Tag: teen

The Benefits of Volunteering, Interning and Working Outside the Home

Posted on by SPED Homeschool

 

by Bev Parrish, SPED Homeschool partner Learn Your Way

 

Understanding and celebrating diversity are more popular than ever in our culture. We often do not talk about the need for diversifying education both in public school and homeschool. A one-size-fits-all approach can even find its way into our homeschool. Not every student is well-suited to the usual course of study. 

 

That opens the door to the benefits of volunteering, internships, and apprenticeships. They can all accomplish similar goals. So can a job! They just achieve them in slightly different ways.

 

Volunteering can be as simple as actively looking for opportunities to help others – at church, in your neighborhood, or among family and friends – all without pay. It can be more formal with a set time and place where someone relies on your student to get something done.  

 

Internships typically take place in a field of interest where someone may already have a bit of knowledge. This usually relates to college students during the summer, and often there are already arrangements in place between businesses and the university to hire these students upon graduation. It allows both parties to get to know one another before taking the plunge of a formal offer of employment.  

 

Apprenticeships are typically a time of training and working alongside a skilled craftsperson to gain hands-on knowledge and real-world experience with a particular field. We often think of this for plumbers or electricians, but medical students act in an apprenticeship capacity under a qualified physician while completing their formal training. It is simply a case of a mature professional passing along their expertise with intention in an orderly and structured manner. Internships and apprenticeships also usually involve a paycheck!

 

All three options can be great choices instead of or alongside typical educational pursuits. The bottom line is that they provide real-life experiences in a somewhat protected environment while the student fully masters their tasks. This equips our children to succeed with confidence and competence. The benefits of these types of arrangements are many.

  • All the above options bring real-world experiences that use what you have been teaching your kids! It is incredible how some students respond to seeing the practical value of what you have taught them. Their personal motivation to master the subject matter can speed up the learning process in ways a lecture, a textbook, or endless practice with a worksheet could never accomplish. I remember one son who couldn’t master percentages, that was until he faced several angry customers at his job where he had not properly computed their discount for a sale item. When faced with the thought of the consequences of his ignorance, that child learned percentages practically overnight!
  • Exposure to other adults who may bring valuable skills, attitudes, and knowledge that you are otherwise unable to provide is another benefit. It could be the same skills you have been teaching, but sometimes our students need a fresh face and a fresh voice (not to mention their own reputation at stake). 
  • Future job opportunities can be another benefit. News travels quickly about young men and women with an excellent work ethic and good character, much faster than knowledge of their GPA!
  • These experiences provide substantive, unique content for their transcript. Do investigate the laws in your state. Many allow homeschool parents to determine the required course of study for high school. This gives you great freedom to tailor an individualized education for your child and give your student academic credit for time spent volunteering or working in some capacity. Think about the things they are actually learning and how to turn that into academic credits. For example, our son, who volunteered at the 1940 Air Terminal Museum in Houston for over 300 hours during his high school years, received multiple credits on his transcript. We gave him credit for public speaking (conducting tours), aviation history, aviation science (engine repair, electronics, how planes fly), and PE (there were lots of planes to move from one hangar to another). We indicated that he had logged all those volunteer hours. If your state law is not so generous, you can find ways to legitimately fit the things they learned into traditional course names. Document what they learn, even if it didn’t come from a textbook or lecture.
  • These options provide an excellent opportunity for a small step to independence within the safety net of your family. Navigating the adult world of work with ready guidance available from parents is invaluable. Other adults will be either affirming or correcting your teen’s work habits, attitudes, personality quirks, and appearance. If their feelings get hurt, you can evaluate, make any needed corrections, bandage them up and send them out again, better equipped for adulthood!

 

In our homeschool, we required volunteer work from all our kids. Most of them also held jobs during the summers. When our oldest applied to attend the United States Merchant Marine Academy, a federal academy requiring a rigorous application process, including a Congressional nomination, our local Congressman nominated Ben precisely because of his volunteer hours and work history. 

 

Don’t be afraid to get outside the box. Give yourself permission to honestly assess your student, their needs, and the most effective, efficient way to meet them. Consider something different from what everyone else’s student is doing. I will warn you in advance that this road can be lonely for parents. It can also be the very best choice for your child.

 

 

 

 

 

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Eight Benefits of Volunteering for Your Homeschool

Posted on by SPED Homeschool

 

 by Cindy LaJoy, SPED Homeschool Partner True North Homeschool Academy

 

How does your learner gain job experience and valuable references for future positions? It isn’t as easy today as it used to be for teens to find employment during their high school years.  When most of us were our kids’ ages, jobs were plentiful at fast-food restaurants, grocery stores, and many other retailers.  Many of us worked after school at places where now middle-aged adults are found behind the counter.  In 1993, 30.5% of students enrolled in high school were employed versus today when 18.2% of students have after-school or summer jobs. That is a staggering drop and means that not quite 1/5th of our high school students have any work experience before graduation.

 

So how do we fill that experience gap?  ​​Volunteering is a wonderful way!!

 

Kids can volunteer in a wide variety of roles! In our family, we have done volunteering at the local food bank, animal shelter, library, homeless shelter, and nursing home.  Let me share with you some of the benefits our kids have gained from volunteer work:

1)  They have to take direction from an adult supervisor other than mom. They learn they cannot negotiate to get out of something they would prefer not to do. They must do a job to the satisfaction of the supervisor, and they may receive constructive criticism. Many homeschoolers have a great amount of flexibility at home, which is one of the beauties of homeschooling, but that flexibility is not always found on a job.  Learning this can be helpful! Also, when we are young, it can be HARD to take criticism from someone in authority. This can help strengthen our kids to accept and learn to hear a helpful critique from an outsider.

2)  Being around a variety of people helps broaden their worldview.  Volunteer work sites usually expose kids to young, old, and everything in-between!  Some seniors want the structure of having someplace to go, folks who have been court-mandated to be there, and the disabled for whom volunteering is part of their daily program.  Interacting regularly in a safe setting with such a wide range of personalities and life experiences does far more to help your child grasp “real life” than any book or film can do.

3)  There is something special that comes with working alongside adults and keeping up with them! Children gain a sense of accomplishment from doing the same tasks as adults do, and it goes a long way toward encouraging more mature behavior. Add in compliments from those outside the family for a job well done, and you have a recipe for developing a strong sense of self-worth.  

4)  Real business skills are learned “on the job” that can translate well to the world of work!  Volunteer organizations offer the chance to learn things such as inventory management, safe food handling, and product rotation, as well as secretarial tasks such as answering multi-line phones, accounting, and data entry.  Time management, project planning, and more are all practiced in volunteer jobs.  Our kids learned all of these skills by volunteering, as well as career-specific skills like library science and animal husbandry.

5)  Volunteering allows youth to “try on” a career to see if it “fits”!  There is nothing worse than spending money to learn a trade or gain a certification, only to realize you absolutely hate it after being hired.  Offering services free of charge often helps a learner gain entry to a setting to test the waters, and learn more before making an educational and financial commitment to a particular career.

6)  In many settings, volunteering can be a very humbling experience.  Handing food to those who don’t have enough to make it through the week or sitting down to a meal at a table full of homeless men and women or holding hands bedside with an elderly person who is desperately lonely can all bring about new awareness and a sense of gratitude to a teen who can often be caught up in their little world. Humility is not something that many of us think about developing in our children, yet it is a quality most of us wish more people in the world had today. Volunteering can bring us a new understanding of those less fortunate, and help keep us from demonizing them or putting them all in one category in our minds.  

7)  The website HelpGuide.org offers this as food for thought:  Volunteering offers vital help to people in need, worthwhile causes, and the community, but the benefits can be even greater for you, the volunteer. Volunteering and helping others can help you reduce stress, combat depression, keep you mentally stimulated, and provide a sense of purpose. In other words, we feel better when we help others.  Teaching your kids how reaching out to those around them can also change THEIR lives for the better!

8)  Though I prefer better motives for volunteering than this last item, I recognize the truth to it and it is still a benefit. I would encourage you to consider adding volunteering for other, less self-centered reasons.  Steady volunteer work with one or two organizations can be a terrific addition to a college application or a job reference for those first forays into employment.  A volunteer supervisor can attest to a young person’s diligence, responsible behavior, and skill level in certain tasks.  In other words, they can offer the next best thing to a job reference when someone doesn’t yet have prior employment.  

 

There are many more benefits to be gained from volunteer work, and including volunteerism as part of your homeschool day can be life-changing in so many wonderful ways!

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Cindy LaJoy is a Special Needs Academic Advisor and Educator at True North Homeschool Academy, runs Blue Collar Homeschool, and recently co-authored, Blazing New Homeschool Trails, with Natalie Vecchione.

 

 

 

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The Joys of Apprenticeships in Homeschooling

Posted on by SPED Homeschool

 

By Natalie Vecchione, SPED Homeschool Partner FASD Hope

 

(Excerpts from the new book “Blazing New Homeschool Trails: Educating and Launching Teens with Developmental Disabilities” by Natalie Vecchione and Cindy LaJoy and shared with permission from authors.)

 

As a mom of a now young adult with a developmental disability, I understand the journey of how difficult it can be to start planning the future for a teen who is not headed towards post-homeschooling academia. With a diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), our son would have struggled in college or technical school. Homeschooling taught our family that our son learned best in a 1:1 setting. Once we realized  our son’s gifts and skills in woodworking and carpentry, we first considered the more conventional ways for him to learn this as a trade. He tried trade school, working in commercial workshops, and even having placements through Vocational Rehabilitation. On paper, these looked like optimal opportunities for learning. However, none of those options was a good fit for our son. 

 

Vocational programs and trade school environments generally are a hard fit for our teens and young adults with brain-based diagnoses (such as FASD). Overstimulating environments, being easily influenced by smoking, vaping, or any other substances on the site, and being unable to keep up at the class pace were all contributing factors to being a poor fit. We tried several different options before realizing that the best way that our son would learn his trade was through an old-fashioned apprenticeship. I’d like to share why we chose an apprenticeship and how we did it since neither my husband nor I are carpenters or woodworkers.

 

The Path to Apprenticeship

By definition, an apprenticeship is “an arrangement in which someone learns an art, trade or job under another”. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) The history of apprenticeship dates back to ancient times when young people would work with a master craftsman in exchange for room and board and formal training in their craft. The more formal system of apprenticeships developed in Europe during the Middle Ages and soon was under the supervision of craft guilds, trade unions, or town governments. In early America, apprenticeships were common during the colonial era and developed into a necessary part of craft and trade industries.** (Britannica.com) 

 

As the United States developed into a modernized and industrialized nation, the nature of apprenticeships changed from less of a learning experience to more of a work experience. Today, teens as young as 16 may begin formal apprenticeships as part of their education, and homeschooling made that a great option for our son. However, since many trades require a high school diploma, most teens and young adults start their apprenticeships after graduation and/or through trade schools.

 

The Perfect Partnership

Our son was blessed to have two apprenticeship teachers while homeschooling. How did we find these wonderful apprenticeship teachers? I researched, cold-called, and emailed about 50 local woodworkers and carpenters in our area. I put together an introductory email explaining a little bit about our family, homeschooling, and our son’s journey. Out of those fifty contacted woodworkers and carpenters, four replied, and through God’s orchestration, we were blessed with our son’s current apprenticeship teacher.

 

Our son graduated from homeschool last year, but he continues to apprentice with his current apprenticeship teacher, whom he has been with for over two years. That’s the beauty of apprenticeship and homeschooling – learning doesn’t stop even when the homeschooling journey is complete.  Our son’s apprenticeship teachers understood about teaching with fewer steps, concrete examples, and learning at our son’s own pace. In fact, his apprenticeship teacher taught our son in a way that he thrived and which still surprises us! Through a 1:1 apprenticeship, our son developed a bond with his teacher, which built his confidence and nurtured his strengths. 

 

The Perks of Apprenticeship Training

There are SO many benefits in having your older teen / young adult, who learns differently, in experiencing an apprenticeship during their homeschool years including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Experiential learning in an environment that can accommodate your teen’s needs
  • Learning “old school” tips and strategies in a trade or skill
  • Having the opportunity to ask questions and learn at the student’s pace
  • Having the opportunity to build social skills and connection with the apprenticeship teacher
  • Creating a flexible schedule that works with your family’s homeschool routines
  • Providing the apprenticeship teacher with the opportunity to learn about your child’s needs or diagnosis
  • Working on long-term projects
  • Out-of-the-box opportunities for experiential learning

 

Finally, a good apprenticeship teacher can be a blessing for your teen because they can be not only a mentor but an example of someone who will embrace your student for the amazing person that God created him or her to be!

 

(Excerpts from the book “Blazing New Homeschool Trails” © 2021 by Natalie Vecchione and Cindy LaJoy)

 

 

 

 

 

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What a Textbook Can’t Teach Them

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By Renee Sullins, SPED Homeschool Partner Renee Sullins Consulting

 

Many years ago, apprenticeships were the norm to learn a trade from a dad, mom, neighbor, family friend, or local business person. For some reason, Little House on the Prairie comes to mind. Today, society leans more towards internships for young people – paid or non-paid – designed to help a young person see firsthand IF this is the path one might want to take professionally. Notice that I stressed the “IF”. Just ask a parent who has invested thousands of dollars in their child’s college education, only to have them change their major, tacking on more years of tuition to complete the new degree path. Or, ask a man or woman who graduated with a degree and then shortly afterward realizes they are miserable in their chosen career path. Internships and volunteering can be helpful tools to aid in thwarting off ‘the regrets.’ 

 

Let’s take Pedro, for example. He was a young man I started mentoring while he was in high school. He majored in Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) at a prestigious university. He knew this degree path would prepare him to fulfill his childhood dream to become a doctor. He worked diligently to make the necessary exemplary grades to later get into graduate school. During this last semester, he had multiple internships with doctors and in various medical practices. However, his last internship was with a Physician’s Assistant. I distinctly remember his phone call to me, “I know this is what I want to do now!” Of course, he was surprised he wasn’t going to medical school as planned – I had even paid for him to take an MCAT prep course and the MCAT exam. But, he was so confident about this decision that I didn’t question it. Had it not been for that internship, he may have spent many years and tens of thousands of dollars on something he was not ‘called’ to do. 

 

Honestly, I think it is never too early to start your child volunteering. Parents have the opportunity to model this for their children as well. I was fortunate to have such parents – a mom who drove carpool, baked cookies for bake sales, mom and dad who gave tours at an historic park, grandparents who were always up at the church helping out, etc. Volunteering is a great expression of selfless service. Teens tend to be self-absorbed – not a criticism. It is just that time of their lives they are concerned with what others think, personal appearance, competing against peers, and having the most friends/followers/likes on social media. Do I hear you sighing? 

 

Encouraging your teen to volunteer gets them outside of themselves, which could set a lifetime habit of doing so as an adult. If they are talking about future college/career paths, then you have a double bonus if you can find a volunteer opportunity in a field that your teen seems to be curious about. The best way to do this is to let others know – lots of people – think outside the box. Better yet, have your teen do an internet search of businesses/organizations and reach out to them personally to ask to volunteer. Too many teens want to hide behind an email or text message. Note…”personal” is a phone call or in-person; harder for people to say no in person, I’ve learned. 

 

If you have a mature, responsible teenager, I would focus on having them ask for an “internship”. In probability, it will be non-paid, but as I mentioned earlier, this could potentially save you and your child a great deal of money, grief, stress, and/or regret in the not-so-distant future. 

 

I have young people ask me what should they say when they reach out to someone for help. In this case, helping is researching career paths and helping to build a well-rounded resume. My answer is to tell them exactly what you want, why you want it, and ask for it, then thank them. Works like a charm – confident expectation that you will get a “yes” from someone. They need to do this, not you. That’s a topic for another blog!

 

But, what if your son/daughter has a learning difference(s)? It is even MORE important to have them volunteer and/or seek an internship. The earlier, the better. I know that my daughter, who has ADHD, would suffer and be miserable if stuck indoors, in a cubicle, able to hear others’ conversations (she has sensory issues as well), and on a computer screen all day. There are certain jobs we know to cross off the list of career options. Perhaps they have social anxiety? Do they take a bit longer to process information? Do they need to work with their hands to learn effectively? You need to know what the obstacles and struggles are and work to match the best options. 

 

By all means, I never discourage young people from pursuing their dreams – but, I do make sure they are keenly aware of their skill sets, areas of giftedness, likes/dislikes, needs, and limitations. Perspective is not judgment. Proper perspective yields clarity. And clarity yields confidence. And confidence yields, well, happier/resourceful people. Every parent I’ve ever spoken with, no matter the concern or source of frustration, tells me that they simply want their child to be happy – and this is what I want for them as well.

 

BIO:

Renee Sullins, founder of Renee Sullins Coaching, is a Life and Health Coach, specializing in working with teens and college students. She can be reached for a complimentary consultation and for more information through her website: www.reneesullinscoaching.com 

 

 

 

 

 

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Accommodations for Struggling Writers in High School and Beyond

Posted on by Kathy Kuhl

 

Kathy Kuhl

 

A woman told me her son had been accepted into a good college even though he had the handwriting of a six-year-old. Happily, this sharp young man and his mother knew how to get accommodations to get his thoughts on paper.

 

Can you imagine the effect on this child if his mother had said: 

“Sorry, dear. Until you stop reversing your Es, I’m not going to teach you to write.” or “Until you pay attention and print more neatly, I’m not teaching you any new words.”

 

Many gifted people have dysgraphia, dyslexia or other learning disabilities. We should work on the problems, as I discussed last week. But we also work around them. That means you accommodate the student’s areas of weakness.

Accommodate doesn’t mean coddle. It does mean you give help that gives them a fair chance to develop their abilities. It means you don’t let a disability hijack your homeschool.

Though we work hard to strengthen weaknesses, it is vital not to focus on them.

We build lives based on strengths, not weaknesses. We don’t look at  Charles Schwab, Richard Branson, or  MacArthur ‘Genius’ Award winner Mimi Koehl, and think of learning disabilities. They built their careers on their strengths.

We don’t build our lives on what we do poorly. Neither should our kids.

 

Accommodation #1: Learn to Type

The first accommodation you may think of for a child who struggles with writing is teaching your child to type.

How do you know if your child is old enough to touch-type? Pediatric occupational therapist Laurie Chuba told me this trick: ask your child to close her eyes and see if she can touch her left thumb and each of her other left fingers in turn. Then repeat with the right hand. If she can, she’s ready to learn to touch-type.

Not every keyboarding program is well-suited to children and teens with learning disabilities. For instance, the first one we tried used a small font size on the screen. It was hard for my son, who has dyslexia, to read.

There are many typing programs, but Keyboard Classroom is unusual. It’s a typing program designed at the Ben Bronz School in Connecticut, a school especially for students with learning disabilities. It keeps practice exercises to one minute, building fluency without as much stress as longer exercises. [Disclosure: I was given, but have not used, a sample of Keyboard Classroom and the finger guides. My review is based on trying a free demo. Typing programs vary and kids vary. I recommend trying demos and reading reviews to see what’s best for your child.]

It was researched with students with learning disabilities for twenty years. By keeping its plastic finger guides between the middle and ring finger of each hand, the learner’s hands don’t drift out of place.

I met Keyboard Classroom President Carrie Shaw at LEAH Homeschool Convention a few years back and got to try out the program. I was intrigued. You can see a demo and explanation of Keyboard Classroom here.

Carrie wrote, “I reduced the prices on all my licenses so it would be more affordable for homeschoolers.”  At their site, you can contact Carrie Shaw and learn more.

If your child is not ready to touch-type, let her record answers with a digital voice recorder or into your phone. You can also have her dictate to a sibling who can type.

 

Accommodation #2 – Word Prediction Software

Dictation software is notorious for goofy transcribing errors. WordQ does a superior job, providing a drop-down list of words to choose from. Even better, at the end of each sentence, WordQ reads the sentence aloud, which can help your student notice when words are incorrect or are omitted. Get a free trial of WordQ from Quillsoft here.

 

Accommodation #3 – Dictation Software

SpeakQ dictation software is an add-on for WordQ that turns it into a powerful dictation program. Designed for folks with learning disabilities, it is easier for your child to train to his or her voice than other programs, like Dragon. WordQ and SpeakQ both offer a free trial. Dragon Naturally Speaking also takes diction from you or your student. See  www.Nuance.com for details and a demonstration.[The advantage of SpeakQ over Dragon is that to train the software to recognize your child’s voice, Dragon provides paragraphs that may be difficult for your challenged learner to read. But SpeakQ lets you upload anything your child can read well, and use that text to train the software.]

Not everyone who struggles with writing struggles with handwriting. Other writing problems require different solutions. Next month we’ll look at some. This series continues here.

 

This article was originally written on Learn Differently at https://www.learndifferently.com/2015/10/20/accommodations-for-struggling-writers/

 

Some of the links in this article are affiliate links.

 

This article is part 3 in  a in a series of articles aimed at helping struggling writers. Part 1 is here, and part 2 is here .

 

 

 

 

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6 Steps for Helping Teens Struggling with a Dyslexia Diagnosis

Posted on by Kathy Kuhl

 

Kathy Kuhl

 

What if you didn’t know your child was dyslexic until they hit high school? This happened to a family I learned about yesterday.  They just discovered that their bilingual high schooler is dyslexic. For years, the experts kept saying, “She’s only struggling with reading because she’s bilingual.”

It’s an easy mistake to make, but it wasted valuable time. Now, while taking high school classes online, the girl’s frustration has soared. She is very discouraged. My heart aches for this student and her parents, who have been trying to get her help while living abroad.

This can happen with an online curriculum, in a school, or a homeschool. This frustration and discovery often happens when the pace of education picks up. The transitions to harder level work are times when we notice disabilities. Sometimes students can overcome their learning challenges for years on their own, often by being intelligent and working harder than everyone else. But at some stage–when they start middle school, high school, or college-level work–they can no longer overcome their disability without someone customizing their education.

 

#1 – Understand

  • Educate yourself and your teen about dyslexia. Visit the Dyslexic Advantage website (see the link below) and watch some of the videos. This will help you see how dyslexia is the flip side of intelligence in one of several distinct areas. This site offers practical help and an online forum. It will help you and your teen to take heart and begin to build on their strengths. 
  • Read the book, Dyslexic Advantage by Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide. These medical doctors (and former homeschoolers) work with the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, speak around the country, and run the Eide Neurolearning Clinic outside Seattle. The last third of the book is a very practical look at accommodations—ways to work around dyslexia in school. But the first two-thirds are just as important and interesting. They will transform how you see dyslexia. See below for a link to my review of the book.
  • Understand and be sympathetic to your teen’s struggles. It is hard for non-dyslexics to understand how painful reading can be. I know two adults with dyslexia (one with an M.Ed, the other an MD) who both say reading hurts.

 

#2 – Curriculum

  • Reading instruction for dyslexics comes in varying types and strengths. The main thing to keep always before you and your teen is that there is hope, so don’t give up. Here are a few options that can work long-distance (these are only a few suggestions—I’ve listed others at the end of this post):
    • Barton Reading trains parents to teach dyslexic students. Granted, no expert visits your home to see if the parents are teaching correctly. But Sue Barton is very knowledgeable and has helped many families. Her company, Bright Solutions, provides many videos on its website. (See below.)
    • Alphabetic Phonics by Aylette Royall Cox is another Orton-Gillingham-based program that can be offered at home by a parent. (Please note: this is not Alpha Phonics, nor is it Alphabet Phonics.) This publisher also offers webinars (see below).
    • All About Reading by Marie Rippel is another program to consider.
    • Lexercise is a more intensive and pricier option that comes with online tutoring. With Lexercise, a trained therapist tutors your dyslexic student online through a secure link.

 

#3 – Experts

  • Trained Academic Therapist. Working with someone trained in teaching dyslexics  your student may find that reading can get easier. My son made progress at age 20 with the help of an academic therapist, that is, a Certified Academic Language therapist. Other experts include Orton-Gillingham practitioners or Wilson tutors with Level II certification. This sort of tutoring is expensive. But I wish I’d understood this sooner. Then we could have used the money we were saving for college to work with an academic therapist all through high school.
  • Online Learning. Because of living abroad, the family I mentioned above has been using an online academy, but it has become very frustrating for this teen. One possibility is Time4Learning. I don’t know anyone who used it at the high school level, so it may not be a good fit for a struggling teen. Time4Learning does offer free trials, though, and may be worth investigating. 

 

#4 – Tools

  • Use audiobooks. I list several below. Additionally, did you know that any PDF can be read aloud by a computer using Adobe Acrobat reader? (The read-aloud option is under the “view” tab, oddly enough.)
  • Use assistive technology.  Find someone to walk you through all the tools you already have on your PC or Mac to help—all under the accessibility tabs, but not always easy to figure out. Your state agency for helping folks with disabilities probably offers free webinars or seminars on this. In Virginia, there are eight regional Training and Technology Assistance Centers (T/TAC). These centers lend equipment out. Check out what your state provides. Your local chapter of the ARC may also help you. Additionally, Joan Green knows a lot about assistive technology—her website, listed below, has webinars and resources.

 

#5 – Strategies

  • Strategize your teen’s time. I would devote the majority of each day to the  strengths of your struggling learner. In the case of a teen who is already frustrated, morale is a primary concern. Also, I would spend a chunk of each day working on reading, but with one of the therapies listed above–not with traditional methods.
  • Rethink your current learning approaches. For instance, if your situation requires you to use an online curriculum, can you use something more hands-on for at least some subjects? What is your student good at? What does he or she like to do? Try to find or adapt your curriculum to your student’s interests. For example, I have a friend whose teen shut down at age 15 during a family crisis. All this teen wanted to do was read and watch Japanese manga and anime (cartoons). My friend built a year’s homeschool around anime: Japanese history, an online class for the language, drawing, etc. Later, the teen caught up in her academics, and graduated from The Pratt Institute, a prestigious art school in New York City. Now this graduate is supporting herself as an artist. You may not have the time or resources to do that, but realize that an out-of-the-box curriculum won’t be a good fit for many students with learning challenges. At least a good part of your teen’s education may need to be more customized. I’m not only talking about remediating the area of weakness or accommodating it by working around it. Provide something that builds on the student’s strengths or interests.

 

#6 – Resources

 

This article was originally written on Learn Differently at http://www.learndifferently.com/2017/09/07/help-teen-dyslexic/ and as shared by the author to republish on this site.

 

Please note that some of the links in this article are affiliate links.

 

 

 

 

 

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Teaching Life Skills in Your Special Needs Homeschool

Posted on by Penny Rogers

 

Penny Rogers

In the flurry of therapy, homeschool, and general life needs, life skills are one of those things that often get pushed to the back burner, even though we know we need to teach them. If we’re being completely honest, it’s simply easier to do it ourselves than it is to teach our kids how to do it. But helping our kids to achieve things will not only keep them safe, but it will also give them the confidence to try new things.

 

“Everyone wants a meaningful job or purpose. It’s basic human nature. Letting them be responsible for as much of their own care as they can, gives your child purpose and confidence.”

 

Teaching Life Skills for Long Term Rewards

Here in  Autismland,we believe that the more Logan knows how to care for himself, the safer he is when he’s not in our presence. While we are blessed that Logan will be able to live at home during his adult life, there will come a day when we are not here to care for him. He will need to live either with his sister or in a group home. In this instance, the more life skills he has mastered, the less he has to depend on someone to help him. Knowing life skills will protect him from being victimized by someone who may not have his best interests at heart. It will also make it far easier on his sister should she become his caregiver. Though teaching f life skills may be more work right now, learning life skills pays off in the long term.

 

Teaching Life Skills to Build Confidence

Even without the long term in mind, teaching life skills helps boost a child’s confidence. That one facet cannot be stressed enough. As our children grow into adulthood, they want to contribute to something. They want to take care of their own needs. They want to be a meaningful member of the family. These are things we all want. Having special needs doesn’t change that for anyone. Everyone wants a meaningful job or purpose. It’s basic human nature. Letting them be responsible for as much of their care as they can, gives your child purpose and confidence.

 

Tips and Resources for Teaching Life Skills

How does one teach life skills? The key is to pick one skill at a time. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself or your child. 

  • Teach your daughter how to brush her hair. 
  • Teach your son how to brush his teeth. 
  • Teenagers can learn how to shave or how to take care of their menstrual needs. 

Basic life skills are always a great place to start and life-changing for the entire family dynamic.

 

One resource we have used and often recommend is  Skill Treklife skills curriculum. It has over 500 skills to work on and allows you to place your child at their developmental level, not their chronological age. 

  • I love it because it gives me a plan that didn’t have to come from my often overworked brain. 
  • It has all the steps listed out to teach it along with videos. Seriously, sometimes mama needs it spelled out for her. 
  • It guarantees that I will work on it and not put it on the back burner while I try to plan some Pinterest worthy lesson. 

Skill Trek helps me teach my kids, special needs or not, basic life skills as well as skills I would not have thought to teach them (like how to change a windshield wiper.) 

 

It doesn’t matter how you teach life skills to your special needs kids; it only matters that you do teach them. The benefits far outweigh the tediousness, the inconvenience, or the aggravation.

 

 

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30 Ways to Sneak Therapy into Your Teen’s Schedule

Posted on by Peggy Ployhar


By Peggy Ployhar

Most teens outgrow the therapy model at some point in their junior high or high school years. Transferring ownership for continued growth in these therapeutic areas is a key element to ensuring that your student doesn’t stop working on new skills or practicing ones already mastered in a traditional therapy program. To accommodate your student’s desire for independence, this transitioning process requires your child to adopt regular activities which will assimilate therapy work into his or her normal routines.

 

Here are some ways your teen can continue working on occupational, physical, social, and speech therapy goals without going to regular therapy.

 

Speech Therapy Ideas:
Read out loud
Order food at a restaurant
Ask for directions
Sing
Memorize jokes and then tell them to others
Story telling
Make videos or voice recordings


Occupational Therapy Ideas:
Cooking
Yard Work
House Maintenance
Auto Repair
Assemble Purchases (“Some assembly required”)
Laundry
House Cleaning
Gardening

 

Physical Therapy Ideas:
Martial arts
Swimming
Golf
Tennis
Rollerblading
Ice skating
Biking
Running
Walking

 

Social Skill Therapy Ideas:
Join a club or special interest group
Participate in a local event as a volunteer
Be a mother’s helper
Volunteer at church
Start conversations with vendors at your county or state fair
Participate in 4H
Join a book cub

 

I am sure you can think of many more great ideas, and we would love for you to share them with our community by commenting below or on our social media shares of this article.

 

If you are looking for more resources for homeschooling your teen through high school, make sure to check out these other resources on our website:

 

 

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