I really like this one of him, it's really nothing special, but I think it captures his thoughtfulness.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
IMG_7259.jpg
When Elijah chose this Stitch hat I wasn't even thinking of how cute it would be with his Stitch jacket.
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This is the girls on the monorail. You can't see it in the photo but the windows were shaped like Mickey Heads.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Tokyo Disney rocks again!
After our trip in 2006 I really wasn't sure we could top it, but we definitely did. Wow, what a difference a couple of years can make in the kids stamina! The last time we went the kids were 6 and 8, and we really needed to leave the arks in the middle of the day to decompress in the hotel before going back. Not this time, our last day we left the room at 9am and didn't get back until 9pm.
Tokyo Disney consists of two parks, Disneyland and Disney Sea. Disney Sea has the better rides if you ask me. The nice thing about Tokyo Disney is because of the generally smaller stature of Asians the height limits are much lower than in the US. My favorite ride by far was Journey to the Center of the Earth, which the kids were too short for the last time we went. This time Elijah just made the cut off, but he couldn't slouch at all or he wasn't tall enough. The second day we were there Elijah had a melt down and wanted to go home to Guam. Turns out, when we told him the day before that we were going to ride Journey, it gave him nightmares that night. None of us had ever been on the ride and had no idea what to expect, all we knew was that the outside of the ride looked like a volcano. So we told Elijah we didn't have to ride it, and he was fine from then on, except when he got scared of Tower of Terror, but I'll write about that later. The second day we went to Disney Sea there was almost no one there and Journey had a 5min wait, so we told Elijah we were going to ride it once and he never had to ride it again if he didn't want to. So we get on the ride, and of course he'll only ride it if he can sit with me, and things are going ok, so far the ride is slow and actually kind of lame, then there starts to be these really off creatures, still no problem. The next thing we see is this huge monster, definitely worthy of a few nightmares if your and anxious kid, but still no freak out yet, then everything goes dark and the ride takes off up out of the volcano and back down in. We get to the end and I'm waiting for Elijah to tell us off for making him ride it, but he surprised me saying he liked it. He told us he put his fear in his pocket so he could get over it, and then we all made a show of him throwing his fear down and all of us stomping on it. So great, we think we can ride it again no problem right, not quite. Elijah forgot to inform us that while he liked the ride he only liked to ride it once a day. The funniest thing, he was enamored with the volcano itself and was constantly stopping to watch it, especially when the flames came out. Ok we counted this as a victory and moved on. Then there was the Tower of Terror, which all the kids got on the first time no problem, when we were done they all said they liked it, so we were surprised when Elijah freaked about going on it again. Unlike the one in Orlando, this one centers around a Shariki Statue that causes Mr. Hightower's elevator to crash at the bottom. The ride itself didn't bother him, but the Tiki really didn't settle well, and again he had nightmares about it. So after riding it twice during the trip we decided it wasn't worth the emotional scarring to ride it again, you know, gotta cap those psychiatrist bills early on. Of course there were also rides that didn't cause any anxiety attacks, the kids an I liked 20,000 Leagues under the sea, which was basically a simulation submarine. Of course Dave didn't like it near as much as we did, something about trying to leave work at work. One loved by all was the Indiana Jones ride, which had the same height requirement as Journey, but Elijah was much more inclined to stand tall for this one. For this one you rode in a Jeep and Elijah and I both lucked out and got to take turns at the steering wheel pretending to drive. Of course everything was in Japanese, but you still got the gist of things. The last time we rode as we came out we passed right by Indiana Jones, thank goodness for Dave, because I totally didn't see him there and would've just kept going. It's much harder to convince the kids that the park characters are the movie ones with real life characters. Of course the kids being 8 and 10 might have something to do with that also. The nice thing this time was that all the kids were over 7, so Caitlynn didn't always have to be the one to ride alone. It also meant the three of tem could ride the rides without us. Of course they were way too young for us to just let them go, but there were a lot of rides with short or no waits that we let them go on alone. Even when riding without us Elijah had to ride with someone, namely Caitlynn, he refused to go. On the very last day, right before we left the park he rode the Flounder coaster all by himself. Hannah was nice enough to provide him with a great thing to tell us when they got off, he comes running off and tells us "I rode the roller coaster all by myself, top that!" The kids rode all of the rides in Triton's Kingdom alone and also Aquatopia. It was actually quite funny, we all rode Aquatopia and there was absolutely no line, then the kids rode themselves 4 more time while we waited for Storm Rider to open. Elijah just told me his favorite ride at that park was Journey. Hannah's was Indiana Jones, and Caitlynn's was Tower of Terror. Dave's favorite was the Gondolas, which we were really lucky when we rode that one, because we got the last ride which was at sunset. I'm having a hard time coming up with a favorite, I really liked the Train, because I like reading all the signs along the way, which were all centered around NYC. There was a fountain in the park which my NY friends can appreciate, the plaque on the fountain said Naturally Pure Hudson River Water. Where was that sign when we were kids told not to swim or fish in the Hudson? I never understood it, but while Disneyland stayed extremely busy all day everyday, Disney Sea pretty much cleared out at around 4pm. If you waited until then you could pretty much ride anything you wanted with no wait, which is why on our last day we were able to ride Journey 3 times in a row in about 1/2 hour. We never got to see the fireworks at Disney Sea because they were cancelled due to wind conditions , but we were able to watch the BraviSEAmo! in a shortened state which was very cool. It was a show on the water depicting a love story between a fire breathing dragon and a ship/fountain.
Disneyland was the larger of the two parks, and ALWAYS the most crowded. Supposedly, it's modeled after Disney Land California, but since I've never been there, I have no idea. One of the good things about moving to San Diego will be finally getting to go there. Anyway, it had a lot of the old favorites: Small World, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Snow White, Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Tea Cups just to name a few. Most of the rides are the same as in the states, again with lowered height requirements. The only ones I can think of that were new to us were the Roger Rabbit, and Gadget Go Coaster rides in Toontown. The kids were bummed that Space Mountain was closed for renovations, because they all really loved it last time we were there. There were two new attractions in the works one a stitch show and a Monsters Inc. show or ride, I'm not really sure. We didn't spend as much time at Disneyland, it just didn't make sense to fight the crowds there when we could go to the other park and not have to deal with crowds. One of the rides we rode was the Star Jets, you know the ones that are kind of like Dumbo but way high in the air. Everyone loved that one except Caitlynn, her and I rode together and she refused to bring the jet up as high as it could go. Caitlynn and Hannah's favorite at Disneyland was Thunder Mountain. Elijah's was Buzz Lightyear, even though Daddy always outscores all of us. Dave was also a Thunder Mountain man. My favorite was Snow White, because it brought back lots of memories. I went to Disney World for the first time the summer I turned 5, and my Great grandmother rode Snow White with me, she probably doesn't have such nice memories of it since it scared the crap out of her. I also like Thunder Mountain because I remember when I rode it with my Grandpa, not sure how old I was, somewhere between 10 and 12 I think, he told me he'd never ride another ride with me, he didn't care for the coaster. I seem to have that effect one people, the first roller coaster I ever rode was at Bush Gardens, my Aunt Meg rode it with me, we didn't know it had a 360, I was in all my glory and couldn't wait to ride again, unfortunately Aunt Meg was green and leery of riding anything else with me ever. We were able to watch the fireworks at Disneyland, we almost didn't stay to watch them because we were all tired and figured we'd stay another night, we changed our mind which was good or we wouldn't have seen any because of wind cancellations. I almost forgot to mention that this year is the 25th Anniversary of Tokyo Disney, so there were all kinds of special things going on. I got these adorable Minnie and Mickey dressed in Yukatas, a casual summer kimono, holding fans that say 25th Anniversary. Because the Tanabata Star Festival started while we were there, the kids got to hand wishes with all the Japanese. (In present-day Japan, people generally celebrate this day by writing wishes, sometimes in the form of poetry, on tanzaku (短冊 tanzaku?), small pieces of paper, and hanging them on bamboo, sometimes with other decorations.) As we entered the park the kids were given mickey shaped pieces of paper to write their wishes on and then hand them with the bamboo. The colors of the papers changed each day, the first day, the day we wrote wishes was pink, then there was blue and green, by our last day there was just tons of Mickey shaped wishes hanging.
Our first two days we stayed at the Miracosta Hotel in Disney Sea. It was really neat because to enter the park you went down to the bottom floor and entered through a special door just for hotel guests. Our room had a view of the Gondolas and Tower of Terror. The last two days we stayed at the Sheraton Grande in a corner room. On one side we had a view of the ocean, which was very gray while we were there, nothing like the beautiful blue water here in Guam. On the other side we could see both parks, it would've been a really cool view to see the fireworks over both parks simultaneously, but it never happened. The weather was kind of crazy while we were there, you really never knew what to expect. In the morning and evenings it was cold and we all wore jackets, but the day could go either way. If the clouds cleared it could be really hot, if not it never really warmed up.
We really had a great four days, but it's kind of sad. This was our last trip while here in Guam. We really can't complaint though, in 3 years we've gone to Tokyo twice, Hong Kong, Australia and to Saipan twice. We've really made the most of our time here as far as travel.
Tokyo Disney consists of two parks, Disneyland and Disney Sea. Disney Sea has the better rides if you ask me. The nice thing about Tokyo Disney is because of the generally smaller stature of Asians the height limits are much lower than in the US. My favorite ride by far was Journey to the Center of the Earth, which the kids were too short for the last time we went. This time Elijah just made the cut off, but he couldn't slouch at all or he wasn't tall enough. The second day we were there Elijah had a melt down and wanted to go home to Guam. Turns out, when we told him the day before that we were going to ride Journey, it gave him nightmares that night. None of us had ever been on the ride and had no idea what to expect, all we knew was that the outside of the ride looked like a volcano. So we told Elijah we didn't have to ride it, and he was fine from then on, except when he got scared of Tower of Terror, but I'll write about that later. The second day we went to Disney Sea there was almost no one there and Journey had a 5min wait, so we told Elijah we were going to ride it once and he never had to ride it again if he didn't want to. So we get on the ride, and of course he'll only ride it if he can sit with me, and things are going ok, so far the ride is slow and actually kind of lame, then there starts to be these really off creatures, still no problem. The next thing we see is this huge monster, definitely worthy of a few nightmares if your and anxious kid, but still no freak out yet, then everything goes dark and the ride takes off up out of the volcano and back down in. We get to the end and I'm waiting for Elijah to tell us off for making him ride it, but he surprised me saying he liked it. He told us he put his fear in his pocket so he could get over it, and then we all made a show of him throwing his fear down and all of us stomping on it. So great, we think we can ride it again no problem right, not quite. Elijah forgot to inform us that while he liked the ride he only liked to ride it once a day. The funniest thing, he was enamored with the volcano itself and was constantly stopping to watch it, especially when the flames came out. Ok we counted this as a victory and moved on. Then there was the Tower of Terror, which all the kids got on the first time no problem, when we were done they all said they liked it, so we were surprised when Elijah freaked about going on it again. Unlike the one in Orlando, this one centers around a Shariki Statue that causes Mr. Hightower's elevator to crash at the bottom. The ride itself didn't bother him, but the Tiki really didn't settle well, and again he had nightmares about it. So after riding it twice during the trip we decided it wasn't worth the emotional scarring to ride it again, you know, gotta cap those psychiatrist bills early on. Of course there were also rides that didn't cause any anxiety attacks, the kids an I liked 20,000 Leagues under the sea, which was basically a simulation submarine. Of course Dave didn't like it near as much as we did, something about trying to leave work at work. One loved by all was the Indiana Jones ride, which had the same height requirement as Journey, but Elijah was much more inclined to stand tall for this one. For this one you rode in a Jeep and Elijah and I both lucked out and got to take turns at the steering wheel pretending to drive. Of course everything was in Japanese, but you still got the gist of things. The last time we rode as we came out we passed right by Indiana Jones, thank goodness for Dave, because I totally didn't see him there and would've just kept going. It's much harder to convince the kids that the park characters are the movie ones with real life characters. Of course the kids being 8 and 10 might have something to do with that also. The nice thing this time was that all the kids were over 7, so Caitlynn didn't always have to be the one to ride alone. It also meant the three of tem could ride the rides without us. Of course they were way too young for us to just let them go, but there were a lot of rides with short or no waits that we let them go on alone. Even when riding without us Elijah had to ride with someone, namely Caitlynn, he refused to go. On the very last day, right before we left the park he rode the Flounder coaster all by himself. Hannah was nice enough to provide him with a great thing to tell us when they got off, he comes running off and tells us "I rode the roller coaster all by myself, top that!" The kids rode all of the rides in Triton's Kingdom alone and also Aquatopia. It was actually quite funny, we all rode Aquatopia and there was absolutely no line, then the kids rode themselves 4 more time while we waited for Storm Rider to open. Elijah just told me his favorite ride at that park was Journey. Hannah's was Indiana Jones, and Caitlynn's was Tower of Terror. Dave's favorite was the Gondolas, which we were really lucky when we rode that one, because we got the last ride which was at sunset. I'm having a hard time coming up with a favorite, I really liked the Train, because I like reading all the signs along the way, which were all centered around NYC. There was a fountain in the park which my NY friends can appreciate, the plaque on the fountain said Naturally Pure Hudson River Water. Where was that sign when we were kids told not to swim or fish in the Hudson? I never understood it, but while Disneyland stayed extremely busy all day everyday, Disney Sea pretty much cleared out at around 4pm. If you waited until then you could pretty much ride anything you wanted with no wait, which is why on our last day we were able to ride Journey 3 times in a row in about 1/2 hour. We never got to see the fireworks at Disney Sea because they were cancelled due to wind conditions , but we were able to watch the BraviSEAmo! in a shortened state which was very cool. It was a show on the water depicting a love story between a fire breathing dragon and a ship/fountain.
Disneyland was the larger of the two parks, and ALWAYS the most crowded. Supposedly, it's modeled after Disney Land California, but since I've never been there, I have no idea. One of the good things about moving to San Diego will be finally getting to go there. Anyway, it had a lot of the old favorites: Small World, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Snow White, Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Tea Cups just to name a few. Most of the rides are the same as in the states, again with lowered height requirements. The only ones I can think of that were new to us were the Roger Rabbit, and Gadget Go Coaster rides in Toontown. The kids were bummed that Space Mountain was closed for renovations, because they all really loved it last time we were there. There were two new attractions in the works one a stitch show and a Monsters Inc. show or ride, I'm not really sure. We didn't spend as much time at Disneyland, it just didn't make sense to fight the crowds there when we could go to the other park and not have to deal with crowds. One of the rides we rode was the Star Jets, you know the ones that are kind of like Dumbo but way high in the air. Everyone loved that one except Caitlynn, her and I rode together and she refused to bring the jet up as high as it could go. Caitlynn and Hannah's favorite at Disneyland was Thunder Mountain. Elijah's was Buzz Lightyear, even though Daddy always outscores all of us. Dave was also a Thunder Mountain man. My favorite was Snow White, because it brought back lots of memories. I went to Disney World for the first time the summer I turned 5, and my Great grandmother rode Snow White with me, she probably doesn't have such nice memories of it since it scared the crap out of her. I also like Thunder Mountain because I remember when I rode it with my Grandpa, not sure how old I was, somewhere between 10 and 12 I think, he told me he'd never ride another ride with me, he didn't care for the coaster. I seem to have that effect one people, the first roller coaster I ever rode was at Bush Gardens, my Aunt Meg rode it with me, we didn't know it had a 360, I was in all my glory and couldn't wait to ride again, unfortunately Aunt Meg was green and leery of riding anything else with me ever. We were able to watch the fireworks at Disneyland, we almost didn't stay to watch them because we were all tired and figured we'd stay another night, we changed our mind which was good or we wouldn't have seen any because of wind cancellations. I almost forgot to mention that this year is the 25th Anniversary of Tokyo Disney, so there were all kinds of special things going on. I got these adorable Minnie and Mickey dressed in Yukatas, a casual summer kimono, holding fans that say 25th Anniversary. Because the Tanabata Star Festival started while we were there, the kids got to hand wishes with all the Japanese. (In present-day Japan, people generally celebrate this day by writing wishes, sometimes in the form of poetry, on tanzaku (短冊 tanzaku?), small pieces of paper, and hanging them on bamboo, sometimes with other decorations.) As we entered the park the kids were given mickey shaped pieces of paper to write their wishes on and then hand them with the bamboo. The colors of the papers changed each day, the first day, the day we wrote wishes was pink, then there was blue and green, by our last day there was just tons of Mickey shaped wishes hanging.
Our first two days we stayed at the Miracosta Hotel in Disney Sea. It was really neat because to enter the park you went down to the bottom floor and entered through a special door just for hotel guests. Our room had a view of the Gondolas and Tower of Terror. The last two days we stayed at the Sheraton Grande in a corner room. On one side we had a view of the ocean, which was very gray while we were there, nothing like the beautiful blue water here in Guam. On the other side we could see both parks, it would've been a really cool view to see the fireworks over both parks simultaneously, but it never happened. The weather was kind of crazy while we were there, you really never knew what to expect. In the morning and evenings it was cold and we all wore jackets, but the day could go either way. If the clouds cleared it could be really hot, if not it never really warmed up.
We really had a great four days, but it's kind of sad. This was our last trip while here in Guam. We really can't complaint though, in 3 years we've gone to Tokyo twice, Hong Kong, Australia and to Saipan twice. We've really made the most of our time here as far as travel.
Vacation Bible School
What a success! Our church had VBS June 23-27th and it went very well. There were 30 students who prayed the saviors prayer. Considering our average attendance was between 60 and 70 kids, that's an insane number. Most important to me of course is that Hannah was one of the 30. I know, it's hard to gauge a child's salvation at this age, but at least they're all heading in the right direction. Our theme this year was an amusement park, and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. I helped out in the music area this year and really enjoyed seeing all the different grades during the day. I have to admit, some of the songs were kinda hokey, but the kids didn't complain. The week ended with a Friday evening performance of the songs the kids learned, they all did a fantastic job. It was funny watching the 5th and 6th graders during the week, they were constantly going back and forth between having fun and trying to be too old and too cool for singing the songs.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Interesting from the CDC
David Kirby "CDC: Vaccine Study Design "Uninformative and Potentially Misleading" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/cdc-vaccine-study-design_b_108398.html
For those of you who may not understand the significance of this development, Julie Gerberding, the head of the CDC, has just taken down the tent pole arguement in the "vaccines don't cause autism" claim, on her own, with her bare hands.
UPDATE:
Pamella Addresses the AAP and All Star Pediatrics about the Gerberding report and their continued disrespect for parents.
http://theeducatedparent.blogspot.com/2008/06/this-afternoon-i-sent-follwoing-letter.html
The American Academy or Pediatrics in an Awkward Position after CDC Takes Thimerosal Safety Studies Off the Table
For those of you who may not understand the significance of this development, Julie Gerberding, the head of the CDC, has just taken down the tent pole arguement in the "vaccines don't cause autism" claim, on her own, with her bare hands.
UPDATE:
Pamella Addresses the AAP and All Star Pediatrics about the Gerberding report and their continued disrespect for parents.
http://theeducatedparent.blogspot.com/2008/06/this-afternoon-i-sent-follwoing-letter.html
The American Academy or Pediatrics in an Awkward Position after CDC Takes Thimerosal Safety Studies Off the Table
Saturday, June 21, 2008
What a fantastic school program
Gaithersburg School Tailors Teaching To Help Students Cope With Disorder
Alex Barth, 10, has improved at school since entering Diamond Elementary's program for Asperger's students. (By Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)
Adrienne Miller works with Alex Barth, center, at Gaithersburg's Diamond Elementary School, one of only a few public schools with a program for students with Asperger Syndrome. (By Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)
By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 16, 2008; Page B01
The first day of kindergarten found Alex Barth in the principal's office. The teacher had asked students to draw self-portraits. Alex had wanted to draw his in red crayon. There was no red crayon. Alex had melted down.
Alex was a capable child with superior intelligence -- and no end of eccentricities. He would flee noisy school assemblies. He couldn't bear the smell of the cafeteria. By the end of first grade, his mother was spending much of the day at Alex's side.
Robyne Barth soon learned her son had Asperger syndrome, a developmental disorder on the autism spectrum. Children with the disorder, known in shorthand as Asperger's, might have strong academic gifts but deficiencies in such social skills as carrying on a conversation and playing with others at recess.
On Thursday, Alex, 10, finished fourth grade at one of the nation's few public schools with a program tailored to children with Asperger's: Diamond Elementary School in Gaithersburg. He is popular and well-adjusted, and spends more and more of his school days in regular classes.
"I couldn't see my child as anything. I couldn't imagine him having a normal life," said Barth, of North Potomac. "And now, my child has a personality. He's funny. I can see him as an engineer. I can see him as an architect. I can see his life."
The program at Diamond Elementary is one of several in Montgomery County for children who have average to above-average intelligence but are coping with developmental disabilities. It addresses one of the most vexing problems in special education: What to do with a child who is disabled but capable of work at or above grade level? Such programs are unusual in public education. Because children with Asperger's often are bright and capable, albeit with some behavioral quirks, schools tend to assign them to regular classrooms, either missing or misdiagnosing their disability.
"Do you guys need a minute to draw a picture on your angry page?" teacher Cheryl Reed asked five Diamond Elementary students with Asperger's one afternoon last week. It was an exercise in personification, a concept each of the first- and second-graders seemed to understand perfectly, although they kept mispronouncing the word with the accent on the first syllable.
Second-grader Justin Daddona completed his picture, a sort of Maurice Sendak creation, and regarded it in triumph. "He's more than angry, he's furious," Justin said. "Look, his hair's coming off and smoke's coming out of his ears."
The program, with two teachers and four aides serving 15 children, focuses on two goals: teaching students to recognize and cope with manifestations of their disorder, such as a panic attack in the gymnasium or uncontrollable restlessness in math class; and easing them into regular classes to the greatest extent appropriate, a process called mainstreaming, which drives special education across the country.
The Asperger's program began seven years ago, part of an expanding suite of services for an autism population that tops 1,000 students in the 137,000-student system and is growing by 17 percent a year. It is housed at Diamond and Sligo Creek elementary schools and Tilden and Montgomery Village middle schools, serving students countywide.
Asperger's falls at the mild end of the autism spectrum, a range of disorders characterized by impairment in social interaction and communication. By varying estimates, Asperger's affects anywhere from one in 30,000 people to one in 200.
Hans Asperger, the Viennese physician who discovered the disorder, termed his subjects "little professors." In regular classes, such children might end up as misfits, prone to ill-timed outbursts, fidgety and frustrated, unable to read the body language of the agitated teacher hovering over them.
"The large, 25-kid classroom is too much for a lot of these kids," said Lucia Claster, an Arlington County parent who leads a support group of more than 120 families of children with Asperger's. "They're dealing with a general education teacher [who] may never have had a child with Asperger's before."
James Ball, a behavior analyst in Cranbury, N.J., who has consulted nationally on autism, said the Montgomery County effort "should be looked at as a model program" for teaching children with Asperger's, "because they are a unique breed of kids, and they do respond to a variety of unique teaching strategies."
An informal survey of local school systems found one other example, in Anne Arundel County, of a program designed for students with Asperger's or high-functioning autism, an umbrella term for children on the autism spectrum with average to above-average IQs. Anne Arundel schools team with a private special education school to help autism-spectrum children move into regular classes at two schools, Severn River Middle and Severna Park High.
The Hannah More program in Anne Arundel and the Asperger's program in Montgomery have similar structures. Students work their way from small, self-contained classes into regular classes over time, with support ranging from one-on-one help in the classroom to an occasional check-in with special educators.
The Asperger's classroom at Diamond Elementary is a home base for students, with an oasis of books, board games, yoga balls and Hot Wheels cars, to which any child can retreat from the regular classroom if things go awry. Students are trained to raise their hands if they need a break, and the entire school staff knows to respond.
That afternoon, Reed prepared her first- and second-graders for a schoolwide assembly, one of the most challenging scenarios for children with heightened sensitivity to stimuli. "Are we going to be screaming with our mouths?" Reed asked. No, the class responded in unison. "The only sound we're going to hear is what? Our hands," she said.
Each child in the program signs a behavior contract, agreeing to work on social skills: I will listen to instructions the first time. I will complete an assignment with one or fewer reminders. Good behavior is rewarded with Diamond Dolphin Dollars, which are redeemable for prizes.
Parent Staci Daddona of Gaithersburg said she is amazed at how well Reed's methods have worked with Justin, 7.
Justin's preschool experience was a nightmare: He would take one toy, a top, and play with it day after day, ignoring the teacher and the rest of class. At home, he took to opening and closing things -- the blinds, the garage door -- and flushed the toilet with such regularity that the family's water bill spiked.
Every attempt at public education failed until this year, Daddona said. Reed not only taught Justin to focus on his studies but also worked him into regular classes for part of the day. She has taught him to recognize when he is becoming anxious or upset, if she doesn't spot it first.
"When he starts to stand up, he'll press on the desk, because he's trying to calm himself that way," she said. "And she'll say, 'It looks like you need a break.' And that happens before he throws a pencil, and all the things that happened last year."
Alex Barth, 10, has improved at school since entering Diamond Elementary's program for Asperger's students. (By Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)
Adrienne Miller works with Alex Barth, center, at Gaithersburg's Diamond Elementary School, one of only a few public schools with a program for students with Asperger Syndrome. (By Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)
By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 16, 2008; Page B01
The first day of kindergarten found Alex Barth in the principal's office. The teacher had asked students to draw self-portraits. Alex had wanted to draw his in red crayon. There was no red crayon. Alex had melted down.
Alex was a capable child with superior intelligence -- and no end of eccentricities. He would flee noisy school assemblies. He couldn't bear the smell of the cafeteria. By the end of first grade, his mother was spending much of the day at Alex's side.
Robyne Barth soon learned her son had Asperger syndrome, a developmental disorder on the autism spectrum. Children with the disorder, known in shorthand as Asperger's, might have strong academic gifts but deficiencies in such social skills as carrying on a conversation and playing with others at recess.
On Thursday, Alex, 10, finished fourth grade at one of the nation's few public schools with a program tailored to children with Asperger's: Diamond Elementary School in Gaithersburg. He is popular and well-adjusted, and spends more and more of his school days in regular classes.
"I couldn't see my child as anything. I couldn't imagine him having a normal life," said Barth, of North Potomac. "And now, my child has a personality. He's funny. I can see him as an engineer. I can see him as an architect. I can see his life."
The program at Diamond Elementary is one of several in Montgomery County for children who have average to above-average intelligence but are coping with developmental disabilities. It addresses one of the most vexing problems in special education: What to do with a child who is disabled but capable of work at or above grade level? Such programs are unusual in public education. Because children with Asperger's often are bright and capable, albeit with some behavioral quirks, schools tend to assign them to regular classrooms, either missing or misdiagnosing their disability.
"Do you guys need a minute to draw a picture on your angry page?" teacher Cheryl Reed asked five Diamond Elementary students with Asperger's one afternoon last week. It was an exercise in personification, a concept each of the first- and second-graders seemed to understand perfectly, although they kept mispronouncing the word with the accent on the first syllable.
Second-grader Justin Daddona completed his picture, a sort of Maurice Sendak creation, and regarded it in triumph. "He's more than angry, he's furious," Justin said. "Look, his hair's coming off and smoke's coming out of his ears."
The program, with two teachers and four aides serving 15 children, focuses on two goals: teaching students to recognize and cope with manifestations of their disorder, such as a panic attack in the gymnasium or uncontrollable restlessness in math class; and easing them into regular classes to the greatest extent appropriate, a process called mainstreaming, which drives special education across the country.
The Asperger's program began seven years ago, part of an expanding suite of services for an autism population that tops 1,000 students in the 137,000-student system and is growing by 17 percent a year. It is housed at Diamond and Sligo Creek elementary schools and Tilden and Montgomery Village middle schools, serving students countywide.
Asperger's falls at the mild end of the autism spectrum, a range of disorders characterized by impairment in social interaction and communication. By varying estimates, Asperger's affects anywhere from one in 30,000 people to one in 200.
Hans Asperger, the Viennese physician who discovered the disorder, termed his subjects "little professors." In regular classes, such children might end up as misfits, prone to ill-timed outbursts, fidgety and frustrated, unable to read the body language of the agitated teacher hovering over them.
"The large, 25-kid classroom is too much for a lot of these kids," said Lucia Claster, an Arlington County parent who leads a support group of more than 120 families of children with Asperger's. "They're dealing with a general education teacher [who] may never have had a child with Asperger's before."
James Ball, a behavior analyst in Cranbury, N.J., who has consulted nationally on autism, said the Montgomery County effort "should be looked at as a model program" for teaching children with Asperger's, "because they are a unique breed of kids, and they do respond to a variety of unique teaching strategies."
An informal survey of local school systems found one other example, in Anne Arundel County, of a program designed for students with Asperger's or high-functioning autism, an umbrella term for children on the autism spectrum with average to above-average IQs. Anne Arundel schools team with a private special education school to help autism-spectrum children move into regular classes at two schools, Severn River Middle and Severna Park High.
The Hannah More program in Anne Arundel and the Asperger's program in Montgomery have similar structures. Students work their way from small, self-contained classes into regular classes over time, with support ranging from one-on-one help in the classroom to an occasional check-in with special educators.
The Asperger's classroom at Diamond Elementary is a home base for students, with an oasis of books, board games, yoga balls and Hot Wheels cars, to which any child can retreat from the regular classroom if things go awry. Students are trained to raise their hands if they need a break, and the entire school staff knows to respond.
That afternoon, Reed prepared her first- and second-graders for a schoolwide assembly, one of the most challenging scenarios for children with heightened sensitivity to stimuli. "Are we going to be screaming with our mouths?" Reed asked. No, the class responded in unison. "The only sound we're going to hear is what? Our hands," she said.
Each child in the program signs a behavior contract, agreeing to work on social skills: I will listen to instructions the first time. I will complete an assignment with one or fewer reminders. Good behavior is rewarded with Diamond Dolphin Dollars, which are redeemable for prizes.
Parent Staci Daddona of Gaithersburg said she is amazed at how well Reed's methods have worked with Justin, 7.
Justin's preschool experience was a nightmare: He would take one toy, a top, and play with it day after day, ignoring the teacher and the rest of class. At home, he took to opening and closing things -- the blinds, the garage door -- and flushed the toilet with such regularity that the family's water bill spiked.
Every attempt at public education failed until this year, Daddona said. Reed not only taught Justin to focus on his studies but also worked him into regular classes for part of the day. She has taught him to recognize when he is becoming anxious or upset, if she doesn't spot it first.
"When he starts to stand up, he'll press on the desk, because he's trying to calm himself that way," she said. "And she'll say, 'It looks like you need a break.' And that happens before he throws a pencil, and all the things that happened last year."
Friday, June 20, 2008
No more pencils...
no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks, School's out! The kids last day was June 10th and they're loving not having to get up early. Amazingly we were able to get Elijah's IEP done on June 9th, nothing like cutting it close. The good thing, it's all done and ready for next year. Most of the kids friends from the neighborhood have moved away in the last couple of months, so they haven't wanted to play outside as much as they used to. Hopefully some new people will start moving in soon. Caitlynn's the one most affected, there's really no one left her age :(
Kerrie and I have gotten back to scrapping again, YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!! I've done 4 or 5 layouts that I have to take photos of and upload, hopefully in the next couple of days.
The kids and I went to Dadi Beach yesterday evening to swim and get some sunset photos. The kids had a blast, but the photo thing just wasn't meant to be. I got there and started taking photos and realized my battery was dying. No problem, I have a spare battery, oops, the spare battery is at home on the charger, oh crap! So I hold off on taking too many photos so I'd have enough battery when the sun set, no problem. Then about a 1/2 hour before sunset a ton of clouds moved in. Oh well, at least the kids had fun, and it was very relaxing hanging out at the beach.
Kerrie and I have gotten back to scrapping again, YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!! I've done 4 or 5 layouts that I have to take photos of and upload, hopefully in the next couple of days.
The kids and I went to Dadi Beach yesterday evening to swim and get some sunset photos. The kids had a blast, but the photo thing just wasn't meant to be. I got there and started taking photos and realized my battery was dying. No problem, I have a spare battery, oops, the spare battery is at home on the charger, oh crap! So I hold off on taking too many photos so I'd have enough battery when the sun set, no problem. Then about a 1/2 hour before sunset a ton of clouds moved in. Oh well, at least the kids had fun, and it was very relaxing hanging out at the beach.
It works again
Our computer went down for a few weeks, but it's finally up and running better than ever. Dell actually had to send Dave a new hard drive and memory to install, the old hard drive was basically toasted. Thank goodness for Dave, cause I wouldn't of had any idea what to do to fix it.
Yikes!!!!!!
I just read this article and it scares the heck out of me...
AAP Leadership Fights Informed Vaccine Choices
by Barbara Loe Fisher
w ww.vaccineawakening .blogspot. com
www.NVIC.org
www.Stand UpBeCounted. org
In another fit of pique aimed at the growing number of vaccine-educated parents questioning pediatricians about the safety of vaccines, the largest private medical organization representing medical doctors treating children - the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) - recently announced to its membership that it will fight doubting parents in their offices, in the media, on the internet and through a partnership with other wealthy and powerful organizations funded by a pharmaceutical industry committed to doing the same thing.
On May 30, the AAP leadership reports that it met with the leaders of 15 allied organizations in Elk Grove, Illinois to discuss the growing refusal of parents to vaccinate their children according to recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and AAP. A recent letter to AAP members stated:
"The group agreed that recent attacks on vaccines have left parents confused. The rates of exemptions are climbing, and the protection of communities from vaccine preventable diseases is in jeopardy. Participants identified several factors that promote anti-vaccine information:
· Parent-to-parent spread of myths,
· A public that does not understand the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases,
· Internet and media exposure that is not balanced,
· Decreased trust in the government and health care providers,
· Slow response to negative news coverage, and · Increasing calls for philosophical exemptions.
The group recognized strategies that have worked in the past to address these drivers, agreed to jointly promote the positive value of vaccines, and will come together again in July to develop a cohesive message for dissemination. This message will be disseminated in mainstream media, through professional organizations, and via Internet tools. Materials are expected to be available by fall 2008. The group will formally be known as the Immunization Alliance."
Information on the AAP websitegives pediatricians instructions about what to do with parents who refuse to obey the doctor's orders, including a sample letter that states:
"By not vaccinating your child you are taking selfish advantage of thousands of others who do vaccinate their children, which decreases the likelihood that your child will contract one of these diseases. We feel such an attitude to be self-centered and unacceptable. We are making you aware of these facts not to scare you or coerce you, but to emphasize the importance of vaccinating your child. We recognize that the choice may be a very emotional one for some parents. We will do everything we can to convince you that vaccinating according to the schedule is the right thing to do.
However, should you have doubts, please discuss these with your health care provider in advance of your visit. In some cases, we may alter the schedule to accommodate parental concerns or reservations. Please be advised, however, that delaying or "breaking up the vaccines" to give one or two at a time over two or more visits goes against expert recommendations, and can put your child at risk for serious illness (or even death) and goes against our medical advice as providers... .such additional visits will require additional co-pays on your part. Furthermore, please realize that you will be required to sign a "Refusal to Vaccinate" acknowledgement in the event of lengthy delays.
Finally, if you should absolutely refuse to vaccinate your child despite all our efforts, we will ask you to find another health care provider who shares your views. We do not keep a list of such providers nor would we recommend any such physician."
Educated parents of America attempting to make informed, voluntary vaccination decisions for your children be warned: your pediatrician is out to change your mind about vaccination or teach you a lesson you will never forget.
Hang on to your child because the doctor you have trusted with your child's life might just try to make you out to be a bad parent and not only throw you out of the office but notify state officials to charge you with child medical abuse if you don't agree to give your child every one of those 69 doses of 16 vaccines that doctors working for the Centers for Disease Control say all children from birth to age 18 must get.
Be prepared that the doctor, who you pay to keep your child well, may dutifully obey recent orders given by the AAP leadership to implement one-size- fits-all government vaccine policies: no questions asked. The next time you visit your pediatrician and attempt to ask a question about vaccine reactions or suggest your child get fewer or no vaccines (especially if your child has already suffered serious vaccine reactions your doctor refuses to recognize) be prepared to be humiliated, harassed, threatened and thrown out of the office.
The message from the AAP leadership to vaccine-educated parents is: you WILL give your children every vaccine that industry produces even it brain damages or kills them. You DO NOT have the human right to protect your child from vaccine injury and death because you MUST sacrifice your child for what AAP and government officials have decided is the "greater good." Your child does NOT belong to you and if you don't agree to do exactly what we say, we will make sure your family is denied medical care.
Sounds like a smart plan to me, pediatricians of America, if you want to fatally compromise the last remaining shred of trust that mothers and fathers have in your knowledge about vaccine risks and how to minimize them for the children they love more than anyone in the world.
In the words of Jim Carrey: "How stupid do you think we are?"
Twenty-six years ago, the co-founders of the National Vaccine Information Center came to the table with the AAP leadership to talk about compensating children injured by mandated vaccines because the AAP said it was a matter of "simple justice for children." We believed the AAP leadership really cared about minimizing vaccine risks for the individual child rather than just wanting to pass the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 for the purpose of protecting drug companies and pediatricians from liability for vaccine injuries and deaths so they could continue to implement one-size-fits- all vaccine policies. Time and time again over the past quarter century, the AAP leadership has demonstrated that they betrayed the trust of parents then and now by refusing to work with parents to minimize vaccine risks.
In 1982, it was far easier to sweep vaccine injured children under the carpet because 1 in 6 American child was not becoming learning disabled and 1 in 150 child was not regressing into autism. Today, there are so many highly vaccinated children who are sick and disabled that there is no place to run and no place to hide.
The vaccine safety and informed consent movement has been led by educated middle class mothers and fathers who DO know how to tell a bad scientific study from a good one; who DO know how to calculate the amount of mercury or aluminum in a vaccine; and who DO know the difference between being told a lie and being told the truth about vaccine risks.
AAP: we are not stupid. We will not stand by and watch our children and grandchildren become vaccine damaged because you are obsessed with forcing every child to use every vaccine that Pharma produces with no concern for protecting the children who cannot use every vaccine safely. You can deny us medical care and try to take away our human right to voluntary, informed consent to vaccination but you will never win the war you have declared on millions of vaccine- educated parents in America.
AAP Leadership Fights Informed Vaccine Choices
by Barbara Loe Fisher
w ww.vaccineawakening .blogspot. com
www.NVIC.org
www.Stand UpBeCounted. org
In another fit of pique aimed at the growing number of vaccine-educated parents questioning pediatricians about the safety of vaccines, the largest private medical organization representing medical doctors treating children - the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) - recently announced to its membership that it will fight doubting parents in their offices, in the media, on the internet and through a partnership with other wealthy and powerful organizations funded by a pharmaceutical industry committed to doing the same thing.
On May 30, the AAP leadership reports that it met with the leaders of 15 allied organizations in Elk Grove, Illinois to discuss the growing refusal of parents to vaccinate their children according to recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and AAP. A recent letter to AAP members stated:
"The group agreed that recent attacks on vaccines have left parents confused. The rates of exemptions are climbing, and the protection of communities from vaccine preventable diseases is in jeopardy. Participants identified several factors that promote anti-vaccine information:
· Parent-to-parent spread of myths,
· A public that does not understand the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases,
· Internet and media exposure that is not balanced,
· Decreased trust in the government and health care providers,
· Slow response to negative news coverage, and · Increasing calls for philosophical exemptions.
The group recognized strategies that have worked in the past to address these drivers, agreed to jointly promote the positive value of vaccines, and will come together again in July to develop a cohesive message for dissemination. This message will be disseminated in mainstream media, through professional organizations, and via Internet tools. Materials are expected to be available by fall 2008. The group will formally be known as the Immunization Alliance."
Information on the AAP website
"By not vaccinating your child you are taking selfish advantage of thousands of others who do vaccinate their children, which decreases the likelihood that your child will contract one of these diseases. We feel such an attitude to be self-centered and unacceptable. We are making you aware of these facts not to scare you or coerce you, but to emphasize the importance of vaccinating your child. We recognize that the choice may be a very emotional one for some parents. We will do everything we can to convince you that vaccinating according to the schedule is the right thing to do.
However, should you have doubts, please discuss these with your health care provider in advance of your visit. In some cases, we may alter the schedule to accommodate parental concerns or reservations. Please be advised, however, that delaying or "breaking up the vaccines" to give one or two at a time over two or more visits goes against expert recommendations, and can put your child at risk for serious illness (or even death) and goes against our medical advice as providers... .such additional visits will require additional co-pays on your part. Furthermore, please realize that you will be required to sign a "Refusal to Vaccinate" acknowledgement in the event of lengthy delays.
Finally, if you should absolutely refuse to vaccinate your child despite all our efforts, we will ask you to find another health care provider who shares your views. We do not keep a list of such providers nor would we recommend any such physician."
Educated parents of America attempting to make informed, voluntary vaccination decisions for your children be warned: your pediatrician is out to change your mind about vaccination or teach you a lesson you will never forget.
Hang on to your child because the doctor you have trusted with your child's life might just try to make you out to be a bad parent and not only throw you out of the office but notify state officials to charge you with child medical abuse if you don't agree to give your child every one of those 69 doses of 16 vaccines that doctors working for the Centers for Disease Control say all children from birth to age 18 must get.
Be prepared that the doctor, who you pay to keep your child well, may dutifully obey recent orders given by the AAP leadership to implement one-size- fits-all government vaccine policies: no questions asked. The next time you visit your pediatrician and attempt to ask a question about vaccine reactions or suggest your child get fewer or no vaccines (especially if your child has already suffered serious vaccine reactions your doctor refuses to recognize) be prepared to be humiliated, harassed, threatened and thrown out of the office.
The message from the AAP leadership to vaccine-educated parents is: you WILL give your children every vaccine that industry produces even it brain damages or kills them. You DO NOT have the human right to protect your child from vaccine injury and death because you MUST sacrifice your child for what AAP and government officials have decided is the "greater good." Your child does NOT belong to you and if you don't agree to do exactly what we say, we will make sure your family is denied medical care.
Sounds like a smart plan to me, pediatricians of America, if you want to fatally compromise the last remaining shred of trust that mothers and fathers have in your knowledge about vaccine risks and how to minimize them for the children they love more than anyone in the world.
In the words of Jim Carrey: "How stupid do you think we are?"
Twenty-six years ago, the co-founders of the National Vaccine Information Center came to the table with the AAP leadership to talk about compensating children injured by mandated vaccines because the AAP said it was a matter of "simple justice for children." We believed the AAP leadership really cared about minimizing vaccine risks for the individual child rather than just wanting to pass the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 for the purpose of protecting drug companies and pediatricians from liability for vaccine injuries and deaths so they could continue to implement one-size-fits- all vaccine policies. Time and time again over the past quarter century, the AAP leadership has demonstrated that they betrayed the trust of parents then and now by refusing to work with parents to minimize vaccine risks.
In 1982, it was far easier to sweep vaccine injured children under the carpet because 1 in 6 American child was not becoming learning disabled and 1 in 150 child was not regressing into autism. Today, there are so many highly vaccinated children who are sick and disabled that there is no place to run and no place to hide.
The vaccine safety and informed consent movement has been led by educated middle class mothers and fathers who DO know how to tell a bad scientific study from a good one; who DO know how to calculate the amount of mercury or aluminum in a vaccine; and who DO know the difference between being told a lie and being told the truth about vaccine risks.
AAP: we are not stupid. We will not stand by and watch our children and grandchildren become vaccine damaged because you are obsessed with forcing every child to use every vaccine that Pharma produces with no concern for protecting the children who cannot use every vaccine safely. You can deny us medical care and try to take away our human right to voluntary, informed consent to vaccination but you will never win the war you have declared on millions of vaccine- educated parents in America.
Friday, May 30, 2008
It's official
We are definitely going to New Hampshire. Now the only question is when. Dates keep moving around. We may actually have to go to San Diego first for a while ant then onto New Hampshire. Of course we want to go straight to NH, but it's not up to us, it's in the Navy's hands. I really don't care either way anymore, I just want to know when we're moving so I can start planning.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Angry Elijah
I'm not sure what's going on lately but Elijah has been easily angered lately. Now don't misunderstand me, this is NOTHING like when he was taking the Concerta. Maybe a better word for it is frustrated not angry. Things have been really up in the air for him lately. He's being pulled out of class all the time for testing so that the school can determine what services he needs and we can get his IEP done. This is a good thing and needs to be done, but it's a disruption to his schedule, which is a major stressor for him. On top of this, he missed 4 days of school because he was sick, and Dave's away right now, so all in all he's just having an awful time. He raises his voice to me when I try to get him to stay on task, becomes more repetitive in his behaviors and generally has even less of an ability to focus than normal. I'm hoping that this really is due to stress and not a new behavior because one of the best things about Elijah is his sweet personality.
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