Teaching Tips: A New Classroom

The site I Teach Autism is an excellent resource for the coming school year. Almost 20 sites and blogs are mentioned, and awareness materials offered for sale. I Teach also offers tips on parent/student/educator cooperation, a few of which we hope to post here before, as the Staples commercial once put it, “the most wonderful time of the year” begins again. Especially useful: tools for teachers, including transition tips, picture communication examples, and peer initiation strategies.

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Our note about the young Michigan woman with autism who has carved out a living cutting rags gave us great hope for Alex at precisely the right time of his life. We join many parents of children with autism, I think, in being terrified of our kids’ adulthoods in terms of care and livelihood, and it’s heartening to know that what seems impossible at age 11 may indeed be possible a decade or two from now. I did note that the young lady’s independence was achieved not by technology or lavish, one-shot programs or treatments, but by patience, dedication, focus, and work.

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Stamford (Conn.) high school has set up a special room for four incoming ninth-graders who are in a distinct class for ASD. The students, who have progressed through nearby elementary schools and a middle school, are starting high school with a classroom outfitted to help them learn life skills as well as academics. The students, who also attended a summertime extended school-year program, will have a classroom that’s “half apartment, with a kitchen, bathroom, washer and dryer. Parents bought many of the appliances and such amenities as dishes, and the nonprofit organization Stamford Education 4 Autism bought a leather couch. Officials say the classroom and program will help cut out-of-district tuition for such students, a growing expense for schools. Renovation of the classroom was also funded by federal stimulus money. See the story here.

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Image courtesy of the Rugh Family Workshop

Comments have started arriving concerning our giveaway of a poster from the Rugh Family Workshop on ASD, and we look forward to hearing more about how readers would appreciate and display the great posters the Rughs are offering. The above is a tribute poster to musician Dan Zanes. “We love that he is all about including people and his music makes us all happy,” the Rughs say. Jill was arrested by this poster because Zanes once went out of his way in the Manhattan Children’s Museum to try to cheer up a fussy Alex. Jill says Zanes’s efforts didn’t take, but the memory sure stuck, and here his name is again. This autism world can be very small.