“School uses unique methods to teach those with autism” plus 1 more |
| School uses unique methods to teach those with autism Posted: 19 Sep 2010 09:31 PM PDT Published: Sunday, September 19, 2010 at 11:42 p.m. Blue's Clues is one of Jacob's favorite shows even though it's for "little kids." The 10-year-old shows a visitor his coloring that looks like the familiar notebook used on the Nickelodeon children's program. Then he shows another coloring. And then another, all of them on the same theme. Jacob has a mild version of autism, which makes him focus on certain subjects and exclude others. He is one of two children at Autism Oasis for Kids who communicates verbally. The other five children attending High Spring's new private school are non-verbal, even at 7 and 8 years old. Autism Oasis for Kids opened in a small house right off Main Street on Aug. 23, just in time for the 2010-11 school year. While seven children currently attend the school, three more are expected to join in the coming months. Marie Trempe and her husband, Rob Cecil, founded the school. The couple's inspiration: their 10-year-old son, Narottam, who has autism. "It started with the idea to start a school for my son because he couldn't go to public school; he has immune (system) issues," said Trempe, who got the ball rolling for Autism Oasis in March. "I kept saying, 'I'm going to have a school in August.'" Autism spectrum disorders, which include Asperger's Syndrome, Rett Syndrome and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, affect nearly 1 in 110 children nationwide — an increase of about 27 percent in four years, according to the most recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Trempe said most schools in Florida use a kind of behavior improvement plan when dealing with children with autism. But she and her husband didn't like that it was based on rewards. "We're different," said Trempe. "We use relationship therapy to figure out why they do the behavior." Learning what each child fixates on is the first step Autism Oasis uses to guide the child into a learning environment. Cecil said his son loves dinosaurs, so to teach his son geography, Cecil explains where each type of dinosaur lived and why. "One child here wasn't using words; he would just grab and show you," said Trempe. To get him to learn words, Trempe would move items the boy wanted onto higher shelves to get him to point and use words when engaged in his fixation: playing horsey. "In three weeks, he has already said six words," she said. The four teachers at Autism Oasis, including Trempe and Cecil, have experience teaching, from Trempe homeschooling her son to the other teachers' years of experience substituting and homeschooling. Cecil has the most experience as he has been a teacher for about 10 years and is certified to teach up to 10th grade. Every child at Autism Oasis pays for the private school's tuition through the McKay Scholarship for Students with Disabilities Program, which allows students who were previously enrolled in public school to attend a participating school that better suits the child's needs. The most important thing about planning the education of a child with autism is to individualize it, said Greg Valcante, the director of the University of Florida's Center for Autism and Related Disabilities. Valcante said the public school system is required to meet the needs of every child enrolled, not leaving any child behind. "It can be challenging, but it's the law," Valcante said. Trempe hopes her private school will eventually become a charter school and is looking to be in a new building of her own design by next year. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Homeschool isn’t the same as school Posted: 19 Sep 2010 10:13 AM PDT  Michael Jackson's children, Michael "Prince" Joseph and Paris-Michael Katherine, are attending school in L.A. this fall after Prince expressed interest in greater social interaction with other kids after years of homeschooling. Courtesy of MCT Have you ever asked yourself "How important is an education?" or "How essential it is in a person's life?" Education is having the ability to obtain everyday knowledge and having the ability to grow towards higher goals. In today's society there are two major types of education, public schooling and homeschooling. I believe that public schools provide a student with better education than homeschooling ever could. Public schools provide qualified teachers, suitable learning facilities and proper social interactions between students. In order for teachers to teach in California they need to have received a credential, which takes many years of schooling in order to be qualified to work with students. For parents who chose to homeschool their children, they are only required to have a high school diploma. One could question if these parents have the knowledge of the material. Parents feel that they can provide the best education for their children because they know how the child excels and believe that they are able to tend to the child's needs in a more efficient way. On the contrary, public schools provide tutors that are on campus to help students with their studies. Public schools also provide resources for special needs children, giving families access to the proper classes that their children may need. Homeschools can provide "special needs services, (but if) a student (does) not fit neatly into the system (they) can fall through the cracks," according to the book "The Unofficial Guide to Homeschooling" by Kathy Ishizuka. Public schools also provide organizations such as band and sports teams, which teach a student the ability to learn teamwork and how to get along with their peers. It also provides interaction between teachers and students, providing students with an essential part of communication and experience of how to interact in different situations. Homeschooled students only interact with their parents and/or siblings that they see on a day to day basis. This does not allow a child to learn and practice social behaviors and cope outside of the home with others their age. I had the opportunity of knowing a student that was homeschooled until her first year of college and she felt very overwhelmed by all the new experiences. She said that people did not like her because she was quiet and because she did not know how to interact with other students. This was a difficult change for her and she even struggled in her classes. She was too shy to ask her professor questions. She said that homeschooling socially dwarfed her for the real world. I believe that parents who homeschool their children do not know the proper curriculum for teaching. Public schools have to follow a curriculum, and know the needs of the children. Since education is a very important part of children's lives, it is best to leave the teaching to the teachers in public schools. Jacqueline Espinoza contributed to this report This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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