Happy Monday everyone! I hope everyone was able to rest up and enjoy some rainy day activities, at least for those of us here in Michigan! Today was a very insightful day for me. I have been working with a child for 6 months now who has struggled greatly in all aspects of life. There have been many bumps and holes in the road along the way, but I have to say that today, August 20, was the day that this child reached a new milestone. For the first time, I saw this child regulate themselves in order to handle a difficult situation in an appropriate way without significant adult support. I was in awe! I stood their for several seconds thinking about the past 6 months and the struggles that everyone has endured; and in that second, I realized that I would face all of the countless bumps and holes in the road all over again for that moment. I saw the importance and the impact that we, as professionals and parents, can have on the lives of children. I know many of us, at times, feel like we are just treading water, but, we still need to keep swimming because the shoreline is in sight, no matter how far off in the distance it may seem! Keep swimming strong and you'll reach the shore!
Until next week,
Courtney
Monday, August 20, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Stress Reduction
As I was preparing for bed last night I was thinking about the past week and thinking ahead to what is coming up. I can’t believe that over a week has already passed since I arrived home from San Diego so much has happened since then. As I sat preparing for the last quick trip of the summer (an overnight to Chicago) I was reflecting back to where I was 1 year ago.
For the past 12 summers I have spent at least a few weeks of time organizing my schedule, trying to make preliminary groups of speech students and outlining an overall plan for the year for each of my speech students. As the school year approached I would feel my stress level begin to rise just thinking of all of the things that would need to be accomplished over the course of the year.
This summer is different. I am only working part time in the school this year and during that time I will be the autism teacher consultant for the district. This meant I did not need to spend the weeks preparing for a speech caseload. While I will miss working with these students I have one less thing to focus on this year. I am so excited about working at Horizons part time. My stress is so much less heading into this school year.
So as the new school year quickly approaches take a moment to evaluate whether there may be something that you can reduce or eliminate from your child’s or families schedule to reduce the stress in all of your lives. Believe me it makes for a healthier, happier lifestyle.
Talk to you soon,
Erin
For the past 12 summers I have spent at least a few weeks of time organizing my schedule, trying to make preliminary groups of speech students and outlining an overall plan for the year for each of my speech students. As the school year approached I would feel my stress level begin to rise just thinking of all of the things that would need to be accomplished over the course of the year.
This summer is different. I am only working part time in the school this year and during that time I will be the autism teacher consultant for the district. This meant I did not need to spend the weeks preparing for a speech caseload. While I will miss working with these students I have one less thing to focus on this year. I am so excited about working at Horizons part time. My stress is so much less heading into this school year.
So as the new school year quickly approaches take a moment to evaluate whether there may be something that you can reduce or eliminate from your child’s or families schedule to reduce the stress in all of your lives. Believe me it makes for a healthier, happier lifestyle.
Talk to you soon,
Erin
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Electronics-Free Zone
We made a decision as a staff a couple of weeks ago to declare our clinic waiting areas electronics-free zones for kids. As the summer progressed we began noticing many more clients, siblings, and friends, coming into our office with handheld games, laptops, gameboys, etc. Instead of exploring and interacting with things that required using their minds, the kids were spending their time waiting with their faces close to a screen and their minds absorbed in isolative games. In the spirit of wanting our entire clinic environment to be about growth and development, and to model for parents what we would like them doing at home, we have decided to not allow this to continue. We want our clinic to be a place where clients, their family members, and their friends can explore new things, use their minds, and enjoy each other's company. We now have a big sign posted that alerts people to our "No Electronics" policy. There have been a number of grumbling kids over the past two weeks when they are informed that they need to find something else to do, but it has been great to see them find other things to occupy their time. Just this morning we had two siblings using the unifix cubes to make the longest line they could using all the blocks - and to see if they could make it through the doorway. We have lots of things around here to do and are happy to give kids access to them. So - next time you are in our waiting room we look forward to helping your children find new interests to explore!
By the way - there are many good articles available that discuss the negative effects of "screen time" on children's development. Jane Healy is one of my favorite authors on the subject for those of you who would like to read more about this important topic.
Until next week,
Nicole
By the way - there are many good articles available that discuss the negative effects of "screen time" on children's development. Jane Healy is one of my favorite authors on the subject for those of you who would like to read more about this important topic.
Until next week,
Nicole
Monday, August 13, 2007
Preparing for School
Hi, My name is Courtney and I am going to be joining the Horizons' blog on Mondays. I have been working at Horizons for a little over 2.5 years now. I started as the Supervisor of Instructional Programs at Horizons and have recently began training to become the next RDI(tm)Program Certified Consultant on staff. I love working at Horizons and enjoy all of my time with the children and families there. During the summer, I coordinate all of the summer camps and instructional programs at Horizons. We had a wonderful summer this year and I am looking forward to seeing all of our campers again next year!
A little about myself: I am single with no children, however, I have several horses who keep me busy. In addition to working at Horizons, I am also an elementary special education teacher for a local school district. As our blog continues, I hope to share with you some of my insights regarding my work in education and in RDI.
On to tonight's idea, I would like to share with you the importance of making small moments count. I recently talked with a mother who has a child on the spectrum and she discussed with me how hard it has been for her to keep on schedule with her remediation work the last few weeks. She has been preparing for the start of school and in the midst of the preparation, she has not be able to find the time to work on remediation with her child. Even during the busiest of times, it is important to bring your child into your daily activities and use small moments to work on communication, problem solving, co-regulation, etc. As you are preparing to send your children off to school, have them involved in the planning and shopping process. There are wonderful ways to include your child in these activities and they don't have to take too much time.
Until next week...
Courtney
A little about myself: I am single with no children, however, I have several horses who keep me busy. In addition to working at Horizons, I am also an elementary special education teacher for a local school district. As our blog continues, I hope to share with you some of my insights regarding my work in education and in RDI.
On to tonight's idea, I would like to share with you the importance of making small moments count. I recently talked with a mother who has a child on the spectrum and she discussed with me how hard it has been for her to keep on schedule with her remediation work the last few weeks. She has been preparing for the start of school and in the midst of the preparation, she has not be able to find the time to work on remediation with her child. Even during the busiest of times, it is important to bring your child into your daily activities and use small moments to work on communication, problem solving, co-regulation, etc. As you are preparing to send your children off to school, have them involved in the planning and shopping process. There are wonderful ways to include your child in these activities and they don't have to take too much time.
Until next week...
Courtney
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Being Present
As Michelle blogged about yesterday we are back from our annual conference in beautiful San Diego. I was lucky enough to go out ahead of time and spend a few days vacationing in the area with my family. It was a great time and I learned several new things while I was there. It gave me a chance to slow down and just enjoy life. I was able to visit Disneyland, the Wild Animal Park, the San Diego Zoo, Coronado Island, La Jolla and Old Town as well as do some shopping. I of course also found time to just be lazy and do nothing. What a fabulous way to spend a few days.
After returning home and going through my huge pile of mail and reading through my page a day calendar I found this quote which I think ties in my vacation and also some of what we talked about in our parent presentation at the annual conference.
"Take some time today to be present to the summer. We don't have to do anything special - just be present. That's more than enough."
I think that sometimes we get so bogged down in planning out every moment of our life or trying to come up with all of these great activities to do with our child that we forget that sometimes it is okay and even really beneficial to just be present in the moment(s). Just being is enough.
So challenge yourself over the course of the next few days to find some time to just be.
Talk to you soon,
Erin
After returning home and going through my huge pile of mail and reading through my page a day calendar I found this quote which I think ties in my vacation and also some of what we talked about in our parent presentation at the annual conference.
"Take some time today to be present to the summer. We don't have to do anything special - just be present. That's more than enough."
I think that sometimes we get so bogged down in planning out every moment of our life or trying to come up with all of these great activities to do with our child that we forget that sometimes it is okay and even really beneficial to just be present in the moment(s). Just being is enough.
So challenge yourself over the course of the next few days to find some time to just be.
Talk to you soon,
Erin
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
We're Back!
We are happy to have returned home safely from San Diego for the RDI annual conference. We had a wonderful time conversing with other consultants from all around the world, participating/presenting at small group sessions, and listening to the large group presentations by Dr. Gutstein and another by Dr. Fogel. We of course also enjoyed the lovely 75 degree weather with no humidity. We laughed about how we could do our hair in the morning and it would still look OK by the afternoon - not so much the case with Michigan's humidity! We were hit by a big disappointment as we got off the plane in 90 degree temperatures with 100% humidity. We had another good laugh over the fact that there were even meteorologists in San Diego - the weather was exactly the same every day! They must get a little bored with their jobs!!
My favorite part of the entire conference was having the opportunity to co-present with my fabulous co-workers at the parent portion of the conference. We met wonderful parents from all over the world and enjoyed watching several parents have little or not so little 'ah ha' moments. For those of you who were there in those sessions, we truly enjoyed the interaction and participation during those sessions. It was a real pleasure spending time with you!
One of the activities we did with the parent portion was to come up with several different things you could do with the same activity. Parents were extremely creative in coming up with different ideas. My personal favorites were: playing games or writing things in the dust on the bookshelf, making hand prints in playdoh and guessing which hand print belonged to who, and making impressions in playdoh and then filling them with water and freezing them to make ice cubes (a nice transformation activity). Thanks for all the wonderful new ideas!
Looking forward to next year!
Michelle
My favorite part of the entire conference was having the opportunity to co-present with my fabulous co-workers at the parent portion of the conference. We met wonderful parents from all over the world and enjoyed watching several parents have little or not so little 'ah ha' moments. For those of you who were there in those sessions, we truly enjoyed the interaction and participation during those sessions. It was a real pleasure spending time with you!
One of the activities we did with the parent portion was to come up with several different things you could do with the same activity. Parents were extremely creative in coming up with different ideas. My personal favorites were: playing games or writing things in the dust on the bookshelf, making hand prints in playdoh and guessing which hand print belonged to who, and making impressions in playdoh and then filling them with water and freezing them to make ice cubes (a nice transformation activity). Thanks for all the wonderful new ideas!
Looking forward to next year!
Michelle
Friday, August 3, 2007
We're Still Here
Sorry about the lack of blogging this past week - we've all been a little busy. Nicole, Michelle, Erin, and Courtney are all in San Diego at the RDI Annual Conference until next week and Sarah leaves Monday for California for a 2 week HANDLE conference. That leaves me to hold down the fort. Needless to say, when no one else is around, you get a lot of work done. It's amazing, but it is also getting lonely. I was so excited today when Sarah came in to see a few clients and Erin called on the phone. That made my day! Now, I just have to wait until next week to see their smiling faces once again.
-Betsy
-Betsy
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