Mrs Reilly. Baseroom Online

The Elementary School Learning Support Department has seen the birth of two gorgeous boys in the past couple of weeks.  This has an impact on staffing as two teachers are out on maternity leave.

Amy Egbuji, our current Program Leader is leaving at the end of the school year and is out on maternity leave from now.  I will be acting as PL for the remaining 8 weeks of school and taking over full time at the beginning of school year 10/11.  This may have some impact on my availability to meet with families.  I will still be able to meet whenever there is a concern or update needed but I may require a little more notice than previously.

Please let me know if you have any worries about this.  My schedule with students will remain largely unchanged so students themselves should feel no impact of this change.

There is a good chance that Sensory Processing Disorder will be included in the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual – 5th Edition).

Inclusion in the manual will have a potentially huge impact for families of children with SPD as there will be a knock on effect on medical insurance funding for Occupational Therapy, funding for schools.

Sensory processing issues are also likely to feature in the changes mooted to arise within the Autism Spectrum Disorder category. It is thought that the diagnosis will change from the current 5 clinical categories to one category of Autistic Spectrum Disorder with ranges from mild to severe. This means that PDD-NOS and Aspergers will disappear. Until now, sensory processing issues have not been part of the diagnosis for ASD although it is thought that over 80% of children on the spectrum have sensory processing difficulties. The DSM – V will most probably include sensory difficulites in the diagnositic criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder.

I attended a conference recently here in Manila for Learning Support teachers in international schools in Asia.  One of the keynote speakers was Dr Tracy Alloway from the University of Stirling in Scotland.  Tracy is a world leader in the area of working memory and has conducted a range of government funded research which has aided our understanding of what working memory is and how it affects our ability to learn.

Tracy told us two main things that excited me.  Firstly, the tide is switching now in agreement that working memory score is a better indication of educational attainment than IQ.  This is potentially fantastic news as, unlike IQ, working memory is not affected by the mother’s educational level or socio-economic background.  It is also more ‘plastic’ and we can improve our working memory score.  This is the second thing that excited me.  A number of my students who recieve support for learnign here have been assessed to show a low or poor working memory score.

Dr Alloway discovered, through government funded research an online program which shows quite breath-taking results in improving working memory score.  This in an 8 week online program that costs $50 and the results are maintained – that is, the gains showed after 8 weeks seems to be sticking with the kids who finished the course without them having to repeat the course after any length of time.

The benefits of improved working memory are seen right across the board from math to literacy, from vocabulary to arithmatic.  Please contact me if you want to explore this further and I do urge you to visit both Tracy’s site and the site of the program she recommends, called Jungle Memory.

www.tracyalloway.com

www.junglememory.com

Transitioning to a new country with a new workplace, friends, house, school and life is very difficult. There is so much preparation, investigation and exploration that goes on beforehand.

Read more…

ECLC/Grade 1 group

This group are currently being trained as a crack team of ‘Listening Spies’!  We are learning how to listen with our eyes, ears, face and whole body!  This means that we have to make sure that our eyes are on the speaker, our ears are open and that our face and body and turned to the speaker or into the group as a whole.  We even have a secret handshake!  Clearly this cannot possibly be revealed to the public!!!

This small group shall be focusing on working and listening in a group then moving on to problem solving skills* between now and then end of this quarter.

Grades 2/3/4

This group are coming to the end of the ‘Superflex’** program and getting ready to move on to the ‘Social Detectives’** program.  This program will focus on developing the appropriate skills to be able to ‘read’ a situation and adapt behaviour accordingly.  We will also be working on how to get yourself ’into’ a group on the playground etc, how to join an activity, how to dectect sarcasm and how to decifer mixed messages.

If you would like to know more about these programs or talk more about your child’s individual program then please do email me or pop into my room P006.

*Jean Gillian DeGaetano

**Michelle Garcia Winner

It seems amazing to think that we only have a few weeks left of the first semester!  Reports will be coming out right before winter break but as ever, if you want a more personal feedback than I can give you here or if you just want to talk over an issue then do not hesitate to get in touch.

This month we have been continuing to use a variety of programs – Superflex – Social Thinking, Earobics, Read Naturally, Scholatics Phonics Chapter Books, Handwriting Without Tears and a progam that is new to us here called ‘My School Day’.  Like ‘Superflex’ this is a program to help with the development of appropriate social skills.  There are four levels to the program with level 1 being a narrative of school routines and level 4 progresses right up to students learning to read obvious and subtle social cues to predict consequences in school-based situations.

No students use ALL of the above programs as each Learning Support Plan is individualised and as ever, you are welcome to come in and look at any of the materials and resources we use.

The Grade 3 and 4 students at ISManila have been involved in MAP testing this month.  This is a new set of standardised tests that we are rolling out throughout the whole school.  So far, the testing process has been successful with our Learning Support studetns.  The test is an online, adaptive test.  This means that the questions are adapted to the student’s proficency level.  The online aspect of the testing means that students can take as many breaks as required and we can pause the test for as long as required and return to it at a more productive time.

December is usually a disrupted but fun time at school for students.  Makes sure you check your school calander to see what is coming up for students and help to prepare them for any events.  Events like school concerts may provoke anxiety and class parties may result in over-stimulated children!  Do contact me if you have any specific concerns about your child’s involvment in any activities.

Thereare a number of reasons why students may ‘blurt out’ the answer at school or at home.  It may be because they have not yet developed patience and/or turn taking skills.  It may be because they have poor impulse control and they cannot hold the answer in but it maybe because of your eyes!

Students who have Autistic Spectrum Disorders, communication issues or any related disorders may not have a very well developed understanding of eye gaze. 

Many teachers use their eyes to silently communicate which table or person they are talking to when they ask a questions.  We then expect that individual(s) to provide an answer.  Students who struggle to attend to class and/or those who find it difficult to pick up on social cues or gather information from people’s eyes will not necessarily see you doing this or understand it and so may blurt out an answer.

If this is a problem in class, or indeed in a busy household. the easiest thing to do is to use the name of the person you are talking to.  When correcting a student who is blurting out it is important to make it clear that you were using your eyes so that they learn to ‘read’ your eye gaze.  For example ‘I am looking at(student’s name) and I am talking to (student’s name).  I am not talking to you right now.  You may also want to remind them to think and to listen with their eyes as well as their brains and ears.

*Adapted from Michelle Garcia Winner’s ‘Social Thinking’ curriculum.

For the past week or two we have been learning about ‘flexible thinking’ using Michelle Garcia Winner’s ‘Superflex’ curriculum with the Grades 2 through 4 students. 

The programme centres around a mythical town called ‘Social Town’.  The greatest superhero that ever was used to live her but he has gone missing!!! In his absence, the ‘Unthinkables’ have been trying to take over the town one person at a time by invading their brain and causing them to forget to think about how other people think about them.  When we forgot to consider what other people are thinking about us it can cause us to act in ‘weird’ ways.

The goal of the programme is to get students to recognise undesirable behaviours in themselves and adapt the behaviour accordingly so that people are only having good, positive thoughts about them.  One example of this would be when a kid knows that they are being called for dinner but are so engrossed in whatever they are doing that they do not answer or stop their activity.  We call that ‘Rockbrain’ and we teach strategies for them to have flexible brain.

Rockbrain

Not all students will grasp all elements of the curriculum or, they will grasp it but find it difficult to put into practice.  One way that we can make it easier for them is to use the terminology consistently, at home and at school.  This is the main reason for the homework which is attached to the end of each ‘lesson’ (not session).  This will enable you to become familiar with the ‘Superflex’ characters and terminology so that you can support your child at home.

I will be in my room for the majority of the parent conference time.  If you would like to pop in to see me and have a look at the programme then please feel free. Alternatively, please do not hesitate to arrange an appointment time if you would like more of a discussion.

Hi Everyone,

Things are beginning to pick up speed for the students who are using the Baseroom this year.  As most of you know, I was in Canada for two weeks at the beginning of this year training with ‘POPARD’ – an organisation in British Columbia who work with professionals  providing training on Autism Spectrum Disorders and related conditions.  The course was excellent and I have taken a lot away from it.

The result of this is that I am slightly later this year organising my parent/teacher planning meetings and getting Learning Support Plans fully developed.  We are also trying to incorporate other services like Speech and Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy into the Baseroom schedule for those who need it and this takes a lot of planning.

Nevertheless we had all of the the level 3 students in the Baseroom this week so that we can get to know everyone again and look at the dynamics between the students.  This week we have been using a ‘video modelling’ technique to teach important skills for school, including ‘Say Hello’, “Listen to the Teacher’, ‘Share’ and ‘Say Sorry’.  We have been using a new resource from ‘Model Me Kids’ to do this, as well as role play and support from teachers.

Next week I will also formally begin Literacy 1:1 pull out for those students who require it.  These sessions are individualised for each student and works from their specific levels of needs using a variety of resources from computer programes like ‘Read Naturally’ and ‘Earobics’ to structured reading programs like ‘Scholastic Phonics Chapter Books’ .

It is all coming together and if I have not met with you already to plan for your child I will be meeting with you in the next two weeks.  Please do email me on reillya@ismanila.org if you have any questions or would like to meet for a chat.

We all want to set high expectations and goals for our children and students and ensure that they are successful at school, at home and with friends. One of the mistakes that we are most likely to make when setting targets with our children is setting them too high.

One reason for this may be because we decided upon or agreed with the child on a ‘reward’ that is actually quite substantial, for example a new PS 3 game or a day out at the cinema with friends.  In order to justify this we then set equally substantial targets that can be difficult for the child to achieve.

Lets think about this for a moment.  If I am going to spend $50 on a reward, I am going to expect my child to meet the targets that I set daily for a good two weeks.  The problem with this is that it is very  difficult achieve.  What if the child has a great 6 or 7 days, followed by a really bad day on day 8?  Are you really going to have the heart to put them right back to the beginning?  If you stick to your guns and do so then it is likely to be extremely discouraging to the young person to have all of their hard work undone so easily.

You may want to stick with the idea of having a substantial reward, especially if it is one that the child has picked themselves.  You can do this by breaking the targets down in such a way that one bad day does not ruin everything.  Let them earn one sticker for each good day and when they have 10 stickers they get the reward.  This means that they are allowed to have a bad day and yet still get the reward.

If your child will struggle with the longer term concept of this and require more instant gratification then you will need to think about smaller rewards.  Remember that these do not need to be expensive and certainly do not need to be material.  Success is more likely if your child is fully involved in deciding upon the rewards.  Rewards could be a small toy, a favourite dinner, a day out with dad, a special play date, a temporary tattoo, computer time, a plant for their room, getting to stay up late, a lunch at a favourite venue etc.

Finally, remember to be very specific when setting targets.  It can be too conceptual for a child to say ‘be good’ or ‘show good manners’ and therefore difficult to achieve.  A child is much more likely to have success if you ask them to remember to say hello to all of their teachers in the morning or to put their dishes in the sink after dinner.  Think about the behaviours that you want to see and name them, teach them and prompt them.

Finally, it is difficult for anyone to show perseverance in the face of failure.  Make sure that you set achievable targets and then ensure that your child achieves then when you first start out.  Your child must experience success on the first day at very least.  Make sure that you catch them at their best and that at the end of the day your child is a winner.  It may feel as though you are deceiving both them and yourself but your child is much more likely to try hard on day two and day three if they know how good it feels to achieve their goal.