** I've come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It's my personal approach that creates the climate. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I
have tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated
or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized. **
Haim
Ginott
**************************************
DO IMMUNIZATIONS
CAUSE AUTISM OR OTHER DEFECTS IN CHILDREN?
Before researching any
topic one must chose information from reputable sources. Here are some excellent resources to begin to read!
The Starfall reading program is designed to be fun, exciting,
and to instill confidence in young children as they learn to read. The website and companion printed materials are clear and
effective tools to help you implement proven teaching methods. Our website was created by carefully observing the way children
learn using a computer. The Starfall Website is easy for students to navigate independently, but it is not intended as a surrogate
for the teacher. Our scientific, research-based reading materials and activities are modeled on the "Big Five" focus
areas recommended by the National Institute of Child Development and Human Development:
Few parents ever imagine that their child will grow up to do drugs, but drug usage among kids and teens is a stark reality.
Drugs are everywhere — from big cities to small towns — and are used by people of all ages, races, and economic
means.
Knowing what drugs are available, what they can do, and how they can affect someone is the first step in raising
drug-free kids. The second step — and probably most important — is to talk to your child early and often about the dangers of drugs. Visit http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/talk/drugs_information.html for more details on specific drugs!
Lead is a very strong poison. When a person swallows a lead object or breathes in lead dust,
some of the poison can stay in the body and cause serious health problems. Lead used to be very common in gasoline and
house paint in the U.S. Children living in cities with older houses are more likely to have high levels of lead.Although gasoline
and paint are no longer made with lead in them, lead is still a health problem. Lead is everywhere, including dirt, dust,
new toys, and old house paint. Unfortunately, you can't see, taste, or smell lead.
Lead is found in...
House paint before
1978. Even if the paint is not peeling, it can be a problem. Lead paint is very dangerous when it is being stripped or sanded.
These actions release fine lead dust into the air. Infants and children living in pre-1960's housing (when paint often contained
lead) have the highest risk of lead poisoning. Small children often swallow paint chips or dust from lead-based paint.
Toys and furniture painted before 1976.
Painted toys and decorations made outside the U.S.
Lead bullets, fishing sinkers, curtain weights.
Plumbing, pipes, and faucets. Lead can be found in drinking water in homes containing pipes
that were connected with lead solder. Although new building codes require lead-free solder, lead
is still found in some modern faucets.
Soil
contaminated by decades of car exhaust or years of house paint scrapings. Lead is more common in soil near highways and houses.
Hobbies involving soldering, stained
glass, jewelry making, pottery glazing, and miniature lead figures (always look at labels).
Children's paint sets and art supplies (always look at labels).
Pewter pitchers and dinnerware.
Storage batteries.
Children get lead in their bodies when they put lead objects in
their mouths, especially if they swallow the lead object. They can also get lead poison on their fingers from touching a dusty
or peeling lead object, and then putting their fingers in their mouths or eating food afterward. Children also can breathe
in tiny amounts of lead.
Symptoms
There are many possible
symptoms of lead poisoning. Lead can affect many different parts of the body. A single high dose of lead can cause severe
emergency symptoms. However, it is more common for lead poisoning to build up slowly over time. This occurs from repeated
exposure to small amounts of lead. In this case, there may not be any obvious symptoms. Over
time, even low levels of lead exposure can harm a child's mental development. The health problems get worse as the level of
lead in the blood gets higher. Lead is much more harmful to children than adults because it can affect children's developing
nerves and brains. The younger the child, the more harmful lead can be. Unborn children are the most vulnerable.
Possible complications
include:
Behavior
or attention problems
Failure at school
Hearing problems
Kidney damage
Reduced
IQ
Slowed body growth
The symptoms of lead poisoning may include:
Abdominal pain and cramping (usually the first sign of a high,
toxic dose of lead poison)
a.Put
in a classroom with bright, warm encouragement like
the sun, rather than clouds of ridicule.
b. Cover with soil of wonderment and curiosity.
c. Water with patience, empathy, and high expectations.
d.Visit seedlings at least
once a day for one to one time.
e.
Sit back and watch them soar!
*
By Lisa-Anne Ray-Byers
The mission of St. Jude Children's
Research Hospital is to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment.
Consistent with the vision of our Founder Danny Thomas, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family's
ability to pay. To make a donation call 1-800-4stjude.
ExploraVision encourages K-12 students of all interest, skill and
ability levels to create and explore a vision of future technology by combining their imaginations with the tools of science.
All inventions and innovations result from creative thinking and problem solving.
ExploraVision offers a ready-made tool to put into practice many of the National Science Education Standards — particularly in the areas of "science and technology" and "science
in personal and social perspectives." The competition is also an excellent way for students to learn how to work in collaborative
learning groups on an interdisciplinary project. Visit www.exploravision.org.
Founded in 1988, Give the Gift of Sight is a family of charitable programs providing free vision care and eyewear tounderprivileged
individuals in North America and in developing countries around the world. Sponsored by Give the Gift of Sight Foundation
and Luxottica Group, these programs have helped five million people on five continents and in hundreds of communities across
North America. The program's goal is to help seven million people by 2008. Visitwww.givethegiftofsight.comfor more information and how you can help.
.
WrightsLaw Advocacy Training! Special Education Law & Advocacy Trainingincludes all the content of the
live program ... and more than an hour of bonus content. The content is divided into four programs:
two about law; two about advocacy strategies. Each program includes several topics.
Go to www.wrightslaw.com for more dates and important special education information!
************************************************* Sink Your Teeth into Teen Read Week! October, 2014
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) sponsors Teen Read Week each year to encourage teens to explore and
take advantage of all the great resources libraries have to offer.
******************************************
¡Colorín Colorado
Welcome to Colorín
Colorado, the leading website for teachers and parents of English Language Learners! Here you'll find lots of articles, resources,
and ideas to support ELLs at school and at home. Teachers:
Take a look at our For Educators section (also available in Spanish) to find more information about ELLs, teaching reading and content to ELLs, and classroom
strategies. Also be sure to check our Topics A to Z section for articles on everything from early literacy and assessment to learning disabilties.
Visit
Do you know a child who stutters? Then this book is for you! Meet
Kelly the character of my second book. She stutters and decides that she will never speak in school again!
Watch as she blooms into a rising star!
I am proud to be a co-author of this new and exciting book, 365 Ways to Succeed with ADHD: A Full Year of Valuable Tips and Strategies
From the World's Best Coaches and Experts. I joined 80 other experts
from around the world to create this book! Imagine having a tip and/or strategy for ADHD everyday of the year.
Contact me at speechlrb@yahoo.com to purchase this book created with children, parents, caregivers, teachers, therapists and ADHD adults in mind!
WE DID IT AGAIN! THIS YEAR WE ADDED 365+1 WAYS TO SUCCEED WITH ADHD! GETS YOURS
TODAY BY CONTACTING ME!
National School Backpack Awareness Day September, 2014.
National School Backpack
Awareness Day is an annual event held in September. Across the country, events are being held to educate parents, students,
teachers and school administrators, and communities about the serious health effects on children from backpacks that are too
heavy or worn improperly.
You are amazing. But many don't understand
your ADHD mind. So you can tell them ...
The
ADHD mind is no more than this: A heroic soul born desperately in need of sensation.
To you ... a moment
is an eternity, a rule is a tyranny, a process is a purgatory, a joy is an ecstasy, a daydream is a vision, a
hazard is a playground, silence is suffocation, and completion is death.
Add to this brutally expansive
spirit the overwhelming need to risk, create, and express -- so that without the creating of music or poetry or
books or businesses or buildings or something of meaning, your very breath is cut off ...
You must
create, must pour out your entire being in creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency you do not feel alive unless you are intimately involved in the risk of self-expression.
Thank you for having the courage to create. For without your creations the world would grow dull and listless And the rest of us who are like you would
not have your courageous act to lean on to
inspire our own.
Rock on, Garret LoPorto Author of The DaVinci Method http://www.DaVinciMethod.comThe message above by Garret LoPorto is
partially inspired by a poem by Pearl Buck. This poem is not intended to be an endorsement of the Davinci
method.
Looking for a fun, low-cost activity for your child or teen? Sign them up for an Amazing
Kids! PenPal!
PenPals Building
a Lifetime of New Friendships, Two Kids at a Time(TM) Just
$10 per child. For ages 5-17. Learn more!
Sign up and make
a new friend today! Visit www.amazingkids.org. ******************************************
Girls with ADHD: Overlooked, Underdiagnosed, and Underserved byAnita Gurian, Ph.D
What happens to the girls? Because they don't disrupt the rest
of the class, it may take longer for girls to get a diagnosis of ADHD and to get the help they need. Most of the research
has been done with boys, and as many as 50 to 75% of girls with ADHD are missed. Those girls who do get identified are diagnosed
on average five years later than boys (boys generally diagnosed at age 7 and girls at age 12). Thus, they lose five critical
years during which they could have been getting help. Here's the good news: Educators, mental health researchers, and parents
are now becoming aware of the unique needs of girls with ADHD.
How
Teachers Can Help—Spotting the Signs in the Classroom? Teachers should be alert to the specific
symptoms of ADHD in girls, such as poor concentration, easy distractibility, difficulty focusing, disorganization (messy backpack,
loss of schedules and homework), and forgetfulness (forgetting to hand in papers, take assignments home). Other possible clues
include nonstop talking, bossiness, interrupting others, slow to pick up social cues, and difficulty paying attention to multi-step
directions.
The Sensitive Teacher Can
Use Strategies Such As:
seat girl in front of room to make sure her attention is not drifting
give her a task to help her refocus
have her buddy share
teach social conventions explicitly (how
to join a group, give a compliment)
To help her organize:
give
her organizing folders and notebooks
break down work into simpler component tasks
assign classroom responsibilities
to make her feel important
teach calming techniques, such as deep breathing and visualization when
she's overstimulated
Figment is a community where
you can share your writing, connect with other readers, and discover new stories and authors. Whatever you're into, from sonnets
to mysteries, from sci-fi stories to cell phone novels, you can find it all here. This is your place to read, write
and connect. Have your work reviewed by real journalists and editors!
Founded in 1988, Give the Gift of Sight is a family of charitable programs providing free vision care and eyewear tounderprivileged
individuals in North America and in developing countries around the world. Sponsored by Give the Gift of Sight Foundation
and Luxottica Group, these programs have helped five million people on five continents and in hundreds of communities across
North America. The program's goal is to help seven million people by 2008. Visit 
Do you know a child who stutters? Then this book is for you! Meet
Kelly the character of my second book. She stutters and decides that she will never speak in school again!
Watch as she blooms into a rising star! 
I am proud to be a co-author of this new and exciting book, 365 Ways to Succeed with ADHD: A Full Year of Valuable Tips and Strategies
From the World's Best Coaches and Experts. I joined 80 other experts
from around the world to create this book! Imagine having a tip and/or strategy for ADHD everyday of the year.
Contact me at 
