Search Results for: blog steps to find the right educational program for your child

Procrastination With Special Education Could be Expensive

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The Department of Education in New York could be creating a very expensive problem for itself. Education officials have delayed finding placement for 15,500 kindergarten students who have special needs. This could result in having those students sent to private schools, with the public school system being required to pay for it. The delay is also causing anxiety for the parents of these children. The New York City Department of Education is struggling to figure out where 15,500 kindergarten students who have special needs will attend school in the coming school year. They must find placement for all of these … Continue reading →

Carnival of Educators -Drama Club Edition

Welcome to the November 17, 2009 edition of carnival of educators. This is the fourth edition of the Carnival of Educators. For those new to carnivals, they are basically blog or column posts that include links to tidbits from dozens of other carnivals. Each week the carnival is hosted at a different blog to spread the wealth and the work around. This weeks edition is the Drama Club edition. In the past two weeks, I have been to numerous homeschool and school productions, and my own kids are in the middle of Tech week for a play scheduled for five … Continue reading →

The Ladder of Cognitive Skills for Special Needs Kids

It’s often useful to keep in mind the kinds of skills we should be helping our special kids master as they grow and develop. The following steps are general guidelines you can use as you direct your child through floor time play at home, special education in the classroom, and social interactions with friends and family. As you read the following list, try to determine which steps your child has mastered and which ones need additional focus. Often times the child has a mixture of abilities and challenges on every rung of the ladder. And remember that in order for … Continue reading →

A Toast to Parents of Special Needs Kids

With the year 2006 coming to a close, let’s consider the milestones our children have reached these past twelve months. As parents of special needs kids, we already know that comparing our sons or daughters with other children their age, or with a teacher or doctor’s random expectations, can be discouraging. So we don’t. We learn to make comparisons only with the past. What steps have our children taken this year, no matter how small or unsteady, which have moved them just a little bit further down their own path? Were there any “miracle moments,” or breakthroughs? What about silly … Continue reading →

Faraway Child – Amy Maida Wadsworth

Kaye Young is a typical two-year-old, isn’t she? Her mother, Jen, is at the end of her rope, trying to control her daughter’s behavior. Screaming fits and tantrums melt away into perfect behavior unpredictably and seemingly without cause. Jen never knows what to expect from Kaye. She can’t take her shopping without the whole event turning into a nightmare. It’s the terrible twos, she supposes. But then Jen’s visiting teacher asks her if Kaye is autistic. Jen immediately fights the diagnosis, not wanting to think that there could be anything wrong with her child. But not even a week later, … Continue reading →

The Road to the Right Kindergarten

My husband was presented with a strange request this week. He was asked to write a letter of recommendation for one of his students. Unless you know what my husband does–that might not seem so strange so let me explain further. He’s a teacher. . .of sports. He teaches at a sports program on the Upper East Side in Manhattan and his program rents out space from some of the most elite preschools in New York City. He only teaches 3, 4, and 5 year olds. Which means that this was a letter of recommendation. . .for kindergarten. What could … Continue reading →

Education with BabyPro

Today with our society focuses to much on violence, sex, and bad language, which is why we see parents making major changes specific to what their children view at home. Instead of watching cable or satellite channels with graphic content, the number of sales for educational DVDs is on the rise. A number of companies have realized the need for quality, educational resources for children, which has resulted in a new and exciting trend. As a parent, you have a large selection of DVDs that focus on the developmental issues of your child but one I wanted to address specifically … Continue reading →

Four Roadblocks to Learning

Is your child struggling with school? Does he or she seem to be drowning in work without making much progress? Sometimes the real cause of a child’s failure to thrive academically is simply the teaching methods employed at school. Here are four “roadblocks” which can interfere with a child’s ability to learn effectively. As you analyze your child’s progress, watch for these barriers: 1. World of Worksheets. Chances are, if you examine an average classroom at a random time of the day, you’ll see children sitting at desks completing worksheets. Worksheets seem to come tumbling down from the ceiling, filling … Continue reading →

When You Should Reconsider Homeschooling

I’m always asked what made us want to homeschool. I am constantly confronted by moms who swear to me that they couldn’t do it, or that it’s great for me but not for everyone. But today I had a question that really made me think. A mom of a fellow aspiring ballerina asked me, as we waited for class to finish why should someone not homeschool. I cannot actually think of a single reason why someone couldn’t homeschool–to be honest. I think that anyone who wants to, and has the will to do it, can do it. Where there is … Continue reading →

Private School Tuition

Yesterday, I started looking for a school for Tyler to attend when we return to New Orleans. Last week during the honors program he received awards for making all A’s and for making a perfect score on the CRTs. He even received a shirt with scholar embroidered on it which is so cool. The students get to wear these shirts instead of the regular uniform shirt as a way to acknowledge all their hard work. Before Katrina New Orleans had several public schools that catered to the gifted population. They were known as Citywide Access Schools and included schools that … Continue reading →