Flexible Thinking in How We Help Spectrum Students

Last year, I blogged a bit about a "Harvester" with autism who enjoys gardening. (Harvest is a Charlotte Mason style school where Pamela and I hang out.) We have several spectrum students in our school, and they are all so different. As the saying goes, if you've met one person with autism, then you've met only one person with autism. We have one boy who "missed" a lot of classroom time last year because he was on a very difficult journey from learning to co-regulate (master his reactions with the help of someone) to self-regulate (know when to excuse himself or ask a teacher to help him deal with a stressful situation). This year, he's learned the lesson so well that he's never out of class. Point One: Sometimes, taking a huge step back fosters a huge leap forward!

Another spectrum Harvester came to us last year from a self-contained classroom, labeled as nonverbal. His real issue is slow processing. When we gave him time to process, he talked. Once he realized that we would wait for him, he began to talk more and more and more, a little bit faster, a little bit faster, and a little bit faster. After the morning meeting, he needs time to eat a snack and burn off energy. Then, he is ready to join his peers for class. He works all day in class at his own level. He goes through an occasional giddy spell and has to leave class until he gets a grip. Point Two: Sometimes, labels are not accurate.

Here is the update on Eman, who could only handle an hour at school just over a year ago and who now stays all day and after school to play with friends. Last year, our goal was for him to work up to a full day at school. While he made it through most days, he left at lunch whenever he had a tough morning. Some mornings were tough, and I believe one issue was that he knew he had an out. His mother assisted the primary class teacher in the morning and went home for lunch. In the back of his mind, he knew he could go home if he acted up enough. Point Three: Some behaviors are deliberate, and they are the trickiest to figure out.

The good news is that we have figured it out. Over the summer, his mother chatted with him from time to time about having to stay all day. Why? This talented lady has joined us as the primary class teacher! The first term he stayed all day, but some days were very tough. Eman is wonderful and, when fully regulated, he is a delight. He gets excited about a story; he stays very engaged; he begs to help. The day we planted seeds in the winter garden he had a hard time taking turns because he wanted to do everything. When he notebooked the garden, he drew his dream garden which included a fountain and a hot tub. He has a big heart and a big imagination. Point Four: Every child, however challenging, has good qualities!

What was the trick? Eman is easily bored, but he needs some structure. Spending all day, in the same class, with the same kids, with the same teacher was a little too much sameness for him. His mother and our headmaster brainstormed a new schedule that gives him variety within a routine. He joins the morning meeting for the devotion, pledge, song, habit talk, and Spanish and then he has a snack. Low blood sugar can ruin a day for him. Then, he goes to the headmaster for independent work: listening to an audio book, notebooking it, and map work. Then, he joins Pamela and I for literature: we practice the fighter verse of the week, read a poem, read from two different literature books, and prepare for Shakespeare on Thursday. Then, he goes to his mom's room for math and heads to lunch. After lunch, he goes to recess and comes back in for copywork. Then, he and Pamela join the junior high in the big room for history and science in the afternoon. I am teaching that class so the junior high teacher can continue to build a solid relationship with him because he will spend several years in her class. Point Five: In spite of what many believe, rigid routine does not help autistic children.

How have things been going for Eman? Surprisingly well. He's only had two tough days all term. On one day, he tested us and realized that he prefers choosing to do the right thing even though he does not always feel like it. The other day was a combination of a cold and a death in the extended family.

Reflections of an Odd Year

Like my friend, Amy in Peru, I prefer doing reflections at the end of the year instead of resolutions at the beginning. I spend more time blogging the resolution of my camera, which captured the lovely reflection of sunshine on Lake Warnock to the right, than I do blogging New Year's resolutions. In fact, not one post talks about them!

I have noticed a distinct pattern in the past decade of my life. The oddest things happen in odd years: major changes of job for Steve (necessitating a move), amazing projects landing in my lap or dwindling away, switching churches (not often I am glad to say). Some of the most surprising shifts that I could not have predicted in a million years (and, yet, God knew all along) happen in odd years.

The year 2013 was no exception. Some things, I have already shared. At the beginning of the year, I had no idea that two friends and I would found a school based upon a Charlotte Mason style of education. God clearly had been carefully laying plans for years, but He did not bother to tell us until June. Watching Pamela integrate into a class (more on that in another post), helping other families with autism, and seeing children get excited about the world makes the hard work worth it. It also keeps me busy when Steve is working in Kansas (and started working there in 2011—another odd year).

While it stinks that eleven hundred miles separate us from Steve, we are enjoying being able to see so many wonderful things on the long trips back and forth as regular readers of this blog know. This time, we are doing something different and, as my friend Di points out, change gives our older children with autism a chance to think and become resilient. Steve scored uber cheap tickets, so Pamela and I are flying back to South Carolina. What luxury!

About a week before we were due to drive to Kansas, Pamela realized that the babies could not come. She has flown enough to see the disadvantages of hauling five babies through TSA. She asked her brother David, who planned to stay home and rack up some overtime, to babysit for her. She also told me she could only carry one backpack, instead of two or three or four. Since we are without typical schooling materials, Pamela texted the following to Steve, a week after our arrival: "I am getting journel, pencil, chip, hamburger, pickles and coke cola."

Two things I loved about Pamela's mindfulness: (1) she spotted the problem and solved it and (2) she shared her plan with me. If your child in the spectrum struggles with being mindful, Di came up with two important questions and changes you might want to try: What am I doing? Why am I doing it? The poster she created summarizes what has helped Pamela learn to think for herself.

Some exciting changes have been brewing all year, but I cannot share them until January 2014. Years are like road trips. You never know what is going to happen along the way. Steve and I took turns driving through two weather fronts on the long trek from Carolina to Kansas. We left pleasant, sunny weather in Carolina. While going through Kentucky, we discovered that the weather app on his phone makes a loud noise when severe weather alerts are issued. A tornado watch and flash flood accompanied the heavy rainfall. The next day, we saw vehicles, askew in odd positions with parts flung every which way, on the icy leg from St. Louis to mid Missouri. [Notice how I subtly worked in another photograph of a reflection.]

Since the ice storm had already blown through, the road conditions were better than we had expected. When we stopped for coffee on the icy section of the trip, we spotted thick layers of ice, coating the branches of the tree. As we headed to Kansas City, the precipitation shifted to six inches of snow. The ginormous Angus cow statue sported an icicle goatee and a white blanket. The temperature on Planet Hoth was a brutal ten degrees and simply getting out of the car sucked the breath out of me.

At sunset, about a half hour from Steve's place, the Missouri river bridge leading to Kansas offered a neat view. Wave upon wave of black birds flew over us. The procrastinating geese that had gotten caught in the frigid weather traveled in their V-formation.

What surprised us most was how uneventful the drive was in spite of all the wide and varied road and weather conditions. The smooth journey ended at Steve's place. The landlord had failed to have the neighborhood and public parking areas plowed. In eleven hundred miles of traveling across half of our country, we nearly got stuck in the driveway when we backed out to make a supply run.

God sure has a sense of humor!

Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?
Job 38:22-27

A Full Life in the Real World

Charlotte Mason warned against creating an atmosphere so sweet that children crumpled in the face of adversity. She believed children must face life as it is through household ways with the family and relationships with people from all walks of life. In her analogy of a hot-house plant, she quoted a scientist from India, Professor Jagadris Chandra Bose.

A plant carefully protected under glass from outside shocks looks sleek and flourishing but its higher nervous function is then found to be atrophied. But when a succession of blows [electric shocks] is rained on this effete and bloated specimen, the shocks themselves create nervous channels and arouse anew the deteriorated nature. (Pages 95-96)

Bringing her recommendations to fruition is quite difficult when raising a person with autism. They are born with highly sensitive sensory systems that react to the smallest change, minor sounds, and even the softest touch—princess and the pea on steroids. We create environments that prevent them from melting down, or face tantrums. Setting up slightly challenging situations in public sometimes lead to ugly scenes at WalMart, and disapproving looks (and bad advice) from anybody and everybody. If we protect our children too much, their world becomes more narrow and their lives become more atrophied.

Throughout the years, we have found ways to encourage Pamela to experience new things and different people. The other day we read about the first candy widely embraced by Americans in 19th century: mint candy. I bought some mint leaves. Pamela whipped egg whites, dredged a leaf in the egg white, rolled it into sugar, and placed it on waxed paper (in this case, the recycled liner of a cereal box) to dry. This activity was worked on our relationship skills by taking turns coordinating our actions with each other. It also challenged her ability to integrate her senses. Foamy, sticky stuff puts anyone with tactile defensiveness into red alert. When the ickiness grew too much for Pamela, she headed to the sink to wash her hands.

After the candy dried, we had our taste test. Steve said the candy tasted like tic-tac's (minus the unreadable chemicals). Before she took a bite, I asked Pamela what she expected. She beamed and said, "Junior Mints." Then, she chewed on the candy (well the leaf because the sugary stuff melts in your mouth). The expression on her face reminded me of a baby eating spinach for the first time! I asked her what she thought of the candy. Pamela answered "Great!" but I don't think she meant it. Yet, another opportunity to let her senses experience something outside daily life.



Volunteering to deliver meals on wheels has enabled Pamela to get used to seeing elderly people from all walks of life. She meets all sorts of people with all sorts of special needs. Some take forever to reach the door, and Pamela has learned to wait patiently. The last time we delivered a meal a man who seemed to have autism and cerebral palsy waved to her and called out, "Hey, girl! Hi!!!!" And she waved right back and greeted him in the same way. On the Sunday before Valentines, I joined the kids in the afterschool program for a Valentine's Day Party at the nursing home. The kids had made a bunch of cards to share with people. I gave Pamela a choice to stay home, but she chose to come with us and even gave a card to a lady in a wheel chair.
In January, some dear friends invited us to a Twelfth Night costume party. The day before we hit the thrift store to find clothing that barely passed for clothing in the era of Dickens. We drove three hours and arrived just as the party was getting started. Pamela had never seen most of the families in attendance. Yet, she chose to participate in several things. She tried to learn all the steps in Jacob's ladder, which was well beyond her level of competence for fine motor skills. Pamela went outside in the dark with the large group to a nearby cul-de-sac, where we played a game none of us had ever played: bad egg. After she sat still long enough to have her silhouette made, Pamela retired to the family library and quietly browsed through books.

We continue to see signs of Pamela's ability to thrive in the real world. The other day, McDonald's made a mistake in her unusual order (a hamburger happy meal with no bun and no cheese, coke with no ice, and an extra order of small fries). We drove off before grabbing the soda. Instead of freaking out and making me drive back around, Pamela calmly, yes, I really mean calmly said, "Oma has coke." We were on the way to my mother's house and she tries to keep soda in stock for Pamela. Not only that, Pamela is more and more able to have conversations with my parents without me interpreting for her. The other day, Mom was talking on the phone with a friend. Right after Mom said, "We will be out of town then," Pamela flew into the room and demanded, "Where are you going??????" She has become quite the dropper of eaves.

And, when we travel, we find all sorts of interesting things to do. We have made two trips to Kansas and have made two trips to the art museum: one focused on Impressionists and the other on Ancient Egypt. She also tried Thai food and visited the American Jazz Museum, the St. Louis Arch, the Cosmosphere, and the Combat Air Museum. On several walks on brisk, chilly days that whipped our hair, we heard the wind whistling through prairie grass, the water trickling down Independence Creek where Lewis and Clark picnicked, and hundreds of Canada geese resting at a lake. Pamela even touched a scrap of metal from the USS Arizona and walked inside an earth lodge, quickly spotting the anachronistic fan on the wall!

Pamela and the Three José's

Once upon a time there was a girl who lived in the Kingdom of Carolina. Her loving parents told her they were going to Charlotte for José's graduation. The girl, whose name was Pamela, woke up early in anticipation of seeing her cousin José who attended his first year of college at UNC Charlotte. Later she ate a very big breakfast, that was just right by the way, before she put on nice clothes and got in the gray horseless carriage. The journey was long and Pamela grew tired. She took a very long nap in the carriage.

They arrived in Charlotte and met with her father's friend José. He was too old and too tall to be her cousin José. She politely shook his hand and said, "You're the wrong person!" Her parents tried explaining that we would see a different José, not her cousin. She bravely kept her disappointment quiet.

Then, she met another José who was the tall José's father. He was as old as her grandfather. She shook his hand and only said, "Hola." She was getting used to seeing the wrong José. She bravely kept her disappointment quiet.

Then, she saw a young man who was her age and only a little taller than herself. His name was José too, but he was the wrong José. He was not her cousin who liked to play shooting games by pointing their fingers at things. She asked, "Where's cousin José?" It turned out that the two José's were roommates at the college in Charlotte. The young José said, "He went back to El Salvador on Wednesday." Even though she was sad to miss her favorite cousin, her parents were not surprised. They were happy to see the three José's and the rest of this unfamiliar family. She bravely stayed quiet and decided to go with the flow on this very unusual day, full of unexpected surprises.

The first surprise was that they skipped lunch! Her parents did not seem worried, and she was still full from breakfast. Pamela stayed calm and cool. They were in stop-and-go traffic for a long time and then had to walk a long way from the parking lot to the arena for the ceremony. Her parents did not seemed worried, and she was not too tired because of the nap. So, she stayed calm but cooled off after getting inside. After all, it was a very hot day.

Pamela enjoyed the band playing, but the long speeches and the time it took for 1500 students and almost as many professors to file in seemed to take forever. She looked over at her parents who enjoyed chatting with the family of three José. Little did she know that even her own mother was getting antsy and light-headed an hour into the ceremony and secretly hoping Pamela would ask about lunch or beg to get out of there. Inside the calm and cool presence of mind of everyone in the party led Pamela to believe that they were fine with skipping lunch and watching a very long, somewhat dull ceremony. [Note: The planners did a fantastic job of herding the students and faculty in and out very, very quickly, and our slight boredom was no fault of theirs.]

Suddenly, things began to liven up. First, they spied the lady two rows down with foot-long, shiny, pink nails. I, the narrator, am not exaggerrating--those babies were L-O-N-G! Then, they heard a graduate announced whose name was David Joseph, just like Pamela's brother. They searched the program and found another graduate with the name Pamela Ann, which surprised Pamela to no end and caused her to exclaim, "What the heck? That's not Glaser!" Pamela relaxed and began chatting with the youngest José's mother and even held her hand, which caused all to pronounce her a dear, sweet girl. In a quick chain of events, they witnessed the ringing of the bell (eight dings only), the running of the mascot which looked strangley like a dumpy witch, and the turning of the tassels, which was topped off by a very loud boom and firing of colorful streams and gave Pamela a feeling of fireworks.

The two families headed out. They located José the graduate and his friends and posed for some pictures. To pass the time while José and his friends were saying their good-byes, which take forever with Salvadorans, Pamela wowed them with her calendar trick: the eldest José thought he would trick her with a date from the 19th century, but she knew that September 18, 1898 and December 6, 1931 were Sunday (domingo) and May 10, 1932 was Tuesday (martes). After a few more pictures, Pamela's patience was wearing thin, so we all headed to the hotel for dinner, or was it lunch?

Pamela finally ate a bunless burger and fries at six o'clock! Her parents were amazed beyond belief that she had held out so long without even one hint of a meltdown. She chatted a little bit with the two mothers and even clicked her tongue and sang snatches from the songs Lollipop and My Boy Lollipop for the ladies.

Moral of the Story: Kids are a lot more resilient when we don't tell them what they are supposed to be missing!

Pulling the Plug on Cable Television

When we moved to a remote island near the Aleutians in 2001, we gave up cable. Although the island was wired for cable, the house we rented was not. Even going through 9/11 and the Columbia shuttle explosion--which was hard because one of the astronauts and I were in the same company at the boat school and company-mates are like family--did not convince us we were missing anything. We still had Internet! When we moved to Minnesota in 2003, we chose not to have cable installed and did the same for the house we rented in Carolina.

We changed our mind when we bought a house here in Carolina and two years of the programmed drivel offered by cable, satellite, etc. is not worth what we pay per month. We realized that less is more when it comes to channels because we end up doing the same thing every night: watching Fox News and then reruns of Monk or King of the Hill, which are both in their last season. The last straw was when BBC America pulled reruns of Top Gear (which I find funny even though I am not a motorhead).

I think we have way too much legislation on the books and I do not favor regulations that require a la carte choices for cable or satellite subscribers. I would rather the marketplace drive this, and we are voting for a la carte with our feet. When the cable representative asked me if they could do anything to win us back, I told him flatly, "If you have a list of people interested in a la carte choices, put us on that. You can call back when that option is available." The guy laughed, as did I. But, the idea is not as crazy as you think, for others have done the same.

Believe it or not, Steve and David are both all for it, but we expected the hard customer to be Pamela who delights in flipping through channels, changing the colors on the guide, and watching everything from the shopping networks to the weather channel. We made this decision about two months ago, and I had no idea how to broach the subject. Occasionally, I would lightly tell her things like "I don't like cable" or "I don't need cable anymore." Occasionally, I would tell her we were taking a break for a few hours and we turned off the DVR completely. We halted our campaign over Easter because Steve's parents were in town, and we knew having something to watch at night would put them at ease. Steve reminded me to renew the anti-cable campaign last week, and I was struggling to find a way to become unplugged.

Pamela must have overheard our conversations and came up to me last Friday with a most startling question, "What will we get rid of?" I lightly said, "Cable television!" Without blinking an eye, she said, "Yes!" She asked me about it off and on over the weekend, and today I finally made the call. Tomorrow, we return the box and it is finished. Between the library, Netflix, and our own collection of DVDs, we will have plenty to watch in the evenings. Or, we will read books, do our hobbies, use the computer, or enjoy the silence . . .

The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23)

Grapes of Math

Last September, a fellow blogger turned me onto Greg Tang books for dynamic thinking about math, and I blogged an update on our progress in November. So far, we have slowly worked our way through the following books: Best of Times, Math Appeal, and Math for All Seasons. We are looking forward to working through the five books we have not read yet.

Right now, we are starting Grapes Of Math and I thought it high-time to share what we are doing with these deceptively simple, elementary-school-level books. Basically, you read the poem and use the clue to count items in a picture. In this counting exercise, the clue is "Never fear, I have a hunch there is a match for every bunch." When you match a bunch of seven purple grapes with three green grapes, you get ten. Five matches of ten grapes yields the answer ten.


Even though Pamela is near the end of sixth grade math, these books are valuable because she is learning to group and count items in unique ways that make them easier to count. They guide you to count dynamically! Rather than get wrapped up in the poem in a static way, we adopt various strategies for counting the items. Pamela and I take turns showing each other a new way to count. We usually do three patterns each. Today, two interesting things happened. Pamela made a mistake in mentally adding and ended up with the wrong answer: 52. Rather than telling her she was wrong, I counted and got the right answer: 50. Then, we observed our answers were different and kept trying various counting strategies. From that point on our answers were always the same: 50. Pamela surprised me in her last strategy: she counted them individually and silently! The video clip shows a typical session with the book.


Best of Times gave us a fresh look at multiplication tables. There was nothing new about x 0, x 1, and x 10, but the way the author explored other numbers was original for this old dog (you know, ME). These unique ways of multiplying captured Pamela's imagination, and I plan to apply them when we are doing mental math while we shop at our favorite grocery stores!

x 2 - Double the number by adding it to itself:
37 x 2 = 37 + 37 = 74

x 3 - Triple the number by doubling it first and adding the double to itself:
45 x 3 = (45 + 45) + 45 = 90 + 45 = 135

x 4 - Double the double of the number (and I bet you can guess times eight now):
42 x 4 = (42 + 42) + (42 + 42) = 84 + 84 = 168

x 5 - Find x 10 and cut in half:
57 x 5 = (57 x 10) / 2 = 570 / 2 = 285

Here's a dynamic newsflash, not in the book: add the double to the triple:
57 x 5 = (57 + 57) + [(57 + 57) + 57]
= 114 + (114 + 57) = 114 + 171 = 285

Aside, not in the book: why not double the double and add it to itself?
57 x 5 = (57 + 57) + (57 + 57) + 57
= (114 + 114) + 57 = 228 + 57 = 285

x 6 - Triple the double (or vice versa):
28 x 6 = [(28 + 28) + (28 + 28)] + (28 + 28)
= (56 + 56) + 56 = 112 + 56 = 168

How about try x 5 and add that to itself:
28 x 6 = [(28 x 10) / 2] + 28
= (280 / 2 ) + 28 = 140 + 28 = 168

x 7 - Add x 5 and x 2 (or figure out your own variation):
82 x 7 = [(82 x 10) / 2] + (82 + 82)
= (820 / 2) + 164 = 410 + 164 = 574

x 8 - Double the double of double of the number:
65 x 8 = [(65 + 65) + (65 + 65)] + [(65 + 65) + (65 + 65)]
= (130 + 130) + (130 + 130) = 260 + 260 = 520

x 9 - Figure out x 10 and subtract the number:
19 x 9 = 19 x 10 - 19 = 190 - 19 = 171

Working on Language through Dynamic Thinking

Yesterday, I covered some minutia about our language program. In light of recent conversations about verbal behavior and manding (about which I know very little) at Autism Remediation, I thought it might help to elaborate a bit. RDI focuses on dynamic intelligence (abilities required to succeed in managing ever-changing environments, i.e., the real world). We follow a model of interaction called guided participation, a term coined by Barbara Rogoff in her book Apprenticeship in Thinking. To guide Pamela in speaking more elaborately, I seek suitable opportunities and wing it. To keep the process dynamic, I do not always frame the same situations. Today, I did not frame laundry, shopping, and driving directions. This sample of interactions is how we worked in the moment:

• Pamela had finished eating a snack while watching television. She said, "Take the bowl." I looked around confused, and she added, "The dirty bowl."
• We picked up lunch for Pamela and I made a comment about the apple fries. She said, "Ew! The old fries." I knew she meant fries made from potatoes, so I added, "Oh, you like potato fries! I bet those apple fries are good, too."
• Pamela first told me she wanted to do schoolwork "in the office." I looked at her incredulously and asked, "Do you mean Dad's office in Charletson?" She smiled and playfully said, "No, the office in the house."
• Later, she wanted to work "outside." I looked walked to the living room which is outside of the office and asked, "The living room is outside of the office." She shook her head and said, "No, in the rocking chairs." I replied, "But, I don't know which porch?" She added, "On the back porch."
• We sat on the rocking chairs and Pamela said, "I want math." I picked up her language arts notebook, and she said, "No, the math book." Then, I grabbed Grapes Of Math, which we use for thinking dynamically about counting, even though I knew she meant her math workbook. She laughed and said, "No, the red math book!"

I am avoiding teaching language in a static, deadly dull, drilled fashion because I want to give Pamela the opportunity to think. When I say or do the wrong things, Pamela has many options: repeat what she said mindlessly, laugh and call me names, grow frustrated and lash out, cry and run to her room, or say something more specific. Because I am communicating through many channels (facial expression, gestures, voice inflection, words), she is learning to pay attention to the entire package of expression. She has to appraise the entire situation and think about an appropriate way to respond. We enter a state of mutual contingency: what she does depends upon my action, and what I do depends on her move.

The neat thing is that Pamela communications in more thoughtful ways. I would like to close with some examples of experience sharing that are guaranteed to make you smile:

• Pamela was watching King of the Hill (her brother's favorite show) and she said completely out of the blue and totally unprompted, "I love 'King of the Hill.'" I asked, "Why?" She replied, "Because it's funny!"
• Steve wanted to use his laptop but Pamela was having difficulty relinquishing it. She was saying, "Please stand by," very loudly and obnoxiously in a high-pitched, whiny voice. I said to her, "Pamela, that was awfully loud." Then, I heard her whisper, "Please stand by."
• Pamela told us she was going to bed, so I puckered up and made a kissing sound. She came over and kissed me on the cheek. Then, Steve said, "Good night!" and made a kissing noise, too. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. As she walked away, Steve whistled to recapture her attention, made a kissing noise, and pointed to Pamela's younger brother. She walked over and David, who is at that goofy teen stage in life, shook her hand. Pamela leaned over and kissed him on the head. He may be over six feet tall, but he is still her baby brother!
• She is still learning to overcome her anxiety over Steve's predictable work schedule. When we got into the car to head to church at 5:45, Pamela remarked, "Dad's work is too long." I agreed and talked about how every day is different.
• On our way home, I decided to spotlight Steve's schedule again. We were a block from the house, I said, "I don't know if Dad is home. He didn't tell me what time he was coming home." Then, Pamela said, "Just like Definitely, Maybe." I exclaimed, "You're right. Dad is definitely coming home. He maybe home right now or he may come home later!"
• As we drove up to the house, I heightened her anticipation by slowing the car down and speaking dramatically, "I wonder if Dad's home!" When we could finally see the driveway, Pamela laughed and I said, "Oh, no!!!!! The red car is gone." Suddenly, I noticed the car behind me also turned into our driveway and it was Steve. Then, I quickly said, "Wait! I see some lights! It's Dad!" Pamela giggled with delight and was so excited, she bolted out of the car as soon as it stopped and ran for joy!

Dynamic Thinking and Math

In September, I wrote a post about dynamic thinking and Greg Tang's Math Appeal, which we finished two weeks ago. Why dynamic thinking? Pamela thrives in static situations: predictable, expected, orderly, and sequential. She has a keen eye for patterns and details as a result and has no problems learning anything that has a logical procedure with very little ambiguity.

When you think about how many of us teach children math, we tend to do it in very static ways. According to his biography,

Greg Tang was tutoring math in his daughter's class when he noticed something interesting about the dominoes they were using. Each white dot had a pencil mark on it, which meant the children had been counting them one at a time. Mr. Tang taught them to look for patterns instead, and to add and subtract groups of dots in order to calculate the dominoes' value quickly. From there, he developed a new method of teaching arithmetic in a visual and spontaneous way. His method teaches both computational and problem-solving skills, and is so fun and challenging that children forget they are learning math! He believes that all kids are capable of doing well in math, and he has a mission to make math a natural part of every child's life.

The other day I was checking David's statistics problems by hand and something about static thinking hit me. Math is not his favorite subject, so he prefers sticking to procedure. He put his number in order and then added them. As I studied the number, I noticed that, by ordering them slightly differently, you could line them up nicely in easy to add groups. Of course, when I pointed it out to him, he rolled his eyes and told me that was too complicated and he would rather add them up the hard way! LOL! Maybe, this sort of thinking only appeals to geeks like me!



Lately, Pamela has shown some signs of dynamic thinking in math. She has been counting down the days to Daylights Savings Time. By noon today, she had already reset the kitchen clocks in anticipation of the big event. She told me we are now living in Houston time (my sister lives near Houston, and my parents are visiting her right now). I ought to be thankful that Pamela is a flexible enough thinker not to wait until exactly two in the morning to make the switch! But, that is all static stuff.

We were talking about whether we add or subtract an hour. Pamela told me subtract without hesitation. Then, I reflected on a verbal way of remembering the time change, "Yeah. I always remember fall back, spring ahead."

Pamela gave me her nonverbal image, "No! Leaves!"

I spotlighted her idea, "That's right! The leaves fall off the trees in fall."

She added, "Just like subtraction!"

Then, I said, "The leaves grow back in spring. Just like addition!"

That is a very cool way to remember and I would love to know of any other person on the planet who shares that image. What I love about it is that, instead of some rigid mnemonic, she came up with an unforgettable idea, rich in meaning and context.

But, wait there's more! The other day, I noticed that Pamela diverged from the way that I taught her to borrow and carry. Instead of writing the number to carry above the top digit or crossing out the number from which you borrow, she rewrites the digits to be changed. There is absolutely nothing wrong with coming up with your own way of doing math, as long as it is logical and correct!




Next on the agenda for encouraging mathematical thinking are more books by Greg Tang. Although they cover skills Pamela mastered years ago, I am doing a "redo" in the true spirt of RDI. Think about the math she learned procedurally in more dynamic ways:
Grapes Of Math
Math for All Seasons
Math Fables Too

What To Do on Messy Days

I started Pamela on her new schedule this week and have struggled to stay on track because of things like unexpected, unplanned disruptions. Today, for example, I ran out of fish food and had to go to Wal-Mart, had to mail a package for my husband, and had to make a two-and-a-half-hour trip to pick him up from work because his logistical plan left that as his only option. With a little bit of thought and flexibility, I managed to stick with the plan of the day. How, you ask? Read on!

* Usually, I do some RDI-like activity with Pamela at eleven o'clock (games, puzzles, etc.). I realized I could knock out my errands by making them RDI like. I had Pamela address the package on folder labels. Then, I positioned the strip and looked up at her for nonverbal approval. Sometimes, I put them in odd places (like my nose), just for fun. At the post office, she became my hands: she handed the package and a letter to the clerk. She handed the money to the clerk. At Wal-Mart, I made a game of her guessing which way to go by following my gaze. Then, she had to figure out what to select on the shelf by referencing me. As always, we did the self-checkout as a team, and she did a terrific job of correcting a mistake. She scanned the sugar twice, immediately caught her error, and maneuvered her way through the touch screen to rectify it.

* I had another problem that I solved creatively. I needed to make up Pamela's speech therapy sheets, which involved manipulating two pictures to make eight pictures. I have been teaching David different tricks for computer science. I realized I could have him do it since this task was new to him. I taught him how to use a SD card reader (uh, because I lost my camera cord awhile back), send pictures from the card reader to My Documents, and rotate a picture by angles and trim in MGI Photosuite. ALL of these tasks were new to him, and he saved me about fifteen minutes of busywork. He was psyched because as much as he formats pictures, he had not figured out how to rotate by angle and trim.

* I rearranged my schedule so that Pamela did tasks requiring interaction in the morning. I brought work for Pamela to do in the car. She spent much of our time on the road doing paperwork independently (speech therapy, language arts, etc.).