Back to School High

Iz is in high school. A rather awesome public high school, if you must know. (It was chosen for its combined excellence and diversity to kick off Education Secretary Arne Duncan's upcoming Education Drives America bus tour.)

I can't believe it either. She was in preschool when I started this blog in 2003. So those of you parenting tiny people right now, hold them tight, and take lots of pictures + copious notes. Parenting mental fog plays tricks with how we track time, and if you don't pay attention, that scrumptious tiny person will disappear and be replaced with a great big person -- and if you ever want to spend time with the mini version again, you'll need your records to reproduce them.

That doesn't mean I want tiny Iz back, because -- idiopathic, random, yet stereotypical teenage bershon behavior aside -- she is still the warm-hearted, thoughtful, intense, amazing kid she always has been. But just so big! She's almost as tall as me. She has ... distinct ideas about how to dress, what to read and listen to and watch, and they don't always sync with our nerd family hive mind. Which is fair. But. But.

Leo also restarted school, this year in 6th grade. He was also tiny -- not even three years old! -- when this site started, now he's nearly as tall as me when we sit next to each other on the couch. I think Leo was pleased to have school resume after a one-month break, as much as he enjoyed our constant excursioning and hiking and visits to CalAcademy, plus a week at camp. School is consistent, school is reliable, school means constant 1:1 attention and extra-close attention to requests and needs. He was generally in a good mood this summer, but has been even more cheerful since his school van resumed picking him up every morning.

His school also remains the best possible place for Leo -- the staff so responsive and intuitive, so firmly behind our boy, in terms of believing in him and understanding what he needs to succeed and keep learning. I just wish that it didn't have  ongoing funding worries, like so many CA schools and sped programs.

I also remember when school for Leo was ... not so good. So we've been running a back-to-school series at Thinking Person's Guide to Autism, and I recommend reading the last two entries: Autism & Back to School: What Do You Wish You Knew? with advice from several TPGA contributors from parent and student perspectives, and Autistic Students Need Autistic Role Models, on how autistic self-advocate Karla Fisher helped get an autistic student out of crisis so he could succeed in school. Karla has excellent points about how just about any program for autistic students can benefit from autistic insights.

Mali was the last of our three to be summoned back to class. Third grade! She didn't even exist when this site started. But I am constantly grateful she's here, even though her on-the-fly parenting needs suck up my energy disproportionately (anyone who's hung out with her in the last few months can attest to her OMG social supernova factor).

We've decided to keep her in Spanish immersion, even though Iz's former GATE school offered her a spot. Bilingualism and biliteracy are huge gifts, plus I've observed Iz's friends who completed the program through the years -- they're certainly not at an educational disadvantage compared to Iz's GATE classmates, quite the opposite in some cases. And Mali seems to grasp not just the opportunities but the fun of being bilingual. It's a good choice, for her.

Back to school is a good choice for me, too. My brain fell out of my head the moment classes ended in June.  I've only attended to items that were on fire for the most part, in the interim. So it's good for us all to be back. And I hope those of you also in the thick of back-to-school are feeling the goodness.

Developing Smart, Simple Social Stories Apps for Kids With Autism

Note: This post has been updated.

All I want for Leo and his also-autistic friends is a simple, smart, well-designed social stories app for around $3.99. But as of now, it doesn't exist. I don't understand why it doesn't exist.

Social stories are incredibly useful tools for folks like Leo: they use clear, focused language and pictures to help an autistic person better understand potentially stressful scenarios, and provide realistic expectations and options. They can be especially helpful for travel, holidays, establishing routines, transitions, or visits to new and unfamiliar places.

We used to make custom social story books for Leo, sometimes through iPhoto or Shutterfly, sometimes just a bunch of printed pages stapled together. But with iDevices and tablets, we now have social stories apps -- which take the social story concept one step farther, with voiceover. On his iPad, my pre-reader Leo can "read" his social stories independently. It's really damn cool, not to mention empowering.

Here's a iPad story we made for Leo two summers ago, detailing one of our family's weekly routines:

Great, right? Absolutely. But you know what is not great and has long made me grumble? The featured app, Stories2Learn, costs $13.99. Its competitor, Pictello, costs $18.99. [updated to add: Pictello features text-to-speech, which is very different than simple voiceover recording, and affects the price point considerably. For more info, see comments.] Similar apps -- like the special education-oriented, custom-content and voiceover-enabled Word SLaPps and Injini's Write My Name -- are $4.99 and $1.99* respectively. Why the price differences? Some of the higher-priced apps are more complicated than the lower-priced apps, but not all. What explanation, then, other than that ever-lingering special needs penalty cost?

With the front-runner social story apps offering more features than many users require, and costing more than many users are used to paying, there's an opportunity for someone else to capture a large, under-served, enthusiastic, loyal, and value-conscious audience. So, what should a potential social stories app developer keep in mind?

To work for Leo and his friends, here are the only functions a social stories app needs:

1. Create/edit story button on home page
2. Upload photos
3. Enter custom text
4. Record voiceover
5. Page through stories by swiping and/or tapping a button/arrow
6. Save stories as graphic icons with text titles, in list or folder format, and place them on the home page.
7. (Optional) Share/upload stories, e.g., to use at school and at home

The interface needs to be smart and simple, in terms of available choices and steps. Any features more elaborate than the list above could be superfluous and confusing -- I just want to make the stories, and Leo just wants to read them. Though a discreet info button for parents/educators/caregivers/authors also wouldn't hurt, in terms of advising about language to use -- short, action-oriented phrases, if-then statements, avoiding pronouns, etc.

Potential developers should look at the striking UIs and graphics of (again) Injini, a company that is in my opinion the industry standard-bearer for simple, elegant, engaging, thoughtful, useful, special needs-friendly kids' app design. Honestly, I'd love to see what Injini could do with a social stories app -- especially as there's no reason the app would need to be limited to the special needs market. Developers could make an app called "My Stories About Me" or some such, and parallel-market it to families of toddlers and preschoolers as a way to connect with family and friend by making stories together or for each other, which would have the extra benefit/hook of reinforcing those reading skills.

I know that folks like Russ Ewell and Pamela Sloan-Bradbury are looking into developing social stories apps. They both participated in  October's Hacking Autism event, where we all observed not one but two groups focusing on social stories -- so I suspect Pamela and Russ are already on the right track, and I have faith they'll do the right thing. I just want them to do it faster!

I want a well-designed, affordable social stories app for Leo, and I want it now. I hope someone will step up.

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And speaking of social stories apps ... you know what I never want to see again? I never want to see a developer make a choice that completely disregards their users' needs. I'm looking at you, Stories2Learn. Your software upgrade obliterated all of Leo's beloved social stories without warning, stories we'd spent months creating, stories that he returned to for comfort and reassurance and nostalgia on a near-daily basis.

I can recreate those stories somewhat, but as Leo has remarkable visual recall and super-precise hearing, he can tell that the new stories are not the same -- especially as some of the original stories' voiceovers were recorded by non-local visiting friends and relatives so Leo wouldn't miss them so much once they went home.

It's been a few months since the stories disappeared, and I am no less furious than I was upon first discovering they were gone -- especially since Leo is still plaintively paging through the Photos folder where the original social stories apps photos are kept, hoping they'll somehow magically reassemble into the stories he'll never be able to experience again, and misses so much.

I understand that it is not always possible to keep all original features and content when developers upgrade apps -- I'm a former software producer, so I've been in that position myself. But then I didn't make software specifically for kids like Leo, who have so few tools for creating routine and predictability; I didn't wrench away some of those kids' best tools for making sense of this utterly confusing and overwhelming world. Leo and his social stories-loving peers aren't interested in or in some cases aren't able to conceptualize the explanations why their social stories disappeared, they just know that their stories are gone, and they're devastated.

It was a bad choice to let the Stories2Learn upgrade delete existing social stories. A bad decision not just for financial reasons -- customers may have a hard time trusting you again -- but for compassionate ones. I am extremely disappointed.

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*Please note that app prices change all the time. These prices are accurate as of today.

Developing Apps that Avoid Special Needs Penalty Costs

Special needs penalty costs really bother me. Why should families pay $75 for a special sit-upon therapy ball when we can get the same damn type of ball (or sometimes, a better one) from Target's yoga or Pilates section for $29?

And now, I'm seeing this same penalty with special needs apps for iPads and other devices. Why are we so often asked to pay more for "special needs" apps than those with similar functionality, just because those apps are developed for special education or special needs -- especially when some don't have the top-notch interface or design to merit the extra costs? So I had plenty to say when a Mercury News reporter called me up last week as a source for the article Using touch screens and apps to treat autism. Here's one of my quotes:

"Right now it's kind of a Wild West in terms of app development," [Rosa] explained. "A lot of people who have experience with kids with special needs are putting out apps. They have great ideas and great content, but unfortunately they sometimes have clunky designs and clunky interfaces."

And that's true, but that's not the full story. Here's the comment I left, to clarify:

The special need professionals who develop apps have a wealth of talent and experience that traditional developers should tap, because they can repackage most apps for kids with special needs as early learning apps for typical kids. Then these apps could have top-notch UIs and design, and wouldn't need to have the special needs penalty costs attached to special needs apps due to developers anticipating a limited market share.

It's absolutely true. I'd love so see more developers enlist the speech therapists, occupational therapists, behaviorists, special ed teachers, and parents who are making such fantastic (if sometimes rough-around-the-edges) apps, and bring them into the fold. In an app development environment that  expects developers to produce new apps every six weeks, why not do what software producers have been doing for industry aeons -- take the special needs apps' chassis and content, rework them as "early learning" or "toddler" or whatever typical developmental age range is suitable, and release them for that market as well? You'll make more money! Then you can reduce the cost of the special needs apps, ideally.

Some of this collaboration is happening already. Dawn Ferrer and Luna DeCurtis, the SLPs (speech therapists) and innovators behind the language-encouraging app That's Silly attended the May 2011 Dust or Magic children's app development camp in Monterey, and found themselves surrounded by other developers who were fascinated not only by the two women's professional knowledge, by also by how they and the children in their practice use apps to learn and play. I hope those developers were able to incorporate that what they learned from Luna & Dawn into their next wave of apps.

And not all special needs professionals-turned-developers need hand-holding. Dawn & Luna's app That's Silly ($.99) is an exemplary boundary-defying early learning app. Kids can play with it by themselves, choosing nonsensical scenes of various complexity levels to compare with the more typical version of the same scene (e.g., in the screenshot on the left, you can swap out the girl's sandwich for a bike). Parents can play with their kids, eliciting language. And the buttons at the top of the screen allow both parents and professionals to track kids' responses, if desired. It's simple, flexible, beautifully illustrated, and fun. I hope other app developers are taking notes.

Another recommended, special needs-supporting but not special needs-specific SLP-developed app is Milo: Interactive Storybook ($1.99) from the Speech With Milo (www.speechwithmilo.com) series. From the app description:

Speech with Milo is focused on developing language skills in children. Created by the licensed Speech-Language Pathologist that brought you five other language apps, to build storytelling and narrative skills. The interactive story book allows children to build skills by telling the story on their own. You have the option of reading and listening to the words that we provide, or you may create your own story. You can turn off the narration and words to create your own story with no distractions.

So, again, here we have an app that succeeds because it is special needs professional-developed, rather than special needs-specific. My six-year-old, Mali (who could use more facility with suppressive rather than expressive language) thinks Milo: Interactive Storybook is fabulous because of its story, and because she likes playing with the interactive items on the screen and creating voiceovers.  Whereas her brother Leo, who has limited expressive language, likes the app because it includes recorded voiceover, so he can "read" himself the story. 

Note that neither Milo: Interactive Storybook nor That's Silly costs more than two dollars. And with both apps, kids of varying needs can learn, and have fun.  Everybody wins.

This is how all apps should be.

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Disclosure: I was given a promotional code for Milo: Interactive Storybook, but all opinions expressed in this space are my own. As always, I only write about the apps I think are worthwhile. 

Making Reusable iPad Worksheets: Leo's Learning Revolution Continues

Leo's room is usually a flurry of worksheets -- for matching, sight reading, writing practice, basic math, dot-to-dot puzzles, all sorts of learning. I used to laminate the most frequently used sheets so as to reduce paper use, but now we're managing to do without many of those paper worksheets entirely -- we're porting the worksheets to Leo's iPad, cobbling a process together via the free apps DropBox, iBooks, and DrawFree.

Leo enjoys his iPad worksheets, whether he uses them with a stylus or in traditional touchscreen mode. The iPad format makes them easier for him to use than paper ones, and fun, too -- once again our boy is learning in ways no one anticipated.

Here's how I've been making Leo's reusable iPad worksheets:

Short version

1. Create worksheets in .doc or PDF format, on a computer
2. Upload them to the iPad using a shared DropBox folder
3. Save them on the iPad in an iBooks collection, so they're all in one place
4. Open worksheets in iBooks, then take a screenshot
5. Open that screenshot as a DrawFree background. Voila: fresh new worksheet.

Long version

1) Leo's program supervisor creates curriculum worksheets on her computer, in Word. (We use .doc or .pdf format files.)

2) Everyone on Leo's team installs DropBox (a Cloud storage service) on their desktops, and I install the DropBox app on Leo's iPad.

3) I create a Leo's Activities folder on my desktop, and formally invite everyone on Leo's team to access it via DropBox Sharing (which lets the Leo's Activities folder and any changes we make to it appear on everyone's desktops).

4) Leo's program supervisor uploads a Numeral Matching sheet to the Leo's Activities DropBox folder.

5) I open the DropBox app on Leo's iPad, find the Numeral Matching sheet, and choose to open it in iBooks.

6) I save the Numeral Matching worksheet to a Leo's Activities collection I've created in iBooks, so we can use his worksheets whether the iPad has online access or not.

7) Now for the reusable part. Whenever it's time for Leo to work on one of his worksheets, I open it in iBooks, then take a screenshot by pressing the iPad's home and on/off buttons (note: every image in this post is a screenshot). The screenshot will be saved as the last image in the iPad's Photo Library.

8) I open the simple drawing app DrawFree, and click Background. I choose Photo Library Background, and select the worksheet image I just created.

9) Leo uses DrawFree to go to town on his totally reusable and replaceable worksheet.

If anyone has similar iPad worksheet processes -- especially more streamlined ones -- please do share them.

Apps in Leo's Special Education Classroom

I met with  Leo's 1:1 autism classroom staff earlier this month to talk about how they use the class iPad with Leo and the other students. We talked about the apps Leo liked best, and ways we use Leo's iPad at home that might work in class as well.

The classroom iPad has a good selection of apps already -- six screens' worth, including Leo favorites like FirstWords Deluxe. I showed the staff the apps we had on our iPad, and we talked about which ones the classroom could use. Here are the ones we decided on.

• Question Builder* For practicing questions. Leo needs help to use this app since it requires literacy, but it actually supports his IEP goal of practicing answering Wh- questions.
  
  
• Conversation Builder* is "designed to help elementary aged children learn how to have multi-exchange conversations with their peers in a variety of social settings." While it's a bit advanced for Leo, the staff thought other kids could benefit.
  
  
• Stories2Learn* Makes creating social stories with pictures and voiceover so easy.
  
  
• Dr. Seuss's ABC* Oceanhouse Media's Dr. Seuss books are great because Leo can tap on any word and "read" himself the book. Supports Leo's literacy IEP goals by reinforcing sight reading.
  
  
• Bob Books* Simple phonics-based spelling and reading. Supports Leo's literacy IEP goal.
  
  
• TouchTrainer* The OT thought this was great -- kids have to touch a moving target a set number of times to proceed to next level/reinforcer. The rate and number of times can be changed.
  
  
• Turn Taker* Helps kids learn to take turns, with intervals of chosen length. Always in season.
  
  
• Quibble Kids* Matching category items via four rotating cubes. Another one that Leo can use with support, and an area that he needs to practice more -- categorizing is hard! The staff thought some of Leo's classmates might really like Quibble Kids.
  
  
• Swapsies* More categorizing, this time using cute figure and uniform tops, bottoms, and hats on "dolls."
  
  
• TallyTots* Leo's current favorite counting app for numbers 1 - 20. Cute animations varied reforcements and counting strategies.
  
• Speech With Milo: Verbs*, Speech With Milo: Prepositions*, Speech With Milo: Sequencing* All three apps were developed by an SLP to help kids like Leo and his classmates. The cute animations are motivating for Leo.
  
  
• All About Me* A simple app for writing up and categorizing pictures and information about your child. It lets Leo practice many of the social and personal questions he really needs to know. And, bonus, it works really well with the iPad's built-in voiceover accessibility feature, if, like Leo, your child can't yet read -- voiceover lets Leo "read" all the questions himself.
  
  
• Letter Tracer Trace upper or lower case letters, and numbers. Or practice from an adjacent model on the screen.
  
  
• Moozart Leo really likes exploring basic music notation and composition through this silly barnyard-themed program. This is one he can use as a "break" app.
  
  
• InfinitiTrack Both class staff and the OT liked this one. Track a ball around a figure eight pathway with eyes or finger. Simple but effective.  

I'll write a more general post on iPads in the special ed classroom next week -- my goodness are there a lot of really complicated issues, as well as practically unlimited great resources.

Starred* apps were donated to the school by the generous developers, whom I approached after the meeting -- usually multiple copies for multiple classrooms.

The Mobile Education Store has generously donated two copies each of Question Builder and its companion app, Sentence Builder. I'll email them to the first two commenters who 1) suggest other apps that might work in a 1:1 autism classroom like Leo's and  2) state why they want the QB & SB apps.

iPads and Autism Resources: Fundraising, Donations, Research, and Education

While so many of us are waiting for our iPad2s, many (too many) kids with autism and other special needs are waiting to get any iPad -- any iPad at all. Families who want to buy iPads privately often don't have the means (these devices are expensive!), and school districts and insurance companies often cite the lack of longitudinal studies supporting the effectiveness of iDevices in special education.


To address both areas, I've been updating our iPad Apps for Autism spreadsheet with links to iPad Fundraising & Donations, as well as Research & Education links. I've pasted in the current listings below, but will be updating and expanding the list as more resources come in -- or are brought to my attention (hint, hint).

If you want to help a child get an iPad, look through the Fundraising & Donations section for ideas on agencies that are donating iPads to kids in need, or for instructions on how to run your own fundraiser (another hint: fundraising is really easy).

If you are hitting roadblocks with insurance companies or school districts that want official research to justify getting a child an iPad, look through the Research and Education links. Though, as I've said before -- the irony in Leo's case is that he probably wouldn't have qualified for an iPad as an AAC device, since he speaks "fluent requesting" -- yet his iPad has improved not just the quality of his learning but increased his learning opportunities -- he can learn anywhere he can take his iPad

If you'd like to help out a specific child in need of an iPad, consider donating to the Sahara's Voice iPad campaign. Her family is trying to raise funds not just for their own child, but for five other families as well.

I'm very proud of SEPTAR, the local Special Ed PTA I helped co-found -- because of our own successful fundraising, we were recently able to donate ten iPads to our district's Special Ed department! We're doing real good and making a real difference on a local but district-wide level -- more reasons to consider starting a Special ED PTA in your own area.

iPad Resources - Fundraising and Donations                                                                       

• Conover Mobile Technology Grant: www.conovercompany.com/grants
• Danny's Wish: How to Apply for an iPad Grant: www.dannyswish.org/news-events.cfm/id/86386
• HollyRod.org iPads for Communication campaign: www.hollyrod.org/ipads-for-communication
• iHelp for Special Needs www.ihelpforspecialneeds.com
• iPads 4U: Does your family need an iPad? a4cwsn.com/ipad2-4u/
• Squidalicious: How to Get Your Kid With Autism that Wonderful iPad: www.squidalicious.com/2010/11/how-to-get-your-kid-with-autism-that.html

iPad Resources - Research & Education                                                                        

• Helping autistic children with iOS devices: www.tuaw.com/2010/08/18/helping-autistic-children-with-ios-devices
• iPads for Learning - 21 steps to 1:1 success: asp-uk.secure-zone.net/v2/index.jsp?id=639/684/1625&utm_source=ipadsummary
• Learning: Is there an app for that?: Cynthia Chiong & Carly Shuler: www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/Reports-27.html
• Mobile Devices and Autism: Autism News of Orange County [PDF]: www.autismnewsoc.org/docs/AutismNewsWinter11.pdf
• Moms With Apps: Teachers Discuss iDevices in the Classroom: momswithapps.com/2010/12/21/teachers-part-ii
• SETT Framework for AAC evaluations: edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/assistive_technology/AT_SETT.htm

Fully Funding IDEA

If you had a chance to listen to me and Jen (and the inimitable Sarah Talbot) on KQED's Forum yesterday, you may have heard me make a plug for (and have temporary stage fright amnesia regarding the decoded acronym for) supporting IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act -- the federal government's only-partially funded commitment to supplement the cost of special education for every child in this country who needs it.

Here's how you can take action and help all children in the United States who need special education -- whether you have a kid in special ed or not. I'm in California, so I have included contact information for my two senators; you should email your own senators.

I'll write more on yesterday's My Baby Rides the Short Bus events surreality later -- including why I burst into tears and couldn't do my reading, not at first. But for now, please consider writing your to your senators about IDEA, as I already have. It's easy. You can even use a form (Senators and Representative), if you'd prefer.

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Find the Email of your Senator:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Email Senator Boxer (CA) :
https://boxer.senate.gov/en/contact/policycomments.cfm

Email Senator Feinstein (CA) :
http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.EmailMe

Suggested email :

Re : Full Funding IDEA Part B ( S 1652 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:SN01652: )

Dear Senator ........... :

As your constituent and a Parent of a [ age ] year old Special Education Student, I urge you to do everything within your power to support Full Funding IDEA Part B ( S 1652 ).

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) reaches every public school. Approximately 12 percent of public school students receive assistance through special education. These children deserve special attention and additional resources.

35 years ago, when IDEA was passed (1975) the law included a commitment to pay 40 percent of the average per-student cost for every special education student. That commitment has never been met.

School districts are being forced to redirect more and more dollars from their general education budget to cover the federal shortfall, which hurts all students — those in general education and those in special education. Since 1975, the unfunded federal portion has cost local schools and taxpayers more than $300 billion.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. I look forward to your support.

Your name

............ ......... .....
County, [State]

DonorsChoose: Help Bay Area Classrooms in Need

Dear altruistic, amazing readers and friends:

It is your continuously generous support, fundraising, and activism that inspired me to participate in the BlogHer DonorsChoose campaign -- which kicked off today, and will be running for the month of October. To quote the inimitable Denise Tanton:

DonorsChoose is an online charity that makes it easy for everyone to help fund educational projects around the country. During the Social Media Challenge bloggers, Tweeters, Facebookers, (and BlogHers) will come together to raise money that goes straight to the place it's needed the most - the classroom. Last year, bloggers raised more than $275,000 and helped fund projects in 65,000 public schools.

I helped select Bay Area classroom projects supporting students with special needs or affected by poverty (unfortunately, it's not too hard to find dual-purpose classrooms in our area). I hope you find them compelling enough to help out, because there are so many options for supporting this challenge:

• Donate directly to the Bay Area project of your choice (even $1 helps)
  
• Visit BlogHer to find projects near your own area
  
• Install the BlogHer Social Media Challenge: Bay Area widget on your own blog (widget link on right side of page; contact DonorsChoose if you need widget support)
• Tweet about the BlogHer Bay Area DonorsChoose projects using a tidy short URL like http://tr.im/ApGB.
• Follow @donorschoose on Twitter
• Friend DonorsChoose on Facebook.
  

I am a particular fan of the Classroom Rug project, which describes the many ways in which a Word Map rug would enrich a local kindergarten classroom's learning experience. I am a geographer, I have a kindergartener, and I happen to know that the school in question has an established program for including a special ed child in every single classroom.

All the DonorChoose projects are worthy of your attention. Please help us fund as many programs as we can, by the end of October, even if it's just by spreading the word.

A Letter to Leo's Teacher

Maudlin But True Week continues here at Squidalicious.com, with an open letter to Leo's teacher that I wrote on request for the buttkickerinistas at BlogHer as part of their Back to School campaign:

A Letter to My Child's Teacher

It is all about naked swooping emotions and dreams and hopes, so bring your hanky or feel free to roll your eyes (I vascillate, personally). Leave a damn comment -- there or here but there preferred. And there's a nifty tool at the end called Mr. Linky that lets you link to your own letter as well, should you (and yes you should) choose to write one and make it part of the post.

I will write that, after one week in his new third grade class, everything I've written about the teacher and Leo's potential in her class seems to be marching along. He had a lovely first week, with "0 transition issues" on the second day. I am wishing for similar success stories for all of your children as this 2009-10 school year ramps up.

Leelo Starts Third Grade

Leo starts third grade in the morning. Think he looks cool enough to go to school with the big kids? I think he'll be fine, I trust his teacher, he spent some time in the new class during summer school to help ease the transition, and I'm looking forward to helping support some great learning this year. I think he'll be thrilled to get back to school and a super-structured routine.



He's had six summer weeks without any weekday daytime aide support, teaching, or respite (excepting one week of sleepaway camp). We've never gone that long without at least some daytime in-home support. But Leo's in such a good space with both his temperament and his ability to occupy himself that it's been really no problem for either of us -- as long as I keep an eye on him when Mali's around. (I hope this good period lasts, as his respite hours -- which we use for two witching hour evenings per week and a few hours on the weekend -- just got halved.)

This last week or two has seen lots and lots of talking, some spontaneous patterning: "Blue star green star red star orange star! Red heart purple heart yellow heart..." Also a lot of repeated phrases from books & songs but with his name inserted, e.g., "Leelo happy! Leelo sad! Leelo good and Leelo bad!" (from The Big Book of Beautiful Babies -- a favorite since he was a baby). He's been doing really well with pronouns, especially proper use of Me. And he's on another creative call-and-response vocal scatting bender. Really cool patterns there.

He's also been more willing to try different foods. We got him to eat peanut butter & banana, and pb & honey sandwiches! I also got him to chew a Marcona almond but he spit it out. Still, he put it in his mouth and chewed when asked. There may be new food options coming for our boy, yet.

As for the rest of us: Iz has one more week before starting sixth grade. This milestone apparently requires a quest: we need to journey to San Francisco to find her the perfect plaid miniskirt. Hokay. Maybe once we're there we can find someone to satisfy her question as to whether the geographical jurisdictions of San Francisco City & County are identical.

Mali is adjusting to kindergarten. By the end of her second week in class, she was able to endure an entire day without any formal disciplinary sanctions. She says she's too tired to speak in Spanish when she gets home, but if you start speaking Spanish to someone else and she understands you, she can't help but join in. She is not yet bucking against the quite boring dress code, and instead goes for fabulous the moment she gets home (if you scrutinize the Leelo picture above, you'll see her reading a book while wearing her gold tiara, a flower lei, a tutu, and dress-up shoes).

She has also taught herself to swim down to the bottom of our pool and retrieve the dive toys Leo usually plays with. Watching someone that tiny swim like a mermaid is pretty cool.

Seymour continues to have the best job ever. Two days ago he hiked Angel Island with an archaeologist, in a couple of weeks he goes to Jackson Hole. And that doesn't even cover the cool things he gets to do in the office, and the amazingly talented people he gets to do them with.

Meanwhile I'm tired (count many times I wrote "cool" in this post) and my computer has gone kablooey and I'm writing this on Iz's laptop. The problem with my beloved 3 1/2 year old MacBook Pro workhorse is not (just) the overfull hard drive -- that is supposedly not damaged. No, something's amiss with the OS, says the Genius Bar people. So I tried an OS reinstall. That failed, but in doing so it took up all the remaining space on my hard drive -- no space for a restarted reinstall. Back to the Genius Bar in two days. If you've tried to contact me on my personal domain email address since mid-day Friday, I'm not ignoring you. I just can't access that account right now.

Off to bed. Badger lent me a nice quirky page-turner called A Fistful of Sky and I want to conserve enough energy to get through at least three paragraphs.

California's Education Crisis Made Manifest in Redwood City

If you want to know exactly what the effects of the California state budget crises in general, and the failure of Measure E specifically, will be for the individual students and families of Redwood City, scroll down. I hope this report might make a few more people less apathetic. At the very least it will crack open the non-hardened heart.

The notes below are a compilation of my live twitter feed from last night's Redwood City School District board meeting, the public portion of which lasted from 7 PM until 11:30 PM (at which point the board members went into closed session). The school board was asked to make some really hard choices, and few people in the audience would have traded places with them. I for one felt reassured in seeing the smart, alert, knowledgeable, and empathetic board members in action.

Frustrated enough to take action? Good. Here's what my friend Ep had to say:

I'd like to encourage anyone who knows anyone who lives in any of the 44 [California] state districts with a Republican senator or Assembly member to phone, email, or write them with the message that we can't fix the budget crisis on the backs of our children. You can get a list of representatives and districts at: http://www.cagop. org/about/ .

You can also direct your thoughts to our Governor at:
http://www.gov. ca.gov/interact.

Onward:

76. Live-tweeting the Redwood City School District school board meeting: stay tuned!

75. Budget discussion tabled for tonight; Measure E failure & state budget fluctuations means no stable figures available; discussion premature.

74. Passionate plea from single working mom to keep Preschool for All open; otherwise she has no options for working next year.

73. Preschool for All was a state-level cut; district still has Child Development Centers that might help.

72. Jack Hickey is speaking out of both sides of his mouth to an audibly cool & skeptical room. Railing against tenure, which is a state issue.

71. Standing ovation, teacher praise, & flowers for Alisa M. & Shelly M., Measure E Ass-kickers.

70. Since so many 5/19 measures failed, we have to make serious cuts in order to maintain reserve; we have to cut $1M for evry $1B in state cuts

69. Budget presentation (not discussion): 08-09: cuts for ed were $3 million; we used our reserve instead of cutting

68. Budgets are based on previous year's income, but we do have some Federal Stimulus funds, including special ed; projected 08-09 cuts: $10.7M.

67. Discussed cuts for parts of the following: IB program, library aides, custodians, class size reduction, all very complicated.

66. Increasing class size could help reduce expenditures & increase revenue.

65. Anticipate 51 fewer classrooms in 09-10

64. Title II funds can only be used for staff or professional development.

63. Special Ed is a categorical cost, indirect. Now that we have IDEA funding, it will help somewhat (unclear on exact funding/$ stream shifts).

62. Outdoor Ed is another potential area for cuts; not looking good (i.e. NO at this point.)

61. IDEA is very strict about its funds being used for special ed programming and not to address district deficit.

60. Governor has said that there could be more Education cuts between now & June 30th.

59. Board member SM: When you have to cut $6.5 million dollars, there's no good place to cut.

58. Rumor, which budgeteer thinks might have merit: that special ed transportation $ cut by 65 percent.

57. Parcel tax failure means we're losing PE teachers, library aides, middle school teachers, though music program funded for one year more.

56. Post-E cuts might be able to be moderated on a school site, per-student basis.

55. Class size: could we lower class size a bit more to offset cuts? It's complicated, penalties for exceeding class size.

54. General fund is about $65 million, that's where $10M/15 percent cuts will come from. Separate from federal funds/title funds.

53. Questions from audience: teacher at Fair Oaks, RWC native, worried about losing extra-curricular actvities for kids in disadvantaged areas.

52. teacher: Please let Fair Oaks keep title I funds; school & activities are only inspiration/leisure some of his students ever get.

51. Board wants to keep class size reductions from affecting schools like Fair Oaks. Board will do their best to help keep art/after sch prgrms.

50. Higher class size might help us break even at schools like Fair Oaks but budgeting is so raw & unfinished that can't be stated officially.

49. Jack Hickey thinks it would behoove state to remove class size restrictions. Can we rent empty portables? Look at the rosy side (*hooting*). [SR: I would note that Mr. Hickey was respectful, and some of his ideas may have had merit. But he has done so much to undermine funding for our school district -- specifically in his instrumental role in helping to defeat the last two parcel tax efforts -- that few in the room were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I'll bet the devil has good manners, too.]

48. We need to focus on not cutting from areas that touch every student - uh, touching in a positive way.'

47. Teacher says we need to do everything we can to keep class sizes reduced; for many dropouts, last succesful moment was in 4th grade.

46. Financial committee wants additional stimulus funds to go to school sites to increase per-student discretionary funding.

45. Argument against reduction: if class sizes are reduced, can't expand them again/hire teachers again if federal money comes thru in fall.

44. Office clerks are critical; can't be cut any more than already have been.

43. Custodian cuts: we may have fewer classrooms but we won't have fewer kids, and kids are messy messy messy.

42. The testimonials of every single parent/teacher/staff member tonight would break your heart, especially re: the role of the middle school counselor

41. GATE coordinator making the case for her pull-out program. Stating that she considers her kids special needs & that its a matter of equity.

40. Pres of GATE parent club: GATE coordinator is 1 staff; certain school has whole staff; do we really want to cut 1 person affecting 250 kids?

39. Teacher at Redwood High: don't cut sex ed! 130 HS students got preg this yr; one specifically b/c missed sex ed & did not know about sperm.!

38. No one has yet demonized special ed; hope we get thru the night this way (testimonials still). Lots of comments re: pgms that DN benefit all

37. Parent: our highest priority should be teachers & materials.

36. Office coordinators: we are already working overtime w/o extra pay to get our work done. Don't know how we'd get our work done w/more cuts.

35. Adelante staff: we need large # of kinder classes to maintain # of kids in upper grades.

34. Parents: please spread the word about the hard work & hard choices that are happening here tonight; we need to fight community apathy!

33. re: Accusations of choosing administration over kids: but we have 27 administrators for over 1,000 RCSD staff.

32. board member SM: we have been thinking long & hard about these cuts; we have kids in the district & they are affected too.

31. Board member: there's not one thing on the cuts list that the board would choose to cut if there was any other option. Not one. All very sad

30. Board & audience want to hear more about cutting outdoor ed, gate pullout, & the international baccalaureate program.

29. Measure E: now that it has failed & budget cuts are real & severe (state too), maybe people will realize that such initiatives are critical.

28. Communications Director position brought in more than $1 million last year by increasing attendance; board has checked & verified figure.

27. board: Please try to stay focused on what's best for all of our students, & not get divisive/combative over special interests/programs.

26. Outdoor ed: may not be able to fund, but if class size rises, then music for minors pgm will have less $, outdoor ed might be saved.

25. District costs per yr for outdoor ed: $60K. Also some scholarships from SMCOE & Tim Griffith Foundation.

24. GATE pullout called special ed equivalent again. In principle I agree, but my GATE kid would be ok w/o prgm; my Special Ed kid would not!

23. Keep in mind that budget is still fluid and not final.

22. Like many cuts, custodial cuts based on formula (square footage, etc.).

21. Need to be mindful of how many custodians we can cut before clean (or not) classrooms becomes a health & safety issue & affects attendance.

20. One board member mentioned that we should find a way to access our very restricted reserves.

19. IB program at Selby Lane, loss for that school, esp. in terms of investment in training, but serves low number of students at a high cost.

18. Board member: wants Outdoor Ed kept b/c serves every single kid in the district at low cost. So many kids have never been out of city!

17. Outdoor ed is back in the please don't cut column!

16. Do you know anyone/any leads for grants for outdoor ed? RCEF will help you follow through!

15. Followup/open meeting with board will be at McKinley auditorium Tuesday 6/16 at 7 PM. (I believe)

14. Summer school $: might be reallocated to school sites. Means cancelling already scheduled summer classes/teachers. Doesn't affect ESY.

13. Wed, Jun 10, 2009 10:23 PM

12. Cutting summer school would affect more than 1,000 kids.

11. Summer school just got axed.

10. Again, NOT ESY.

9. Letter was already sent out letting parents know summer school might be cut. Board absolutey hated to make this cut.

8. Many impassioned pleas to align both RCSD calendars with the high school calendars, especially re: spring break.

7. No one here envies the school board's job at this moment in time.

6. School board approves but can't change school year calendar. At this point no resources 4 calendar fight. Have 2 approve or reject entirety.

5. In future board would like to see school calendars aligned, esp Spring Break. And let's have one calendar FFS!

4. Not everyone voted yes to approve school calendars. But I believe it passed.

3. Teacher meeting hours per year were reduced to 33 from 35 via teacher-sponsored mediation.

2. Anyone who lives in California, please write your state senator to support Simitian's bill to reduce voter approval for $ measures to 55%.

1. All done board meeting!

Autism: Using Spreadsheets for Tracking Behavioral Factors

There are so many factors that can influence or illustrate how our children with autism are wearing their own skin, including health, toileting, aggressive &/or self-injurious behaviors, sleep patterns, medications, language usage, diet, and school performance.

We've used a Google spreadsheet to track those factors for Leelo for the past two-and-a-half years, with a lot of success.

Tracking helps us back up our anecdotal observations: "Yes, he has had more self-injurious behaviors this week. He developed a runny nose on the second day of the behaviors, so possibly there is sinus involvement. The behaviors disappeared three days later, along with the runny nose."

They help us make better long-view analyses as well. We've been able to establish patterns of seasonal allergies, and also have lots of data to support our concerns about summer regressions.

Supervisor M recently asked me to revise the spreadsheet to make it more data-driven. We're also including his weight at the beginning of the month, as well as a list of the foods he typically eats every day. Here's a sample of the current version, modified as per her suggestions:

Leelo Rosenberg Behaviors Tracking Spreadsheet.

Of course, there are incidents that need no additional interpretation, as when Leelo has a spectacular meltdown in the Costco checkout line yesterday because we arrived as soon as the doors opened and there weren't any nice people handing out food samples. (His sisters weren't there, I remained calm, helped him to his feet, reminded him to keep his hands down, and met the eyes of the people around me with what I hope was a look of Autism Parent Supreme Confidence).

I transcribe his teacher's daily notes as well, from the notebook that we use to communicate. Today's notes should give you an idea of why I am so worried about summer and regression. I want my son to be doing this well, staying in this happy space, forever:

"Leelo had a great, great day today. His behavior was great (had no self-injuries). Good attention/focus. He also worked well during time for independent work (worked 90% independent :) ).

"1:1 work with teacher: Still working on the following:

1. Sight words (colors)
2. Coins (matching pics and real coins)
3. Counting
4. Fine motor tasks (nuts and bolts)
   

"He also played a table game with me (Colorama) and was able to say "my turn" with minimum prompts.

"Also very engaged in the motor room and sensory room.

"Had good behavior during snack time."

One thing the teacher didn't write down was a seriously scraped knee. This would normally be a concern, not because of the injury (kids scrape knees; it's what they do) but because he doesn't tolerate band-aids and so his cuts/scrapes tend to get infected. But he not only came home wearing a band-aid, he let me change it without complaint, and kept it on without a single fidget or fiddling for the remainder of the day. Who is this boy? I want to keep him.

Help Leelo's Local Friends

Leelo's special ed department/occupational therapy department (i.e., special needs motor work) has no money to buy the kind of equipment they'd like; the kind that would really make a difference not only for autistic kids like Leelo but for all the kids in our city who rely on school district--i.e., public--support for their sensory and occupational therapy needs. Specifically the department would like to buy a scooter ramp as it will perform about fifty different functions in one compact space.

I said that I'd help. I said that if I invoked the power of the blogosphere, and got enough people to skip a latte or two (or five), there would be no way we couldn't raise enough money to get those kids their ramp.

So, feel like doing some good during this upcoming holiday season? I am trying to raise $757.90, which includes the ramp's purchase price and shipping. If we can raise the money by 12/20/06, it will be a lovely holiday gift for the special ed department. In fact you can even print out this page and tell your friends that you made a donation in their name instead of getting them a cluttery, tangible gift. A skipped latte's $2.50 is more than welcome.

Straight donations are great, of course, but I am also selling handmade Leelo coloring books at $20 each. The books feature the bold lines and simple rhymes that Leelo and his friends enjoy, plus scenes that will make any parent--but especially parents of autistic children--chuckle (or sigh) in recognition. All proceeds will go towards the ramp.

If you want a coloring book, go to the donation page, and click on the "contribute" button. You'll be redirected to PayPal. Put "coloring book" in your PayPal subject line, and don't forget to include your shipping address.

You can also help by ordering Leelo shirts and gear. A $10 donation is part of their purchase price. You can get Leelo gear at GoodStorm (t-shirts only) or CafePress (t-shirts, stickers, mugs).

I will add a further $10 donation from my own pocket if you send a picture featuring your Leelo gear to me at aba_help AT yahoo D0T com.

Here is the scooter ramp's description:

"This ramp incorporates a climbing feature with the addition of bilateral hand rails in addition to the rope attachment for hand-over-hand climbing. The ramp can be adjusted to 2 different inclines. Both ends of the ramp are beveled where the ramp meets the base and floor to give a smooth ride. Assembly consists of 4 wooden pieces held together with wing knobs. No tools ever needed. Easily disassembled and compactly stored."

Again, our deadline is 12/20/06. Leelo and his friends say Thank You! And please feel free to spread the word.

Technorati Tags: autism, autism awareness, fundraising, occupational therapy, special education