A Google search for "companies hiring autistic people" will lead you to some articles that might encourage you. Some jobs such as quality control, programming, etc. can make best use of strengths while not requiring so much in the areas of weakness. (Salesman on the other hand . . . maybe not so much!)

Some programs aim to "streamline" by not explaining--for users who'd rather memorize now, and understand later--while others do explain, either to the teacher only (in teacher resources), or to the student and the teacher. This is one of the many ways in which programs differ from one another and suit different users with different preferences. It's good that you've realized what kind of student you are yourself!

People with autism can be very, very skilled, with excellent visual memory, mathematical ability, etc. Some companies even recruit autistic people specifically. I think you are very much on the right track by seeking to capitalize on the "systematic/incremental" discovery. It could just be that your son needs to learn in a specific way, and there he will shine. Exciting!

A three-year age difference is going to hold your nine-year-old back so I'm thinking of other ways to meet your priorities. You can certainly do vocabulary and paradigms with both of them and that will benefit them both down the line, but as soon as you start in on grammar (to make it worthwhile for your older), your younger is going to be lost. A one-year age difference is usually okay, especially if the younger child is stronger in language skills. Maybe even two. But three . . . One possible solution, since you are seeking to streamline, is to just do Latin with your elder child for now. Then once he or she is old enough to study more independently, begin Latin with your younger. Another possibility to wait until they are both considerably older, say ten and thirteen. At that point you could do the same material with both, though more slowly than your older is able to go. Another possibility is to do a program with your older that lets her work on grammar and translation, but teach only the vocabulary and paradigms to your younger. That way you are only teaching from one program, but not holding your older back. Then later you do the same program in full with your younger, but by then you know it, so it's easy for you. HTH!

PatternReview.com has machine reviews. Also, at this forum you can ask machine questions: machine forum. The discussions helped guide me to my own Janome. Among new machines at a moderate price Janome does have a good reputation. The poster who mentioned older Japanese mechanical machines is right too but it may take a bit more knowledge to choose one.

FWIW (Which may not be much) "going-out braids" made sense to me right away. I figured it meant a special kind of braids that meant an outing was at hand.

Haven't read the whole thread but a possible skill to include--if it can be brought down to age level--is the Cornell note-taking system. It has you rule your page of notes in advance to allow space to the left and the bottom of the main notes to make a boiled-down version to study from.

There's also a clinic devoted to concussion--I think in Texas--they treat vets among others--the techniques are interesting vestibular techniques--they look at things like how your eyes track and so on, and design customized tilt-table type therapies designed to open up the compressed area--this is all vague layman's language and take my summary with a grain of salt. If I find the website I'll post it.

Books by Dr. Daniel Amen might be worth consulting. He uses PET scans to image which brain areas are affected, and integrative methods to treat. He's controversial in some ways so FWIW.

Moist heat from a pack filled with flax seed that you microwave. Magnesium--such as from Carolyn Dean's site, I think it's ReMag, very concentrated, ultra-fine, goes straight to cells, not into gut. Topical magnesium from Ancient Minerals, available at Radiant Life blog and store. Again, no gut issues. Essential oils which are antispasmodic, diluted in olive oil. E.g. fennel, basil, others. Feel better!

Blood pressure worse from sudden posture change is one of the things that I believe they test for using a "tilt table" test for people with chronic fatigue, and I think I have heard adrenal for that too. But maybe that's not the only possibility--as you aren't fatigued! Inner ear is interesting possibility. With all your symptoms and issues it's wonderful that your mood and energy are so good and you can function on those short nights of sleep. If you do decide to pursue acupuncture you might look for someone with NCCAOM certification. That's a meaningful credential that requires proof for the continuing education credentials. The woman I see has this and she also, BTW, uses something called an AccuGraph in her diagnosis. This gives a good read-out of the meridians and can provide clues to what is happening in a strange situation. It's no substitute for good knowledge of the points but in the hands of someone who is always good, it's a valuable tool. For flying I've heard of something you can buy and use that helps for pressure changes--I'm not sure if this was it or not but FWIW here is one option: http://www.amazon.com/Ear-Ease-Pain-Reliever/dp/B00DX5XR0O HTH! I don't know where you are located but if NJ by any chance, message me and I'll tell you who I see.

Blood pressure varying, pulse varying, and needing more salt to stay in normal ranges--could your adrenals or your whole HPA axis be weary? Would drinking appeal to you more if you salt your water lightly with Himalayan sea salt? If you eat processed foods you may get too much salt, but if you do your own cooking it's possible to get too little. Also, if anything mechanical or infectious in the neck, since you are open to snake oil at this point, reflexology of the "neck" of the toes, esp. the big toe, and the base of the "bulb" part of the big toe, might turn up some deep "hard" places and might yield some draining. It can be very effective for drainage. You can do it yourself unless it makes your hands hurt. A family member could help. Then, there is always acupuncture. Done right it does not hurt, and it can help with weird hormonal dysregulation, if that's going on. Wishing you healing!

post deleted.

I've noticed in the New King James translation that "shall" is often used in the third person. "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart." In some verses I've even seen will, will, shall in the same passage, with the "shall" used where the text is intended to give confidence or assurance.

Often I only buy produce once every TWO weeks. Lots of people have mentioned eating in order, and that's very true. I find it also helps to keep an eye on how much moisture is in the bag with leafy greens. If I buy say parsley I shake off excess moisture, take off the twistie or rubber band from the stems so the pressure doesn't induce rot, tie the bag loosely leaving some air space, and then if that day or a day later the inside of the bag has condensation all over, I'll poke a few holes in the bag with a knife. I've had parsley keep well for quite a while that way. Ditto any green. Buying with careful attention to bruises helps. Eat bruised things first or don't buy them if you can help it. Stack in veggie bins with harder things underneath. Stack in bags at store w/ harder things beneath and stack in car ditto! It all helps . . . I figure I paid for it, I don't want it to suffer harm on the way home . . . I think it does make a difference when it comes to "keeping times" . . . Have fun with all the ideas you are getting! I agree about cooking. Greens will cook way down in soup and it's easy to get a lot in that way. Yams are so delicious that it's easy to eat a lot of them--roasted in coconut oil or baked and mashed . . . anything pureed goes down faster so sometimes I do a pureed carrot dish . . .

I suspect Mr. Sowell would be very pleased to know his book is being used in this way. Would one of you like to try to let him know via his site?

For charts the back of a used edition of Wheelock might be very efficient. However if you are going to go on to Henle instead, you may prefer to learn the vocab from Henle. As Henle is several volumes, though, it may be more efficient to get the charts from somewhere else--not Henle--so you have all the charts, in case you don't want to invest in all of Henle yet. This thread went into some similar questions about charts: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/555781-latin-whats-the-big-picture/ HTH!

Haven't read the whole thread, but if it's any consolation, I've noticed that Friday night prices are sometimes lower. I think they know no one in his right mind is trying to buy an immersion blender on Friday night. Or whatever. It's worth a check.

I hope you'll get an answer from someone who really knows, but about Galore Park I'll say this much: their Latin Prep program is well-done and aimed at middle school students. I googled So You Really . . . and landed up back here! Here's an older thread: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/172764-galore-park-so-you-really-want-to-learn-spanishreviews/ Also if you search here at the forum with the whole title in quotation marks, you should get useful results. Without the quotation marks, you get every mention of "Spanish," which is too broad. Maybe you could message some of the participants in the older thread. Some of them are still active members here. It seems odd that it's so hard to find something!

I am sorry I scared you, but a second look at ESSS does make me think that after a few chapters, the going could get increasingly tough. I didn't care for how early they introduce dates and numbers, because it's a lot to memorize and yet if you don't, you are climbing over that in the sentences. I'd have put that topic later. Here's an older thread with some resource suggestions. Maybe someone who posted here could help you identify something suitable for your daughter: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/544022-spanish-resource-list-please-add/ I will mention the Blaine Ray graded readers. While you look for something, you might find that one of their Level One readers would be accessible to your daughter. There's a glossary in the back, the vocabulary is very simple, and they rigorously restrict the syntax, yet come up with a short novella that's fun to read. I enjoyed one of their Level Two readers after some Spanish study. Here's their list of Level Ones: http://www.blaineraytprs.com/shop-online/spanish/level-1-spanish/level-1-novels Some are available at Amazon. Of course there's always Latin, but I admit it's not the same language as Spanish! Best to you and your daughter!

I'll be quite interested in how you like ESSS for yourself and your daughter. I've used it for myself and liked it (blog relates Spanish self-study journey--see signature). Just one note, you'll find that there are a few places where the answer key will leave you with a question. For instance, an accent might appear or disappear on a word and you haven't been told the rule yet that explains why that happened. You will probably be able to un-confuse yourself online or using something like the grammar supplement in the Collins concise dictionary. But ESSS does a good, no-frills job in a primarily grammar-translation way. I mostly liked it. The chapters vary in layout and sequence from one to the next and in particular, the way the vocabulary is displayed varies. You will definitely want to make separate flash cards or lists to keep everything organized. There's no cumulative glossary anywhere. The vocabulary given is large and the number of exercises in the book can't support mastery of that amount of vocabulary, so you may find that either you'll have to drill that vocabulary separately and a lot, or write some extra practice sentences, or both. In fact for the age of your daughter I think you probably will want to do extra sentences if you possibly can, so the grammar sticks. I realize she is committed and advanced and I don't think this book is a "no" but it is fairly fast-paced in its ratio of grammar to practice, more so than would work for most your daughter's age. I think it's an exciting experiment and if it works well for you, Bregstein does have a successor volume and also the Practice Makes Perfect series is a nice set of books that let you decide where you want to concentrate your later studies. Have fun, and tell us what happens!

Plink, thanks for your generosity!

Thanks to everyone for the lively discussion. Leaving aside age range issues for a moment, which do influence what can be tackled when, I guess I'll stick my neck out and say I think a work could be studied just as "what it is": let's look at the colors, the lines, how it makes us think or feel. And the younger the student, the more we might want to handle certain types of art this way. Not much harder and no more controversial would be to explain color in more detail: muted vs. saturated, high-energy combinations and low-energy combinations; composition; analyzing how a good image keeps our eye in the frame, and a really good image gives the eye more than one path through the image, to keep us returning with interest; how "realistic" or "altered" is the image. But beyond that, I think it could be valuable to connect the techniques to the history of art techniques. For instance, perspective, or fracturing an image into smaller parts that still convey a harmonious whole, or fracturing it to produce an angry energy, or how much is left without detail in an image, or who was playing with what color combinations when, etc. (I still remember a painting in London I saw as a teenager, with mesmerizing perspective and a teal blue-tomato red color scheme, and rich drapery of robes.) (BTW I had a lively discussion with my husband about Impressionism recently. He met a woman once who objected to it as "deceptive." But when God causes a fog to roll in, or darkness to fall, it alters the landscape. When we look at the world through a rain-spattered window, the scene becomes impressionistic. So we needn't fear we are departing from truth if we enjoy Monet or Seurat . . . ) For at least older students, I would think a history of art techniques would sometimes lead pretty naturally into an exploration of some of the artists' ideas, motivations, their era, and how they were viewed by others at the time and later. What was it about the art the Nazis condemned that led to the condemnation? What was it about the Nazis? Were the artists exploring this type of art deliberately, as a rejection of Nazi ideals? Do we have our own standards for what is "degenerate"? Where do or where should those standards come from? Have people ever condemned what they didn't need to, or accepted what they shouldn't? Even if we don't show pictures that we think shouldn't be looked at, might we explain that art has often been used as a justification to show pretty much anything? That that is one of the hazards of the life of an artist? Etc. I don't see any reason not to get into the history of ideas, though I'd think you don't have to, either, depending on what you are trying to cultivate. Are you trying to produce artists, for example, or appreciators of art, or students of history more generally? As far as the artists' own personal lives, I think that varies in relevance to the art. Sometimes there may be a direct connection: was Van Gogh color-blind? Did his mental trouble influence the way he saw and painted the world? If so, does that mean we have to be troubled to enjoy his art, or that we should feel troubled when we look at it? On the other hand, if someone paints beautiful landscapes but was a philanderer, how relevant is that to the art? Did it affect the art? Does it change the art? With many human productions we have the same questions: should the fiction-writer's intent affect the way we ourselves understand the story? To what degree? Why or why not? Anyway, thank you again, everyone. This has been stimulating and many good issues have been raised. Carry on, anyone who'd like!

Thanks, Sahamamama! I really appreciate your taking the time to pass on all these links. I will pass on these leads to my friend.

I'd like to thank everyone for the answers so far and to encourage you to keep them coming. I am actually asking on behalf of a friend and it is possible that I've raised some questions that she doesn't even have along with the ones that she probably does have! I just know she wants to do some art history with elementary aged children from Christian homes, along with actual art instruction, where I believe she knows what she wants to do. Picture Portfolios sound worth knowing about . . . any other specific resources anyone has used?