Whiz Kid Games: free language and pragmatic activities

My school's autism specialist just told me about a cool website for kids with delays commonly seen with Autism Spectrum Disorder and MR.

Some of the Whiz Kid Games activities include:
-helping students understand that an unexpected change in plans is okay
-choosing clothes based on the weather and what you wore the previous day
-sorting items into categories

Overall, a fun (and FREE) website.

The only thing that threw me and my students was the Australian accent, vocabulary, and grammar were slightly different from what we are used to here in NW United States. ;)

Unusual point of envy

After many of The Flash's classmates chaotically pushed Professor X around the playground, one exclaimed, "I wish my dad had a wheelchair!"

In this gorgeous illustration: The Flash, myself, and Professor X (in his wheelchair) are on top of our Christmas tree. Poor Marvel Girl is watching us from below.

Facing Pain Together

I'm so glad that Doreen could put into words what I feel inside on most days.

"It has exhausted me to see his unrelenting pain and not to be able to do a thing about it. I am here for him at his side, but it’s not an easy job."

Read her entire winning post here.

Teaching Tuesday: Headsprout Trial

Even if you opt not to buy a subscription to the fantastic reading program Headsprout.com, I would highly recommend doing the first few episodes. I was able to get a mostly free subscription to this program when my son was younger and he learned to read at age 3.5. Seriously.

Now Headsprout is advertising a Reading Comprehension program for older children. I'm excited for him to play with the free trial.

Click here for your free trial.

Therapy Thursday: Lunar Dragons

Lunar New Year is on Valentine's Day this year! Don't forget to make your dragons, parade around the house (and then have your child practice retelling all the steps to improve their language skills!).

Every year I have my kids make a new type of Asian dragon for our celebration. Since we held our festivities a week early this year, I can show off these beauties to you....



You can use the online directions here, or just go with the directions that my kids re-told.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Auctionable Cookies. Month 9.

The cookies that started it all.

It was after I made these cookies last year that I decided to donate my "cookie-making services" to my son's school auction. And I've been looking forward to re-making them all. year. long.

Because seriously, you can't get much better than these.

Toasted Coconut Shortbread by Smittenkitchen.com


First batch...oops too thin!


4th batch...much better, but still just not as pretty as the ones on smittenkitchen!

Toasted Coconut Shortbread
Adapted from Bon Appetit, April 2004

1/2 cup (about 1.5 ounces) unsweetened shredded coconut*
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks or 6 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature**
1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt (Updated: for unsweetened coconut, the smaller amount; sweetened, the larger amount)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spread coconut on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until coconut is light golden, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Cool completely, then grind in a coffee grinder, food processor or blender until coarsely ground.

Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Mix in salt and vanilla. Beat in flour in 2 additions. Stir in toasted coconut. Gather dough together, flatten into a disc and wrap in plastic. Chill at least 1 hour. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.)

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out dough disk on lightly floured work surface to scant 1/4-inch thickness. Using 1 3/4- to 2-inch-diameter cookie cutters, cut dough into rounds. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Gather dough scraps and reroll; cut out additional cookies.

Bake cookies until light golden, about 20 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool completely. (Can be made ahead. Store airtight at room temperature up to 1 week.)

Devour.

Sometimes, I feel so...small

There is so little that I can do.

I can't eliminate Professor X's excruciating and constant pain.

I can't change my students' cognitive abilities, economic status, or family life.

I can't be the best Speech Pathologist ever, and get winded when I even think about the effort involved.

I can't be there for my kids while I'm working or trying to run errands, the household, etc.

I can't even blog consistently anymore (even though I love the friends and feedback that I've gleaned!).

It all feels big. Really, really BIG. (and a little scary!)

Hosted by Cecily and Robyn

I apologize for being such a downer. It took great efforts just to pull off this one post this week. I don't want to give up blogging as it has been such a great learning and growing experience. But, I just don't have the time and energy to post like I used to...