. I've also had joint pains for about a decade, and haven't found out about that either - similar situation with it costing a lot and showing everything normal. I always thought maybe they're related somehow. The doctor had possibly the most frustrating advice ever: "Well, we'll find out what it is when it gets worse!" Yup, great. Could you add a baked potato with butter to your dinner? I don't have experience with eating disorders, so I don't want to steer you wrong. I'd say just don't eat sugary things in isolation, and see how that goes. Hopefully your doctor will have better advice!

I feel lousy every time I let more than 2 hours go without eating a snack/meal, AND that snack has to contain fat or protein and carbs. I know my blood sugar drops because I bought a tester at Target once, and when I felt bad like you describe, my sugar was in the 50s. Now I know to carry snacks with me everywhere, just in case. My doc was very unhelpful and said that hypoglycemia happens a lot with "young women." Thanks, doc. You could buy a tester at Target, CVS, Walmart, etc. They're not very expensive. Do you feel better if you eat something sugary? Sorry ? I know how crappy it feels!

That’s a great way of putting it!

The Lindamood-Bell program Seeing Stars focuses on what they call "symbol imagery." Basically, the students learn to visualize letters as they spell. They do this by having a teacher show a word card for a few seconds, and then take it away. The students "air-write" what they saw while saying the letters aloud. Students also write on the table, on the wall, anywhere, really, to mix it up. The teacher pays attention and corrects any mistakes by drawing the student's attention to the mistake, and then showing the card, and then the student re-writes. This video from the Gander publishing is somewhat obnoxious, but you can see the students "air-writing." Here's another video with the decoding workbooks. You will see that there are real and nonsense words on each page, and the teacher frequently stops a student, covers a word, and asks them to air-write it. It's very teacher-intensive, but you don't do very long sessions a day (maybe 15 minutes). I'm also curious if your son can clap syllables, rhyme, break words into individual sounds. If he can, maybe his spelling issue is rooted in a symbol imagery problem. You could show him a word on an index card and see if he can air-write it.

It sounds like a great environment! I hope everything works out and your DS has a great time ? I taught last year in a class of grades 3-5 combined, and it was a great mix. The age ranges weren't so great that there was a big divide between kids - in fact, none of them really knew which grades the other kids were in, and if they did, they didn't see it as a big deal. Like PeterPan said, it was great for friends... the older kids who gravitated to kids and games a bit "young" fit right in. Plus, and maybe it was just my class, but ages 9-11 were pretty magical with my crew. You'll have to let us know how it goes!

You can cancel the UHaul pods pretty easily, too, if you change your mind - I did! When we moved across-ish country a few years ago, we used Old Dominion. It wasn't full service, but not pods either. They dropped of a huge tractor-trailer back in our driveway, and then came back 3 days later. We filled it as much as we needed, and then they put up a barrier to hold our belongings in place. The rest of the space was filled with stuff from other families. Then, Old Dominion delivered all the stuff to the different drop-off points. It took about a week. We then had to unload it ourselves at our destination. It was pretty cool how they coordinated everything, and from Colorado to PA, it cost about $1,000. There are other companies that do this too besides Old Dominion.

Oh my, I love the part when she explains the "real" spelling of "together" - how we really hear the schwa at the end, but really it's spelled "er." Love that Australian accent.

Sadly, I won't have a self-contained classroom this year. Or maybe that's a good thing? I'll let you know. On the one hand, it might be less pressure because you aren't responsible for every facet of a kid's education... but sometimes I really liked teaching it all, language arts, math, social studies... so I could be sure things were done my way. Maybe a little controlling? ? Lecka, thanks for sharing your experience. I agree with you that the relationship between the child and teacher is the primary thing. I just worry that, though my relationship might be great, time limitations and resources may dictate a less-than-excellent learning experience. We shall see! PeterPan, I have read that special education teachers frequently last just 5 years, and that lots of general ed teachers take a special ed job, because schools are just really desperate and can waive the requirements for special ed teachers, and then they switch to a general ed job as soon as they can.

Ha, yeah... I won't suggest a kid go on my own personal medication. Lol.

This is a great idea - I will definitely attempt to do that!

Hydroflask keeps things hot or cold forever! https://www.hydroflask.com/food

Jockey! ?

Thanks guys! Keep ‘em coming!

Hmm... maybe the wax is hiding somewhere. There’s a lot we don’t know about what is in/on our food, or in products we use. Or, perhaps, you’re really sensitive to small amounts now. Or it could just be something else! So hard to figure out stuff like this.

Oh man! Have you noticed that a lot of fruits and veggies feel waxy? I bought a bag of limes the other day, and there was a sticker on the bag that said the limes were coated with some kind of wax. Maybe you’re reacting to wax on produce, but not on potatoes since nobody tries to make potatoes look fancy! https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/04/why-fruit-has-a-fake-wax-coating/524619/ Wouldn’t that be a wild reason? You might have to peel all your produce from now on!

Haha, of course not offended ?

I will for sure keep you updated! I’m excited/nervous. My new principal said that when the special ed teachers get overwhelmed with paperwork, sometimes he has them work from home while he hires a substitute to teach for them for a day. That sounds a bit ominous... I really want to be the teacher that parents remember as one of their good experiences.

In just a few weeks, I’m starting a new job as a special education teacher in PUBLIC SCHOOL! It’s a pretty cool K-8 school, and I’ll be one of two special ed teachers. My caseload will be grades K-4. I’m not sure exactly how many kids that will be, but I don’t think it’s too many. Everything about the school sounds great so far - but I won’t even be local for another week. When I get there, I can finally get my hands on the files of “my” kids. ? My previous experience is all at independent schools, and most recently at a school that is exclusively for students with learning disabilities. I have zero experience with public schools. I’m pretty nervous about handling all of the paperwork that goes along with public school special ed, but I have some trainings coming up, and hopefully I won’t mess things up too badly. As far as interventions, the materials at the PS will be much more limited than at my previous school, which is fine. The principal is very willing to purchase materials, which is great (shopping!) ? My main concern is doing a good job communicating with parents, and facilitating IEP meetings and such in a way that makes them feel confident. In my previous job, I only had 7 students, and you’d think it would be easy to keep up with communicating with their parents, but somehow I always fell behind. The parents there were also pretty well versed in the special ed lingo, since they had been fighting for a placement for sometimes years. For those of you who had/have kids in the PS, could you share experiences of what teachers did that was really helpful, or NOT helpful? I really want to start this school year off on a great foot.

Oh wow, I completely forgot that potatoes are nightshades! Duh! My brain is mush from getting ready to move. Thank you for the reminder! So... maybe remove white potatoes for a few days, and switch to sweet potatoes? They’re not actually nightshades. Then again, if your mouth heals even with white potatoes, that would be great since they’re so useful when you’re gluten free. My DH has an anaphylactic (spelling?) reaction to white potatoes, so I tend to forget they even exist for “normal people.” ?

Oh my, where is this taking place? It’d be like walking through the pages and pages of websites.... but in person. Whoa.

Good for you! How is it today? Also, with a sample case of 1, I think food sensitivities can definitely make you gain weight. My DH lost about 20 pounds when he stopped eating dairy and eggs. He can have dairy now without too much discomfort, but eggs still make him sick for a week. A friend of mine loves roasted sweet potatoes topped with sliced avocado and lime juice. It sounds weird, but it’s really delicious!

True ? but with your examples, you really are sorry, versus: “I’m sorry, but do you really still watch Dr. Phil?” Haha. Ya know, where the “I’m sorry” is just an introduction to something unnecessarily rude/hurtful.

I saw that one, too! And it’s stuck with me all these years as well. I just read a book about how women unintentionally sabotage their careers (or personal lives) by using wishy-washy language like that. If you’re gonna disagree with someone, just disagree! It’s not the worst thing in the world.

Sure! Now that I think about it, the time doesn’t necessarily have to be 5 minutes... just however long it takes to get through the stack of flash cards once or twice, whatever your decide with him. I’m not sure how many cards is reasonable... maybe 10 to start? p.s. I feel confident offering this method because there is a lot of research supporting it ?

This is the article that got me started on the rabbit hole of retrieval practice: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/retrieval-practice/