I really like the above quote by Albert Einstein.  It reminds us that our kiddos do have special areas they may be gifted in....and for most of them the social arena isn't one of them.

This does not make our kids "stupid" or "slow".  What this means is that it may take them 6 weeks to embrace a new social skill instead of 10 minutes for a typical kiddo. 

These kids can achieve so much if we can put on our Sherlock Holmes hats and figure out the puzzle piece that is causing the confusion. 

When our daughter was early in diagnosis (about 4) she didn't understand how to give someone a hug.  We had to break it down step by step.  "First you look at the person with a smile on your face and make eye contact.  Then you step toward them with your arms open wide.  You gently place your arms around them and give a small squeeze.  Then you release the squeeze and step back with your arms at your side."   We had to practice each step many, many times!

With a typical kiddo you simply say...."Come give a hug" and they know instinctively how to do it!

So don't expect your little fish to climb a tree....unless you are there to give a boost!

What things have you had to break down into steps to teach your child?

Substitute Teachers

We know there are times when our regular teachers will not be able to teach our kids on some days.  When our daughter was in elementary school, it was extremely helpful if we received a phone call or email to let us know of the change in personnel so we could prepare our child.

It really threw our girl into a bit of a frazzled state when the substitute teacher didn't immediately start the math lesson at 10:10 or she taught the subjects in a different order completely.

We finally hammered home the idea that this "new" teacher was to be given the same respect as her regular teacher and if things happened at different times (or not at all!) it was NO BIG DEAL! Sometimes kids stay with babysitting grandparents....and kids are still to mind their manners and obey the rules for grandparents just like parents!

If there is any way the current teacher can leave a small note for the substitute with any special tips for your child, it also may make everyone's life a little easier.

What things do you do to prepare for substitute teachers?  Is it even a problem?

Anyway, I really thought the above cartoon was hilarious and needed a reason to share it :)

Well, school has been in session for a couple of weeks and so far, things are going pretty smoothly.  Let me share some of our "bumps" which should be worth a chuckle or two :)

When checking my daughter's (now a high school freshman) computer class grade on-line, I was shocked to see an "F" on her first test over PowerPoint.  After the test she "felt confident" she had done a good job...see, her perception of reality isn't always accurate ~ ha!

I immediately jumped on my ledge (I sometimes have to climb down from) and I sent a short email to her teacher (worded VERY nicely) to ask what we could do to help Emily do better on the next  exam and what did she think our daughter's problem might have been.  Notice I DID NOT blame the teacher, nor did I expect the teacher to email me and let me know my daughter's failing grade.  These high school teachers have about 150 kiddos per day, and as much as I would like to think mine is the only one they teach......it is a different ballgame than elementary school!

Are you sitting down?  The teacher replied back (VERY  nicely too :) and...here is the kicker.... in her opinion, our daughter rushed through the 30 questions on the computer too quickly....AND didn't use her notes or books as it was....yep you guessed it.... an open note and open book test!!!!

Are you kidding me?!!?

When I shared this information with my daughter, in a loud voice from my ledge :), she thought it would take too much time to try to look up information in the book and she thought she knew the stuff.

SO, the teacher is going to remind her that she can use her notes and book right before the test and our girl got her life lesson about rushing through the material.

If it doesn't kill us, it makes us stronger, right?  :)

Remember to enjoy your child!