Digital Story 2 - The Times They Are A Changing

Here it is....

Digital Writing Workshop- Horry County Class

The Many Faces of Autism

What does Autism look like? What is it? How does one acquire it? What causes it? Although Autism has many faces, it has two common elements: delayed language and impaired social skills, all in varying degrees.

People ask: Why has the incidence of Autism increased so over the last 10-15 years? What causes it? Is it environmental? Is it genetic? Is it caused by routine infant/toddler vaccinations? Is there a cure? The typical answer to these questions is...We aren't exactly sure.

The many faces of Autism? As a career special education teacher and school psychologist, I have seen many, many faces... There was Cathy, a moderately mentally disabled child who had no expressive language. She would momentarily fixate her eyes on an object, i.e., a person's hand or arm, prior to a very sharp bite... Trevor, also moderately mentally disabled, said only one word, "blue." This was said during a preschool evaluation with me. His mother cried when she heard him speak. It was his first and only word... There was Cory, mild to moderately mentally disabled, who had never spoken a word at school and in the same school system for his entire school career. His mother told his teachers that he talked all of the time at home. "Sure, sure," they all thought. No one believed her. In the tenth grade, the special education teacher visited the home. There was Cory---talking! Lesson learned? Listen to the mothers... There were the twin brothers, John and Ron, both mildly mentally disabled. Their mother cried and told me that she believed she had caused it. She thought she had held them and rocked them too much as babies because they were so fretful...Stephen was very, very quiet, rarely making eye contact. He would not initiate a conversation with someone, but would respond in short phrases when spoken to. Stephen entered the talent show at school and sang karaoke.

Then there was Julian; we called him Jules for short. Jules struggled so desperately to make sense of his confusing world. Why did that fire alarm ring so loudly and scare him? He did not know that it was going to ring. That is why he screamed and ran out into the hall and out of the building. One day his teacher held up a paper that he had left on his desk and asked, "Julian, what should we do with this paper?" Jules casually replied, "Oh, give it to my locker." Jules danced an Irish jig with a local celebrity at a restaurant on St. Patrick's Day. He cried when another student jokingly wrote "Pooper" on his paper. He loved the theater and musicals. His English class was delighted when he voluntarily stood in front of the class and recited his rendition of Phantom of the Opera with sound effects. He received a standing ovation from his class. He wrote a note to his teacher one day that she had hideous hair. Another day at lunch, a student accidentally bumped into him, causing him to drop his lunch tray. He screamed. The other student was equally upset. It was an accident. She came and sat by him the next day during lunch. He looked at her and said, "Isn't there something that you want to say to me?" She smiled, said she was sorry and gave him half of her roll. He smiled back.

May God bless the children.

The Kid Who Nobody Liked

There once was a kid named Jack who nobody liked. He was handsome enough and very smart. Nobody liked him. He desperately wanted friends. No one wanted to be his friend. Tears would well up in his eyes because he could not understand why no one liked him. Jack's mother had explained to him that he was born with a condition called ADHD--Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Kids with ADHD act impulsively, talking out before thinking, getting up out their seat frequently. It sounded simple enough to Jack. So why did no one want to talk to him or play with him? This made Jack very sad, and the more he tried to make friends, the more he was shunned by his classmates.

Jack did not understand that the Control Panel in his brain was wired a little differently than most others. Because of his condition, he often perceived things differently than others. He was unable to distinguish between positive and negative social interactions. His teachers saw this and tried to explain to him that others did not like to be called names (often racial) or have their pencils and erasers taken or to be constantly poked and made fun of. Jack thought he was playing and did not understand. His teachers explained to him that his classmates did not like it when he constantly interrupted classes. They did not like it when he was chosen to run the PowerPoint (which was a huge privilege) and then used the Ink Pad to draw on the screen. After once or twice, it is not funny to fall out of a desk onto the floor.

Jack thought he was being funny and making friends. It made him very sad to realize he had no friends. He did not understand why. He was the kid who nobody liked.

VoiceThread Project

Another enlightening technological tool for educators...I never knew this was out there. VoiceThread can be used as an online discussion with students. One to four photos can be posted with discussion by the teacher and any assignment. When you create and upload the picture(s), the teacher can give general comments about what the pictures represent and what the students should gain from this. As I was watching and listening, my first thoughts were Bull Island before and after Hugo or Garden City before and after Hugo or Myrtle Beach before and after Hurricane Hazel, just to name a few. It can be used almost like a SmartBoard, it seems. There is a highlighter that the instructor can point out certain areas and highlight. Comments can be made either by audio recording, web cam, or keyboarding. Very cool.

What Am I? What Made Me?

Saturday mornings on my grandmother's porch with fried sweet potatoes for lunch;

The smell of tobacco curing during the summer;

My grandmother saying, "You don't have to go to sleep tonight. Just close your eyes and rest."

My grandfather building a fire at 6:30 every morning and drinking coffee;

My grandfather and I watching Gene Autry and Captain Kangaroo in the mornings;

Going to church every Sunday;

I was age 6 before I realized that "chester draws" was actually "chest of drawers" and "chillun" was "children;"

Then-

Helping care for my grandmother as she aged;

Spending weekends with her;

Visiting her every week in Rehab and a nursing home;

Visiting my Aunt Hazel, her sister, every week and sending her money each month;

Then-

Spending weeks in the hospital with my mom when she was ill;

I slept in the ICU waiting room and showered in the nearby empty rooms at 4:00 each morning. Three Christmases were spent in the hospital. I remember her staring through me saying, "I can't live with this pain. I can't live like this anymore." I asked her doctor if he could manage her pain. He said no. My dad kept telling me that we would get through this. Five months after my mother died, she came to me in a dream. She told me she did not want me to worry about her. She was in a much better place and she was out of pain.

Then-

Helping my husband take care of his mother and her two sisters;

They were all ill at the same time;

Nursing homes, hospitals, nursing homes, hospitals;

They were such elegant ladies when I first met them. They loved lively conversation and politics, and they loved to laugh. They loved family and friends.

Then-

The last aunt living with us for 5 years;

She was actually my favorite sister. There were five sisters in all---beautiful girls in their day. We loved to go out to dinner, and we loved our glass of wine and good conversation in the early evening. Her health gradually declined.

They are all gone now. I would give just about anything for one Sunday afternoon with all of these wonderful people who made me what I am.

It's All About Me

I knew the assignment: begin with a memoir; bring pictures; create a Digital Story. Sounds simple enough...I had my first few pictures scanned in as jpeg, saved on my jump drive. Somehow, I believed that I was beginning my digital story rough draft, to be completed after I had time to review, revise, and think. I had collected other photos that I wanted to include, and my dear husband scanned them in as a pdf file "because they would be clearer." BAM! 11:30 Saturday morning..."Good Luck!" OMG! I told myself to slow down and think. It seemed simple enough. I followed Photo Story 3. I went to pull my pictures and put them in order. The second set was not there! I knew I had seen them right before I came to class!
Plan B: Take the first set; go from there. Things went very smoothly. Since I was at my school, I left the lab to record in my classroom so that it would be quiet. After an hour in and out of my classroom, I found out that the computer did not recognize my mike. I was waisted by then. I came home to use my equipment at home. Except for a few gliches, things went well. I showed it to my Advisory class in the morning and they loved it! It was hokey, but fun. I am going to do this again.