Alex was a really happy baby. Didn’t cry much at all, took to solids well, crawled more or less at the right time and walked a little late but not too late. Looking back, one of the earliest signs I had that something was amiss was his interest in the light on his heater and his fascination with light switches. I thought briefly, ‘that’s odd’. Next came his first birthday and his younger cousins were saying ‘Dadda’ and ‘Mumma’ but he was pretty mute.
Trouble paying attention to people. Being constantly on the move. Invading personal space, not reading social cues well and having meltdowns. These can all be signs of both ADHD and autism. And the two conditions can occur together.
There's a common misconception about dyslexia - that it involves "backward reading" or "mirror reading". Reversing letters isn't always a sign of dyslexia, and a lot of little kids who don't have the disorder write their letters backwards, too.
When my second son Liam was born, I felt blessed that I had a full-term healthy baby. While he was difficult to settle in hospital, both of us eased into life at home without any major difficulties. Liam was easy going. When he was crawling, he would scamper off to the block corner in his brother’s kindergarten to build towers. The kindergarten teacher commented on his advanced building ability.
Early intervention is key…then what??
Our son Liam was diagnosed with Autism in 2003. Back then, our only reference was “Rainman” and like most parents, we were told our child wouldn’t speak, wouldn’t show emotion and would most likely be institutionalised. Liam had just turned 2 yrs of age, so you can say we were one of the lucky families since we caught his autism early!
Culturally Responsive Teaching in a Mastery Learning Environment
Jeremy Chan-Kraushar believes in creating a learning culture that helps students develop positive identities as learners and the power of competency-based learning to do just that. Former teacher and co-founder of New York City Department of Education’s Mastery Collaborative, a network of 42 schools implementing competency-based learning across New York City, Chan-Kraushar spoke about learner identity at SXSWedu last month, and the ways in which competency-based learning can be culturally responsive and build equity in education.
Social understandings and behaviours are closely interwoven with emotions, temperament, values, attitudes,knowledge and skills.
Children are born social. Social capacity develops as children interact with supportive, stimulating, safe people and places. Tuning in, listening and watching closely can help adults to understand what might be giving rise to a child's behaviour. It can help to think of behaviour as the tip of an iceberg—there’s usually an emotional base hidden underneath.
“IF YOU’VE met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.”
This well-known quote by Dr Stephen Shore, internationally renowned for his research surrounding autism, shows that living with the condition can mean different things to different people.
As teachers, there are so many ways to interact with children while they play. One way to join in play is to narrate what you see happening. When you narrate children’s actions, you both describe what you see but also make inferences about what is taking place. These inferences can launch the conversation between you and the children. Children can add on to what you said or even correct your ideas. This gives you the opportunity to rephrase their words and incorporate rich vocabulary and detailed descriptions.
Helping Australians living with Alzheimer's and Dementia manage better at home.
Our day clock aims to assist people with memory loss and ease the workload of their families and carers. With a simple and clear display, our clock assists sufferers to link time with their daily routine, and considerably improve daily life.
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7 Critical Warning Signs of Speech & Learning Disorders!
Early Intervention and School Readiness
Speech Clarity
Language – understanding and expression
Stuttering
Trouble Reading
Spelling 
Early Intervention and School Readiness
Speech Clarity
Language – understanding and expression’ 
Stuttering
Trouble Reading